While I disagree with you on this episode's quality, I quite like that to you "underwhelming" is still better than "Robot of Sherwood." I can't help but agree. Just a minute ago I was looking through episodes written by Mark Gatiss and realized, in my book he's one-and-a-half for seven. His scripts get so dull… I mean…

Davros: "There was a prophecy, Doctor, on your own world. It spoke of a hybrid creature. Two great warrior races forced together to create a warrior greater than either. Is that what you ran from, Doctor? Your part in the coming of the hybrid? Half-Dalek, half-Time Lord."

Okay first off, I'm not super knowledgable about Classic Who, but I try to fill myself in when I can. Anyway I read this comment and google image searched "Second Doctor" to check, and in the second row of images Patrick Troughton is holding a book that says "500 year diary" that looks identical to the Doctor's "2000…

I like that he kept the Season 8 jacket with that red lining, and the choice to wear it over a hoodie (introduced in Last Christmas if I'm not mistaken) is a stroke of genius, gives him a sort of teenage punk aesthetic that goes very well with this less uptight version of Twelve.

I think this episode found a novel way to work around the pacing problems of Doctor Who two-parters. Usually the conflict in the first half is stretched out building to the cliffhanger… This time though, the supposed conflict was taken care of uncharacteristically early (a little after the 30 minute mark.) That kind…

Ehrmahgerd, ehternerb!

After eagerly consuming podcasts like "Star Wars Minute" and "Debating Doctor Who" (hosted by A.V. Club's own Alasdair Wilkins and Caroline Siede) I think there's totally room for a book-by-book Animorphs podcast. Think about it, one book per episode for 62 weeks (the main series plus Megamorphs and Chronicles. I…

Either that or her new reckless attitude will cause her to be somehow separated from the Doctor and the Tardis

A lot of my overall season rankings are (perhaps unfairly) skewed more heavily by the "plot" episodes, if that's an acceptable term to use. For example, even though Season 3 has some of the best Tenth Doctor stories and Season 2 has some of the worst, I tend to prefer 2 to 3 as a whole because I feel the Rose…

Finally someone commenting on the internet about Doctor Who that speaks my language. Everything I see is either "Moffat ruined Doctor Who" (from the old guard with rose tinted nostalgia glasses) and "Season 8 was weird, why do we have to focus on the companion?" (from people who discovered the show with Matt Smith…

And Mercy wasn't a bad episode either. In fact, looking at his writing credits, I've liked every episode he's written (School Reunion, Vampire of Venice, God Complex, Town Called Mercy, and this two parter.) Very consistent quality across a variety of genres, even if none of those were particularly big important…

Mummy and Listen (also the Caretaker, which I liked) had really interesting to say about what kind of Doctor Twelve was which is why I rank them up there. I would say Flatline was… successful but not quite so ambitious maybe? It felt like a pretty standard monster of the week episode to me, but did well in that…

I tend to rank the seasons (so far) 5, 4, 8, 1 … and then it's a bit of a jumble. Probably 6, 2, 7, 3? They last four are all pretty close

I'd say Listen and Mummy are the Season 8 "A" episodes, but Flatline isn't far behind. But I also quite liked Kill the Moon, so who knows.

I'd like to see Before the Flood play out with no new deaths, but no reversals of the existing ones. That would be an interesting new turn for Doctor Who

I think that the "Girl Who Died / Woman Who Lived" episodes are perfectly place to troll the semi-casual Doctor Who fans who don't follow every bit of news about the show: After episode 3 when people go "wow, another two parter?" they can go online, look at the episode titles, and think, "and another two parter after…

Or she could just be overly protective of him because he is her only way to communicate with the crew… Not saying you're wrong, but I think it could work even without her knowledge of the runes.

Well, not really because that's kind of the point of a Part 1 episode… Set up more things than pay off so we can return to them next week.

The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived are, despite the similarities in titles, not a "standard" two parter. They are listed on the Wikipedia page for season 9 as separate serials. Moffat has said something along the lines of the two episodes being connected, but in not in the way people have come to expect, which…

And an overly enthusiastic companion, though at least they didn't start the episode with cringe inducing giggles.