You really don't!

Since I'm these two points away from a pitch-perfect review, let me ask:

I remember Reynard being decent enough, but maybe that's because I refuse to believe Robert Carlyle could be boring, when that always happens to interesting character actors in action blockbusters. (With the all-time incredible exception of Philip Seymour Hoffman in MI:3, but then that's why PSH was the greatest.)

What? Rutgers lost? I can't even imagine how much misery New York City and its attendant media market must be feeling right now!

This seems fair. The World Is Not Enough is probably a bit underrated. Need to rewatch Tomorrow Never Dies, though Die Another Day is definitely putrid. Not sure I'd rank any of the non-GoldenEye entries ahead of even Quantum of Solace, though I do like that one significantly more than most people do.

And the return of Gallifrey seems like a good fit for "Heaven Sent." It's … confusing.

It's "Heaven Sent." Next week is "Hell Bent." It's taken me forever to get them straight, but I don't think I got any mixed up here?

He doesn't remember initially, but he appears to remember everything after he sees the word "bird." Hence why he says to Clara that he can remember it all now, every single previous time. Or somesuch. The meaning of that line only really became clear on the second watch for me, as it comes before the show spells out…

I dunno, this still kind of assumes the grades are the most important thing about the reviews, as opposed to a not totally meaningless but also not terribly informative letter I quickly slap on the top after writing all those words meant to analyze/contextualize my thoughts on the episodes.

"A" isn't really indistinguishable from perfect; an episode could be below that standard and still earn an "A." An "A+" just doesn't exist.

Sorry, yes, that's of course the Doylist explanation, and thus the most correct one by any sensible standard. I was restricting myself to the Watsonian possibilities.

Respiratory bypass system! Accept no substitutes.

I think seeing "bird" unlocks his mind and lets him realize what's going on. He didn't know before that, but we see the horror of dawning comprehension.

I don't recall being in a snit, but okay. I still think Who can be great in lots of different ways, and this being something extra special doesn't invalidate those other, also pretty great approaches.

They grapple for that honor every night. Even when they're not doing a show. It's how they show they still care about each other.

Well, also, 11 was out of regenerations. Though it's unclear whether (a) he knew that, as maybe he thought it *was* possible to regenerate beyond his 12th regeneration, especially post Time War or if (b) he was just playing coy about being all used up.

Yeah, as early as "Robot of Sherwood," "The Caretaker," and even bits of "Listen," you can see Capaldi has the capacity to play humor/whimsy, though certainly not in the same way Matt Smith did. Though I think it's still fair to say that, like Tennant, Capaldi ended up needing a season to really click into place in…

Right, but I'd say the theme is the Doctor knowing exactly what he has to do and struggling to find the inner strength to go through all that agony again, and to condemn the next him to the exact same fate. Hence why he needs Clara so desperately. The episode ends up less about him being clever than it is about him…

I've said for a while now that the reviews are way, way more important than the grade, to the point that the grade doesn't matter. (Heck, I even created an alternative rating system because I was so frustrated with applying letter grades to Who in particular.) The grade is maybe indicative of something, but it's a…

Nah, that wasn't really me being defensive. When I bust out the overwrought 2,000-word rebuttals (which, to my shame, I have totally done), then you can officially call me defensive. I was just trying to steer the conversation back on track a bit.