Your comments on The Caretaker were spot on, so I wouldn’t worry. One of my all-time least favourite stories.
And you’re reviews always seem pretty balanced to me and come from a place of ‘respect’ for the material but just acknowleding when it doesn’t work for you and actually bothering to explain why.
(Your score for The Web Planet is completely wrong though, so you’re not perfect 
).
I’m one of the liking The Caretaker peeps, but I think it’s one that hinges on if the comedic aspects don’t work for you, there’s not going to be a whole lot else there, you won’t like the story. I do find the episode funny, especially the Doctor’s not actually good disguise that he thinks is great. Though I do agree he goes too far with Danny, but I don’t think he’s that mean or grumpy in the parts that don’t involve Danny. Though, I did like that by the end of the episode they at least reach a mutual understanding in that they both want what’s best for Clara, even they still hate each other’s guts. Agreed on Gareth Roberts being gone after that point being a good thing.
Yeah one more thing I didn’t like that I forgot to mention was that stupid flip Danny does over the robot thing. Minor quibble though.
I can sometimes definitely be affected by other people’s opinions (regardless of if there’s any detail or it’s just “it’s good/bad/mediocre”) of an episode/a story before I go into it myself but I always try to keep an open mind and I always go into a story wanting to like it.
I don’t like hating things, surprisingly enough.
As much as I love Capaldi as The Doctor, there are some episodes that are pretty mid for me, especially in Season 34. At the risk of oversimplifying things, I remember watching these episodes when they aired and thinking that they initially were really struggling to write stories for an older Doctor. That being said, in part because of that, we had somewhere to go with the character, and 12s arc ends up being incredible, even if a lot of the heavy lifting happens between seasons.
Actually, I wonder if Danny is part of the reason why the Doctor goes so hard on the “duty of care” with Clara. He basically came to an understanding with Danny that he would keep Clara safe. (Spoilered because I’m not sure if you’re on a first watch or a rewatch) And then Danny is killed by that car, turned into a Cyberman, etc., and the Doctor does rather realize he’s misjudged the man, so the Doctor in his mind is honoring him in death by continuing to stick with his promise to keep Clara safe. Then add in the codependency and the other issues involved in their relationship, and you’ve got a dangerous combination.
I quite enjoyed The Caretaker (big surprise), and I very much liked the comedic moments. While I understand why the Doctor is hostile towards Danny for a multitude of reasons, I do think it detracts more from the season than it adds. To me its a very middle of the road episode for the season, it’s not as offensive as In the Forest of the night, or as meh as Robots of Sherwood, it doesn’t quite hit the highs as the rest of the season.
I don’t dislike The Caretaker (wondering how I’ll feel when I finally reach it in my rewatch in about 20 years, haha), but to me, it’s definitely one of the weaker episodes of the season. As such, though, it’s likely still at least a 6/10 for me. 12s other two seasons are better, imo, but his first still has a ton of great stuff.
My goodness, I love The Caretaker. Fantastic episode.
As someone who thinks Series 8 is actually quite a strong season, especially in the context of 12’s character as a whole, I’ll agree that Caretaker is still bottom half of that season. It’s a season I definitely didn’t appreciate as much when it first came out, but coming back to it after 9 and 10 has changed my outlook on it.
Literally, checking out the YouTube video for that Jon Pertwee traffic safety clip and taking a peek in the comments spoiled me 
, but I don’t know the details or the episodes in question so we’ll see how that ends up. I’ve gotten several things both in DW and not DW spoiled, which isn’t fun necessarily, but I still believe in being able to be affected by the story, especially if I don’t know much more than the moment or whatever.
I mean I got spoiled on Amy and Rory dying but it still got me a bit when I watched The Angels Take Manhattan, I knew Barbara and Ian leave in The Chase because I watched The Time Meddler before I watched the former but I was still emotionally moved. My favourite video game is Batman: Arkham City and I watched a full playthrough of it before I played it myself and I still enjoyed the story despite already knowing coming moments.
I don’t go out of my way to be spoiled obviously but it easily happens when you’re on the internet. I do truly believe that it doesn’t necessarily ruin a story completely for a person, even if the impact might not be as monumentous or whatever.
Well. That’s why the spoiler tag exists, just as a courtesy and giving the other people an option to look or not. I try not to go out of my way to spoil people, and will take the steps to avoid it where I can, or where I’m not sure.
I think that’s a Steven Moffat thing. I believe he expects the audience to understand that time passes between seasons, that characters can change and still develop even in that time we don’t see them, influenced by what we’d seen them go through in the previous season. I think he expects the audience to think about those sort of things, and won’t just flat out tell you that. I think that’s brilliant writing, personally, but I can understand if it’s immensely frustrating for others. And it’s not exclusive to the Capaldi years too, I can see it with 11 and his companions as well.
Oh, I don’t mind it at all, and agree with your points. 
And I hadn’t read your comment as a criticism, it just gave me a thought.
I think it’s more selfish than that [spoiler]The Doctor essentially hits an incredibly low point is his life. He is given the hope that after all these long centuries of isolation he will finally be able to return home, only to discover it’s a lie and the Time Lords are still gone. He then returns to Earth to meet Clara only to discover that she’s “living her best life with Danny”, while understanding the his presence would ruin that, so he gives her up to return to isolation, and we all know how well the Doctor handles being alone.
I think the Doctor’s begging at the end of Last Christmas for Clara to come travelling with him, shows that he is desperate for companionship, and this is fed by Clara essentially being in the exact same situation with the Doctor. At least one of them eventually went to therapy.
TL;DR I don’t think the Doctor had any noble goals with his duty of care obsession nor did it in memory of Danny. I think the Doctor is just as codependent to Clara as Clara is to him, but he’s just better at hiding it.[/spoiler]
I think each paragraph has to spoiler tagged individually.
Yes I unfortunately discovered that, I blame mobile posting 
Well, that’s why I had said “part of,” I don’t think what I had said was his primary concern, but I think it is still there to some degree.
I’m just glad you pointed out the intentionality.
Day of the Daleks is so dumb and I’m kinda loving it