Doctor Who: The Witch's Familiar (2015) - Written Review

This review is going to be a lot shorter than the one I wrote for 'The Magician's Apprentice'. Partly because I've been working on a script for my video review for both episodes, partly because I don't feel I can go into as much detail about this episode, mostly because it makes absolutely no sense to me at so many points that I wonder if I'm missing something. If I am, then some of my criticisms may be incorrect.
I don't like criticizing Doctor Who. It's my favourite show on television and I've been a fan for over ten years, so whenever I don't like an episode, it makes me feel a little bit sad inside. Back in 2013, 'The Time of the Doctor' almost broke me as a fan. I really lost almost all hope in the show, and thankfully 'Deep Breath' and most of Series 8 was excellent, so I stuck with it. Heck, I was pretty disappointed with 'Last Christmas', but have persevered.
'The Witch's Familiar', however, highlights almost every single Steven Moffat criticism I can muster in 50 minutes: there are huge plot holes, plot threads are just left dangling to be picked up at a later date very untidily, the companion is atrociously underwritten, there is far too much unnecessary fan service, Moffat completely misunderstands important parts of Who lore, Moffat develops major plot holes from interfering with Who lore, the characters go through some interesting themes and conversations but do not change or undergo any sort of character arc, there are more plot points than are necessary, half of the plot of the episode isn't needed, there are so many great scenes and lines that are just forced into the episode with the scenes in-between just being there to set up the next Internet-friendly quip, and the title has no relation to the episode itself.
Well done Moffat, you almost broke me...again.

This episode just made me feel fed up. On Saturday I saw the movie 'Bill' at the cinemas, and while I was disappointed that it wasn't doing well, it was such a great and hilarious film that I knew that no matter how few people had seen it, it has been appreciated by all who have (go see 'Bill' by the way, its brilliant). 'The Witch's Familiar' seems to have gained a mixed reaction though.
The episode almost got to an emotional center that was deep and fascinating to watch unfold, but the ending ruined it. Moffat had to try and be clever - and that's the problem: he isn't that clever. We know all his tricks now. We're sitting through the same old thing again!
There's quite a bit to love here though. When the episode is good, its great. I love the scene where The Doctor enters in Davros' chair, saying "admit it - we've all had this exact nightmare", before getting ready to kill the Daleks in order to bring his best friend back. Then we have Davros opening normal Kaled eyes, and thus bringing up the blatant plot hole of his robotic eye and beginning what should be an emotional scene ruined by me sitting there thinking "how the hell can Davros open his eyes?!"
Overall, this story was a real mixed bag. It had great moments, but it all felt incredibly padded out. The opening was great, if pointless, the ending literally had the Daleks' waste destroying them (I'm sure someone can make a metaphor for this series' current status with that), and the emotional core of the episode was ruined by a "twist" of "I was lying all the time!" Moffat, I'm fed up. Write some original, interesting scripts with good, focused stories and stop writing this kind of Who. Maybe next week will be better.