Just finished Series 9. It was pretty good, I have to say, if a tad uneven.
For such a strong premise, the series's opening two episodes ("The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar") really dropped the ball for me. Again, you have the Daleks reduced to dull, supporting villains whenever Davros is around. Furthermore, the fact that Davros and the Doctor have a close relationship in spite of being mortal enemies seems to be a horribly obvious retread of the dynamic between the Doctor and the Master (who is incidentally wasted here). But, the opening two episode's biggest problem comes from Moffat's trend as a showrunner to insist on cramming in as many different exotic planets as possible when the story would be far better served, had the pace been slowed down and the characters focused on more intently. The phrase "less is more" certainly comes to mind.
Thankfully the worst of the series is over. "Under the Lake"/"Before the Flood" was a personal favorite, being one of the more compelling base-under-siege DW stories in recent memory. The villains were frightening, and the time travel concepts were cool. This was followed by "The Girl Who Died"/"The Woman Who Lived," which introduce Maisie Williams's character. Though I doubt I would be spoiling anything for anyone reading this thread, as the episode titles pretty clearly allude to what makes her character special, I will restrain myself and simply say that the character was well drawn, with Williams turning in an excellent performance. Of these two episodes in which she first appears, the latter is the stronger, far more poetic and elegiac in the way that time travel stories can often be.
The next two-parter-- incidentally, I love that Moffat did a series full of multi-episode stories-- was a good story on the Zygons: "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion." They felt far more threatening here than they did in the 50th Anniversary finale, and Capaldi's speech on war at the end of the second episode is one of the high-points of the season, really compelling stuff. "Sleep No More," the sole single-episode story, was fairly weak, with the found-footage conceit (though integrated into the story) not generating enough interest to prevent the viewers themselves from sleeping. As the opening two episodes were outright bad, this one was dull. "Face the Raven" was great, a fine way to start the season's final story, spanning three episodes: all the acting in it was universally fantastic, and the episode was simple with a brilliant conclusion.
Yet, nothing this season compares to "Heaven Sent." What an amazing episode! This is Doctor Who at its most bold. It temporary leaves the realm of science fantasy and takes its audience into far more philosophical territory, being one of the few episodes on the series that I'd unabashedly truly term "existential." It shows the Doctor at his weakest, all alone, and runs with the concept. Steven Moffat again shows us his understanding of the character by bringing the audience directly into the Doctor's headspace. We are seeing the time traveler, not filtered by the wonder of his companions, but as a clever, impossibly determined man, doggedly struggling against impossible odds. Everything about this episode from the writing to the directing to Capaldi's acting is perfect. The set decoration alone is wonderful, making visual the episode's melancholy mood. Certainly, this is one of the best episodes of the revived series! I can't remember being this emotionally stirred since Series 6's underrated: "The Girl who Waited."
I have mixed feelings on the final episode of the series: "Hell Bent." While I appreciate that Moffat defied expectations, not giving us the episode we expected, based on the trailer and the end of "Heaven Sent," I did think it skirted around many mysteries of the show that I hoped would be addressed. To discuss the episode any further would be to delve too far into spoilers. I have a feeling that reaction to this episode will vary fan-to-fan. But, for me, it didn't really work.
Overall, this series was very good. While last season suffered from an abominably weak first half, only to build to a surprisingly compelling finale, this seasons stayed pleasingly consistent, with the exception of the duds that opened it. I'd say this season really vindicates Capaldi in the role of the Doctor far more than his debut season did. The magnificent "Heaven Sent" alone acquits Capaldi in the role.
GRADE: A-
For context, here are my grades for the previous seasons of the new series.
1: A; 2: A-; 3: B-, 4: C+; 5: A; 6: A-; 7: C; 8: B