I still maintain that season 6 is far better than people remember. The biggest problem of that season (apart from the split which was very annoying the time) is the ham-fisted River Song mystery, which dragged along, wasn't delivered that well outside of the set-up in the opening episodes and got on people's nerves a bit. I really like Moffat, but he doesn't do the long-term mystery well. I approach them differently to most people though, I don't even try to guess what they might be. Like the Clara-mystery (which was actually the most annoying of the bunch, because he didn't create a character first and gave her interesting things to do after that, he started with some weird plot thing that sounds cool on paper but is really annoying if you can't know where it's going). River Song is full of that too, and after we've learned pretty much everything about her the character just isn't that interesting anymore. Season 6 is pretty much the River Song season, and I think that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. It's a bit messy, and a bit all over the place. But it still contains a lot of episodes that I would count among Matt Smith's best - especially the Silence two-parter in America, the Doctor's Wife(!), The Girl Who Waited, and I even really like A Good Man Goes to War, Let's Kill Hitler and The Wedding of River Song. I'd rate most of those episodes higher than anything that came out of the Eccleston/Tennant years.
I think I have a bit of a higher tolerance for those last three than most people because I don't really care about the mysteries and the overarching plot - I just take each episode as it comes. I think most people guessed that River Song was
at the time, and that she was
, but I just see those mysteries as something that kids should be able to figure out. It's not the most important part of the show, although Moffat often makes it seem like it is. For me it's always more about the story that's told in a single episode, rather than trying to map out all the clues. A big complaint at the time was that the show got too confusing, but it's really not that hard if you just pay attention to what's happening. When someone sets up a mystery you often know that you're not going to get the answer to that right there and then - all you need to know is that there's something mysterious going on with a certain character and that they'll get back to that at some point. Trying to tie it all together while you're watching an episode just makes you lose focus of the story that they're trying to tell in that episode at the time - and I think that's the most annoying thing about Moffat's run. When you just let the show be the show and allow the story to tell itself it all becomes much more enjoyable. That's why I try to avoid most spoilers and why I don't even watch the 'Next Time' trailers at the end of an episode.
There's some great moments in those season 6 episodes (the "we seem to be defending ourselves" line when Churchill and the Doctor realize they've been fighting the Silence all this time is one of my favorite moments of the show - very Douglas Addams). In fact, out of all the modern seasons, season 6 feels the most like it's a tribute to Douglas Addams and his work on Tom Baker-Who and Hitchhikers. That's brings a lot of weirdness with it, but I kinda like that.
Season 5 was far more consistent tonally and in quality. I think season 6 had two episodes that I think are just bad - Curse of the Black Spot and Closing Time. The Rebel Flesh-two parter, Night Terrors and The God Complex didn't make much of an impression on me. I even like A Christmas Carol - still the only good christmas episode the modern show has done. But the other episodes I mentioned earlier really do lift it to another level. It's still riding on that creative burst of energy the show got with season 5 - season 7 just devolved into a pale imitation of itself - the best episodes of that season where still very boring and by-the-books. Nothing stood out to me in that season.
I hope the next season gets another jolt, and that they start taking risks again. I like the actor, so I'll keep an open mind.
