Doctor Who - Season Review

Welp, that's all folks. The flagship season of Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor is over and all I can say is, it was brilliant in the writing of characters but lacklustre, to say the least, in the story telling.

One of the most important hopes I had this season was that Capaldi could improve as the man himself after the extremely shaky (to me) first few episodes. He really came into his own and seemed to settle down into his new skin around Robot of Sherwood with his interactions with Robin; as well as the way he started to insult Clara less for humour and just went with his morose take like I expected, he was great.

The introduction in Danny Pink was interesting at first; a soldier who could possibly join the Doctor in the TARDIS which would be breaking one of his biggest rules in no soldiers (except Martha Jones of course). I felt like all of the character development he had was to make him look like a good guy - a maths teacher who has a dark past but cares for kids and teaches a special ed. class, but in the end he just came off as a Rory copy; right down to his..."upgrade".

Missy/Mistress/Guess Who

One huge new character was the mysterious Missy, a lunatic woman with ties to the Doctor. Throughout the season she was there at the end of episodes with cryptic clues to who she is (or where she is). In the finale, when she's finally revealed it feels a little late, because if you can follow simple clues, you'll know EXACTLY who it is after the first time she speaks to the Doctor. 

All in all this season didn't feel like a full season but more of a build up, like at least half of every episode in the season itself. In this review I decided to focus on the introduced characters - the previous episode reviews contained exactly my impressions on the story writing of the season - exactly what I opened the review with. Now for the wait until Christmas to get my next (story-centric, get excited!!) fix, with the added bonus of NICK FROST AS SANTA!!

2 Days with the Doctor

So, after two episodes of Season 8 of Doctor Who I've decided I've had time to really think on my impression so far and it's a resounding 'meh' - I'm also starting to understand people's aversion to Moffat as a Doctor Who writer.

Deep Breath:

Deep Breath (S8E1) properly introduced Peter Capaldi as 12, and it left me with the feeling that the writing tried very hard to make him the silly-yet-dark Doctor that Matt Smith was, but ultimately it just seemed like he was cutting his lines off and speaking in short, sharp bursts.

While the premise of the episode (a t-rex and robots that aren't cybermen) was shaky at best, the writing itself felt awful and extremely tryhard to be 'progressive'. Madame Vastra (green lizard detective lady) is married to Jenny Flint (cockney Black Widow with no guns) and has been since their first appearance Season 6, but for some stupid reason in this episode they had to be SO IN LOVE LOOK AT THEM FLIRT LOOK AT THEM KISS LOOK HOW FORWARD THINKING WE ARE WITH LESBIANS LOVE US! 

Mr. Moffat listen closely, I appear to be the demographic age you're aiming for with the show and guess what - WE DON'T CARE. We've seen lesbian couples in shows/movies/games before so no, you're not progressive and no, it had no shock factor to have them kiss.

Into the Dalek:

Now this episode was LIGHTYEARS better than the first. It introduces Danny Pink - a fellow teacher and love interest of Clara, who happens to be an ex-soldier, I'm interested to see how The Doctor reacts to that. 

Now the story was totally Moffat, meet characters who could be interesting but NOPE - they either die or are told to shove it by The Doctor; but I digress. It did have me wide-eyed at the announcement that Clara would be miniaturised (with Himself) and put inside a dalek - considering how she was introduced. It was also pretty great to learn about the inner workings of a Dalek, until the end that is. It gets so cheesy that it eliminates all cool ideas built up to be just a rehashed idea when you enter another's body in a movie/show. 

It also seems that Capaldi's Doctor is meant to be funny solely through insulting poor Clara - look at this adorable face and delightful smile and tell me you don't feel anything other than sorry for her when he does:

Take a DEEP BREATH, The Doctor returns soon!

Yes, that was an awesome pun involving the name of the first episode of Doctor Who season 8, and HELL YES AM I EXCITED.

Having recently gone back to trying to catch up with everyone's favourite Timelord, I fell in love with him and the show again (which you can totally blame for my irrational infatuation with Karen Gillan). 

Matt Smith - The Doctor Who Forgets - is out (almost as sad as Tennant leaving, ALMOST) and in comes Peter Capaldi (of The Thick of It fame), who from the looks of his stance and expression will be more of an serious and action-orientated Doctor than the latest murderous Doctor himself was. Clara is back with her delightful cheery nature and smile which might melt the man's hearts ala Rose did to Eccleston's Doctor, we just have to wait and see!

So, do we think Capaldi will be able to take the reigns and continue to make the show an America-invading success, or will it be a Season 26-esque push too far into the dark side - tell me what you think in the comments! 

Doctor Who Season 8  Episode 1 (Deep Breath) is releasing in cinemas on the 23rd of August and will of course be on BBC worldwide on the same date.