Doctor Who Finale: Journey's End
I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest. Below are some thoughts:
It was rather inventive the way they got around the regeneration sequence, but does that mean that the Doctor has one less regeneration?
I think Rose was pretty much wasted in coming back really. Although I did like seeing her back, there didn't seem enough interaction. Like she never got to face the consequences of what she did to poor Jack. I personally would have liked to see that scene. I've seen in some reviews that people tend to think it diminishes her ending in Doomsday and I think to a certain extent they are right. Whilst I love Rose and she is one of my favourite companions in the New Who, (I think my favourite companion time was during the last five episodes of series 1-there was just something really wonderful about the whole Nine, Rose & Jack interaction, though I did like Nine & Rose as well as Ten & Rose) I think it was possibly a mistake to have brought her back, at least when she wasn't really given anything worthwhile to do. But then why should we expect them to be any different with Rose as they have been with Captain Jack, who seems to have been underused on all of his returns to the show (though I have enjoyed seeing him back on Dr Who).
I did like the human Doctor being created from Donna and the Doctor's hand, it was amusing to watch, especially the unexpectedly naked Doctor, of course I'd have been much happier if we'd had unexpectedly naked Captain Jack when he'd got out of the Dalek incinerator as well (hey John, when are you going to get your kit off again?:)
Ianto and Gwen were basically left with nothing to do at all really. But I did love that Tosh managed to save them from beyond the grave, well done Tosh. You really will be sourly missed.
As for the ending, I could understand why human Doctor had to go to the parallel world, we couldn't have two David Tennant Doctors roaming about, always getting in each others way, though that's more to do with a production point of view. I suppose the impression we're probably meant to get is that Ten is allowing human Ten to have the life he can never have with Rose. Of course that could also be the reason why he forces them to go back to the parallel universe, he doesn't want to see what he's missing out on. In a way part of me is happy that Rose gets human Doctor, on the other hand, I don't know, it's a more powerful ending in Doomsday, when they're standing on the beach unable to touch and Ten is unable to finish his sentence. It's just so beautiful.
I like that Micky stayed in this universe, I think Jack and Micky interact rather well and it may be amusing to see him on Torchwood (depending on the writing), I'm not so sure about Martha though. Speaking of Martha she's been pretty underused this season on Doctor who hasn't she? She was in what, five episodes? Which even with the three she did on Torchwood doesn't account for a whole season.
Donna's ending again was rather unhappy. There's been several hints this season that Donna is going to be killed. The same happened with Rose. But it almost seems as if they can't go the whole hog and actually kill off a main character/companion, like they did with the old series a few times. Of course Donna's end is remarkably similar to what happened with Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe, who also both had their memories wiped (also by Timelords). What I actually thought was going to happen was that human Ten was going to start dying because he was just an anomaly and take Donna with him because they were linked, which would get rid of both human Ten (who I didn't expect to remain alive at the end of the show) and get around the Donna dying scenario.
A couple of things do puzzle me though. If Rose's universe is ahead of ours how does she know that Donna is going to die, since her universe don't have their own Timelord wandering about and Donna only "dies" because of him? Secondly, how did they fix things in her universe without the Doctor? (which I realise is basically just a rephrasing of the previous question, but to paraphrase from Red Dwarf, I felt it such an important question it needed to be asked twice.)