Maybe it's just me, but I think there are two very different Clara's (don't make the obvious joke, as Im speaking metaphorically).

One Clara is the warm, caring, Clara who has genuine believable relationship with the doctor and seems a joy to be around. This is the Clara I have experienced in Day of the doctor, time of the doctor, and now Last Christmas.

The other is Bossy, stroppy, thinks she controls the doctor and that he is her intergalactic chaffeur who is there to take her on adventures only whenever she sees fit, and whom the Doctor in turn dosen't seem to really like much and they almost seem forced together. This is the Clara who I have experienced on most of the other episodes.

The main reason for pointing it out, is that I am someone who is usually firmly in the the 'wanting Clara to leave' camp, but every time there is an episode where she is as she was in last Christmas and the others I mentioned above, I see so much potential in the companion, and can't help but think that if she was like that in every episode there would be a lot more of us who mostly don't like her who would like her, and the character would probably be liked even more by those who already like her.

Basically what I'm saying is that even though I don't expect it will happen, I would really like it if from here on out, Moffat could write most of the episodes with the warm endearing Clara that we occasionally get to see. If she was like that all the time, I for one would go from wanting her to leave, to her being probably being one of my favourites.

Never seen this woman. I've seen one who doesn't take any of his grumpy, unkind nonsense and won't give up her entire life for a short time exploring with him and that seems entirely sensible to me.

Older Clara in last Christmas was interesting. When she mentioned flying a plane thought of old Rose and all her pictures at the end of titanic. Never married or had children. Was that because no man could compare to Danny or even the doctor ?. Will the doctor have to approve any new boyfriend or potential boyfreind ?. What is she going to do with herself in between adventures in time and space ?. Guess we will find out next year .

If there were any ratings to save the show it was mostly because of Jenna's performance all year through. The new doctor never ceased to infuriate most people with his tantrums. He just looked like a permanently frightened old man who is compensating his failing manhood with exaggerated agressivity. Senility is a sad fact of life but is hardly endearing.

Capaldi is a great actor: please give him the chance to show more than two facial expressions, angry and angrier.

Whose dream Clara was that? Hers or the Doctor's?

I agree, every writer seems to write her slightly differently, really wish she'd be most like the first Clara you mentioned. As soon as they made her out to be all bossy and egocentric in Deep Breath, I've seen two Claras.

Glad it's not just me. It's a real shame too, because I mostly find myself wanting her to go, but if she was permanently the Clara of day/time of the doctor and last christmas i'd want her to stay as long as possible.

Think the next series will be her last. Don't know what they have planned but hope it is good. Will Clara be the magicans apprentice or someone else?. For all we know they could meet Houdini or be at a magic show when things go weird and wacky.

I think next series will be her last too because she is dying but got a reprieve, via her imagination, for one more set of adventures with her fantasy doctor.The Clara doing the imagining is old and has a chair lift on the stairs.

In series 8 she changed from episodes to episode , as she also changed costume...like it was all a "dressing up" game of "lets pretend".Its her as she imagines herself to be.

On the other hand the doctor stayed the same,in black.And overall there was an interesting use of colour in episodes,especially the Christmas one, where they seemed to be contrasting "dream" colour with "real" colour.

Next series is going to be fascinating.

Well an explanation for the character of Clara being completely rebooted between series 7 and series 8 would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath!
To me it's now like having a completely different character that happens to have the same name and be played by the same actress.
All the "Impossible Girl" stuff seems to have gone, like it never happened.

That's the one thing I see as a plus, that they realized that the 'impossible girl' stuff was a mistake and quietly forgot about it.

Strange as she was in a lot of episodes, messing about the bloke who's spent half his life, as she well knows, stranded on Trenzalore and going through multiple traumas and trying to come to terms with his new life/face/etc while she swans in and out of his life when she feels like it. He deserves better. Oh well, seeing things differently etc...

I agree with your sentiments

Me, too.
She has been a splinter in each of the Doctor regenerations, a human living in Victorian and in recent times, a spaceship junior entertainment manager that became a dalek; and during the times that she has been a human, her character changed a lot. She has become someone with whom I have become irritated / bored.

I would rather we had less of the companion and more focus on the doctor. I'm not keen on Clara's character as it has been too confused and she has been made too important. Jenna is a good actress but she has been given more of a starring role than Capaldi and I would like to see him develop his version of the doctor more.