It's funny how good this season is as a whole, I've seen pretty much every episode order in people's raking.

1. The Devil's Chord
2. Rogue
3. The Legend of Ruby Sunday
4. 73 yards
5. Dot and Bubble
6. Church on Ruby Road
7. Empire of Death
8. Space Babies
9. Boom

I liked the season overall. Could have had a bit more tigher plotting, and definitely needed more Ncuti than we got, but alas, it wasn't possible.

 

what accent is Ncutti going for because good lord it often threw me for a loop
Good first season, the ending was kinda mid but the journey was fascinating

 

It's his own accent, which is to say, Rwandan-Scottish.

 

Well, this was the first season of Doctor Who I’ve watched since mid Capaldi.

Honestly… kinda disappointing. I liked the actors, but I thought the writing was very… it lacked something essential.

Doctor Who always had its share of really average or cringe episodes, but they were interspersed with moments of pure brilliance. We had the cringe in this season, but we never had the brilliance. And that sucks.

I was particularly frustrated by 73 yards, which never really explained anything at all. It was just this randoms slice of life that started with this really interesting and creepy mystery. That then just… ended. There was no actual point to any of it. Nothing to say. I wonder if it’s a reflection of post-brexit British despondency.

In Boom I found the emotional device of the little girl asking where her dad was, as they held his corpse, was just really in your face. The start had real potential.

Dot and bubble… like holy shit. Interesting episode, but the ending was just so fucking random. Oh btw they’re all super racist. Ok cool…? But there was nothing of actual substance in there.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday was actually a great episode, good build up ,suspenseful, but massively let down by whatever the fuck the second part was. It gave me real The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit vibes, which were some of the best episodes imo. But again, it was just a veneer with no depth.

Overall, I liked Ncuti Gawa as the doctor and the character of Ruby Sunday.

I thought her character arc from a writing perspective SUCKED though. Like there was all this fucking build up, the snow, and then it turns out it’s all just completely normal but something to do with the dumbest fucking god ever who was attached to the Tardis. I really liked the Maestro is comparison. At least they had character.

Here’s my ranking, but I have absolutely no desire to watch any of these episodes again. And no real motivation to watch the next season, though maybe I’d give it a go if I was bored.

1. The Legend of Ruby Sunday
2. The Devil's Chord
3. Space Babies
4. Dot and Bubble
5. Rogue
5. 73 yards
5. Church on Ruby Road
6. Boom
7. Empire of Death

I’m curious, where did this stand up for you guys compared to Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker?

 

For me, massive improvement over Whittaker and a bit better than early Capaldi, a bit worse than later Capaldi.

(And to be clear, that's a writing issue with 13, not anything to do with Whittaker's acting.)

 

I’m actually okay with the emotionality for the most part. Tennant was the same. Crying is maybe a bit much though. Less believable at least.

There was a lot of trauma dumping on poor Ruby at the start tho.

 

Basing it purely on their respective first seasons.

Capaldi vs Gatwa - Capaldi gets a significantly better arc plot, and benefits from having an established companion to back him up rather than an entirely new TARDIS team. It's also a longer season, so more time to dig into the characters, although again, we already know Clara fairly well at that point. However, while 12 starts out as interestingly serious and cold, he's a bit of an arsehole for most of season 8, which is off putting, whereas Gatwa is always watchable not quite alien. Also, while the arc plot is better, there's also a few genuine stinkers amongst the episodes, whereas even Gatwa's worst episodes have some redeeming features. Overall, I think Capaldi's season is probably a bit better, but I'd be more likely to watch Gatwa's season start to finish again, rather than edited highlights.

Whittaker vs Gatwa - her arc plot is more coherent, but kinda dull. Whittaker feels more like an alien, but doesn't really get the writing to back up her performance; her 'fam' aren't especially compelling either - Ruby's backstory may have turned out to be bullshit, but at least Gibson gave a watchable performance. Whittaker also doesn't really get any standout episodes for her, and Kerblam! stands out as genuinely rubbish. Gatwa definitely wins out here.

 

Was gearing up for disappointment after Season 2 opened with the extrmely forgettable Robot Revolution, but "Lux" was excellent.

Top tier Doctor Who. And if the leaks that declared Lux was gonna be a funny and meta banger were correct, then we apparently have several more bangers coming in short order.

 

The Well was pretty great too, so fingers crossed for that streak to continue.

Spoiler

f you'd told me that there would ever be a sequel to Midnight, let alone one that was actually good, I'd have told you you were crazy

 

The Well was classic ScaryWho. And RTD seems to have gotten over his initial "The Doctor figures everything out instantly and then exposits everything oh so FABULOUSLY" impulse and thank God for that.

 

So, now we know who Mrs Flood is...

Spoiler

I'll be honest, not super fussed by the Rani being backed, but good news for the old school fans I guess. I was more intrigued by the return of Susan, although we'll see what comes of it.

Revelations notwithstanding, feels like the season has dipped in quality the last two or three episodes. Not absolutely awful, but certainly not great either.

 

Oh what the fuck

 

Not a fan.

 

I enjoyed it.

I'm probably one of the few who did, but that was fun and one of the finales that landed for me. I enjoyed last week's episode quite a lot too. Definitely more of a Journey's End type "gang comes together and solves the things" finale, not one for thinking too deeply about.

This also probably was hurt a bit by the reshoots that happened earlier this year. (Hurt in the 'they had to work to make the best of things' way and not in the 'they reshot it and now it sucks' way.)

 

For those of us not actively watching, what happened?

 

Spoiler

An awful lot, little of it good (IMO, of course) but what I personally meant in my last post was the Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper.

Like, it was a pretty shit finale overall, but that was the point at which I admitted to myself it might be time to give up on the show.

 

Lol. I kinda gave up on the show quite some time ago now. But keep an eye on it, and have been thinking about catching S2 of Gatwa. I don't actively remember hating S1, but remembered none of it so had to go reread my review to see what I thought. Which tells you a lot tbh.

How this season compared to the previous? It's clearly got some lows, but did it have higher highs?

 

I suppose the season as a whole is probably comparable; mostly fine if not great, with a couple of very good episodes (if nothing else, give the third episode, The Well, a try). But the lows are a lot worse, and assuming that they aren't doing something complicated with the regeneration and Gatwa really is gone, the whole era feels like a bit of a damp squib in a lot of ways.