Granted I haven't seen season 9, but I'd probably disagree. One of nu-Who's strengths has been its ability to give depth and shading to the companions more than the classic run ever did (Ace aside). A strong (or 'epic,' if you prefer) person in that role is arguably more necessary when the Doctor's in one of his more…

I see where you're coming from. I'd argue the character's always been complex—there was always a darkness or edginess underneath even the irreverent/whimsical incarnations like Troughton and T. Baker—and the Time War thing was a smart way to start the new era with a struggling character and a clean slate.

It's odd for such a main character to fill this role, but JD on Scrubs came dangerously close far, far, far too often. Looking at the AVC's recaps (why the hell couldn't they at least cover S8 too?) it's interesting to see how common that sentiment is.

Me too, me too. I so would have loved to see more of Claire, but she was barely visible on the bench because somebody wanted to keep Kate out in the middle. It was just incomprehensible.

I had mixed feelings, just because his exit was so perfect it felt too contrived to bring him back. But I can go with it because his S5 performance was so great, and it was fitting not to leave Sajahn as a loose end.

My first thought as well. I was just scrolling down to see if anyone else mentioned him before posting it myself.

He didn't have romantic feelings. He formed an unusually powerful attachment, because he met her at a truly terrible low point in his life and needed some source of comfort to latch onto in his vulnerability, but his feelings were too complex and alien to be anything recognizable as romantic love. That's how I've…

"Hey, you know what we should do? Bring back another Paul Rudd character, only make him even shallower and genuinely nasty." Yeah, hard to imagine how such a normally superb writers' gang ever thought that was a good idea.

I definitely wouldn't say it died, but yes, I didn't think it was possible for such an awesome show to suffer so much just from one character. It's almost impressive just how ruinously obnoxious he could be just by showing up.

As I recall, it was sort-of-mostly trapped again once the hellmouth closed.

I never thought Glory was dumb so much as… scattered, which was a natural part of her variety of crazy. It was written in a way that could have felt very off, and sometimes did, but was saved by the awesomeness of Clare Kramer's performance more often than not.

Sadly, once I wasn't a kid anymore I realized what a big lesson that was too. The 1% parasite tycoon gets to keep everything he stole and the little people have to figure out how to share the smaller share of the pie they've got left. Talk about a lesson true to life.

Yeah, that one was sort of… what's the opposite of lightning in a bottle? It was a case where some potentially fantastic elements come together, but somehow they all react wrongly and the good parts cancel each other out. Big bad that's nigh-impossible to fight, let alone beat (and who then turns out to only be the…

Mr. Pointy?

Funny enough, my biggest impression of this one has been that it's brighter than usual. Huge and heavy as fuck, of course, but somehow with more positivity around the edges (even with that chant of "destroy, destroy" towards the end).

this is sound. … what is there to enjoy?

I always associated that thought with Nine (the idea of being really a more successful attempt at what they'd tried with Sixie). Then again, he was noticeably short on that good humor.

Hey, we can be cool with something and nitpicky at the same time…

Yeah, me too. In context that comment clearly seemed like light-hearted humor and not really sadness, but it can't help being a little sad all the same..

Janet Fielding and Peter Davison have nifty antagonistic chemistry I think