Season 8 was kind of all over the place. Some weeks it was delivering masterpieces (Mummy on the Orient Express, Flatline) while others it was dropping complete turds (Kill the Moon, Forest of the Night). While everything else ranged from decent if not really special (Deep Breath, Into the Dalek) not particularly memorable (Robot of Sherwood, Time Heist) and even pretentious (Listen). The finale story is its own category which I'm not even sure how to describe.
Capaldi delivered a solid performance in his first season, and often times was what elevated otherwise forgettable scripts. I like the return of the Master as Missy, even if her only real story in the season was somewhat of a mess. Clara's constant indecision about travelling with the Doctor was annoying, and her relationship with Danny Pink was painful to watch.
Overall, I found season 8 more enjoyable than season 7 but still not one of the show's best seasons.
See I think most seasons are like that. Take series 3. Even when you get great episodes like Blink and Utopia you have to put up with dreck like 42 and the Lazarus Experiment, and for good solid eps like Smith and Jones and Gridlock there's substandard Dalek 2 parter, and while I have reappraised the Sound of Drums in recent years, Last of the Time Lords is still terrible.
I think series 8 was better than series 7 overall, though most of the problems I have with series 7 mainly come from 7B
As with series 6, I enjoyed the episodes individually, but don't think much to it as a season. Moffat's era seems to give DW the opposite to the Trek movies- the even numbered ones he's done are the disappointing ones, and the odd numbered the good, so far.
I really like series 6 though. I think if series 8 reminds me of any other series it’s the Eccleston one, a show that seems unsure about its tone which is odd given it’s not exactly Moffat’s first rodeo, but I guess a new Doctor and, (possibly?) the BBC pushing for something less convoluted may have contributed to this.
RTD was wise to depict the Master's return, because he had previously set up that the Time Lords are all dead but the Doctor. Moffat, on the other hand, goes for the mystery route - but its a nifty gamble, because what fans do want is to see Simm regenerate into the Mistress. And the fact she's back also doesn't mean Gallifrey's back - only that he somehow left...
That said, another thing that annoys me is how she was around for YEARS. Like she wasn't just freshly regenerated. Which means, another one of RTD's tropes thrown out of the window.
Really, Moffat's been slowly rewriting RTD's NuWho, it seems.
What RTD trope is this? That we have to see a regeneration? Because we didn’t see 8 into 9 (as we imagined) or Roberts into Jacobi? And surely in some respects Saxon had been around for years.
And RTD doesn't own Who, each new showrunner can choose to amend/throw out what's gone before if he doesn't like it (much like RTD did)