8. The Curse of the Black Spot
The Curse of the Black Spot is a generic, utterly unambitious episode of Doctor Who. It's not a strong enough standalone to make us forget about the unanswered questions raised in the series opener, and instead feels like an unwelcome distraction more than anything else. If you're going to create a season as arc-heavy as this one was, you need to make sure that the standalone episodes are watertight. The ending is needlessly saccharine, and the manufactured drama with Rory dying and being resuscitated just comes off as pointless. Like they're really going to kill off the third lead in what is so clearly a throwaway episode.