Yeah, I’m kind of torn. The absurdly powerful puddle thing always struck me as kind of goofy, but at least the final episode gave it a purpose to be so.
I’m glad the recent Doctor as an asshole thing turned out to be intentional (or at least turned into an afterthought character arc) and not just shitty writing.
Mixed feelings all around.
sounds like this sure was a doctor who finale
I found this season really inexplicably flat from start to finish after adoring most of 8 and 9 (though I did think heaven sent was wasted on hell bent). I was sure I wanted moffat to hang it up after 7 (of which chibnall’s episodes were like the only good part, so that bodes well), but capaldi 200% redeemed the show for me. I cannot figure out why I basically didn’t enjoy a single episode all season. it might have been nardole? I have never seen matt lucas be nearly that annoying in anything else. Bill was fine.
I skipped episodes 6-9 or therabouts from lack of interest so I guess I missed missy’s arc but it seemed like they wasted simms’ master too, she was fine on her own. and the plotting in the two part finale was so protracted yet sloppy! I liked that they managed a surprise analog to the genesis of the daleks (they’ve been very careful studies of classic who for the past few years at least) but apart from that, egh
this week they’re rumoring phoebe waller bridge as the next doctor which seems more like a fantasy I confessed to under hypnosis than an actual BBC casting decision but here’s hoping
4 > 6 > 8 > 3 > 9 > 1 > 5 > 2 > 10 > 7 imo
i’d be into this
Missy’s arc was a bit forced. Like so many things this season, it could have benefited from another episode worth of development.
How on earth do you give high ratings to 6 and extremely low ratings to 7
Oh wait is this new who seasons?
yeah, new who! you were all up in my androzani there for a sec
Yeah, it’s weird. Pearl Mackie is great. They got in all the good writers. I blame Being Human Dude. This is the year everyone figured out how mediocre he is, which is nice. Unfortunately it meant throwing away a third of the season.
I liked the first half, mostly. Thin Ice, Oxygen. But then Oxygen is tarnished (Silver: “see how it feels!”) by later non-developments.
Oh well. Michelle Gomez got a bunch to do.
There’s this truism out there that series 5 is so clearly the best thing in the revived series, and I, uh. I’m getting sick of it. It’s not reality. RANT CROSS-POST. (I use some terms of group consensus/faux objectivity in here as a dialectical tool, since we all know people want to know what the Winning Side thinks before casting their ballots. (Also, this kind of discussion is stupid, so I took a lazy route.))
But, is series 5 the strongest? On what basis?
And then there’s just the matter of Gillan’s character, and what an unpleasant presence the scripts make her out to be until Rory becomes a full-time companion and the show dials back her self-absorption somewhat.
Strictly on the basis of the scripts, we’ve got
There are a few good episodes, but most of the good parts are offset by something else that’s more dreadful than the good thing is good. By the merits, the only things that series 5 clearly outshines as a whole would have to be Tennant’s first series (to which it compares quite favorably, which may in part speak to its exaggerated reputation) and Smith’s latter two series, which gradually devolve from that standard.
Which in turn speaks to the broader quality of Smith’s era. Much as within series five, his one middling accomplishment (having a better debut run than his predecessor) is offset by the two worst runs of the revived series. On any level of the fractal you choose to magnify, if you find a positive quality in the Smith era, however modest, it is undercut on the same scale by a negative force of equal or greater power.
Really the only era that I hold in less regard is Saward’s handling of the early '80s. Moffat’s early record as a showrunner exhibits many of the same problems, offset by a much greater wealth of creative talent (however poorly it might at times be implemented) and a lack of the systemic setbacks (from producer to BBC management) that plagued the show back then.
That Moffat has rebounded so strongly in the last few years, and employed such a clear sense of self-awareness over his previous blind spots, is kind of miraculous, and to my mind helps to cement his influence on the show in positive terms.
I agree with you 100% on an episode-by-episode basis, but I actually think series 6 is quite good, or at least I liked it a lot the last time I watched it. I might have to review the episodes so I can muster a proper defense.
off the top of my head, it:
you could argue that it tries too hard from start to finish and represents a wrong turn for the show moreso than 5 does overall, but within that I think it’s easily the best of the smith era
other than agreeing that 5 is mediocre but thinking 6 is quite good, my other sacrilege is not liking eccleston’s series that much. a lot of the pivotal episodes (dalek, father’s day, bad wolf) have really weird pacing and basically scream “DID YOU KNOW DOCTOR WHO IS BACK;” the filler stuff is generally fine though
the only two other series that I think are as solid as 6 throughout are 4 and 8.
9 isn’t nearly as consistently good as 8 but it gets away with basically every major risk it takes (I did not expect that davros episode to work as well as it did, and heaven sent is probably the best single episode since waters of mars).
Yeah, more Arthur Darvill certainly is a good thing. I’d have to rewatch, as it’s been a while, but aside from The Girl Who Waited the only episode that really stood out to me was (I may be betraying a previously unrelated level of insanity here) Let’s Kill Hitler. The latter is so bonkers, knows how bonkers it is, knows that you’re reeling from how bonkers it is, and uses that opportunity to bonk you some more from the blind side.
…
I feel like I’m getting my threads mixed up here. We’re still in the Doctor Who one, right?
It also has actually good whithouse, two perfectly decent two-parters in the first half of the series, adequate thompson and gatiss, and a fun followup to the lodger. as for “good man goes to war,” it’s overwrought, but it’s actually well-directed and not nearly as bad as everything like it.
I think this most recent series was probably worse than 5 or 6, it was just so flat…
Jodie Whittaker!!
STOKED
heck yeah