Hm. I saw the trailers and dreaded watching the episode. I haven’t watched it, but my DVR is supposed to record all new episodes, so maybe I’ll watch tomorrow. Never watched last year’s special because it didn’t record, was it any good?
Last years was part wacky Christmas fluff and part really enjoyable character moments this year was wacky Christmas fluff (mostly ripped straight out of Superman the movie but at least it’s sort of explained in the story) made tolerable by Capaldi doing his usual best to make it work.
Last years is sort of essential viewing for the River Song story arc and the two flow directly into each other.