Peter Capaldi’s Top 10 Best Episodes from his era
(C) BBC/BBC Worldwide – Photographer: Des Willie, Peter Capaldi
Peter Capaldi had some amazing episodes as the Doctor. Which ones stuck out above the others in a sea of wonderful episodes?
The Twelfth Doctor, or rather, Peter Capaldi, had some fantastic episodes during his run. From funny to charming to dark, we saw it all. What episodes stood out among his three seasons to really show his talent, make him memorable, and show us who Twelve really is?
Peter Capaldi’s acting is truly what made Twelve so memorable. While people have constantly critiqued the writing of his seasons, not many have critiqued Twelve’s acting. Capaldi has this brilliant way of telling a story, telling exactly how he’s feeling, without saying anything. And perhaps it’s that two-layered acting — seeing what he’s not saying while he masterfully says his lines — that make it so perfect.
So, to honor Peter Capaldi, here are the 10 best episodes from his three years as the Doctor. They’ve been a wonderful three years, and I don’t think many Doctors could pull off a list so versatile.
BBC
Deep Breath
With any Doctor, hopefully, his first episode is a fantastic one. It has to set the scene for the rest of the episodes to come, secure the belief that this actor can play the part and give the actor the best material to work with. There’s a huge amount of pressure on the first episode of someone’s era.
Twelve’s first episode was unlike any we’d seen before. First, the last regeneration had a clean slate beginning. New Doctor, new TARDIS, new companion. This time, things were a bit different. Jenna Coleman carried over from her short stint with Matt Smith, and we had the old, yet understandable storyline of “Why did he change?”
Beyond the subplot, it was actually a brilliant change for the character, going through different modes of a character in one episode. First, the Doctor was confused, and couldn’t tell the difference between people. (Arguably the funniest confusion was between Strax and Clara) Then, he got more confused, not understanding what a bedroom was. He left his room after doing a series of calculations, trying to rescue the dinosaur they brought with them.
Once the Doctor seemingly got a hold of himself, it was off to the races. Literally, in a race of time, trying to figure out who these people were in the town. After a nice banter with Clara that set a tone for their relationship, the two, and the Paternoster Gang saved the day from the half-men, half-robots.
In all, it was unlike any introductory episode I’d ever seen, but it made perfect sense for the Twelfth Doctor.
BBC
Robot of Sherwood
In the third episode of season eight, we go on an interesting adventure. In the past, The Doctor had only gone to historic places that were definitely real. However, in this case, we took a detour for a hope for heroes. Thanks to Clara’s love of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, she pleads the Doctor to take her to meet him.
Despite saying that Robin Hood isn’t real, the Doctor goes to Sherwood to find that…he is?!
While this episode is mostly centered on Clara, this is one of the Doctor’s best comedic episodes. Between his spoon and sword fight with Hood, his inability to leave them alone until it makes sense to him, and his antagonism, or perhaps jealousy? of Hood makes this a fantastic episode for the Doctor.
When the Doctor and Robin Hood were fighting over who would win in fighting the guard, to who could fight each other, even to who could act sicker had to be the best part. This episode was almost uncharacteristically funny for what we’d seen of the Twelfth Doctor, which makes it all the better.
Robot of Sherwood showed us heroes but above all, showed us an insight into Clara and the Doctor’s friendship. He is her hero, and always will be. Maybe he’s the reason she believes in heroes at all.
BBC
Listen
Listen is a favorite of almost every Whovian, no matter whether they even like the Twelfth Doctor. No one can deny that this episode has some of the best acting in it, not to mention a surprise twist at the end!
It begins with a beautiful and haunting monologue from the Doctor about something under the bed. The Doctor becomes sure that there is a monster or being that is always with us when we’re not looking. The reason that our hair turns up on the back of your neck, or the reason we get goosebumps. Why do we talk out loud? Maybe we’re aware of this being since it’s always there.
This leads the Doctor on a timey-wimey quest to figure out the answer. Clara connects with the TARDIS, allowing it to go throughout her timeline, steering it with her thoughts.
Though the Doctor never figures out what the being is, Clara does. After running away from Orson’s crashed spaceship, we end up in a barn. We find out that the Doctor has always been scared of the dark since he lived in a barn. This would be the same barn he’d come back to in Day of the Doctor. Clara tells him that fear is a constant companion, but all the young boy has to do is be wise and strong. Fear will not make him cruel or cowardly, but kind. We realize this is when the Doctor learns he does not need soldiers to win a war.
It’s the haunting storyline and the great twist at the end that has so many people infatuated with this episode. It truly is one of Peter Capaldi’s best episodes in his run, especially since we learned a bit more about the Doctor as a boy.
BBC
The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar
Because this is one storyline, I thought I’d combine these two together. Don’t worry! You’ll still get ten slides, just a couple more episodes packed in!
The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar — both stunning episodes about a tale as old as time itself. His archenemy Davros, the creator of the Daleks, is sick. The Doctor knows that eventually, he will be called to come answer for his past mistakes, and doesn’t know if he’ll make it out alive.
The subplot between Missy and Clara truly put this episode on the map, with Michelle Gomez giving a standout performance. Seeing the two women work together is truly the highlight of the episode, and gives many hilarious moments.
In the actual episodes, his greatest moments are the “axe” fight he throws, coming out on a guitar, sending every fangirl swooning, and his explanation of what had been happening over the last weeks while he’d been there. On the more serious side, when the Daleks “exterminate” Clara and the Doctor loses all hope. He steals Davros’s Dalek seat to try to overthrow Skaro. This gives us Doctor truly without hope, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Rose was in danger.
However, overall, these two episodes were critical in showing everything that had happened between the Doctor and Davros. When he found Davros as a boy, when he ran, and when he finally came back to a dying enemy. Unfortunately, in trying to give him a little bit of energy, he accidentally restarted the Dalek race.
The episodes truly show everything that the Doctor is willing to do for anyone, even his arch nemesis, even if it turns on him in the end.
The Zygon Inversion
In what is probably Capaldi’s best acting job to date, the Zygon Inversion and Invasion has the best acting by the Doctor. This is shown in the War Speech, a speech that was made iconic the second the words were said by Capaldi.
Even if the War Speech is all you take away from these episodes — even if that’s all you watch, it’s worth it. The episodes are a continuation of the 50th anniversary, and they do a fantastic job at showing how not remembering what happened on that day changes him.
The Zygons want to end the peaceful arrangement made on the 50th Anniversary, and led by Bonnie, a Zygon that took Clara’s face, and the Osgood boxes, they could do just that. But don’t think the Doctor’s going to go down without a fight. Or a beautifully arranged speech.
This Speech was so poignant, and so masterfully done by Capaldi that immediately other Doctors were asked to do a version. But in my opinion, no one can match everything that Capaldi put into this episode.
BBC
Heaven Sent
What makes Heaven Sent such a wonderful episode is that Peter Capaldi is in it by himself, 100% alone. For fifty-five minutes, we watch him try to break through his own confession dial. It’s an interesting episode of Doctor Who for a couple of reasons.
What is the Doctor like when he’s alone? In the New Series, we’ve never seen the Doctor alone on a mission before. But after the death of Clara Oswald, he decides he’s going to save her, one way or another. Everything the Doctor does in the episode is for a reason, everything is placed for a reason. To try to make it out of the confession dial and to Gallifrey. To do so, he has to break through a wall, and into the pocket universe.
In this episode, we see the Doctor alone for over a billion years, trying to make his way out. There’s no companion. Barely any dialogue. Just the feeling of a Doctor, completely devoid of any hope. Peter Capaldi had to ensure that the viewer could understand everything the Doctor was feeling without more than a few sentences of dialogue.
He succeeds masterfully, and in the end, it doesn’t matter that he’s found Gallifrey. The truly amazing part is he’s succeeded in making the viewer sit on the edge of their seat, wanting to know what’s going to happen.
BBCA
The Husbands of River Song
This episode is completely my own choice, and many will disagree with me. Not many Christmas Specials make it onto lists like this, but I can’t help it. River Song is my favorite companion created by Steven Moffat, and I was so excited to see what it would be like to see the Twelfth Doctor and River Song together.
This episode is a wonderfully funny and sad episode all at once. Because the Eleventh Doctor cheated death, she doesn’t recognize the Twelfth Doctor. She assumes he’s here as a surgeon to get a very rare diamond out of her husband’s head.
Of course, they get preoccupied with people who worshipped River’s (now beheaded) husband, King Hydroflax. They want to know where the Doctor is, and for the first time, the Doctor gets to surprise River. After River says the Doctor would never be sentimental to be stuck in this situation with her. To which he replies, Hello Sweetie.
And, cue my tears.
But my tears don’t actually happen until the Doctor finally decides it’s time to take River to Derrillium, closing the book on the story of the two. I always thought that Matt Smith’s chemistry with Alex Kingston was incomparable, but Peter Capaldi did it. At the end of the episode, when you the Doctor crying, knowing what’s going to happen, how can you not cry?
It’s a beautiful story, and while it may not be Heaven Sent acting worthy, it’s still a beautiful episode that closes the book between the Doctor and his wife.
bbc
Extremis
Everyone knows my love-hate relationship with this episode, but there’s no denying that Peter Capaldi did a fantastic job between the physical aspect of being blind, as well as the mental aspect. As he looks back on Missy’s execution, he says that everything is worse in the dark. The mental look backs and the agony that being blind places on the Doctor is so poignant. We don’t know what else he could be hearing or seeing when he feels alone by being blind. Especially when all he can think about is the loss of his best friend.
Even though playing blind is my favorite part, the episode stands out at questioning everything we know as reality. Not many people can pull that off without making it sound cheesy, but at the end of the episode, I was a little worried about ever playing a “guess the number” game again.
Even though the following arc did have problems, Extremis was almost scary. We didn’t know what was going on, but it aided in the ability to scare us more. What was this secret text all about? Why were people killing themselves? Were they in an alternate dimension?
The unknown questions were what made the episode. As I said before, it takes a special actor to be able to lead us through an Inception-like episode. And Peter Capaldi did it as good, or better, than Leonardo De Caprio.
BBC
Eaters of Light
It’s amazing what a couple scenes can do. This episode, overall, was an average episode. It wasn’t perfect, but it was okay. Until the end. And then, the episode soared into the hearts of many as a favorite episode.
As many people know, Extremis started a subplot between the Doctor and Missy to try to turn her good. This is the episode where the Doctor pretty much succeeded. After an epic adventure with the Ninth Legion of Roman Centurions and the native people of Scotland, the Doctor comes back to the TARDIS to see Missy. Even though Bill and Nardole are against it, the Doctor says he’s using her for free TARDIS maintenance.
Once they’re alone, the Doctor and Missy have a talk that pretty much breaks everyone’s heart. Missy desperately wants to be the Doctor’s friend again, and even though the Doctor wants it too — Peter Capaldi has this amazing ability to tell a story with his eyes — he can’t yet. Not until he’s sure, and not until he knows she won’t break her word that she’s with him.
That’s the problem with hope. It’s hard to resist.
bbc
The Doctor Falls
Of course, this episode had to make the list. This is probably going to be one of the most iconic Twelve episodes when thought about his era. There are two masters, Mondasian Cybermen, regular Cybermen, Bill is a Cyberman, and a solar farm full of people trying not to be Cybermen. In all of that, we have the Doctor, trying desperately not to regenerate.
There are three main points of this episode I have to mention. The first one is the now iconic speech about being good and doing what’s right that the Doctor gives to the Masters to try to plead them to stay. He tries to explain that it’s not about winning, cause he’ll never win — he might not even make it out alive, but he does it because he knows it’s right. Peter Capaldi’s desperation and almost anger, anger at the fact that they don’t see it — and perhaps that Missy’s left him, is what drives the speech home.
The Doctor refusing to regenerate is something we haven’t seen. Not so violently, or so angrily. It’s a new way to approach the regeneration that hasn’t been seen since the First Doctor. And ironically, that’s when the First Doctor appears, echoing words that the Twelfth Doctor had just said to the Cybermen before blowing them up.