The Twelfth Doctor in Retrospect: Series 10 (2017)

So, here we are at the final Twelfth Doctor retrospective, and I think it's safe to say that his third series was his most consistent overall, even if perhaps lacked standout episodes like 'Heaven Sent', 'Mummy on the Orient Express' or 'Flatline' from his first two series'. This, however, the least successful series the show has had since Season 26 in 1989, and featured little merchandise tie-ins, perhaps signifying the need for a complete overhaul in Series 11.

"THE RETURN OF DOCTOR MYSTERIO"
A wonderfully fun and entertaining Christmas Special, tackling superheroes in the Whoniverse in a slightly more up-beat way, even if the Ghost lacks some of the potential parody or satire that could've made this episode stand out more. Justin Chatwin and Charity Wakefield are great supporting stars, while Peter Capaldi seems to have really settled in the role of the Twelfth Doctor, losing some of the anger and moodiness of previous series' and focusing more on the humour - without over-doing the eccentricities. Matt Lucas' role as Nardole seems a little odd, but works well in the episode to off-set the rest of the cast. Quite how this ties into the flashback to be seen in 'Extremis' is a little confusing though.

"THE PILOT"
Simple, fun and up-beat, 'The Pilot' seems to be Steven Moffat's attempt at a Russell T Davies-style series opener, introducing Bill Potts to the TARDIS whilst also setting-up an intriguing story arc with the inclusion of the mysterious Vault. Pearl Mackie really gets a chance to shine here, and her interactions with the Twelfth Doctor are lovely to watch; Capaldi and Mackie are just fantastic together, and bounce off each other really well. It's a bit of a shame that the rest of the episode is so forgettable really.

"SMILE"
Frank Cottrell-Boyce's second Who outing is much more confident than 'In the Forest of the Night', tackling ideas of civilisation, artificial intelligence and servitude - albeit with a certain amount of subtlety, focusing on the Vardy as being almost eerily complicit servants to the human settlers. The location work is incredible, and provides the episode with some wonderful vistas.

"THIN ICE"
Sarah Dollard manages to balance a fun adventure story for the Doctor and Bill with themes of morality and class, facing both the pros and cons of Regency England head-on. Some of the comments might not be to everyone's taste, but the episode keeps a good pace with a strong mystery and, despite the big monster actually not being so bad after all, provides a wonderfully nasty human villain instead. The sets also look fantastic, and really add to the period setting.

"KNOCK KNOCK"
When viewed as a fantasy episode more so than a horror episode, suddenly 'Knock Knock' becomes much more interesting. The lice are bizarre, if interesting Doctor Who creatures, while David Suchet plays the Landlord brilliantly. The problem is that the episode can't quite make up its mind as to whether or not it is a haunted house episode, or if its a more fantastical story. There isn't any kind of balance in combining the two genres here, as the episode rarely achieves its horror moments, and the fantasy elements come a bit out of nowhere by the end. Also, the bright lighting really kills the mood throughout many scenes, and a couple of key deleted scenes (included on the box-set) could've helped the episode out a bit.

"OXYGEN"
The first half of this episode is a brilliantly eerie and tense base-under-siege story, and easily the scariest Who for quite a while. The lighting, sets, make-up, music...everything creates this brilliant atmosphere to Jamie Mathieson's script. Of course, then the episode goes down-hill a bit. The explicit themes of capitalism are very poorly-handled, as is the Doctor turning blind - something that isn't set-up as a possibility given his Time Lord physiology - and Bill's death fake-out. By its climax, the tension and scares are all but gone from the episode, and the final resolution is clever, even if the actual ending feels a bit cheap.

"EXTREMIS", "THE PYRAMID AT THE END OF THE WORLD" and "THE LIE OF THE LAND"
Series Ten's three-parter is a real mixed bag, kicking things off with the bizarre Matrix-esque, reality-bending antics of 'Extremis' - which I personally really enjoyed - before slowing right down to a stop with the ultimately pointless second part by Peter Harness (yep, the same guy who did Series Eight's 'Kill the Moon' and Series Nine's 'The Zygon Invasion/Inversion'), and kicking back up again for a slightly rushed resolution in Toby Whithouse's 'The Lie of the Land'. I still think the story could have worked, but the poor pacing and structure just causes the whole thing to fall flat in the end. Very disappointing.

"EMPRESS OF MARS"
Mark Gatiss' Series Ten episode is a wonderful tribute to classic sci-fi of the 19th Century, working the Ice Warriors into a classic Martian narrative. The whole thing is completely ridiculous, but that's all part of its charm, not to mention that its themes of honour and what it means to each character makes for a much more interesting episode underneath it all. It might not appeal to everyone, but I personally really enjoy this episode, and the Ice Warriors are great in it. Plus, the ending is a lovely treat for Pertwee-era fans.

"THE EATERS OF LIGHT"
For some reason, I never feel like I give Rona Munro's Doctor Who return much credit. Honestly, the episode fades to the back of my mind when I look back over this series, which feels odd given that the episode is A) clearly a Rona Munro script, and thus tackles familiar themes and ideas to that of 'Survival' and B) very much an original episode in the series. I mean, how many Roman vs Celts episodes of Who have you seen? It makes for a very different episode, and that's possibly why it didn't appeal to some. I don't think it's perfect, and it's not a favourite of mine, but I do think it's become a bit of an underrated gem in this series.

"WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME" and "THE DOCTOR FALLS"
This episode is a fantastic conclusion to both Series Ten and Peter Capaldi's time on Doctor Who as a whole. Funny, heart-wrenching and epic, this two-part finale has everything you could want - I just wish that the episodes didn't also have some minor problems. For example, Bill is stuck at the other end of the ship for ten years, but it doesn't actually make a difference. Bill doesn't change at all physically or mentally, and retains her optimistic attitude throughout. It just doesn't ring true somehow. Perhaps if it was only six months, it would make much more sense. Also, the Cybermen are set-up really well in the first part to essentially serve as a generic threat in the second part, which feels very disappointing after how brilliant the set-up was. Missy's whole arc also feels a little bit underdeveloped in the whole thing, but that's just a nit-pick. Nardole's farewell, Bill's exit with Heather and Twelve's death scene are all brilliant...I just wish Peter Capaldi had regenerated in the TARDIS there and then after all.

"TWICE UPON A TIME"
The word disappointment is what springs to mind when I think of this episode. With virtually no plot, poorly-developed characters and no sense of narrative momentum or pace, you'd think this would be awful. The problem is that I just can't bring myself to hate this episode. There's some really lovely scenes sprinkled in, not least the scene where the Captain salutes to Twelve - a nice, understated moment beautifully scored by Murray Gold. Capaldi's final scene feels all-over-the-place, but so does the episode as a whole. I was looking forward to seeing more of Bill, but Steven Moffat manages to butcher her whole story in the episode, and Nardole's and Clara's cameos bring up all sorts of issues regarding their respective exits from the show. If nothing else, at least we've said goodbye to this era once and for all...

...and that concludes my retrospectives on the Twelfth Doctor. Looking back over everything, I think that Series Eight was possibly the strongest of the three series, given how fantastic some of the episodes were, but Series Ten was much more consistent. When I tried to marathon Eight, I gave up once I reached 'Kill the Moon', but I watched all of Ten very quickly, and thoroughly enjoyed it all - that is of course before 'Twice Upon a Time' aired on Christmas Day. Nine was undoubtedly the worst series, but it did certainly have its highlights for me.

As for the Twelfth Doctor himself, I think that Peter Capaldi is brilliant and wonderful in every single one of his episodes, regardless of whatever the scripts give him to work with. His commitment and enthusiasm for the show remains throughout his run, and makes his episodes much better than they would have been under the helm of a different actor playing the Twelfth Doctor. Sadly though, the scripts are so hit-and-miss that he can't always save every episode. At least when Matt Smith had a dud, the series moved on to bigger and better things, but Capaldi's era felt like a downward spiral overall, in terms of popularity and quality. Once 'Hell Bent' came along, most of the optimism surrounding the show seemed to dissipate, regardless of how well Series Ten was received. For now though, it's time to welcome Jodie Whittaker into the TARDIS (or out of, I guess) with welcome arms, and let Chris Chibnall make his mark on Doctor Who with series 11 later this year...

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