I actually felt the India-Pakistan division episode was probably the strongest story, but 'legacy' wise the special was the closest to 'your normal scheduled Doctor Who'. That said, I actually quite like Graham's interactions with 'the fam' as well as Whitaker's exchanges on that end. "I'm nice" should lead somewhere though, but that's only because we've been so spoiled by Moffat writing that it's hard to imagine Who without complexity now.
Maybe reboot some time lords that aren't the Master?
Anyway, on the whole season, I'd say Jodie Whitaker is a fun Doctor, but it's pretty clear the larger fiction (outside of the crew that is) is severely underdeveloped, to a point of almost feeling like they're rebooting from square one, which is particularly obvious with the special. At the same time of course, RTD just did that as one episode (Dalek), only to go full 'sykes!' with the finale. It feels weird to say RTD was a good writer, but there it is.
Also, I really miss Missy. :(
Maybe reboot some time lords that aren't the Master?
Anyway, on the whole season, I'd say Jodie Whitaker is a fun Doctor, but it's pretty clear the larger fiction (outside of the crew that is) is severely underdeveloped, to a point of almost feeling like they're rebooting from square one, which is particularly obvious with the special. At the same time of course, RTD just did that as one episode (Dalek), only to go full 'sykes!' with the finale. It feels weird to say RTD was a good writer, but there it is.
Also, I really miss Missy. :(