The genesis of the cybermen in this episode was fantastic, shocking and even somewhat sympathetic.

Going with Mondassian Cybermen was just… dumb.

Absolutely. S9 was an utter triumph and it's a shame that the memory of the Moffatt era might end up being tainted by the weakness of this season. And with the payoff for the Missy arc having been spoiled by the BBC themselves I don't think the last two episodes will change things either.

That was a pretty good episode and the best this season, so far.

Ace wasn't from the 80s, she was a rebel from a (implied dystopian) near future earth.

There's really not been a whole of lot diversity amongst the companions since the revival. Every single one has been a British millennial with the exception of Capt Jack who is really only a companion in name only.

The monster mechanics and solution aren't really that important in Doctor Who. They are, effectively, a maguffin for deeper themes and ideas allowing the characterisation and emotional depth to be worked on while the monster of the week mechanic plays in the background.

"I just can't buy how the society has changed in so little time."

Its difficult to see how this is sustainable for another full season. Most of the ground that you would expect to see covered has been, we have a full understanding of Gilead, June, Nick, Luke and Moira and there doesn't seem to be much more you can do with those characters while maintaining believability and the…

It would have to be pretty quick or there would be no human race, just a mindless horde of batshit crazy insane psychopaths.

The bigger trouble for Arrow and Son would be that we already have an adolescent growing up to be a superhero show on Network TV. With better ratings and a higher profile.

I'm 99% certain the skeleton shown in the woods in the present was Dolph Lundgren's Kovac. So he's definitely dead.

This was definitely Warner/DCs thinking over the suicide squad and I really don't buy it as a rational argument. Having a suicide squad show would have been a problem but one episode a year in Arrow would have been just fine. You're right that they may have ended up with some characters being better on the small…

A point I keep coming back to is the need for one of the big 5 (and really it should be the CW) to break the model and start doing two shows per time slot per season. I really expected CW to do that this year but instead they've botched it with a half-hearted attempt at time sharing which are just left shows debuts…

I think there are two factors there. Heavy serialisation was still relatively new to US TV** and the tolerance for Bottle Episodes was a lot higher (because they were familiar in their Procedural nature).

The viewers are a lot less tolerant of Bottle Episodes these days. Especially as few shows do them as fun as DS9 did (Reign actually did this REALLY well - the Catherine bottle episodes are amazing). Just look at the feedback The Walking Dead gets every time it throws in a bottle.

There is a cognitive dissonance between the idea that American TV can continue with 23 episode "seasons" and successfully work in British style season arcs which are a heavy part of each episode.

I accept its quite weak with the girl but Charlie seemed pretty dedicated in his loyalty to the boss guy (can't recall his name).

The kids are Ronin too.

Damn people really are going to town on the show now.