DOCTOR WHO: SERIES 9

Glad that’s over.

So yeah. Doctor Who is finished for the year again. Thankfully, it wasn’t as utterly crap as last year’s series, which was by far the worst ever made. And while it had low moments, this years was a far better attempt. In my view, that’s down to one thing: Peter Capaldi. Last year he just played a grumpy old man with a time machine. This time round, I think he’s played The Doctor almost perfectly. So, without further ado, let’s look at the episodes this series had to offer.

Episode 1: The Magician’s Apprentice

Missy returned, as did The Doctor’s arch nemesis, Davros. No-one really saw this coming, but it was a nice surprise when it did. The only real downside to this episode was that it took forever to get going after the initial reveal.

Episode 2: The Witch’s Familiar

This episode carried on from the last, and didn’t waste any time. Major downside: Gooey tunnel Daleks. Major upside, just after the Doctor de-chairs Davros, with the line: “Admit it, you’ve all had this exact nightmare.”

Episode 3: Under the Lake

This one had The Doctor, Clara and some science-y people being hunted by ghosts. That’s about it.

Episode 4: Before the Flood

Carrying on from episode 3, The Doctor and two of the science-y people travel back in time to before the lake was a lake, and defeat the bad guy in the process. All the while Clara and the others are stuck in the underwater base, with a ghost of the Doctor following them. In typical Moffat-ridiculous fashion, it all sorted itself out. The only thing of note in this episode was the intro were The Doctor went all fourth wall on us, talking about Beethoven’s fifth.

Episode 5: The Girl Who Died

This episode introduced Ashildr, who returned throughout the rest of the series. It also had fake space Vikings. The only good bit of the episode was when The Doctor figured out why he had the face he did: He saves people. And he did, by making Ashildr immortal. Not always a good thing…

Episode 6: The Woman Who Lived

Following on from episode 5, The Doctor meets Ashildr in the 1650s. Aside the moral message that immortality is just everyone else dying, it was awful.

Episode 7: The Zygon Invasion

This story carried on from 2013’s The Day of The Doctor, showing us what happened to the Zygons we all forgot existed. Basically, nothing ended well, and Clara was replaced with a Zygon clone.

Episode 8: The Zygon Inversion

The Doctor jumped out of a plane (again), and saved the day. I don’t remember how, but that’s just because it was so amazingly boring. The only thing that stood out was when The Doctor was talking about Gallifrey and the Time War. Another great few minutes from Capaldi there.

Episode 9: Sleep No More

UTTER AND COMPLETE CRAP ABOUT SOME KILLER SLEEP DUST.

Episode 10: Face the Raven

We are re-introduced to Rigsy, and travel to a hidden street in London. Ashildr returns, stuff happens and Clara is basically sentenced to death. On the whole, an averagely good episode, which ended in Clara’s demise. What really stood out though was Capaldi’s brilliant performance in the last few minutes. “You’ll find it’s a very small Universe when I’m angry with you.”

Episode 11: Heaven Sent

With Clara dead, and The Doctor stuck in an eternal trap of his own greatest fears, things don’t look great. Whilst watching an entire episode of just The Doctor certainly got boring, the final ten-or-so minutes shone. It was revealed The Doctor we were watching was basically just a 3-D printed version of himself, and he had in fact been stuck in the prison for 7000 years. After flashing through a few billion years, and a story about a bird, he finally breaks free. And were does he end up? Gallifrey.

Episode 12: Hell Bent

The Doctor is back on Gallifrey. This was by far Capaldi’s best Episode. The strange thing was, the episode didn’t focus on Gallifrey. Instead, The Doctor used some Time Lord tech to save Clara, mere moments from her death. After finding out he spent over 4 billion years just to see her again, he steals another TARDIS. And yes, it’s the original. He meets up with Ashildr at the very end of the Universe, and they have a conversation I still don’t understand about the Hybrid. Realising the Time Lords can use Clara to get to him, The Doctor decides to wipe her memory of him, Donna style. Don’t ask me why, he just did. However, in typical Who fashion, she reverses the polarity. After another emotional goodbye, the Doctor’s memory of Clara is wiped. After being taken back to Earth, the Doctor is returned to his old TARDIS. Clara and Ashildr take the new TARDIS off into the Universe, and the Doctor receives a new, and rather Steam Punk looking Sonic Screwdriver.

All in all, a series of ups and downs. We’re still not anywhere near Russell T Davis levels of good, but we’re back to when Moffat first took up the helm in series 5. Let’s just be thankful there weren’t any episodes about killer trees taking over London. But the high point was, by far, Capaldi’s excellent performance as the Doctor. While the last few Doctors have all been great in their own way, Capaldi seems to be great in the classic, Doctor way.

7/10. No, wait...6/10. No, 7. I don't know. Somewhere around there.