I actually think it's touching that lots of autistic fans have expressed a certain kinship with the Doctor as a protagonist, seeing themselves in him and vice versa. And with all due respect, they're hardly "crazy" or "suffering".

Well, it's gotten demonstrably worse over time, and staggeringly so. I won't try to break it all down, but there are a number of pieces out there that do just that, pretty thoroughly (with numbers and everything!). 'Boomers' (and, yes, I'm generalizing) can write all the Time Magazine articles they want, declaring…

Yes! I feel like Davros' big speech to that effect (the Doctor is a destructive force) rang at least somewhat hollow on that level (especially coming from, arguably, the universe's equivalent of Ultra Hitler). I was fine with it as a dramatic choice, and even the Doctor being floored by it initially, but after a bit…

Well, the upcoming generation has also all but been fucked over by the last in ways we haven't seen since, like, the Great Depression, so that sucks too. Being an intern, having crazy debt from school, and getting paid a minimum wage that ain't exactly kept up with inflation doesn't sound too rad to me.

Okay, I'm not at all sure I agree, but that's one heck of an interesting analogy and I'd genuinely love for you to provide some examples and specifics about how you arrived at that conclusion, provided you are cool with that.

So, okay: I don't understand why this episode got an "A," or is being praised so widely - even here, where a terrible episode of Doctor Who will get a C+ from Alisdair because he worships the franchise in general. (I say this with love, as I genuinely enjoy the reviews and the community discussion around them, etc.…

You hit the nail on the head, and hit that proverbial nail better than I did way up above.

It's weird, though, because he was definitely one of those nerdy, insistent fans before he started writing for the show. He had his share of choice words for certain writers, Doctors, etc.

Plus, there's the whole 'every individual is unique' thing, a la the spiel he gave to the sacrificial girl in Rings. (It's… been a while. Mary something?)

Yes, because those were narrative conceits explained (even if handwaved) early on. The show was saying to its audience, 'It's ludicrous, and characters will thus initially respond with disbelief [which goes a long way], but you need to accept these things before we can move on.' Changing, say, gravity so that a dude…

Eh, I disagree that he's spot-on (for the reasons I mentioned - i.e., that soldiers aren't so uniformly heroic, though the Doctor does have a brave and heroic side, himself), though I'd agree with you that they took the Doctor too far this time (for the sake of the narrative). What sucks is that a more nuanced view…

"There's a strain of sentimental jingoism …"

Agreed! Although you just know the Time Lord would be dead by the end of Part II.

Well, I… disagree!

It would've made the title a bit more apt, no?

He literally just told you why!

I'd argue it's better to err on the side of risk and give your audience 'too much credit' by treating them as reasonably intelligent people than to concern-troll and ultimately end up patronizing said audience while simultaneously ruining your characters with unfunny humour that makes the Doctor seem a bit like an…

At the risk of being curt, I used to be very excited by the inclusion of meta-plot hints, but since it never amounts to anything coherent, there's not really much of a point in trying to puzzle anything out. Mysteries work best if the answer to the riddle was within sight of the reader/audience all along, whereas…

That… is probably pushing it. I think it's Moffat's genuine attempt to show that Twelve isn't interested in Clara.

I agree with you. Sure, we never wanna nitpick a great episode, but it's not perfect. I love me some unreliable narrators—Rashomon is probably my favourite film—but Clara and what's-his-name clearly saw something hovering on the monitor (at the end of the universe), and the Doctor most definitely reacted with the same…