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Reading through my correspondence list, and...regarding Doctor Who? I didn't like RT Davies reboot of Who that much. I hadn't really seen the original, so that wasn't an issue. I just didn't like the whole "lonely god" storyline. It reminded me a little bit of Angel the Series and few other dark anti-hero stories I'd seen...and it is a trope that I'd grown weary of. I have to admit, it may very well have been why Angel didn't quite work for me and I gave up completely on the comics.

I do know that it was not until I saw the episode Blink, Midnight, and Grid-Lock that I began to change my mind about Doctor Who. Also, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead -- in which the Doctor doesn't save the day, Doctor Song does, and all he can do is preserve an echo of her. He's powerless. I, oddly, liked the episodes in which he was powerless. I also liked the one's that commented on his power, and entitlement, in a critical fashion. Felt the same about Angel the Series.
I preferred the episodes that critiqued Angel's view that he was chosen, that he was the champion.
The episodes that critiqued that trope. The one's that embraced the trope irritated me and made me stop watching, like Doctor Who, I had to be persuaded to try Angel again.

I do not deal with entitlement, authority, or the idea of I'm the hero, so I can wreck havoc as long as it is for the greater good. I cry bullshit.

Much prefer the reluctant hero trope, or the one who feels they've screwed up royally, and are struggling to make amends. When Angel was playing the hero who screwed up royally, I liked him, when he was playing the entitled champion, I was done.

Same with Doctor Who, when he's the entitled authority or lonely entitled hero, I can't watch the show. It does not work for me. When he isn't, and his power is questioned, or critiqued, or someone else has to figure it out, I like it better. One of my favorite episodes is Blink for that reason.
It's also possibly why I preferred Moffat's Who to Davies at times. Moffat critiqued that entitlement, the ego, and often undercut it. You see him doing it with Sherlock as well.

I think it's also been my difficulty with my own country and state's leaders -- there's an air of entitlement and I know what is best, worship me. Instead of humble, kindness, of wanting advice and ideas, and brain storming. Too much posturing and ego on display, not enough heart and mind and soul or spirit. Instead of a collaboration, it's more authoritarian in nature -- and that scares me. Because that doesn't end well. People are not infallible and cannot be gods. In fact to put them up there in any way is blasphemous to my view of God.

And because what is happening in the real world is so...painful on so many levels, and for so long, and because of my issues with authority, I veer away from any entertainment in which a "lonely god" or "absolute authority" or "entitled person" trope is suggested. Or at least I try to.

Doctor Who Season Finale - The World is Not Enough and The Doctor Falls

Just finished watching the Doctor Who Season Finale for whatever season this is. Honestly after a television series hits seven, I lose track.

Rather enjoyed it, much more than anticipated. Huge improvement over the last few episodes. Although I did like Eaters of the Light.

Actually, I've figured out a pattern in regards to my Doctor Who watching...I appear to like the seasons that do not over-emphasize the importance or value of the leads. I think that was my difficulty with the Clara story arc, I liked the character well enough, just couldn't stand the whole "chosen" or "impossible" or "most important girl in all the world" bit. Same with the tenth Doctor, I liked Tennant, and the series as long as it wasn't doing the whole lonely god bit.

Also for the first time since Derek Jacobi portrayed him in the Clockmaker at the End of the Universe, I actually found "the Master/Missy" interesting as a character. Missy was interesting this season, while I'd merely found her irritating in previous seasons.

Rather enjoyed the emphasis on agency, and in regards to gender and form. That the particular body or form we are in is not all that important. And it's not about winning or what we can get out of it, or playing god, or being important, or victorious or a hero... but about kindness. Being kind.

( Spoilers, because it is sort of hard to go into any detail without them and there are quite a few delightful surprises in this episode for new and long-term Doctor Who watchers )

Writing all this down, I realize how much I loved these two episodes, how deeply they resonated with me, I find myself repeating bits in my head.

Best two episodes of the season, and best that I've seen in the last two or three years. Also an very good ending to Moffat's arc on the series. I will miss Moffat, since I've more or less enjoyed his writing in everything he's done. I think his next project is Dracula of all things.

Overall rating? A

[As an aside, the US got tired of waiting on the British and created their own personal female 007, with Atomic Blond. Charlize Theron plays the titular agent role, and James McAvoy the love interest/male squeeze we may not be able to trust. I may have to see that.]