Doctor Who Series 9 - Highs and Lows

This is one of the most interesting series of the show in my opinion. After a couple of really quite safe and dull series Moffat chooses to go all out ridiculous in this series, high concept and big storylines are the thing that keeps this series going. However as a result of this it ends up being incredibly inconsistent, full of faff and at times exhaustingly frustrating. The highs are impressively high and the lows are depressingly low, every time the series seems to be getting ahead of itself it shoots itself in the foot and we return to square one. It is so big, each two-parter just feels massive yet this means there is this frustrating issue with each episode's payoff, Moffat falls into his irritating habit of tooting his own horn and constantly telling you that something incredibly amazing and clever is going to happen but it often just falls flat. I actually really enjoy the majority of this series, there are some really strong stories here that are entertaining, unique and compelling. But there are also so many stories that fall into patterns of gimmicks, faff and frustrating nonsense that overshadow a really interesting series arc. My frustration overshadows the things I love about this series which is more of a personal fault than the fault of the show,  when I'm really impressed with a concept something pops up that just takes away from the greatness, you can cut out so much this series and hidden underneath is a masterpiece of a story. Without further ado, let's go through the entirety of Series 9 delving into the lows and revelling in the highs. 

The Magician's Apprentice/ The Witch's Familiar

I really want to love this opening, it is probably the boldest series opening of NuWho and I can't get over how frustrating it is in places. Act 1 of this story starts with 15 minutes to go in 'The Magician's  Apprentice' the rest of the episode is this exhausting mess of faff, just pointless faff and plot promises. I like the hook of this story, I like the 'Davros on his death bed and the horrific moral conflict of Davros as a child' but this is about 40 per cent of a story that is ridiculously overstuffed and overwritten. We follow this snake creature as he visits cameos on a search for The Doctor, Missy is reintroduced with this stupid #theplaneshavestopped plot with UNIT, The Doctor faffs about with this midlife crisis guitar playing nonsense and then once we actually get to the Doctor/Davros story we dont have enough time left to develop this idea. Don't get me wrong, I know why the faff is here, I understand that it is to build hype for the story, to set up the return of Missy and the confession dial story but I just think it takes forever and overshadows the actual plot. I really love the idea that The Doctor accidentally saves Davros and it sends him into this midlife crisis as he hides in shame from the world, but the way we get to this story is so overstuffed with ridiculous nonsense. The episode seems uninterested in the actually interesting parts of this story, I want to spend more time exploring The Doctor and Davros's relationship, I want to learn more about how restored Skaro functions, I want to actually unpack the full extent of the moral implications in the 'killing Hitler as a baby' story. It just tries far too hard to be clever with Missy and Clara death fake-outs, pointless little additions to Dalek lore that mean nothing and god awful comedy that goes nowhere. Capaldi returns better than ever, this scared mid-life-crisis version of the character is refreshing and fascinating, he has to deliver some really clunky lines here and there which he does the best he can with. Michelle Gomez is incredible, she is wonderfully manic and absolutely hilarious, I love how she constantly remains unpredictable and morally illusive. I love the little story hidden underneath so much and I wish it wasn't bogged down in such frustrating nothingness.

Under the Lake/ Before the Flood

This is one of the most underrated episodes of the entire show, I don't know if its because I'm a sucker for the more classical stories but I think this two-parter is an absolute delight. It is just a really compelling story, nothing too out there or unique but well done, ironed out and wonderfully constructed in every way. There's something so compelling about this classic base under siege story with brilliant timey-wimey elements combined with a more than enticing mystery and a strong set of characters. I love how the two-parter is paced, it manages to construct a brilliant mystery that slowly unravels at this pace that isn't dull or rushed, the way each elements functions together is so impressive. We start with this intriguing concept of ghosts that are mouthing something, a ship with a missing body on and these set of rules that when put together dont feel contrived but satisfying and compelling. The first part is a very conventional NuWho base under siege story that has The Doctor and Clara trying to work out the logistics of the threat and then the second half is this brilliant unravelling of the mystery using fascinating time travel stakes and a fantastic villain. I think it is downright brilliant and an incredibly fascinating story, the mystery functions gloriously and never gets bogged down in constantly trying to subvert your expectations and just maintains a solid throughline. The design of the actual base is somewhat lacking but the ghosts themselves look terrifying, with those hollowed-out eyes and floating effect they are wonderfully scary and an absolute delight, the highlight is the Fisher King himself, although underwhelming as an antagonist his design is one of my favourites in the whole show. The supporting cast is really strong, I find them all incredibly compelling and including a deaf character is wonderful especially when Cass actually contributes massively to the plot, in fact, they all have wonderful chemistry. The 'Bootstrap paradox' is a brilliant example of including genuine time travel theoretical ideas into a narrative without it becoming too dependent on them. I adore this two-parter, it isn't mind-blowingly special but I think it is an absolute treat to watch and one of my favourites of this era. 

The Girl Who Died

You mean to tell me this is the episode Jamie Mathieson wrote? The best writer of the last series wrote an awkward confused and nothing story like this? How on earth did you waste this mans talents so badly? It isn't that bad, I'm being hyperbolic but it sure is a weirdly dull story for such a fascinating writer like Mathieson. I'm not quite sure what this episode is supposed to be, I don't think it quite knows what it wants to accomplish, there's a lot of bloat obscuring a simple plot beat of introducing Ashildr. There is barely a plot here, barely an interesting idea to grasp onto and barely anything that keeps me interested. You have this basic plot of aliens threatening a town and The Doctor has to come up with a way to deal with this, there isn't really anything else going on here and it makes it feel disappointingly lifeless. I know I praised the previous story for being a return to a classic format but this is nothing but this is a tired format that Mathieson does hardly anything that interesting with. The Viking setting is basically just used for very tired comedy and there arent any really interesting characters within this setting. It is far too comedy orientated and perhaps I'm being a cynical grump here but I just find the comedy exhausting, it is completely subjective and perhaps it is due to it trying to skew to a younger audience but most of the jokes are just original and lifeless. I do like the little moments of character exploration of The Doctor, the explanation of the 'Fires of Pompeii' mystery is alright if something that didn't really needs to be said. I like his little moments with Clara and Capaldi kills it in his comedic delivery during the training sequencers. I'll get into it more with the next episode but I dont think Maisie Williams is a good actor and here she plays innocent well if underdeveloped. It is a very safe and forgettable story, not offensively terrible but just disappointingly safe.

The Woman Who Lived

I had my face in my hands for the majority of this episode. It is a pantomime that dances its way around some of the darkest and most interesting concepts the show has ever had. A genuine mistake from The Doctor as he turned someone immortal could be a brilliant character exploration and something heartbreaking but instead, it is misjudged and embarrassing. It just does not work at all, it falls flat on its face and is an absolute tonal disaster, this isn't the story that needed a comedic banter sequence or a 'Laurel and Hardy' burglary thing. It is an episode that needed small conversations, little interactions and character beats that actually evaluate the impacts of the fascinating thematic angle Ashildr should be a tragic character, it should be a real exploration of the consequences of The Doctor's never-ending struggle with trying to help everyone, but instead, it is a joke. I think they take Ashildr a step too far, having her rename herself as 'Me' because she doesn't remember her name and having these diaries that are her only way to keep track is a bit too over the top and reduces her character into a gimmicky person. There is this weird story revolving around this alien that needs a human death in order to open a portal or something and I just dont care, it overshadows this cool relationship. Maisie Williams is not a good actor, she plays Arya wonderfully but here she really lacks, her vocal qualities are repetitive and they come off very 'child actor' which undermines how essential her character is. This could have been great, it could have been something small and interesting that explores genuine character beats but instead, we get a very awkward tonal mess.

The Zygon Invasion/ The Zygon Inversion 

 

The last episode was far too childish and after this two-parter, I excuse it for being so as this is an incredibly heavy story that is truly wonderful. Peter Harness made a mess with 'Kill the Moon' but I am more than glad he was brought back to make something as brilliant as this two-parter, he clearly writes political stories that utilise the sci-fi concept to explore a very real issue and this is what makes the Zygon two-parter so compelling. It may be a bit heavy-handed for some people, it is clearly a story about current war/immigration and conflicts that are happening right now, but the way it does it through the zyga is so impressive. In many ways, I am shocked this has never been done before, using the Zygon's to explore the morality of war, as these creatures can hide as your friends but Harness makes them into this metaphor for profiling and prejudice. This race is becoming tired and have started rebelling due to wanting to stop hiding, there is a Zygon civil war happening between people following the truce and those wanting to rebel and be themselves. It is a brilliant setup and the entire two-parter doesn't hold back, scenes of military inference that are boldly disturbing (with a fabulous guest appearance from Rebbaca Front) to conversations with scared refugees as they are forced to turn into their true selves. It is a compelling setup that Harness perfects in the conclusion, the tensions are high and the stakes have been explored, there are a couple of plot elements that are a bit unneeded and messy but up until the conclusion this story has been incredible. Then comes one of the most defining moments in Capaldi's tenure as The Doctor, his speech in the conclusion is genuinely outstanding, Capaldi proves that he is the best actor we have ever had portrays this character. I just adore how simple this metaphor for war is and Twelve is put in a situation where all he has is his words, he uses his anger and his passion to break down everything his character has been working towards. The hurt, the anguish, the anger that Capaldi pumps out is mesmerising and it ends this episode beautifully. A wonderful story that may hit a bit too close to home with its political perspective but it cements itself in the show's history with an insanely impressive performance from Capaldi.

Sleep No More

You know what, this is that one episode that I will defend till I die. I am not a fan of Mark Gatiss' attempts at 'Doctor Who' due to how unoriginal and dull most of his stories are. Now 'Sleep No More' isn't great, but it is ambitious and interesting and maybe purely due to the fact it has Reece Shearsmith in but I really have fun with this. So I'm a big fan of a BBC show called 'Inside No.9' which is an anthology show of different bottle episodes usually with a dark twist in the third act, this feels like Gatiss attempting to do something like that for 'Doctor Who'. It is kind of dumb, really messy and takes itself far too seriously but the episode just appeals to my love for format experimentation and weird narratives. A lot of people don't like how vague and nothing this episode is, it essentially has no point existing and is just a one-off little experiment, I like the fact it is a little story of no real consequence. The story is aesthetically brilliant and tonally quite solid, in reality, I respect attempting change and failing with a conventional idea rather than just recycling things we have seen before. I know found footage is a tired genre, but having Shearsmith's character narrating and piecing together the elements adds this wonderful pace to it. The 'Sleep-dust' creatures are dumb, but I think people are far too quick to dismiss them because they are creatures made out of sleep dust, they function as an intimidating and quite scary antagonist. It narratively doesn't do anything that interesting but the format keeps me interested, I really like the twist that the camera footage is the sleep in the corner of your eye and the whole episode is meant to spread this disease. It is a camp and fun idea to frame a found footage idea around, the tone is tense and unnerving and not enough stories are this confident in being this insane. I have a real soft spot for this, it is camp and ridiculous but I enjoy it for what it is, just a little weird story that is inconsequential and something different for once. A 10/10 for ambition really, even if the execution is incredibly messy and unsatisfying I still enjoy this little dumb story and think it doesn't deserve the genuine hatred it gets.

Face the Raven 

I never expected this story to be as brilliant as it is, but my god is 'Face the Raven' one of the most intriguing and heartbreaking episodes the show has ever done. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to definitely crying at this one, not many 'Doctor Who' stories go this hard on the tragedy, most companion departures are sad but not this dark. I know this isn't technically Clara's departure (we will get to that) but my god is it effective, the whole story itself is incredible at maintaining this tone of dread that something bad is going to happen. The Doctor loses his closest friend, the only friend this face has ever truly had to a betrayal from the one person who became this way because of his own attempt at saving her. My opinion on Clara is one a lot more positive than most people, it's changed a lot when compared to when I watched this for the first time, I think she is a brilliant character and incredibly fun to witness. There's something so admirable to make an episode that has her death be completely in character and not contrived at all, she has always been strong-willed and confident and that is her own undoing. She was basically an adrenaline junkie, someone who saved the world countless times and would do it again in a heartbeat, her sacrifice is so tragic as it so unnecessary and something she does independently and to try and help. The actual set up of the story is really well done, the payoff to Ashildr (I refuse to call her Me) and her devotion to saving the world from The Doctor is really well realised as this town for refugees. I love how the episode takes you down this 'murder-mystery' road, falling into all the tropes with a town full of suspicious angry people and a literal ticking clock. but then the rug is pulled out from underneath the audience, it is suddenly no longer about this mystery but a set up that results in Clara's death. Coleman's performance is sublime, her last conversation with The Doctor is heartbreaking and I love how she approaches death completely in character. Capaldi once again brings it by showing that grief and anger through very little dialogue and those moments before he leaves send shivers down my spine. It is an episode dependent on its tragedy when separated from the context of the finale it may be my favourite companion departure and one of the strongest moments in the series. 

Heaven Sent 

Anyone who has ever talked about 'Doctor Who' has probably mentioned how 'Heaven Sent' is an absolute masterpiece. There is no denying that this is an incredible feat of television, I remember it is very crucial to me when I watched it. At the time I was just beginning to really get into film and T.V properly and I had kept this love for 'Doctor Who' since I was a kid but as I begin to broaden my tastes I lost enthusiasm in this show. The last few series I had almost begun watching it as a chore, nothing was really grabbing me but right here after a Series I had, for the most part, enjoyed I was blown away by the promise of 'Heaven Sent'. It is beautiful, there has never been an episode of 'Doctor Who' like this and by the way, things are looking now, there may never be. On a purely artistic level, it is by far the best episode of the entire show, a gorgeous cohesive masterpiece combining everything I love about this show with a dark metaphor for grief and overcoming. It came at a time where I felt a bit ashamed of being a fan of this show, I kept watching it out of obligation and was hitting that stage of growing up where you try and distance yourself from shows that have an 'uncool' reputation. This proved to me that every now and then something beautiful can come out of nowhere, that there is beauty in this show I do love and even when I'm beginning to lose enthusiasm something like this will come around. It is all based around Capaldi, no other Doctor could have accomplished a story like this, just him and his thoughts as he comes to terms with death, mortality, grief and struggles to work out exactly how this beautiful prison works. 

My favourite thing about Capaldi as a Doctor is that he is messy and ironically mortal, he constantly feels like he is fighting an uphill battle and this is one of the most incredible examples of this, he faces this impossible problem with this horror and frustration as he tries to win. He is hurt, damaged and in a place engineered to terrify him, he is angry with grief yet we see him try and be good and make it out of here alive. This is simply an outstanding piece of character writing, this exploration of grief through this uphill struggle is gorgeous and it breaks my heart in two when we see that moment where The Doctor must go on even after everything he has faced, he must go on. It is a beautiful bit of writing, using this really interesting setting and environment to explore a very heavy story of grief and hurt, learning to overcome through your own strength. Rachel Talalay is undeniably the best thing to ever happen to 'Doctor Who' and this is one of my favourite put together episodes of the whole show. The way this setting look is outstandingly beautiful, it feels tangible yet elusive like a dream or more accurately a nightmare with real weight to it. Murray Gold reminds the audience why he is the still the King and why his work is often what made NuWho just as memorable as it has become, this is a beautiful score and I genuinely listen to it a lot. I give Moffat a lot of slack, this is my favourite script of his and I think it reminds me that he can be incredibly talented when he does self-contained beautiful things like this. A genuine masterpiece of an episode and an honour to revisit.

Hell Bent

Oh no. This is it, the episode that broke me, the one that I will never understand or be able to fathom what on earth happened here. It is comforting to imagine Steven Moffat is a 'Jekyll and Hyde' like being and that is why his work is always so inconsistent but at the core of it he can't help himself. I have a little theory that Moffat began this series with the idea of 'Heaven Sent' and worked his way back from there, the hybrid idea was simply a 'confession' for The Doctor to have and then he worked his way back from that idea. As a result, we get a story that is saying a lot of nothing, a story that just dances around itself and throws away anything of consequence. What is the Hybrid? Well, people will argue it is Ashildr or The Doctor and Clara, but Moffat doesn't offer a solid answer and keeps it vague. Which fair enough, perhaps the mystery doesn't need to be answered, but then why do we spend so much time hyping up this mystery! I'm sorry it just drives me insane, the episode is nothing, it drives me round the bend as it spits in the faces of elements I have loved so far and just fills time with plot babble that means nothing. There is this weird argument that because Moffat subverts your expectations of what the Hybrid is, that is clever and beautifully subversive. But the only person who sets your expectations is Moffat himself, the only reason I have expectations as to what the Hybrid is because he spends half this episode teasing that very reveal. What he subverts this idea with is uninteresting and frustrating, offering a pointless soppy goodbye to Clara that we have already done twice.

We just spent one of my favourite episodes revolving around The Doctor coming to terms with Clara's death and MOVING ON and immediately within 20 minutes Clara is rescued and fine. After the cliffhanger of the last episode, I presumed this would be a story about The Doctor reaping revenge on the Time Lords and exploring what the Hybrid is, but that is a tough script to write, a definite answer to what the Hybrid is, is bound to upset some people because messing with lore often doesn't end well. Instead, Moffat dismisses Rassilon after 15 minutes and brings back Clara 5 minutes later for a story revolving around gimmicks of nothing that honestly mean nothing. I've tried to give it time if anything my complaints stem from how brilliantly the last couple of episodes are and how disappointingly dismissed they are in this. I dont get it, a lot of people defend this episode to death but I find it to be genuinely offensive and genuinely pointless. We return to Gallifrey for no reason other than to bring Clara back, we bring Clara back for no reason as she is erased from the Doctor's memory undoing his arc of learning to MOVE ON. My god does it make me angry, it's like a stab in the back and perhaps I will never understand it but it just feels like a joke.

The Husbands of River Song

As far as fun little Christmas Specials go this is one of the better ones. It is dumb, over the top and ridiculous but at its core, it is a lot of fun and is worth getting over the pantomime for the ending few minutes. I'm not a massive River fan, Alex Kingston does an incredible job but her character always felt a bit too whimsical and was often reduced to mystery box teasing. It is a quaint little story, honestly, I dont know why I keep expecting something exciting with these Christmas Specials, it falls into the trope of stories full of cameos and Christmassy nonsense that I just dont care about. On top of that, it has the appeal of the return of River Song and seeing her get to interact with Twelve for the first time is what keeps the episode afloat. I dont have the nostalgic love for seeing River return, in fact, I found her to be more than grating in her original run and thought her story was more than over but it is a testament to just how wonderful this episode is by how much I care about her return. It is a story of two halves, there is a dumb pantomime story involving beheadings and a running joke of River not recognising The Doctor but in the third act, we pull back and explore the relationship between The Doctor and River. One of my favourite little details is the fact The Doctor gave River a diary that had a definite ending point, this is the last goodbye between these characters, we've seen her actual death but this is the goodbye between the two of them properly. It is a hell of an emotional story, those last moments on Darillium are heartbreaking, Capaldi brings some genuine love and respect for River, I wish we spent more time with these two as there chemistry in this one episode is stronger than anything Smith could pull off. Once you get over the little inconsequential story with Greg Davies you get this wonderful story about two people that genuinely care for each other. 

The Return of Dr Mysterio

Maybe it's the fact that originally these two Christmas specials had a year between them but this a chore to get through on a rewatch. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a terrible episode I am just a bit fed up off whimsy Christmas specials that justify not really having a plot in exchange for fun quirky stories. For what it is, this is a nice little superhero goof that utilises it's setting to a fun extent. I'm a comic fan and it is lovely to see 'Doctor Who' attempt superheroes as on the nose like this, the only problem is that it screams of a show running out of ideas. There's something very contrived and pointless about this episode, for all the cool little superhero references I can't help but feel like it just is not necessary and has no real drive to it. Three Christmas specials are regeneration stories which makes it really bizarre to reduce the Christmas specials too such little gimmicky pointless stories. What is even more baffling is that this is the first bit of 'Doctor Who' content we had in basically a year and it is just silly and inconsequential. There's no really fascinating core to the story, there isn't a hook that blows me away instead it is a safe story that I've seen so many times before. The characters are sort of fun, I like Grant as a kind of nerdy superhero but the concept isn't really delved into that much, Lucy is interesting but often just kind of underdeveloped. It feels soft and safe rather than anything that interesting, Capaldi does well, it's nice seeing Nardole again and when it commits to doing Superhero bits its sort of fun. A safe, by the books nothing story that I hardly ever think twice about. 

Series 9 is interesting if anything. There's a lot of stories I really love here but it has one of my least favourite finales of the entire show that spits in the face of what I love about the series. The running arc is almost non-existent and laughably misguided, it doesn't quite know where its heading and as an audience, it ends up being memorable for being frustrating rather than being intriguing. Thanks for reading!