Review - The End of Time (part 2)
Robbed. I feel robbed.
I don't hate the episode. But I wanted so much to love it, I was hoping so much for a Doomsday-like episode, that I feel robbed, and that's probably the worst that could happen for Ten's end. I mean, what was that? Fanboys United? Master Who? RTD's Wildest Fantasies Coming True? A Star Wars remake?
I expected so much from this finale, you wouldn't even believe it. Ten is my Doctor, so he had to go with a bang. Well, in my eyes he went with like wet firecracker at best. And that's coming from a huge RTD fan who tends to defend his writing no matter what. But here I really can't. He did the worst thing he could do to me: mess up Ten's grand finale. I'm so disappointed I don't even know where to start.
First half of the episode I felt like I was watching Master Who instead of Doctor Who. And considering how little I care for the Master, that was NOT a good sign. And much as I like John Simm as an actor, I thought the character had lost a lot of his power in this last episode. In fact he ended up looking a bit pathetic in the scene where the Time Lords return. Maybe it was what RTD intended, but it didn't work for me. Didn't tie in with the clever, mad and megalomaniac Master we'd seen until then. Yes, he's multi-faceted I suppose, but I felt like it was an insult to his intelligence. And since I'm not a Ten/Master shipper at all, the scene where they mutually spare (save?) each other didn't do much to redeem the whole thing in my eyes. I also wish the scene with the Doctor pointing his gun at the Master and the "President" would've been a bit shorter, though, as it was a nice idea but really felt like it was dragging on for ever.
Now, and sorry but I'm still going to talk about the stuff I didn't like: the Time Lords. Again, very much like with the Master, didn't do anything for me. I've never watched Classic Who, so maybe that's why I had trouble getting into the whole Time Lords returning thing. Maybe. I found it interesting, though, that the Doctor's terrified about them coming back, and the idea that they'd turned into something dreadful and dangerous right before he ended the Time War was clever and original. Well, okay, I liked that a lot.
There are scenes I totally loved, though. Wilf and Ten for the win, totally and absolutely. The first scene, with the Doctor all tied up and gagged, and Wilf telling the Master he'd be proud to be the Doctor's dad. The Doctor being wheeled away, still tied up and ranting that this is the "Worst. Rescue. Ever." That was so Ten and I loved it!
But my very favourite scene in the whole episode is when Wilf tries to convince the Doctor to take his gun. First, there's the Doctor telling Wilf he'd be proud to be his son. Then there's Wilf's anguish when he tells the Doctor not to put the Master above the life of humans. That scene itself makes the whole episode worth it. That's RTD at his best, emotional, powerful, heartwrenching and poignant. That's the RTD I love.
Same with the scene where Wilf knocks four times and then Ten realises he'll have to die to save him. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant again. And I screamed and cried when he stepped inside the chamber and got radiated. That's exactly what I was hoping for as a grand finale, and trouble is, those scenes were so few and far between that they couldn't make me forget the rest. And that's a shame, because I wanted so much to love this final Ten-episode.
I also have a huge problem with what happened to Donna. If she remembers, her mind will burn. Well, handy to have her start remembering then hop, put to sleep then hop, everything's back to normal. It felt like such a huge shortcut. If it was such a problem, he shouldn't have had her remember anything. And that's so unlike RTD to miss stuff like that and use huge plot devices carrying big glaring neon signs. Or, come to think of it, to leave loose ends like Wilf being special. That was never explained, was it?
I'm also very conflicted about the final goodbyes. Martha and Mickey married?!? WTF? What happened to Tom?
Joan Redfern's granddaughter? Well, okay, the moment itself was kind of nice, with the Doctor asking if she'd been happy in the end, and the granddaughter asking him the same question. But still, it felt a bit strange, as the Doctor's touched so many lives, so why Joan and not other one-time companions?
Jack's was the worst goodbye to me, because I expected so very much from it, and all I got was RTD's fantasy about shagging Russell Tovey (which he revealed in his Writer's Tale). While it was a nice touch that this was obviously post-CoE Jack, I was hoping so much for some real Ten/Jack interaction that again, I feel robbed. I just rolled my eyes at the scene, to be honest.
Two goodbyes stood out to me, though: Donna's wedding, because Ten giving Sylvia and Wilf a gift from Donna's father was such a nice, thoughtful touch, and Wilf's tears as he watched Ten go for the last time broke my heart. And then Rose, because as a Doctor/Rose shipper I'd been anticipating it so much, and it didn't disappoint. It was very sweet, with Rose being the sensible one and Jackie being told not to come home too late. *grins* And I totally loved the Ten/Rose scene, because it tied in so nicely with the beginning of it all.
I still sobbed my heart out after Rose left. Yes, I expected to cry, in fact I'd even go as far as saying I was hoping I would cry at Ten's death, but I meant emotional tears, not tears that were there just because I'm going to miss him so very much. As it is, I cried only because he was going to die and it was the end of the Ten-era. And that's just not good enough.
Those few lovely or very emotional moments didn't manage to balance out the rest of the episode for me. On the whole, I feel robbed, and that's not what I wanted for the last episode of the RTD/David era. :( They both deserved so much better.
I don't hate the episode. But I wanted so much to love it, I was hoping so much for a Doomsday-like episode, that I feel robbed, and that's probably the worst that could happen for Ten's end. I mean, what was that? Fanboys United? Master Who? RTD's Wildest Fantasies Coming True? A Star Wars remake?
I expected so much from this finale, you wouldn't even believe it. Ten is my Doctor, so he had to go with a bang. Well, in my eyes he went with like wet firecracker at best. And that's coming from a huge RTD fan who tends to defend his writing no matter what. But here I really can't. He did the worst thing he could do to me: mess up Ten's grand finale. I'm so disappointed I don't even know where to start.
First half of the episode I felt like I was watching Master Who instead of Doctor Who. And considering how little I care for the Master, that was NOT a good sign. And much as I like John Simm as an actor, I thought the character had lost a lot of his power in this last episode. In fact he ended up looking a bit pathetic in the scene where the Time Lords return. Maybe it was what RTD intended, but it didn't work for me. Didn't tie in with the clever, mad and megalomaniac Master we'd seen until then. Yes, he's multi-faceted I suppose, but I felt like it was an insult to his intelligence. And since I'm not a Ten/Master shipper at all, the scene where they mutually spare (save?) each other didn't do much to redeem the whole thing in my eyes. I also wish the scene with the Doctor pointing his gun at the Master and the "President" would've been a bit shorter, though, as it was a nice idea but really felt like it was dragging on for ever.
Now, and sorry but I'm still going to talk about the stuff I didn't like: the Time Lords. Again, very much like with the Master, didn't do anything for me. I've never watched Classic Who, so maybe that's why I had trouble getting into the whole Time Lords returning thing. Maybe. I found it interesting, though, that the Doctor's terrified about them coming back, and the idea that they'd turned into something dreadful and dangerous right before he ended the Time War was clever and original. Well, okay, I liked that a lot.
There are scenes I totally loved, though. Wilf and Ten for the win, totally and absolutely. The first scene, with the Doctor all tied up and gagged, and Wilf telling the Master he'd be proud to be the Doctor's dad. The Doctor being wheeled away, still tied up and ranting that this is the "Worst. Rescue. Ever." That was so Ten and I loved it!
But my very favourite scene in the whole episode is when Wilf tries to convince the Doctor to take his gun. First, there's the Doctor telling Wilf he'd be proud to be his son. Then there's Wilf's anguish when he tells the Doctor not to put the Master above the life of humans. That scene itself makes the whole episode worth it. That's RTD at his best, emotional, powerful, heartwrenching and poignant. That's the RTD I love.
Same with the scene where Wilf knocks four times and then Ten realises he'll have to die to save him. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant again. And I screamed and cried when he stepped inside the chamber and got radiated. That's exactly what I was hoping for as a grand finale, and trouble is, those scenes were so few and far between that they couldn't make me forget the rest. And that's a shame, because I wanted so much to love this final Ten-episode.
I also have a huge problem with what happened to Donna. If she remembers, her mind will burn. Well, handy to have her start remembering then hop, put to sleep then hop, everything's back to normal. It felt like such a huge shortcut. If it was such a problem, he shouldn't have had her remember anything. And that's so unlike RTD to miss stuff like that and use huge plot devices carrying big glaring neon signs. Or, come to think of it, to leave loose ends like Wilf being special. That was never explained, was it?
I'm also very conflicted about the final goodbyes. Martha and Mickey married?!? WTF? What happened to Tom?
Joan Redfern's granddaughter? Well, okay, the moment itself was kind of nice, with the Doctor asking if she'd been happy in the end, and the granddaughter asking him the same question. But still, it felt a bit strange, as the Doctor's touched so many lives, so why Joan and not other one-time companions?
Jack's was the worst goodbye to me, because I expected so very much from it, and all I got was RTD's fantasy about shagging Russell Tovey (which he revealed in his Writer's Tale). While it was a nice touch that this was obviously post-CoE Jack, I was hoping so much for some real Ten/Jack interaction that again, I feel robbed. I just rolled my eyes at the scene, to be honest.
Two goodbyes stood out to me, though: Donna's wedding, because Ten giving Sylvia and Wilf a gift from Donna's father was such a nice, thoughtful touch, and Wilf's tears as he watched Ten go for the last time broke my heart. And then Rose, because as a Doctor/Rose shipper I'd been anticipating it so much, and it didn't disappoint. It was very sweet, with Rose being the sensible one and Jackie being told not to come home too late. *grins* And I totally loved the Ten/Rose scene, because it tied in so nicely with the beginning of it all.
I still sobbed my heart out after Rose left. Yes, I expected to cry, in fact I'd even go as far as saying I was hoping I would cry at Ten's death, but I meant emotional tears, not tears that were there just because I'm going to miss him so very much. As it is, I cried only because he was going to die and it was the end of the Ten-era. And that's just not good enough.
Those few lovely or very emotional moments didn't manage to balance out the rest of the episode for me. On the whole, I feel robbed, and that's not what I wanted for the last episode of the RTD/David era. :( They both deserved so much better.