A week ago Saturday saw the conclusion of the eighth season of “Doctor Who.” Even though this is a week late, I wanted to take some time to think not only about the season finale, but the overall arc.

(SPOILERS) In the two-part episode “Dark Water / Death in Heaven” we got to see the meaningless death of Clara’s boyfriend, Danny Pink, a Walking Dead Cyberman Invasion, and the return of “The Master” sort of. And the Doctor got the answer to the question he posed earlier in the season… “Am I a good man?”

We finally know for certain that Timelords can regenerate as either male or female. The Master has now become The Mistress. And I feel that decision was a desperate mistake. Regeneration was a plot device so that different actors could come and go from the role of the Doctor without missing a beat. But I feel there should be limits to it. Crossing genders should be one of them. It’s silly, ridiculous, and unnecessary. Just create a new strong female role or pull one from the shows past. There are so many female characters from “Doctor Who’s” history they could have drawn from, including fan favorite ‘The Rani.’

At least they finally did away with lame duck Danny Pink. He was one of the most uninteresting characters created for this new Who reboot. There was no chemistry of any kind between him and Clara. And the actor’s portrayal of the character was boring. Let’s hope he stays gone.

Ultimately what could have been an interesting premise for these last two episodes came across as absurdly dark, bleak, emotionally forced, and just silly nonsense, even for a “Doctor Who” episode. And I felt the death of the Osgood character was just a bit cruel and completely unnecessary. She actually might have made a good assistant for the Doctor.

As for the season/series as a whole, I’m afraid I’m finally going to have to take off the “Doctor Who” rosy-colored glasses. Overall, I feel as if it came up way too short. It’s been far too hit and miss. It just didn’t have the same sense of fun and wonder that the other seasons had.  Yes, there have been some decent episodes, but the ones that didn’t work overshadowed the ones that did. I get the impression that they just didn’t have a clear vision going into this season.

I personally think that Peter Capaldi is fine in the role, but I get the feeling that even Capaldi didn’t know how to treat the character due to the scripts he was receiving. I even got the impression he might have been a bit uncomfortable as the Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant really embraced that character from day one. They were the Doctor. I just didn’t get that from Capaldi. He was just too uneven this season. But I feel as if he did his best with what he was given.

Steven Moffat was brave in casting someone older to play the Doctor, but from a marketing standpoint, I think he made a big mistake. Matt Smith really opened the door and created a new fan base for the series. I don’t think anyone could argue that he certainly helped to raise the popularity of the show and its overall reach. But I feel as if they may have hurt that forward momentum by changing the tone of the show too much, too quickly. And it might have helped if they bridged that age gap a bit (someone older than Smith but younger than Capaldi) at least for a short time going forward, before casting someone like Capaldi, who quite frankly needed more edge, not only to his character, but from the scripts he was delivered.

And I’ve already written enough about Clara to tell you that the character has played itself out. Even though they’ve made Clara more interesting this season, it’s time the Doctor gets a new assistant.

So in closing, I feel as if this season/series just didn’t work very well. There were certainly good elements about it, but I’d still consider it the least interesting of all the “Doctor Who’s” to date since the beginning of the reboot. But I still think Capaldi can knock it out of the ballpark if given the proper material to work with. And I’ll be happy to see him continue as the Doctor for some time to come.  I’d also like to add that bad, or sub-par, “Doctor Who” is still better than no “Doctor Who.” 

So below are the last two “Doctor Who” extras along with a preview and two-minute clip for this years “Doctor Who” Christmas special.  And finally, for fun, I’ve also included a “Doctor Who” Lego video.