Doctor Who is a unique series in many ways, not least because it can feel saddled by its past while simultaneously brushing it off. That's been felt more acutely since the show became a BBC and Disney+ co-production. While it's meant larger budgets for the 62-year-old show, the partnership has set some of the more old-school fandom quivering.

This year maintained a higher quality than recent series, but jamming mythology, mystery and multiple genres into eight episodes also brought out its most indulgent qualities. If this were the Beatles, we'd be at the White Album: a strong but flawed collection where the brilliance needed to hang together better.

Some things don't change – a Doctor often takes a second season to find their feet. This was the year Ncuti Gatwa came alive as the Fifteenth Doctor, running a gamut of emotions across the show's best run of stories in a decade. A flash of that grin can solve many things (as someone familiar tells him in the finale), but we also saw him at his most scared and rage-filled.

Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra was a brilliant addition – a breath of fresh air as a companion who instantly brought a challenge to Gatwa's flamboyant Time Lord that was missing in last year's gallivanting. The season opener, ‘The Robot Revolution' saw Belinda escape a coercive, controlling (and AI-augmented) ex-boyfriend who promised her the stars only to fall into the Doctor's TARDIS. It was chilling when she recognised the Doctor's promises as more of the same. After that confrontational start kicked off the plot of returning Belinda to an Earth that no longer existed, the question was whether the short season could resolve the multiple mysteries laid out by showrunner Russell T. Davies.

After a format-breaking battle with a cartoon god in ‘Lux,' came an unexpected sequel. ‘The Well' was the chilling Aliens to the Alien of Series 4's ‘Midnight,' and undoubtedly one of the show's scariest ever episodes. By the time Ruby Sunday returned to front the episode ‘Lucky Day' – a year after '73 yards' – a pattern emerged. Each story finding a new way to break down storytelling and even, with a meta glimpse at fans in ‘Lux,' the show itself.

A bold approach, but true to the Gatwa era, the consistent threat was the Pantheon of Gods. Although battling gods felt increasingly tired, a highlight was Inua Ellams' atmospheric ‘The Story and the Engine' and the heady space of mortals tangling with deities. Primarily following a cast of eight people of colour trapped in a barbershop, it was a superb look at race, cultural appropriation, and the stories passed down through time immemorial, as well as a showcase of what this primetime show can do.

In a surprising turn, time was up for Gatwa's irrepressible Doctor in the finale, after facing returning foes, the Rani and Omega. It's hard to resist the Fifteenth Doctor making the ultimate sacrifice for the reality of one little girl, or how Davies doubled down on the cost. But given the season's early highs, it ended in retreat. The conclusion radically undermined Belinda's early promise; instead of following through on the well-developed theme of control, it compounded it.

A rich legacy is one thing, but returning two Time Lord villains after 32 and 42 years respectively (then quickly dispatching them) felt like a rush backwards. It didn't make Gatwa's departure after just 18 months feel any less premature, and the shock of an apparently backward-looking regeneration didn't stem the sense of loss.

Having a foot in the past and future may sound like Doctor Who, but with the show's next steps unclear, it leaves fans and casual viewers in a strange place. Third nebula to the right.

Doctor Who Series 15 is available on BBC iPlayer now