Doctor Who season eight

[Esquilax]

I think that's the problem with a lot of the newer Doctor Who scripts actually. Even just earlier in the revived series there was some construction and thought put into these things, there was an actual narrative to be had. But for like two seasons now we've mostly been dealing with a hodgepodge of ideas with no attempt to slot them into a workable frame.

Ooh, the Doctor's a good Dalek, is he? Well, it does make sense in "Dalek," as it was the culmination of an entire episode of things happening to establish and bolster that point. In "Into the Dalek," it's the result of a single scene toward the end of the episode where we're just told outright that the Doctor hates the Daleks, and conflicts with the premise of the episode to boot, where the Doctor puts himself in harm's way on the off chance of saving just one Dalek soul and maybe finding a peaceful resolution to that problem. I buy that Eccleston's Doctor is Dalek-ey because he's been rage filled the entire episode. But Capaldi's just been kind of a dick at worst, and he is still trying here.

It's this weird combination of factors where Capaldi's Doc is less intense than at least a few of the older ones, but placed within a story that's seemingly intent on highlighting what a morally grey and ambiguously good character he is all the time.