A lot of the stories seemed to reach for the lowest hanging fruit on the tree or absurd suspensions of reality. We save Robin Hood by shooting a golden arrow with a long bow through a window of a moving space ship...yes we are dealing with science fiction but this is a stretch. Another example was the season leading up to Missy. We spent all season wondering who this new character is, only to be not only given the obvious but also a grand finale that miraculously gives armor to the dead and buried out of thin air (or dirt?).
Clara Oswald was a nice foil to 11’s general madman with a box attitude. She played the
straight man in a comedy duo of sorts, keeping him somewhat grounded and providing a funny look or one liner here to put him in his place. Unfortunately, in the conversion to 12, we suddenly had 2 straight men (let’s face it, Abbott and Costello are infinitely funnier than Abbott and Abbott would be). In their first season together, 12 acts more like a jilted ex, trying to hang on to an ended relationship than a hero. With “Last Christmas” she gets a poignant and fitting send off—-except at the last minute she changed her mind and came back and we had another season of the same except now she was acting like a full blown addict.
Capaldi was at his best when he had a comic foil. Missy fit the bill nicely as did River Song. Using Nardole in his last season was a nice effort, but he was underused. And the big “mystery” that Missy was In The Vault (lowest fruit again), overshadowed him. The last season felt like a bucket list for 12. Just a bunch of episodes with monsters thrown together that Capaldi, as a fan, wanted to bring back. Here’s to hoping a brand new completely fresh start can reinvigorate the show like 9 did so many years again.
Brice Baker