I will try to avoid spoilers.
This end of the year episode (and the only DW fix we're going to get in 2019, alas) is emblematic of everything that worked and didn't work in the current series of the Doctor.
I love Thirteen. Jodie Whittaker is wonderful, and this outing is no different. I like her Companions "fam," too.
The stories, though, are, um, well they have lots of interesting ideas but some sloppy-as-hell plotting, full of hand-waving and magical thinking and doing stuff just because it will be cool to do. This has always been true to Doctor Who to a degree, but has trended upward the last few years to the point where this season is truly much more science fantasy than science fiction.
The episode also featured some interesting Companion character development stuff, which, unfortunately, felt way too divorced from the main action (and, at times, part of the plot sloppiness) to be as effective as I wanted, especially with the too-blatant Chekhov's Gun on the Mantelpiece.
I can't talk much about the antagonist in this episode without spoilers (though it's nigh-impossible to avoid spoilage about that on social media), except to say that it does break the to-date mold against harkening back to earlier series — that will make some of the audience happy, though I suspect some will in turn be unhappy about how the episode does it. I thought it felt relatively fresh in many ways, even as it invoked some Ninth Doctor in my head.
I doubt the New Years Special will gain or lose the show any fans. I'm peeved we won't have any other Doctor Who until 2020. I will have to just look forward to its return.
I made sure I was off social media until I watched it. It was OK, but I though also a sly way of writing certain long standing organisations out of the picture.
The next season needs much better stories if the show is to survive. Just read the reviews for this episode on IMDB.
I love this show especially this season. I have been a fan ever since the beginning!!!
+Laura Ess Until they are needed the next time. (And it's thoroughly unclear what such organizations could have done under the circumstances anyway.)
+Paul Scollon Frankly, social media as a whole has been made toxic for this show by a certain group of ostensible former fans who think that the Doctor has to have two testacles, vs two hearts (see also: Star Wars fandom). Judging the quality of the episode based on reviews on IMDb is asking to get a faceful of that.
That's not to say the ep (and the season's writing as a whole) doesn't have a lot of room for improvement. I said it myself It's that some folk seem hyperbolically critical, if not trollish, about anything regarding this show.
+Dave Hill Personally I think this season's scripts were weak, nothing to do with The Doctor's gender, just bad writing. I've seen EVERY season of Who (and have read quite a few books too). This was the most "meh" I've ever seen. I just think the show deserves better.
+Paul Scollon I fully agree.