Doctor Who: Season 8 Stories Ranked and Reviewed

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Capaldi’s Doctor when this season first aired, but like with most Doctors he grew on me over time. He brings some much needed gravitas to the role, and it’s just a shame that his first couple of seasons aren’t my favourite. How would I rank the episodes in this season?

You can check out some of my other Doctor Who posts below:

11- In the Forest of the Night

Rating: E-

This episode really doesn’t matter, like at all.

The plot would have resolved itself if the Doctor wasn’t even there, and the child actors are so unbearably annoying. Was almost an F, but I know the show can do worse.

10 The Caretaker

Rating: E+

This is the sort of fun filler episode that I usually don’t mind, except this time it’s not fun at all – in fact it’s really boring and childishly stupid beyond belief.

9- Kill the Moon

Rating: D

This is a sort of marmite episode among fans (love it or hate it), and I think I’m leaning more towards hate it.

The episode itself is alright (albeit a bit boring), but the final twist comes out of nowhere and ridicules the preceding 40 minutes of television you just watched.

8- Into the Dalek

Rating: C-

Not an awful episode, just a slightly underwhelming Dalek story.

7- Time Heist

Rating: C

This could have been an extremely fun heist episode for the ages, but Moffat gets a little bit too timey-whimey with it and the plot is bogged down by unnecessary twists and character moments.

6- Robot of Sherwood

Rating: C

I’m not the biggest fan of this episode, but I can appreciate the whimsical childish tone that it’s trying to accomplish (after all, Doctor Who is a children’s program).

5- Dark Water / Death In Heaven

Rating: C+

The first part of this finale is great – it sets up and answers a brilliant mystery, as well as subverting expectations by introducing the cybermen into the mix. The second part, however, is anticlimactic in comparison.

4- Deep Breath

Rating: B

A solid introduction to a new Doctor that set’s up Capaldi’s character arc beautifully “Am I a good man?”.

I’m always a bit annoyed when a post-regeneration episode sees the Doctor bed-ridden for half of it’s runtime, which is why I hold “The Eleventh Hour” in high regard for just skipping this process that nobody really asked for.

3- Listen

Rating: B

Another marmite episode for fans, except this time I actually quite like where this one went with the story.

It’s a bit annoying seeing the Danny Pink plot-hole after the events that happen in the finale, but overall this is a great high-concept episode of Who.

2 – Flatline

Rating: B+

This episode had no right to be as good as it was.

The monsters are extremely niche and wacky, the Doctor is locked away for most of the time, and Clara does all the heavy lifting. Clara! I wasn’t a fan of her character in season 7, but that improves over season 8 and 9 and comes into the forefront here. This is what Who should aspire to be like.

1 – Mummy on the Orient Express

Rating: A-

When making this list I found out that the same writer made this one and “Flatline”, so that’s two crackers in one season. Good job Jamie Mathieson!

The Doctor vs The Foretold is undoubtedly the highlight of the season, and Capaldi really demonstrates why he truly is the Doctor – his command of the room is fascinating, and I’m surprised something like this wasn’t the first episode of the season to really set up his character.

An amazing episode on the whole, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up in my top 20 of the modern era.

Season Rating: D

This wasn’t quite the season I was hoping for, but it wasn’t terrible be any means – just slightly underwhelming. Let’s see the stats:

• 1 A (9%)
• 3 Bs (27%)
• 4 Cs (36%)
• 1 D (9%)
• 2 Es (18%)

Not ideal having 2 Es and a D, but I’ve kind of come to expect grades like that by this point in the show’s history.

Next time we’ll be looking at the next Capaldi season, which contains one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever seen …

In the meantime, check out some of my latest blog posts: