I totally agree with everything you wrote except that I gave up on it after Clara left. They really let Capaldi down hard. He should have been a truly remarkable Doctor but most see his time as mediocre. It wasn’t his fault but the writers.
I am not even going to try to watch the woke female and gay black man years episodes. I barely got through till Clara left. The writing is so bad it just isn’t watchable for me.
Capaldi had moments or brilliance, but a whole lot of, well, lets be real, silliness too.. the Sonic Sunglasses??
I know you disagree, but I honestly thing Clara was one of the better companions, the bright eyed optimistic niavete countered balanced well, to the doctor, who had seen it all and knew that the universe was indeed not innately good, but a wretchedly heartless and cruel place.
Clara’s “death” suited the character well, though sad.. with of course the “cheat” that she’s actually stolen away in the moment before to travel the whole of time and the universe with River Song for however long before returning to that moment to actually die.
I agree overall Capaldi’s run was relatively meh, largely due to writing.. However, the episode “Heaven Sent”, I would rate right up among the best episodes since the Reboot.
There was so much tied up in Clara, with the whole existing throughout time, etc etc.. That I probably have forgotten a good bit of it, I probably should rewatch the clara years again to refresh my memory.
Anyway, I didn’t like everything they did with Capaldi, but compared to what happened once they went full on woke, it was miles and miles above where it went.
OH and yes, the post Clara era of Capaldi was indeed a step down for sure... But as I said I would put the “Heaven Sent” episode as one of the better episodes since the reboot.
Billy Potts was without exception the most unrelatable companion of the reboot era to that point, at least for me. It seems like they just seem to want to ignore the formula that has made them a 6+ decades staple.