I just didn't buy it at all. I hated Danny with a passion, but it seems like Clara goes to a new school, sees Danny and all of a sudden, a romance springs up out of nowhere. It didn't have any time to grow, it was just there. It was not remotely convincing, especially the way they both spent a lot of time lying to each other. What a bunch of shallow crap.
To be honest, I found it sort of believable, given who Clara was and who Danny was. Danny was a kind of broken vet who had shut himself off from the world in many ways. Clara kind of pursued him in that respect. Clara was a sort of flighty girl who wanted adventure, but wasn't entirely ready to risk her heart (hence the lying). To me, that rang very, very true and actually kind of realistic. I've seen that happen before with couples. I mean, I agree, they could've developed them coming together better, but under the circumstances, I still found the relationship to be believable in the context of the show, especially including its dysfunctions.
I was at that point with the end of Matt Smith, I almost didn't watch the Peter Capaldi series until he said he was going to fight against Moffat's fanboyism so I gave it a chance. Whatever he did to "fight", it wasn't nearly enough, I was wholly unimpressed with Capaldi as the Doctor.
I think there's only so much an actor can do. I mean, Capaldi doesn't yet have the clout of fan appreciation to play dictator the way, say, Tom Baker could in his waning years. And even Baker couldn't overcome JNT's worst impulses (ugh...that burgundy-colored outfit...). I thought Capaldi was great, but his material was weak. I could see him trying to put more weight into it, but the problem seemed to me that the writing was sort of inconsistent. Without a sense of direction for how they wanted this character to develop, he just ends up looking like a grumpy madman. Which is fine, but the problem is that he can end up turning into a one-note character, kind of the way that Colin Baker did with his Doctor. They set him up to be suffering from a regeneration gone awry, which made him kind of loony and cross at his companions, and ended up sticking with that as his "schtick" to the point where he was basically "the obnoxious Doctor," right down to how he dressed.
As for weak doctors, the writing is what defines them. Yes, a good actor can improve the portrayal, but if the stories are bad and the rest of the acting is bad, even the greatest doctor can't save it.
I actually think the acting itself has been quite good. The people on this show are clearly talented. But there's only so far they can take the material they're given, and I guess that Moffat is only inclined to take backtalk from Benedict Cumberbatch when it comes to designing his characters. Moffat is, as you say, a fanboy in that sense -- as evidenced by his instinct to have Holmes have no weaknesses and just be awesome. It was Cumberbatch who said "No, he
needs to have flaws and weaknesses, or it just gets boring. Let's make him socially inept, and that's where he needs Watson to help."
RTD's plot arcs were a bit more subtle but they were still there. You could go back and find all the references he set up for BAD WOLF and all of that. It wasn't an afterthought, it was planned all along. Moffat's plot arcs are blatant and never come together in the end. You get a feeling for what you're supposed to be expecting but you're always disappointed.[/QUOTE]
