"Fast paced"? I actually noted while watching it that it seemed slower and more contemplative than a regular episode. Being twice as long as a regular episode helps, of course, but still.
I agree about Clara, though. From the beginning she has existed solely as a plot device, almost like a throwback to the worst companions of the classic series. She's pretty and clever and perpetually cheerful, but that just makes her incredibly dull. I think we've seen her get mad only once, in "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS".
It's a shame, too, because physically she's exactly my type.
I was also hoping for more about the last day of the Time War. This…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9OWAAsSXU0…still gives me shivers. Really, the Daleks and the Time Lords at the height of their powers were supposed to be effectively gods annihilating space-time itself. That's why the Doctor did what he did;
both sides had to be stopped. But in the end, all we got to see was a typical shoot-'em-up space invasion, with Gallifrey definitely on the losing side. It makes the Time Lords seem like slightly advanced humans, it makes the Doctor seem like a crank for wiping them out, and it makes Moffat seem clueless about the entire mythology. Feh.
(Farscape did it better, so nyah.)