Doctor Who: Is Season 8 the Most Divisive One Yet?

When Peter Capaldi took over the iconic role of the Doctor at the beginning of Doctor Who's eighth season, I assumed that the most frustrating and difficult hurdle we'd face as fans would be getting to know another actor as the Doctor. I'd grown quite fond of Matt Smith's spastic and lighthearted portrayal of Eleven—and before that, I was a proud member of Team Tennant—so I was cautious about opening up my heart to another actor. However, I was also intrigued by the promise of Capaldi's older, darker, more reserved version of the character.

Transitioning from one Doctor to another, especially when his companion carries over the way that Jenna Coleman's Clara did in Season 8, is traditionally a bumpy process. And it should be, because it's not just the Doctor's face that changes each time he regenerates—his personality is altered, too. Once the "swap" takes place, fans are generally forced to give the show and its cast some leeway while the writers and actors settle into their new status quo. But Capaldi's reign as the titular Time Lord has been more controversial than I ever imagined it would be, and Season 8 is shaping up to be one of the most divisive I've seen in the Whoniverse in a long time.

After the Season 8 premiere in August, and then again about halfway through September, I asked TV.com readers the share their opinions of Capaldi's Doctor. The response was overwhelmingly negative, with many people requesting another regeneration. I've largely stayed quiet about my personal feelings for Capaldi until now, mostly because I don't think the show's problems are his fault, but also because I wanted to give him a full season before declaring my loyalty or lack thereof. There were times early on in the season, like in "Into the Dalek" and "Robot of Sherwood" for example, where I felt like the writers were struggling to adapt to this new character, or were refusing to accept this new version of the Doctor that they themselves had created. Sometimes it even seemed like Capaldi was just doing his best Matt Smith impression, which was less than ideal.

It's true that the Doctor's longstanding humor hasn't meshed particularly smoothly with Capaldi's darker, more pensive version of the character. But I think that as Season 8 has progressed, both the actor and Doctor Who's writers have managed to make the character their own by adding a tinge of quiet uncertainty and edge to a guy who's largely been a childlike chatterbox for the last six seasons. Capaldi plays the Doctor as a surly curmudgeon with a dry sense of humor—qualities that were on most prominent display in September's "The Caretaker"—and while I see them as positive, I also acknowledge they're not for everyone.

However, whether or not you've joined Team Capaldi isn't necessarily the point or the problem that's currently plaguing the show. Yes, longtime fans are divided over Twelve, but they're even more up in arms about the direction of Doctor Who itself. Season 8 has been largely inconsistent in terms of quality and writing, which has led to very high highs like "Listen" and very low lows like "Kill the Moon." For some, I imagine that the main issue is the show's focus on Clara's relationship with both the Doctor and Danny, while others might find the show's fantastical approach to storytelling a bit too far-fetched as of late. Doctor Who doesn't seem to know its audience anymore, and it's falling into the habit of flip-flopping between more adult-oriented stories and adventures aimed at younger viewers, depending on the week.

I've praised the show for its dedication to giving Clara a personality and a purpose outside of the Impossible Girl in Season 8, and I've very much enjoyed its continued efforts to incorporate the companion's personal life back into the fold after several seasons of ignoring it. Character development and emotional arcs used to be a more commonplace of Doctor Who, but somewhere along the way, they took a backseat to more complicated, season-long mysteries dressed in the companion's clothing. Of course, fans' enjoyment of various changes and new characters will always be subjective; your opinion of Doctor Who at any given time will depend on your reason for tuning in week after week. If you watch the show for the adventures in time and space, episodes like "Time Heist" and the more recent "Mummy on the Orient Express" probably rate very high in your book. Meanwhile, installments like last week's "In the Forest of the Night" and the aforementioned "The Caretaker"—both of which focused a great deal on Clara's life as a teacher and her role as a guardian of children (and the Doctor)—probably fall somewhere near the bottom of the list.

Ultimately, it seems that very few Season 8 episodes have been viewed positively by a majority of Doctor Who fans, with the wibbly-wobbly "Listen" and the creepy and original "Flatline" being the exceptions. So what did those two episodes have that the others did not? The most obvious common denominator is that they both featured original villains and dealt with the fear of the unknown, but since it's not possible for the series to return to same well in every episode, what can it do to improve its standing in the eyes of fans?

Replacing Capaldi is hardly the answer, and blaming Clara and Danny won't solve anything either, because Doctor Who's current issues can all be traced back to poor plotting in the writers' room. The show's biggest fault right now is that it's struggling to balance all of its different pieces and parts, which include the Doctor's ongoing quest to discover who he is, Clara's strained mentor/mentee relationship with the Doctor, and Clara's romantic involvement with Danny, as well as several standalone adventures and season-long mysteries. On their own they're all perfectly fine or even better than fine, but there are very few through-lines, which has made for a roller coaster of a season. Personal preference will always play into our opinions of individual characters and our enjoyment of Doctor Who overall—and it's perfectly okay if you're not a fan of Capaldi or Clara or Danny—but I think what's become clear this season, at least for me, is that if the consistency and the story quality aren't there, few people are going to be happy with the show no matter what it does.

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