Yeah, the Big Bang episodes were pretty good.
Formula continues to be all over the place, lol... I don't think he's using Joss' formula or anyone else's, because the only eps that actually *deal* with the Big Plot are the finales... and that's my problem with it. If DW had a season like US shows - 22 eps, one every week - then it might work okay (although the whole "episodes full of hints but the actual big plot doesn't get dealt with, but nor does any individual ep have plot, because it's all just a vehicle for hinting around and misdirection" thing would still be annoying), but 13 eps spread out over 12-15 months with a 3-5 month break in the *middle* of the season just means I'm ready to put my hands around Moffat's *neck* by the time he does his "big reveal".
He annoyed me all over again with Matt's regen ep because he dredged up every idea he's ever had and reran them *again* (hardly for the first time), so it felt like the "isn't Moffat clever" episode instead of Matt's last hurrah. I know RTD did that too, but RTD was *also* leaving, for starters, so he needed to tie everything up and leave Moffat with a clean slate... and secondly, The End of Time *did* have a plot of its own, whereas Matt's last ep suffered from the usual problem of "oh my god, now I have an entire season's worth of hinting to explain, ack, not enough time, oh god, and a plot, where's a plot, that'll do, not much time for plot anyway so no one will notice." It's a real shame, because he could easily have just built on the previous ep and the anniversary ep and had something really good... but that wouldn't have left room to cram in every idea that's ever passed
through his brain, and god forbid he not have time for his usual vanity exercise.
Oddly enough, Matt's best overall season was probably the one where Moffat decided that every episode had to be "An American Hollywood Blockbuster!!" (a direct quote from his now defunct Twitter feed)... the plots didn't always work, and the "everything is an action movie!!" concept got tedious, but at least almost every episode *had* a plot that made some kind of logical
sense.
I quite like overarching plots, done well. Moffat's just one of those writers who can't do them well because he can't self-edit... entire seasons to work with gives him far too much rope, which he promptly uses to hang himself.
I'm hoping and praying that having something fresh to put Capaldi into (per the end of the anniversary ep) puts an end to all of this "I have a plot, but it's a secret, you see my secret plot that's a secret? Here's a clue that no one is going to explain or make reference to for the next 12 months, but I'm going to wave it in your face from now till then..." stuff. But it's Moffat, so I'm sure he'll find a way to irritate me.
Russell T Davies was far from perfect, but his stuff is always enjoyable to watch, from the original QaF to Who to his newer projects.