Deep Breath: 9/10
Into the Dalek: 7.5/10
Robot of Sherwood: 8/10
Listen: 9.5/10
Time Heist: 8/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill The Moon: 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 10/10
Flatline: 9/10
In the Forest of the Night: 5.5/10

Current Series Average: 81.5%
Last edited by InfernalRain : 28-10-2014 at 15:22

Deep Breath: 8/10
Into the Dalek: 8/10
Robot of Sherwood: 6/10
Listen: 9/10.
Time Heist: 9/10.
The Caretaker: 7/10
Kill the Moon: 7/10.
Mummy on the Orient Express: 9/10
Flatline: 10/10
In The Forest Of The Night: 4/10

There were so many problems with the last episode. But I was entertained.
Things that annoyed me. When the trees vanished no marks or holes anywhere. The sister appearing how can we feel any warmth for that with just 1 line mentioned in the whole episode about a missing sister and then boom there she is in a disappearing Bush?

There were a lot more than 1 line re the missing sister how did you miss this?

Deep Breath: 7/10
Into the Dalek: 7/10
Robot of Sherwood: 5/10
Listen: 8/10.
Time Heist: 8/10.
The Caretaker: 5/10
Kill the Moon: 4/10.
Mummy on the Orient Express: 9/10
Flatline: 10/10
In The Forest Of The Night: 4/10

Avg 6.7 (lower than I was expecting)

Decided to edit a previous score:
Deep Breath: 9/10
Into the Dalek: 8.5/10 (+1)
Robot of Sherwood: 8/10
Listen: 9.5/10
Time Heist: 8/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill The Moon: 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 10/10
Flatline: 9/10
In the Forest of the Night: 5.5/10

Current Series Average: 82.5%

Deep Breath: 6/10
Into the Dalek: 8/10
Robot of Sherwood: 6/10
Listen: 7/10
Time Heist: 6/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill the Moon: 9/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 10/10
Flatline: 8/10
In the Forest of the Night: 7/10

Despite it being a problematic episode I thought it scraped a 7, I can't see it being a good rewatch type of episode though.

Deep Breath - 8/10
Into the Dalek - 8/10
Robot of Sherwood - 10/10
Listen - 7/10
Time Heist - 9.5/10
The Caretaker - 9.5/10
Kill the Moon - 8/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 10/10
Flatline - 8.5/10
In the Forest of the Night - 8/10

Deep Breath: 6/10
Into the Dalek: 8/10
Robot of Sherwood: 6/10
Listen: 9/10
Time Heist: 6/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill The Moon: 8/10
Mummy On The Orient Express: 9/10
Flatline: 8/10
In The Forest of The Night: 7/10
Dark Water/Death In Heaven: 6.5/10 (so far)
I won't post much about this episode, it's kind of less of a story for it being a first part to a two-parter, I feel that this was establishing everybody and setting up for the finale. Which isn't what 2 parters used to be about, they were a story which had a longer time to establish the story and extend it, take "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit", that doesn't start the story in the second part, it starts the story and then extends it, continuing from last weeks, so this one fails in that regard. There was a tangible sense of tension within this episode, I must admit as we were all really hyped to see what would happen, still a lot of questions unanswered. I didn't mind how they played out the dream sequence, Moffatt wrote himself in a corner and had to get a slightly unsatisfactory way to resolve it, I've grown to reluctantly accept this. I really didn't like the way the Clara was denying Danny all the time, that was just dumb, when she picks up the phone does she always ask the person who sounds exactly like Danny to prove he is who he is? She wasn't given any reason or anything, it was just a way to move the plot on really poorly. An aura of tension is probably this episodes saving grace, without it, the fact it's a poorly paced episode which succeeds to give us some shocking moments (Clara threatening the Doctor) but when it tries to have some heartbreaking moments (Clara hanging up on Danny) it does so by making Clara go horribly out of character to progress the plot. But seriously, even if it's a set up then it leaves a gigantic job for the next episode to start, this episode was the first time in a long while that left me asking "Was that really it?".

Deep Breath 3/10
Into the Dalek 5/10
Robot of Sherwood 4/10
Listen 4/10
Time Heist 7/10
The Caretaker 4/10
Kill The Moon 4/10
Mummy on the Orient Express 7/10
Flatine 4/10
In the Forest of the Night 4/10

Dark Water 6/10

For the first half of a finale, it didn't really get going for me until the last 10 minutes. Too much time was spent setting everything up with so few characters that it dragged for me a little in the first part.

Still not keen on Peter in anyway; his rudeness is just beyond annoying as the main character for me, it's just not right. clara's swaying emotions didn't make me feel sorry for her either if I'm honest, not at all consistent in this at all.

The whole reveal around the skeletons being Cybermen wasn't a surprise sadly due to the fact we knew they were already going to be in the episode so that was a bit flat sadly.

The CGI at times felt a bit iffy too but at least the directing was good. Chris Addison less so though....

Missy being who she was wasn't so much of a surprise either and it didn't give me a shock kind of feeling at all. The intentions behind the reveal were good it just wasn't done too well sadly...that's where the credits should have cut in, it would have been more impactful that way.

Overall it was ok but I'm oddly not too eager to see next week's finale which obviously is a shame...

Oh, and it's only my third above average rating this series....says it all really....S8 has on the whole been a huge disappointment...

Deep Breath: 7/10
Into The Dalek: 8/10
Robot of Sherwood: 8.5/10
Listen: 10/10
Time Heist: 7/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill the Moon: 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 9/10
Flatline: 8/10
In the Forest of the Night 6/10
Dark Water 10/10

Deep Breath 8/10
Into the Dalek 8/10
Robot of sherwood 8/10
Listen 8/10
Time Heist 9/10
The Caretaker 7/10
Kill the moon 7/10
Mummy on the orient express 10/10
Flatline 8/10
In the Forest of the night 7/10
Dark Water 5-10/10 (pending)

Rating depends on the explanation we are given next week. I loved Michelle Gomez, but am not 100% invested in the character she is supposed to be playing, the reveal of which leaves a lot of awkward questions hanging in the air. How did Missy escape Gallifrey? Why Ally with the Cybermen when we all know that promises have no value to them? Is regeneration random, do the faces come from somewhere or what? and HOW DID NO ONE KNOW ABOUT THE CYBERMEN IN ST PAULS OR THE WORK BEING CARRIED OUT THERE???!!!

Hoping next week will hold answers I can stomach. Right now it feels like it's being done just because they can, when I know another character who could be great in the show, but after today will never be given the break she deserves.

Deep Breath 8/10
Into the Dalek 7/10
Robot of Sherwood 5/10
Listen 8.5/10
Time Heist 9/10
The Caretaker 6/10
Kill the Moon 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express 9/10
Flatline 8.5/10
In the forest of the night 4/10
Dark Water 9/10

Deep Breath 9/10
Into the Dalek 8/10
Robot of Sherwood 8/10
Listen 10/10
Time Heist 8/10
The Caretaker 9/10
Kill the Moon 8/10
Mummy on the Orient Express 8/10
Flatline 8/10
In the Forest of the Night 7/10

Dark Water 10/10

Okay, this episode absolutely nailed the set up. Yes it's part of a two-parter and therefore the execution next week may be completely botched but you cannot fault the set up. This episode was sensational. Utterly sublime.

I personally loved the plot. I felt physically sick when they suggested the dead were conscious, it was horrific to the extreme. I also loved how they didn't suggest that the afterlife was actually the afterlife, they did indeed fall back on a scientific explanation. But it was intriguing, gripping, edge of the seat stuff getting to that reveal.

It was also emotionally gut-busting. It twisted and turned and played with you until you wanted to cry. And it was funny. Utterly hilarious.

But truthfully, as good as the writing was for this episode, the acting was flawless. Peter and Jenna were breath-taking, but they were lost in the mix as Samuel Anderson absolutely nailed it, Chris Addison was beyond fantastic as Seb and Michelle Gomez, sceptical as I was, absolutely knocked it out of the park.

The Cybermen here were as scary as they've ever been, their reveal was breathtaking and beautifully hinted at, even if you knew what was to come.

And then there's the big reveal. Was it predictable? I don't know. I predicted it yes but frankly when you predict Missy to be the Doctor, the TARDIS, Clara, Romana, the Rani, the Master, someone completely new, etc etc, then you have to be right. Which option you preferred is obviously personal, but I wasn't favouring the Master. My point is that there are some people out there who will take a stab at every possible suggestion and then act as though they called it spot on. Obviously a lot of people called it as the Master and stuck with that prediction.

My point is this. Although the big reveal will obviously divide opinion beyond belief, don't let it detract from the rest of the episode. You might have hated it regardless, but for me it was 45 minutes of flawless television and the best episode of the series, with one of the biggest and most divisive shocks in the shows history to boot.

Deep Breath 9.5/10
Into the Dalek 9.5/10
Robot of Sherwood 8.5/10
Listen 10/10
Time Heist 7.5/10
The Caretaker 8/10
Kill The Moon 8/10
Mummy on the Orient Express 9/10
Flatline 9/10
In The Forest of the Night 7/10
Dark Water 10/10

Dark, disturbing, scary, audacious...I loved it. Classic Who, with a vengeance. I love a cliffhanger and I can't wait for next week.

Other 11th episodes since 2005:

Boom Town 8/10
Fear Her 7/10
Utopia 10/10
Turn Left 10/10
The Lodger 8/10
The God Complex (not rated, still haven't seen it)
The Crimson Horror 7/10

Deep Breath - 7.5/10
Into The Dalek - 8/10
Robot Of Sherwood - 8.5/10
Listen - 9/10
Time Heist - 8.5/10
The Caretaker - 8/10
Kill the Moon - 6.5/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 9/10
Flatline - 8/10
In the Forest of the Night - 2/10

Dark Water - 7.5/10 (For now)

Didn't really want to the see the Master again as i feel he should have been retired years ago and now the Master is female and kisses the Doctor...MEH. The volcano looked pretty fake which i suppose was OK considering it wasn't actually real. The constant references to death were quite tasteless and insensitive. The cliffhanger was slightly underwhelming as too where the skeletal Cybermen. Other than those issues i enjoyed it, now the wait for the finale.

Deep Breath 7/10 [Good]
Into the Dalek 7.5/10 [Good]
Robots of Sherwood 8.5/10 [Excellent]
Listen 7/10 [Good]
Time Heist: 8.5/10 [Excellent]
The Caretaker - 6/10 [Good]
Kill the Moon - 5/10 [I didn't vote on this one, as I really didn't know what to make of the episode at all]
Mummy on the Orient Express - 9/10 [Excellent]
Flatline - 8.5/10 [Excellent, a fantastic start, but the ending of the main story was a slight let down]

One other point the Boneless worked far better as a 2D threat rather than 3D.

In the Forest of the Night - 6/10 [Good]

Dark Water - 7/10 [Good] Rather disappointing for the first part of a two part finale for me, although many of the loose ends of the story arc are being dealt with.

The theme matter rather troublesome, although it wasn't offensive, There is an issue for me that Danny hasn't resonated, and that if this had happened to Rory there would be more of an audience reaction.

There are also similarities to the bells of St John, which worked better for me.

Quite often the first part of the series finale, is the best episode of the year, and the finale itself isn't as good, hopefully this is not the case this time.

Deep Breath - 8/10
Into the Dalek - 3/10
Robot of Sherwood - 6/10
Listen - 9/10
Time Heist - 8/10
The Caretaker - 9/10
Kill the Moon - 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 8.5/10
Flatline - 9/10
In the Forest of the Night - 8/10
Dark Water - 8.5/10

Deep Breath: 8/10
Into The Dalek: 8/10
Robot of Sherwood: 7/10 (revised -1)
Listen: 10/10
Time Heist: 7/10
The Caretaker: 7/10
Kill the Moon: 8/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 9/10
Flatline: 9/10
In the Forest of the Night: 4.5/10

Dark Water: 8.5/10

Loved how tense the whole thing was. Talalay held her shots very well. But even then, a lot is riding on the second half.

Deep Breath: 7/10
Into the Dalek: 8/10
Robot of Sherwood: 8/10
Listen: 10/10
Time Heist: 7/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill the Moon: 9/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 9.5/10
Flatline: 8/10
In the Forest of the Night: 4/10
Dark Water: 9/10

Dark Water was exciting to say the least. It felt like I was back watching Utopia as an 11 year old (though on balance, Utopia was the stronger episode).

The story itself was pretty good and I particularly loved the scenes were Clara attempted to blackmail the Doctor. The rest of the episode was enjoyable, if a little predictable, but it was mainly the excitement of the big reveal that carried the second half. Needless to say, I await part two with anticipation.
It's also nice to actually have a two-parter and a cliffhanger!

I don't have a problem with The Master/The Mistress being a woman, but I just hope Moffat doesn't turn her into a sassy, flirty River Song clone like a lot of his female characters (Irene Adler in Sherlock, most of the women in Jekyll, Tasha Lem from last Christmas, Oswin Oswald from Asylum of the Daleks etc.).

I am glad she's the Master rather than The Rani. The Rani was always a bit pointless and dull and I don't think there's any need for her to ever return.

All-in-all, a reasonably strong story which lived up to its hype to a certain extent.

Deep Breath: 4/10
Into the Dalek: 3/10
Robot of Sherwood: 1/10
Listen: 9/10
Time Heist:2/10
The Caretaker 6/10
Mummy on the Orient Express 7/10
Flatline 10/10
Forest 0/10
Dark Water 6/10

Deep Breath - 8/10
Into the Dalek - 8/10
Robots of Sherwood - 5/10
Listen - 10/10
Time Heist - 6/10
The Caretaker - 7/10
Kill the Moon - 9/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 10/10
Flatline - 10/10
In the Forest of the Night - 3/10
Dark Water - 10/10

Deep Breath: 9/10
Into the Dalek: 8.5/10
Robot of Sherwood: 8/10
Listen: 9.5/10
Time Heist: 8/10
The Caretaker: 8/10
Kill The Moon: 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express: 10/10
Flatline: 9/10
In the Forest of the Night: 5.5/10
Dark Water: 10/10

Dark Water was just pure perfection. It was the first episode since the reboot where I was sure that I was watching Classic Who (with better effects of course). Perhaps the Master reveal was a bit lazy, but everything before that was perfect - the episode started with the shock of Danny dying, and ended with him being given the decision whether he should delete his own emotions. There was some great dialogue, Michelle Gomez was excellent, and those three words - 'Don't cremate me' - certainly had the impact that they were clearly expected to. I have faith, Moffat.

Series 8
Deep Breath - 6/10
Into the Dalek - 7/10
Robot of Sherwood - 7/10
Listen - 8/10
Time Heist - 8/10
The Caretaker - 6/10
Kill the Moon - 7/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 9/10
Flatline - 7/10
In The Forest of the Night - 8/10
Dark Water - 9/10

Well, this was one where it was really all in the title wasn't it? The episode really did put an emphasis on 'dark' in a way that Doctor Who seldom does, particular in Moffat's era until now. Apparently done with fairytales and whimsy, this was sinister in places with some very dark concepts and ideas that were explored in an about suitable amount of depth, and given plenty of time to unfold on screen.

The first true two-part story since Series 6's The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People, it is a more than welcome return to form for an important story. Series 7 felt like a long line of 'Specials' episodes and were largely very incoherent - though part of that is definitely down to the awkward split in the series, part of it is surely also down to the series lacking longer, more substantial stories that help shape its wider identity. Series 2, for example explored the notion of the void in its three two-parters - with the crossing into the parallel world in the first, the encounter with The Beast in the second and then a culmination of the void/hell ideas in Doomsday. Or another example was Series 3, even more accutely exploring 'what it means to be human' with it's human-dalek two-parter, it's human nature two-parter and then the finale revolving around that concept as well. Series 8 then, is a return to form in that regard. From Dark Water alone, we've seen a culmination of many of the thematical threads that have been running through the previous ten episodes - the soldier element of the series, as well as what the Promised Land really is. It's perhaps not as poetic a culmination of the themes of the series as we've seen before, but it's certainly more than satisfying, and we're only half way into the story. Put more simply, it's bloody good to have two-parters back where they're needed.

Understandably a lot of what Dark Water sets up, no matter how promising, is dependent on the resolution in Death in Heaven. But there is a lot of promise, and a lot to enjoy about this episode regardless of how everything pans out. It was truly wonderful to see Clara's Gran again - a nice nod back to a previous story that helps add some coherency to Clara's rather jumbled home life. It speaks volumes that most of those jumbled elements come from Series 7 - a recast of her father, and a family we'd not seen again at all until now suggest that the writers (particularly Moffat) had very little idea of what to do with the character last series. That has fortunately turned itself around and Clara (thanks particularly to Coleman) has been a true asset to Series 8. It'll be sad to see her go whenever it happens to be, as she has played wonderfully against two very different Doctor's and has had brilliant chemistry with both as well. Clara's bumpy friendship with The Doctor continued fantastically in this episode. Whilst their confrontation didn't meet the same high standard set by their argument in Kill the Moon, it was nonetheless very powerful stuff with some superb emotional acting. To top it all off was a response from The Doctor regarding Clara's betrayal that he would still stand by her - anyone who can't see the decent Doctor in there now is surely looking too hard for problems with him, as Capaldi is proving to be a multi-layered delight and it's hard to believe we've already had a whole series with him nearly! In terms of both The Doctor and Clara they've both been written very consistently well - acting out as their characters have been set up to...whether that be Clara following through on her threat to turn the screen off on Danny (reminding me of how she had the conversation about threats and back-pedalling on them when you can't see them through) or The Doctor standing by his friend no matter what bumpy road they're on. Any problems I've had with Moffat in the past regarding character writing are quickly dimissed when it comes to these two here.

A large portion of the episode was of course given to Danny. The opening death scene was surprisingly quick and sudden and got the story into gear. It was also quite shocking and well handled. It was surprising because despite efforts made by the writers, the character of Danny Pink is quite lacking. Samuel Anderson does a decent if unremarkable job at playing him, which suits the character really - decent but unremarkable. Barring the odd scene here and there that really seems to click, Danny definitely feels like the loose link this series. His death scene worked well because it was a fantastically handled, filmed, produced, acted scene - but not because the character was necessarily worth caring about. If anything, the death of Danny served only to highlight how weak their relationship was, and how strong The Doctor and Clara's relationship was - it showed how The Doctor would stand by Clara's side no matter what boundaries she was pushing at, meanwhile Danny was unable to think of even a single thing that was personal and special about his relationship with Clara. It's hard to tell if that is more indicative of how poorly this relationship aspect has been written this series, or just whether it was a means to get the plot of the episode moving. Danny's other character aspect (yes, he has more than one, shockingly enough!), namely the soldier plot, was a bit better handled though more of a tease for what to expect from next weeks episode. Once again, the verdict is to be determined by how it plays out.

Finally, there's the threats and features of this episode. The Cybermen were a dead cert from all the publicity, though for anyone who has managed to avoid it all somehow (living in a cave perhaps?) would be in for a great surprise. It was an intriguing notion, and again something that seems set up for the second part. The Cybermen design still seems very clunky in places. In some scenes the newer design looks quite impressive, but in others it's no better than the last really and comes across as a bit "b-movie". The bigger threat of course is Missy and the Nethersphere, however. It'll be interesting to find out how these particular people (Dr Chang, Seb and so on) came to be working for Missy and how it all started out...maybe they were Missy's "companions"? The reveal that Missy was The Master was very well handled. Given that everyone knew the reveal was on its way it was never going to have the same kind of impact as, say, the reveal in Utopia, but it played out satisfyingly. Many will have guessed correctly as to the identity of Missy, but even so it was delivered in such a way that it was still very impressive. Naturally, it's going to be one of those things that divides opinions massively, but the brilliant Michelle Gomez has been another asset to this series and it's a new direction to take an old character. Perhaps the only shame is that we don't have a new major threat to explore, but there's always future series for that.

Dark Water was indeed very dark. It was a dash of Forest of the Dead, a dash Utopia, and a little bit of Miracle Day in its own way (but not horrible!). It explored rather unsettling ideas which is, again in it's own way, quite refreshing for Doctor Who. It has all the makings of a decent Cybermen story, as well as a very decent Master story as well. Some series have stumbled at this penultimate hurdle - putting too many eggs in their penultimate basket and then having a finale that really could never live up to the same expectations. It was a problem with Series 3, 4 and to an extent Series 5 as well. Series 6 took it a step further with a series-spanning arc that had plenty of promise that simply collapsed under its own weight. But by reverting back to two-parts for a finale there is so much more time to play with, such a better sense of pacing and a more than sufficient build up. Dark Water felt like it was getting a shed load of exposition out of the way, whilst still leaving some of the most interesting plot threads hanging for a potentially amazing final episode. As such it's true quality is really dependent on how everything unfolds in the final hour. But the slow burning story offered in the first half is a good sign that the whole thing is going to escalate further, and that's what a good finale needs - not all of those moons, uh, eggs in one basket and squandered too quickly.

As a final compliment to Dark Water, a much bigger deal has been made of episode directors this series, and rightly so. Rachel Talalay has spoken out a fair bit on her involvement in this finale, and it's a product she should be very proud of - if Dark Water alone is anything to go by. It was brilliantly directed and put together, looked superb and very fitting in style for a big series finale. It was funny, it was unsettling, it was surprising, it was wonderful, it was tense, it was Doctor Who at some of its best... and will hopefully have a conclusion that allows it to go down as an all-time great.

PROS AND CONS
+ Missy as The Master was fairly straightforward, but oh so satisfying. Michelle Gomez!
+ The story is slow-burning, unique and interesting - potential to be a Moffat great!
+ Wonderfully shot, with some great London filming and all.
- Danny is still the weak link of the series, and gets a large part to play here.
- Sheila Reid doesn't get enough time as Clara's Gran.
- The sound effect when the last key hit the lava was awfully cheap - yep, I'm struggling.

DARK WATER COMPARED TO OTHER PENULTIMATE EPISODES
Bad Wolf - 8/10 (5th)
Army of Ghosts - 7/10 (6th)
The Sound of Drums - 8/10 (4th)
The Stolen Earth - 9/10 (1st)
The End of Time: Part One - 4/10 (9th)
The Pandorica Opens - 8/10 (3rd)
Closing Time - 6/10 (7th)
Nightmare in Silver - 6/10 (8th)
Dark Water - 9/10 (2nd)

Wow, the Cybermen made appearances in five of those!

Deep Breath 9/10
Into the Dalek 8/10
Robot of Sherwood 6/10
Listen 9/10
Time Heist 10/10
The Caretaker 7/10
Kill the Moon 8/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 8/10
Flatline 8/10
In the Forest of the Night 6/10
Dark Water 9/10

Bold, predictable, terrifying, potentially epic/disastrous.

Deep Breath - 7/10
Into the Dalek - 5/10
Robot of Sherwood - 2/10
Listen - 9/10
Time Heist - 7.5/10
The Caretaker - 8/10
Kill the Moon - 6.5/10
Mummy on the Orient Express - 9.5/10
Flatline - 9.5/10
In the Forest of the Night - 1/10
Dark Water - 8.5/10

This wasn't perfect, far from it in fact, chiefly because Missy being the Master just wasn't satisfying at all. It was far too simple, and anti-climactic, particularly because I really didn't feel that we ever needed to see the Master again.

The whole thing being in St Paul's was just ludicrous, and the Nethersphere welcome guy was irritating beyond belief. Plus the episode spent far too long setting up a dramatic ending, which was in itself spoiled by poor CGI/robotics.

However, the first 5 minutes almost had me in floods of tears, the acting from Jenna and Samuel was superb, Peter was the best he's been most of the time (aside from the Doctor forgetting about Clara entirely for the last 5 minutes) and I feel very invested in how this story ends. But that in itself will be a huge problem if it ends badly for Danny given the effect it would inevitably have on Clara...

Still, overall a dramatic and suspenseful episode, held up (as has been the case throughout this series) by strong acting performances (in this case from Jenna and Samuel) but let down by some silly scriptwriting and dubious CGI.

A lot hinges on Part II though, Peter's got one last episode this series to really impress me, and he hasn't done it yet.