It's great to hear different views about the particulars of a shared interest, isn't it?
I've learned a lot coming here, and expect that'll remain the case for the foreseeable. The meaning of the site is probably bound up in the same sort of "educate, entertain, inform" mission the Beeb itself has, and gives the reason for genial mods to tend the garden here even when sometimes it'd be much more fun to stay in bed or go off to the beach, though no doubt both can be done via mobile devices now!
Simon, you mentioned that at least some of Series 9 was to your liking, on the basis of comments earlier in the run. And you apparently liked some of the ones last year too. That's true for me, too!
Of course, I don't suppose we agree about how many eps or how much!
On balance, I think this year was a stronger assortment, and one that wasn't structured in a slow-burn sort of way that introduced Capaldi's Doctor. Series 9 hit the ground running, and I was glad for that.
As to the details of Hell Bent, it seems widely liked through the press. I can't speak for fan circles as I don't really traverse such byways apart from this one, where we seem pretty well behaved and articulate for the most part.
For those with whom it didn't gel, including myself, I don't think it hurts to look at things in perspective. Last year's finale to me was pretty much unmatchable for its type, a real rip-roaring blockbuster with some very potent emotional heft and a truly inspired bit of character refreshing, in the embodiment of Michelle Gomez as Missy, formerly The Master.
This year's penultimate ep, Heaven Sent, to me was as brave as it was exceptional, quite unlike anything I'd seen the show do before in the current or previous eras. For me, that was gravy enough for several plates, and if I felt a bit deflated by the way they handled things in Hell Bent, it doesn't make the previous ep any less remarkable.
For all the nice things Hell Bent did do, my chief complaint was how it undercut such a lovely divergence in Clara stepping up to face death, as selflessly as Danny Pink did last year.
CLARA: (sotto) Let me be brave. Let me be brave.
I was willing to let her do that. I was willing to see how that impact would influence the Doctor from that point onward, and how he'd learn from it. The trailer for Series 8 suggested we'd be journeying into darkness, and I thought that this would further deliver on that. Instead, this potent experience was undercut in two needless ways, to give us an inversion of Donna's fate.
For me, that was not a good enough reason. Sure, show us a Doctor who'd lie and trick his own people to try to save Clara. But are the Time Lords villains for putting the entire universe above his selfish desire? Not really. But the ep doesn't seem to offer a balance here, that not all of them are "monsters", as Clara put it. Yes, the torment they inflicted to get the Doctor to confess about his knowledge of the hybrid, was despicable. But somewhere between Earthshock and Hell Bent, it seems the Doctor has gotten a bit shaky in having a sense of proportion. When Adric went down with the ship, truth and consequences were found in equal measure:
TEGAN: Oh, great. You make it sound like a shopping list, ticking off things as you go. Aren't you forgetting something rather important? Adric is dead.
NYSSA: Tegan, please.
DOCTOR: We feel his loss as well.
TEGAN: Well, you could do more than grieve. You could go back.
NYSSA: Could you?
DOCTOR: No.
NYSSA: But surely the Tardis is quite capable of
TEGAN: We can change what happened if we materialise before Adric was killed.
DOCTOR: And change your own history?
TEGAN: Look, the freighter could still crash into Earth. That doesn't have to be changed. Only Adric doesn't have to be on board.
DOCTOR: Now listen to me, both of you. There are some rules that cannot be broken even with the Tardis. Don't ever ask me to do anything like that again. You must accept that Adric is dead. His life wasn't wasted. He died trying to save others, just like his brother, Varsh. You know, Adric had a choice. This is the way he wanted it.
TEGAN: We used to fight a lot. I'll miss him.
NYSSA: So will I.
DOCTOR: And me. But he wouldn't want us to mourn unnecessarily.
Suddenly, that's no longer how the Doctor deals with loss? Okay, fine, that's potentially interesting. But to magic away his memories of recent events means he'll have learned nothing from his terrible error, and worse, puts him at a distinct disadvantage in his future dealings with his own people. They're clearly now going to be actively interested in locating him, and they may well be just a little worried for him. This recent escapade ought to be reason enough to think, perhaps on balance, they aren't entirely wrong. How did we go from
DOCTOR: You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies.
EMPEROR [on viewscreen]: I am immortal.
DOCTOR: Do you want to put that to the test?
EMPEROR [on viewscreen]: I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the Great Exterminator.
DOCTOR: I'll do it!
EMPEROR [on viewscreen]: Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?
(But he cannot throw the final switch.)
DOCTOR: Coward. Any day.
EMPEROR [on viewscreen]: Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness.
DOCTOR: And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?
EMPEROR [on viewscreen]: You are the heathen. You will be exterminated.
DOCTOR: Maybe it's time.
to this:
CLARA: We can fix this, can't we? We always fix it.
DOCTOR: No. (to Ashildr) But you can. Fix this. Fix it now.
ASHILDR: It, it's not possible. I can't.
DOCTOR: Yes, it is, you can, and you will, or this street will be over. I'll show you and all your funny little friends to the whole laughing world. I'll bring UNIT, I'll bring the Zygons. Give me a minute, I'll bring the Daleks and the Cybermen. You will save Clara, and you will do it now, or I will rain hell on you for the rest of time.
CLARA: Doctor, stop talking like that.
ASHILDR: You can't.
DOCTOR: I can do whatever the hell I like. You've read the stories. You know who I am. And in all of that time, did you ever hear anything about anyone who stopped me?
ASHILDR: I know the Doctor. The Doctor would never
DOCTOR: The Doctor is no longer here! You are stuck with me. And I will end you, and everything you love.
He's seen lots of friends and allies pass, in battle and before their time. Suddenly now, it's Not Fair. And that to me is also a problem in how it treads over one of the most marvellous things Series 9 brought us, Capaldi's legendary performance in The Zygon Inversion:
CLARA-Z: It's not fair.
DOCTOR: Oh, it's not fair! Oh, I didn't realise that it was not fair! Well, you know what? My Tardis doesn't work properly and I don't have my own personal tailor.
CLARA-Z: The things don't equate.
DOCTOR: These things have happened, Zygella. They are facts. You just want cruelty to beget cruelty. You're not superior to people who were cruel to you. You're just a whole bunch of new cruel people. A whole bunch of new cruel people being cruel to some other people, who'll end up being cruel to you. The only way anyone can live in peace is if they're prepared to forgive. Why don't you break the cycle?
Hell Bent sticks out like a sore thumb to me, for those reasons. That's why I'm going to take a punt that the point of it has to do with whatever's happening next year, in terms of the character development of the Doctor. Clara might have thought her choice, to neural block the Doctor's memories of her, was for the best. However, like Rose's turning Jack Harkness into an immortal, I suspect it'll come with unintended consequences that aren't entirely satisfactory. There's more to consider about it too. Even with her joyriding in a stolen TARDIS, ahead of her return to being dead, I find it a little doubtful that she'd have the wherewithal to ask/persuade/bribe/threaten or amnesia ray everyone who ever met her when she was with the Doctor, lest he bump into them again and they give him enough to put the pieces back together. This exchange in Hell Bent further supports my reading, I think:
DOCTOR: When something goes missing, you can always recreate it by the hole it left. I know her name was Clara. I know we travelled together. I know that there was an Ice Warrior on a submarine and a mummy on the Orient Express. I know we sat together in the Cloisters and she told me something very important, but I have no idea what she said. Or what she looked like. Or how she talked. Or laughed. There's nothing there. Just nothing.
CLARA: Are you looking for her?
DOCTOR: I'm trying.
Will I like what comes enough to reappraise Hell Bent? I don't know, ask me in a year's time!
As to fan wars, I vote with lousingh and The Doctor as he spoke so powerfully in The Zygon Inversion.
When it comes to facts or trading insights into our relative tastes, I’d rather find out in a friendly way than yell and call people names who have differing views. Pretty sure it's not just a good idea and polite, it's the law around these parts!
Having fun with like minded fellows as we calmly and politely share and learn about a favourite and once-marginalised, forgotten and axed show is even better! To my mind, this gives one an unfair advantage over those unable or unwilling to take that approach, and not just in online discussions, either. The Doctor does this a lot, and he makes a pretty good case for behaving that way in real life.
There’s too much else to do and careless misery is still needless suffering. But to share an interest, and have fun with people in a relaxed friendly manner, that’s never wasted time! And it's great we can do that here, isn't it?