Doctor Who "Dark Water" (Spoilers ahead)

[Mental Maden]

I really enjoyed the episode and I love the complicated dynamic they have created for the new Doctor and Clara.  Jenna Coleman has turned out to be a really good actress and is much more interesting with this Doctor and their conflicted feelings than just swooning over the last and having fun on their adventures.

And the Master flirting with the Doctor. Classic. I think a lot of people saw this coming, but like I've thought they are using this Doctor to set up a female Doctor next regen (or maybe the next) showing it's possible with the Mistress/Master.

I really like Capaldi and I like this grumpy, rough-around-the-edges Doctor.  It shows his compassionate side much better.

[Tenzhi]

I liked the way the episode started.  But the Master and Cyberman reveals were letdowns.  This Doctor and Clara are great together, though.

[Mental Maden]

I will freely admit, I'm a relative newcomer to the franchise. I started watching weekly with the very end of Tennant and beginning of Smith (and have pretty much watched the others in reruns since), so my perspective isn't like a lot of people that have been long time watchers. I've heard a lot of diehards felt the same as you Tenzhi and I totally get it.

[FatherXmas]

I will freely admit, I'm a relative newcomer to the franchise. I started watching weekly with the very end of Tennant and beginning of Smith (and have pretty much watched the others in reruns since), so my perspective isn't like a lot of people that have been long time watchers. I've heard a lot of diehards felt the same as you Tenzhi and I totally get it.

Well that's the problem with having a nemesis or two.  Writers will toss them in every so often.

Of all the aliens and monsters in the Doctor Who long history, Daleks and Cybermen are the big two so naturally they come back in force with the new series.  And as a Moriarty to The Doctor's Holmes, The Master has been doing battle with him for years, dodging death over and over again.  The 3rd Doctor's second season was entirely him Vs The Master.  Excluding Missy, The Master has been in 86 episodes/25 stories (including the movie), the majority in the original series (79 episodes/21 stories).  Almost 19 years in the original series.  The Rani pails in comparison as a villain, more of a 2nd rate Master than anything new or different.

The only problem is that NuWho has the Daleks and the Cybermen pretty much every season.  At least they skipped an entire Doctor bumping into the Master with Matt Smith.  And while it doesn't seem original, it's been over 4 years.  Imagine Star Trek not having Klingons and Romulans for four years.

[Mental Maden]

I really do think it has a lot to do with a setting up a future female Doctor.

I'm curious for the long-timers your take on Capaldi?

[Tenzhi]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed that the Master showed up, I'm disappointed that *that* was the Master.  He's my favourite of the Doctor's nemeses, and yet they've managed to make me hate his appearances in the new Who.  And while the Rani may have paled in comparison to the Master, at least she was an established female villain.

And the Master's ingenious plan is to create an army of Cybermen using dead people whose personas are housed in a Cyberman Matrix?  Because... yeah, I just don't see an explanation happening in part two that makes it palatable.  And since they got unleashed on the city/world I sense yet another wave of the magical status quo wand as our resolution.

As far as Capaldi's Doctor goes, I really like him.  Character-wise he reminds me the most of classic Who.  If his stories were two or three parters and paced more like classic mysteries it'd be grand.  I imagine they've lost the attention of the swooning young women, though.