I recently watched the ninth season of Doctor Who (with Peter Capaldi), and I was surprised to find out that the show had taken an odd turn when I wasn’t looking.  In particular, with this season at least, it was a lore show, and not a thing-a-week show.  How did that happen?

Details and some spoilers after the jump.

While the Christmas episode, “Last Christmas” brought up a number of details from the prior season, most of these were understandably major.  The very first scene in the very first episode, however, drops the viewer right in the deep end of Doctor Who lore – We see the doctor, helping a young boy, until the boy introduces himself as Davros, at which point we get a scene cut.  Anyone who is familiar with Doctor Who lore knows who Davros is, but, to anyone not familiar, this scene has to be completely alienating.

While it’s the first and most abrupt, it’s not the only time the show does this during season nine – there are quite a few instances where, if you’re not up on the last couple of seasons, you may miss some important connotations.  That’s not to say this is a bad thing, I like my lore shows (The 4400, Lost) about as much as my thing-a-week shows (Stargate*, MacGyver), I just found it an interesting shift this season.

I think my favorite episode this season, however, was Heaven Sent.  This episode reminded me of Waters of Mars (a David Tennant episode I really liked) in that it illustrated the inevitability of some things; those things the Doctor can’t change.  It shows us that the Doctor is not an immortal God who can shortcut the way to whatever he wants.  Instead, it shows us the long way around, how the Doctor suffers to achieve it, and what hope it provides.

Overall, I was impressed by the season in general.  It was fun, if short, but had the right mix of serious episodes to sate my want for something not-quite-so gonzo.