Doctor Who series 9
Well, that was... mostly meh with a few enjoyable episodes and one that was awesome. And promptly squandered. There were far too many two parters that didn't justify the length by being particularly interesting, Clara massively overstayed her welcome as far as I was concerned (she should definitely have left when originally planned in last Christmas' episode) and in general it was, well. A little boring.
None of which I think was to do with Capaldi, as I found myself much more into his Doctor this time around. But other than in Heaven Sent, which was the best episode by miles, the scripts really didn't live up to his performance. The called a villain the Fisher King and did nothing with it, the Zygon episodes were boringly predictable aside from the last 10 minutes, and (this may get me lynched by GoT fans) I didn't find Maisie Williams particularly convincing or compelling as Ashildr/Me. And as for Clara, the best moment she had by far was when she died - I was actually moved by her "last" speech and death, and I was not expecting to be. So obviously 2 episodes later they wreck it all by bringing her back to make yet more speeches, undercutting that marvellous moment completely. I don't think I've ever been so annoyed by a character resurrection.
And I am unbelievably pissed that the exquisite set-up of the Doctor out-stubborning himself and the Time Lords by forcing himself to die over and over for 4.5 billion years rather than give in turned out not to be because he had something to protect (and I didn't need to find out what it was, they could have left it totally a mystery), or because of sheer bloody-mindedness (which I would have taken as just as good a reason), but was simply a lie so he could save sodding Clara, and damn the consequences to the rest of time and existence. Are you fucking kidding me?
I think they only ones that I really enjoyed were the opening two episodes (loved all the bits with Missy, and the scenes with Davros and Clara in the Dalek were effective) and Heaven Sent. It's just so frustrating that they followed up an episode that was poetic, frightening, heartbreaking and triumphant all at once with the utter tosh of the finale. I think the only redeeming feature was getting the sonic screwdriver back!
None of which I think was to do with Capaldi, as I found myself much more into his Doctor this time around. But other than in Heaven Sent, which was the best episode by miles, the scripts really didn't live up to his performance. The called a villain the Fisher King and did nothing with it, the Zygon episodes were boringly predictable aside from the last 10 minutes, and (this may get me lynched by GoT fans) I didn't find Maisie Williams particularly convincing or compelling as Ashildr/Me. And as for Clara, the best moment she had by far was when she died - I was actually moved by her "last" speech and death, and I was not expecting to be. So obviously 2 episodes later they wreck it all by bringing her back to make yet more speeches, undercutting that marvellous moment completely. I don't think I've ever been so annoyed by a character resurrection.
And I am unbelievably pissed that the exquisite set-up of the Doctor out-stubborning himself and the Time Lords by forcing himself to die over and over for 4.5 billion years rather than give in turned out not to be because he had something to protect (and I didn't need to find out what it was, they could have left it totally a mystery), or because of sheer bloody-mindedness (which I would have taken as just as good a reason), but was simply a lie so he could save sodding Clara, and damn the consequences to the rest of time and existence. Are you fucking kidding me?
I think they only ones that I really enjoyed were the opening two episodes (loved all the bits with Missy, and the scenes with Davros and Clara in the Dalek were effective) and Heaven Sent. It's just so frustrating that they followed up an episode that was poetic, frightening, heartbreaking and triumphant all at once with the utter tosh of the finale. I think the only redeeming feature was getting the sonic screwdriver back!