Season Review: Doctor Who - Season 8

 

Doctor Who Season 8 had a lot to prove. It had to prove that its new doctor, Peter Capaldi, was the right choice for the job. It had to prove that it had learned from the criticism and concerns surrounding the show's weak seventh season and could produce a better, tighter product. It had to prove that Steven Moffat, showrunner of Doctor Who, wasn't burned out and was still capable of producing material at the level of his earlier seasons (and his work during the RTD era of the show). It had to prove that Clara wasn't a mistake of a character and could actually be a relatable human being rather than just a concept. Now, this wasn't necessarily a perfect season. There were a few weak episodes (looking at you, Robot of Sherwood) and some head-scratching decisions, as are expected with pretty much any given season of Doctor Who. But this season surprised me in that it managed to prove every single one of my above points, and managed to make me feel completely comfortable about the direction of the show.

Doctor Who Season 7 had many problems, but the biggest one was its unwillingness to ever ground itself in anything even remotely resembling human emotion (other than the genuinely heart-wrenching exit of the Ponds). Doctor Who is a show that can float into whimsy so easily that it's important to have a human anchor at the helm, and each of the previous modern series companions did a good job of providing that anchor. But the show refused to let Clara serve that same purpose, never allowing her to escape what she was introduced as: the "Impossible Girl", the woman who the Doctor saw die - twice - and then magically came back. After this "mystery" was finally solved (Clara cloned herself to save the Doctor in a story that seemed to exist only to solve that very mystery), the show was too caught up on the 11th Doctor's upcoming regeneration to really give her the time of day that she deserved. So it was a relief in Season 8 to see the show spending so much time getting down to just who Clara really is, outside of an enigma. We learned a lot about her - her personality (turns out, she's a little obsessive and controlling but very passionate about the things she loves! Who knew?), what she meant to the Doctor, and what the Doctor meant to her. This allowed Season 8 to be rooted in the human emotion that keeps the show strong even when it's flying off the rails, which it tends to do, because it's Doctor Who.

But so much of Season 8's success has to be lent to Peter Capaldi, who immediately shattered any doubts about his capabilities as the Doctor by just nailing the role from basically the very beginning. Capaldi gave the Doctor a sinister edge that hasn't been at the forefront of most recent incarnations, making the show notably different from what it was during Tennant and Smith's long-running and (deserving) beloved tenures. This allowed the show to play with some of the formulas that became prevalent over the modern era of the show and even dating back to the classic era - episodes like Listen and Murder on the Orient Express toyed with the very concept of a monster and analyzed what defeating them really meant, in a way Doctor Who doesn't routinely go to but generally is wildly successful when it does. He was able to handle both the humor and the tragedy of his character with aplomb, and much of the season's darker material would be lost if it weren't for his capabilities. I'm really excited to see what else the show has in store for him, because this season proved that he could do whatever the show threw his way. 

Now, yes, there were some weird pockets of this season. The Robinhood episode Robot of Sherwood was pretty dire, as was the similarly flaky In the Forest of the Night. The show spent a bit too much time assuring viewers that this was still the Doctor they know and love even if he happened to be kind of old, and there was the occasional pratfall of getting overly complex that Moffat tends to fall into. But by and large, this was the best, most consistent season of Doctor Who in many years - and arguably one of the strongest seasons the new show has produced. This is a show that can turn into something else on a whimsy, which is part of what I love about it - but I'm hoping it sticks with this vibe for a bit longer, because I'm really, really digging it.

Final Grade: A-