S08xE09 “Flatline”

We are only 3 episodes away from the series 8 finale of Doctor Who, so I feel it’s time to admit it. I am completely bored with this season. The only interesting part of the series so far has been Missy and The Promised Land plot line, and we get so little of that in between the grumpy kermuffin Doctor and romantically torn Clara, it is taking all my strength to watch and write each week WITHOUT complaining.

I’m complaining now.

Spoiler-y rant ahead, sweetie!

I have been unimpressed by, not necessarily Peter Capaldi in the role of the Doctor, but by his lack of character arc and meaningful interactions with others outside of Clara. The Moffat-y mystery–Missy and her origins–has only been touched on sporadically throughout the series, weakening my interest and resolve to actually find out who/what this person is to the Doctor. Her appearances remind me of how we were introduced to Madame Kovarian in series 6, which was great THE FIRST TIME but come on, Moff. I’ve been on your side the entire time and here you are, letting me down with the refurbished, recycled plot developments that I have seen before. Is this something that will be dragged across a finale and series 9? Chuck help us.

While I do appreciate the character growth of Clara in series 8 so far, I don’t get the hype. Yes, she is turning into a darker version of herself, but do we really think she has the capability of going against the Doctor at any point? Him going against her, I can see but, if Missy “chose” Clara to be placed with the Doctor, does that negate all the companion did with the former regeneration? She went into his timeline and saved him at so many different points in history and, if Missy is somehow in “control” of Clara, it seems strange to have a sinister entity only utilizing the companion now.

“Flatline” gives audiences a chance to see Clara in action as she takes on the role of the Doctor, and she is right; she plays a very “good” Doctor. She is a master liar, manipulator and knows how to run away from a fight when necessary. The thing is, with Clara, there has been so much juping around, so much missing time, I feel almost uninvested in what happens to her, anyway. I enjoy seeing her at the school and with Danny and even hypothesizing around her future, but I don’t really care what goes on with her and the Doctor. The chemistry isn’t there, the emotions just aren’t there. This episode didn’t even have that good “MotW” feel to it, as “Orient” did, last week. I was just plain bored. Besides the tiny TARDIS and a brief glimpse of Missy at the end, I was so bored out of my mind, I spent most of the episode waiting for Danny to catch on to Clara’s lies and hoping to see him get a bit more on-screen time with Clara and the Doctor, if only to bring some much needed tension to a BORING story.

There’s my rant. I am waiting on baited breath to see if the last 3 episodes actually keep me interested. Sorry for the grump-fest. Here! Have a Doctor Who Crack!Vid as compensation for getting to the end of this post.

xoxo Your Friendly Neighborhood Wholigan

The Collectiva Diva