It seems like Peter Capaldi just got here. Yet this weekend, the current resident of the TARDIS will begin his third and final season as the star of Doctor Who. This will be a season of massive change for the show. Capaldi has a new companion for the first time; Pearl Mackie's Bill Potts. And following Capaldi out the door will be longtime showrunner Steven Moffat, who will be replaced by Broadchurch creator (and occasional Doctor Who writer) Chris Chibnall.
Following a creative lull at the end of Matt Smith’s tenure, the show slowly righted itself in Capaldi’s first season before delivering a uniformly outstanding second season. Capaldi’s Doctor was more caustic and alien, far less likely to flirt with fish ladies or dance like an idiot at weddings. It was a refreshing new direction for the show, and even when the writing wasn’t up to snuff, Capaldi never failed to deliver. This is Every Peter Capaldi Episode Of Doctor Who, Ranked Worst To Best.
22. In The Forest Of The Night (8X10)
One of the more common complaints about modern Doctor Who is that it’s been largely overseen by only a handful of creative talent. Critics feel this can lead to a feeling of staleness, of repetitive storytelling with diminishing returns. And while it’s true you’re probably never going to get better than about a B+ episode out of old hands like Toby Whithouse or Gareth Roberts at this point, they do understand the basic rhythms and tone of the show. Taking chances on new writers has proven a mixed bag for Doctor Who.
The lowest point of Peter Capaldi’s run came from the pen of newcomer Frank Cottrell-Boyce. “In The Forest Of The Night” is meant to be a relatively low key, poetic tale where there’s really no villain; just a world trying to protect its own inhabitants. But the whole thing just comes off as silly and boring, not only betraying the show’s internal logic, but just basic logic in general. The Doctor is a mad man with a box, not a dumb man in a box.
21. Sleep No More (9X09)
Season 9 of Doctor Who was something of a renaissance for the show. Capaldi’s Doctor had finally found a strong rapport with his companion, Clara (Jenna Coleman), and showrunner Steven Moffat’s plotting was the sharpest it had been since the series’ high point in season 5. That said, there’s no season of Doctor Who without a clunker or two, and “Sleep No More” sticks out like a sore thumb in season 9.
Written by longtime Doctor Who scribe Mark Gatiss, “Sleep No More” contains all the elements of a good Doctor Who episode. It features strong performances, evokes an effective horror aesthetic, and even pulls the old Moffat trick of taking something mundane and turning it into something nightmarish. But the nature of that mundanity (eye crust, basically) as well as a tired found-footage gimmick and a cliffhanger ending that’s almost certainly never going to be resolved make the whole thing seem like a pointless exercise.
20. Robot of Sherwood (8X03)
One of the staples of the era of Doctor Who overseen by Russell T Davies was those stories where the Doctor and his companion travel back in time to meet a historical figure. These have been more of a mixed bag under Steven Moffat’s tenure. The best of these is the series highlight Matt Smith episode “Vincent and the Doctor”, which is a beautiful, heartbreaking meditation on mental illness. The worst of these is likely “Robot of Sherwood,” where the Doctor and Clara meet a man who claims to be the real Robin Hood, much to the Doctor’s wariness.
It’s not a terrible premise, and the story features a tangent about how this Robin Hood and the Doctor share more than a little DNA as real men who seem like legends, but the execution is severely lacking. The actor playing Robin Hood is, frankly, lousy, and the climax of the episode features an action beat that strongly suggests the producers ran out of money at some point during production. The only real saving grace is Capaldi’s caustic performance, including Twelve engaging a swordsman with a spoon.
19. Flatline (8X09)
“Flatline” should have been a classic. One of the more visually audacious episodes the show has ever attempted, the episode finds the TARDIS mysteriously shrinking with the Doctor inside. Clara (holding the TARDIS in her hands like a toy) and a young graffiti artist named Rigsy determine that the TARDIS’ dimensions are being leeched by murderous two-dimensional creatures attempting to infiltrate our three-dimensional universe.
The two-dimensional creatures are some of the coolest and scariest visual effects the show has ever pulled off, and the gimmick of the shrinking TARDIS is amusing, but the story just doesn’t hold up. The ing characters never feel all that fleshed out, and having the Doctor essentially quarantined for the duration of the episode puts way too much of the story on Clara’s shoulders. As innovative as the visual effects are, the script is pretty unimaginative; the Doctor really just ends up zapping the creatures away with some poorly explained tech. This one feels like a missed opportunity.
18. The Husbands of River Song (Christmas Special 2015)
After the dark, epic close to season 9, it felt appropriate that the Doctor’s first Christmas after Clara’s departure would be a rather light affair, and “The Husbands of River Song” offers up a silly, featherweight romp. Introduced in a memorable David Tennant era episode, River Song will almost certainly be ed as a companion/love interest of Matt Smith’s Doctor.
This new twist in the pair’s timey-wimey soap opera is a reverse of their initial onscreen media: River does not recognize the Doctor. For a good portion of the episode the Doctor plays this stunning revelation largely for his own amusement, as he assists River in a ridiculous plot that involves royalty and robots and heads in bags.
Eventually, the Doctor reveals who he is to River in rather loving fashion. It’s probably the warmest moment Capaldi has offered us in the role, proving that River owns the Doctor’s hearts, no matter the regeneration. It’s a silly romp of an episode that elevates itself by virtue of its two leads performances, and a sense of finality for one of the series’ most important relationships (though never say never with River Song).
17. Kill The Moon (8X07)
If you’re looking to start a fight among Doctor Who fans, just bring up “Kill The Moon.” A bitterly polarizing episode, there is very little middle ground between “absolute classic” and “series low point” when it’s being discussed. When the Doctor and Clara travel to 2049, they find that an unexplained gravitational shift in the moon is threatening to end all life on Earth, and a space shuttle full of nuclear warheads is headed toward the moon in a last ditch effort to destroy it. The Doctor has been to far-flung futures where he knows the moon still exists, and finds himself in a moral quandary, as he is reluctant to interfere in a fluid moment that could mean so much for humanity’s future.
What follows is a stunning, unbelievable chain of events that not only seem to fly in the face of physics, but also make the Doctor seem inhuman to the point of wondering why the audience would want to root for this guy. The former point is pretty tough to defend; the science of the episode is ridiculous, even for Doctor Who. But the latter offers a glimpse into the darkest corners of the Doctor, and Clara’s episode ending-rampage is perhaps the best acting Jenna Coleman has ever done.
16. The Return Of Doctor Mysterio (Christmas Special 2016)
Doctor Who’s production schedule has become a bigger mystery than the crack in Amy Pond’s bedroom wall ever was. After season 9 ended in late 2015, the show essentially took all of 2016 off, save for the customary Christmas special. Whatever the reason for the production delays, “The Return Of Doctor Mysterio” felt like a gust of fresh air for Doctor Who fans who’d been holding their breath for a year.
The episode itself is, well, fine. A bald-faced homage to the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Steven Moffat has some fun subverting superhero tropes (you also get the feeling Moffat doesn’t care much for superheroes), while weaving in a plot about brain-hopping aliens bent on world domination. The whole thing feels a bit by the numbers. The real reason to tune is the subtle, somber performance from Capaldi, who is quietly dealing with the fact he has likely said farewell to River Song for the last time. It wasn’t the first time Capaldi has elevated mediocre material by sheer talent, and it likely won’t be the last.
15. Into The Dalek (8X02)
Capaldi’s second episode in the TARDIS saw the Doctor openly questioning whether or not he was a good man. It’s a fair question after the events of this episode. After rescuing a soldier from a battle with a Dalek ship, the Doctor is confronted with a malfunctioning Dalek that has essentially turned good. The Doctor, Clara, and a team of the soldiers are miniaturized and enter the Dalek, attempting to understand what’s happened to it.
It’s hard to imagine any of the past few Doctors making many of the choices Capaldi’s Time Lord does here. He coldly and consciously sacrifices soldiers to get to his goal, and when he shares his mind with the Dalek to show it the beauty of the universe, the Dalek sees only hatred and vows to exterminate its own race. It’s dark, dark stuff, even if the ultimate lesson is that the Doctor may not be a good man, but it means something that’s he’s trying.
14. Mummy On The Orient Express (8X08)
After their falling out at the conclusion of “Kill The Moon”, Clara decides that she can’t travel with the Doctor anymore, and they agree to go on one final mission together. They arrive on a train called the Orient Express (an homage to the classic real world vehicle) that travels through space. People begin claiming they can see a horrific mummy, and exactly 66 seconds later they’re dead.
It’s a delicious set-up for a murder mystery, and the episode mostly delivers. Watching the Doctor attempt to work out what’s actually happen is thrilling, as is the ominous countdown clock that accompanies every soon to be victim. It also ends up resolving the tension that had been building between the Doctor and Clara since his regeneration; he might be a colder, more alien Doctor, but Clara has been bouncing around time and space too long to give up on him or their adventures.
13. The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar (9X01-02)
Season 9 of Doctor Who couldn’t have opened in more epic fashion. The Doctor has mysteriously disappeared, and Clara, UNIT, and Missy (!) team up to track him down. They eventually find him in Essex in 1138, playing electric guitar on top of tanks in arenas. The Doctor has made a grave mistake and is having a party before he faces what he believes will be his demise.
As a huge story that involves some of the most iconic elements of the show’s history, this two-parter is really a story about the incredibly complicated relationship between the Doctor and Davros, the creator of the Daleks, as well as the complicated moral responsibilities of time travel.
It also serves as something of a soft reboot for Capaldi’s version of the Doctor, who is decidedly looser and funnier than he was in his inaugural season. It’s a story where the Doctor ultimately chooses hope over despair, even if he knows there will be dire consequences-- because that’s who he is.