Steven Moffat: 5 Reasons To Love Him and 5 Reasons To Hate Him

1. Sexism/Over Sexualizing (Doctor Who and Sherlock)

Strangely enough, I was actually going to forget about it. I know, the big thing everybody complains about when it comes to Steven Moffat, and I was going to leave it off the list, because - and I'm genuinely not kidding - I didn't care. Until I saw the image below...

Just... look at it. It's moments like this that make me think that he doesn't care any more. I know that isn't true but he still doesn't seem to realize how hard it's getting to defend him.

Sigh... okay then, let's start from the beginning and look calmly and objectively at where he first landed on this slippery slope. Moffat's first Who stories featured a minor subplot involving teen pregnancy in the early 1940's and Madame de Pompadour kissing the Doctor for no adequately explored reason. While this does seem like the equivalent of Elizabeth getting off with Drop Dead Fred, these incidents are largely forgivable, and you only see them if you're really nitpicking. Nancy from 'The Empty Child' was a really strong character, and the whole of 'Girl in the Fireplace' is close to perfect. Even when River Song became increasingly sexual not a lot of people noticed, again because she was a likeable, three-dimensional character that came out of a really daring move as far as story goes (the Doctor gets a WIFE?).

Then Moffat takes over full time in Series Five and things start to get a little bit awkward when we see our new companion ready to abandon her fiancee on the night before their wedding to run off with her imaginary friend, before trying to seduce said imaginary friend the minute they return. (There's that Drop Dead Fred thing again...) That annoyed a lot of people, but not as much as 'A Scandal in Belgravia', a Sherlock episode where female icon Irene Adler was transformed from a singer, as she was originally, to a prostitute for people who are 'into that kind of thing.' The controversy behind THAT one was everywhere.

Personally, I was prepared to forgive and forget. The Amy Pond thing was an isolated incident, wasn't it? Irene Adler was always going to be adapted into one form or another, right? And wasn't River Song flirtatious from the very start? But when I saw Clara, one of the most anticipated characters of the show's modern era, attempting to give Matt Smith's tonsils a good cleaning, I slammed my head on the keyboard.

Here's Clara, who has the opportunity to be a really original character given her time period and all the comedic and tragic results that could ensue from it, having all her potential thrown away with no discernible motive. I mean, was it really SO vital to the story that you had to kill her before arrival?

However, I've decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this kiss scene really is integral to the plot of the episode. Moffat's a smart guy, he's not likely to make the same mistake twice, which is really all I can say on the subject.

So, that's one nerdy fan-boy's opinion on Moffat. What's yours? Let me know in the comments. Peace!