Last of the Time Lords
I don't... I don't understand how the man who gave us Utopia and The Sound of Drums can be the same man to... give us Last of the WTF?!
First of all - having an entire year pass does not, by definition, give you automatic points for deep and supposedly worthwhile drama.
But having a year go by only to erase it means even less than nothing, and I think that's why I wasn't the least bit moved by the whole A-plot. Because we know Rusty, we're in on the secret. We know the DW universe can't bear that magnitude of injustice, that's why the smaller injustices are the ones that hit us where it hurts the most. Where it hurts for real.
One real death is worth all the billions of deaths we know are temporary.
Though, ok, I'll admit you've given fandom an entire gap year which will soon be filled to the brim with dark, delicious pr0n on the Valiant and probably too much introspective, inspirational Martha gen. And we haven't even begun to talk about Torchwood during this year, a failed Torchwood without Jack. The gap year will be a greenhouse for darkfic, and I'm excited about that.
And it's not that there weren't good points, there were. The Toclafane are the humans from Utopia? Fucking brilliant man, full marks for that. And as I largely stayed away from fandom speculation the whole Jack-is-the-Face-of-Boe revelation was a truly sincere HA! moment.
And the acting was just... just inspiring. John Simm was nothing short of brilliant and god knows I love the man to bits and pieces and then some - but Tennant blew this one out of the intergalactic waters. Tears I'm telling you, genuine gut-wrenched brokenhearted tears. If there had been a 'stay with me' or a 'Theta' worked in there somehow I might have imploded from the sheer sorrow of it all.
It even made me forget the whole 'I do believe in fairies the Doctor' deus ex machina. Ok, almost made me forget. That's shoddy workmanship there Rusty, really sloppy plotting.
As for both Jack and Martha leaving... I had hoped Jack would stick around for the Christmas Special, that he wouldn't leave the Doctor now when he needs companionship the most. I know that the realities of producing these things, scheduling conflicts and budgetary demands and so on and so forth - and I understand that things can't always work out the way the way they deserve to, but this point really bothers me. Jack's finally gotten him back, he's died so many times for him and I think he knew Martha wouldn't stay.
Jack Harkness the character wouldn't leave the Doctor, not again. Or at least not yet. John Barrowman has other commitments, that's understandable and I would love to see his horrible year referenced in the new season of Torchwood (*prays to the TPTB that it opens with lots and lots of h/c sex with Ianto*) but from a literary point of view, it's disappointing.
Sigh...
I think this really drove home the differences between Rose and Martha. They were both willing to die for the Doctor, but only Rose was willing to give up her life for him. And I'm not faulting Martha for it, Rose knew she was loved and maybe that makes Martha's sacrifices even more significant.
Anyways, the Titanic setup looks promising and I have a good feeling about the new companion, whoever that may be. I just hope RTD takes a chance on someone truly unique. I hope he trusts us enough to give us a companion who doesn't have to fall in love with the Doctor in order to love him. In order to want to be with him. Someone who isn't afraid of the Doctor's grief, who understands what a dangerous combination tragedy and power can be.
I'd love to see a slipping-into-maddness Doctor next season, I'd love to see him teetering on that beautiful brink of surrendering to his darker side. I'd love to see him, for once, acknowledging how broken he is, I want to see him give up. Because he's been moving forward on the power of inertia until now, how exciting would it be to see him come to a full stop and then have to make the conscious decision to start moving again?