What the HELL is this episode?

Seriously what was that? Who thought most of this was a good idea? It’s so headscratchingly baffling that it leaves me with too many probably unanswerable questions.

What was the point in turning the Doctor in this little scrotal goblin?

He was already a weak and feeble old man. The makeup wasn’t always great for this, but at least it had David Tennant there to physically act the part and he sells the heck out of it. Would the Doctor transforming into his younger, super-powered self be any different really had he just been old man Tennant and not the CGI monstrosity the Doctor becomes?

Why can the Doctor become a superhero through the power of positive thinking?

At times I feel the Davis Ex Machina complaints regarding RTD’s series finales can be a little unfair. But here it’s bloody dreadful. I guess there’s some setup in the episode. But really that just means we see one instance of Martha telling a small group of people on some stairs about the Doctor. Then we’re told that in the last year she’s actually told the whole world about him, and the Doctor has been attuning himself with the Archangel network or something. This doesn’t feel like enough setup to actually earn what ends up being an incredibly silly moment, made even sillier because the episode badly presents it as the most triumphant thing that has ever happened. It doesn’t do any groundwork to justify why the Doctor can now fly and deflect laser blasts if the whole world says the word Doctor at the same time. Also apparently the Doctor was able to relay this whole convoluted plan, red herrings and all, to Martha in a brief whispered moment before she teleported away at the end of the last episode. Everything about the climax here is so frickin’ stupid, it beggars belief.

Why do we spend so much of the episode on Martha’s red herring scheme?

Speaking of the red herring plot, we don’t get enough time setting up the actual plot to defeat the Master, because we have to spend so much time on Martha’s pretend scheme to defeat him. I can forgive that there’s supposedly a super Time Lord killing gun, but it requires 5 parts (the gun and 4 vials of liquid) that have inexplicably been separated and scattered throughout the world. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, why build this weapon then make it so hard to use? But whatever, the episode needs to give a pretend explanation as to what Martha’s been up to for an entire year, so this’ll do I guess. But the whole pretend scheme is just; Martha will save the day by shooting the Master. That’s it, and I don’t care.

Does anyone like it when show’s hit the magical reset button?

It’s such a cheap storytelling device. We time travel back to before the Master has killed millions of people, destroyed much of the Earth and remade it in his image. So almost nothing that happens here ultimately matters. If you’re not prepared to deal with the consequences of this story, then don’t tell this story. The episode does pretend there are some big consequences here. But that’s mostly just that the Jones family have experienced unimaginable trauma and will likely be suffering from PTSD for the rest of their lives. Except we don’t see much of this, the Doctor watches them looking sad through a window, and Martha tells us that they’re in a bad way. But that’s basically it in terms of consequences. Oh and the President of America is dead which… hold on…

Wait, why doesn’t America declare war on Great Britain?

Seriously! The last thing that happens before the magical reset button changes the timeline is that the Prime Minister of Great Britain murdered the President of America on live television. This feels like it should start a war, or at least cause a major international incident. But, oh yeah this episode has no interest in dealing with any of the consequences of its mostly meaningless story.

But all of these problems, whilst stupid and outright bad (IMO) are not my biggest problem with the episode. My biggest problem is the Doctor himself. Firstly by making him old man time, the episode effectively removes the Doctor from the story. He is inert for most of the runtime, until it’s time to tell us he’s secretly been synching with Archangel or whatever and becomes the young, shiny, glowing Super-Doctor that magically saves the day.

The reason I hate this is because it actively seems to be going against the story this series has been telling about the Doctor. The Doctor is series 3 is not entirely a good man. He destroys the Racnoss, his treatment of both Martha and Jack can be somewhat callous. It’s shown best in ‘Human Nature/Family of Blood’ that this Doctor with all his power can be incredibly cruel. His plan risks many human lives, causes heartbreak and pain to multiple characters and his vengeful punishment for the family is extreme. This is a compliment btw. This has mostly been well justified in the stories being told, and it all made the Doctor a more complicated and interesting figure in my eyes. The Doctor is shown as bringing cruelty and danger with him everywhere he goes, but is so certain of his own brilliance, that he’s somewhat oblivious to his own flaws and the affect he has on those around him.

But at the climax to the series, the Doctor never has to confront this fact, because the Davies Ex Machina for the episode is basically just confirming the Doctor’s belief that although he might be an all power, almost godlike being. He’s also so utterly, amazingly brilliant and super cool & sexy. The show doesn't want the Doctor to have to reckon with the consequences of his actions, because apparently he's just too awesome for any of that to matter. The episode completely lets the Doctor off the hook here.

Well, almost completely lets him off the hook. Martha does get to confront the Doctor at the end of the episode, in what I think is clearly the best scene in the episode. Martha’s story this series had its problems, but her exit is very strong. It’s a great counterpoint to Rose’s complete devotion/dependence on the Doctor from her exit last Series, and it makes Martha feel stronger & independent. It’s a lovely scene.

I also really like the Master refusing to regenerate, instead choosing to die in the Doctor’s arms. It’s a delightful f*ck you moment for this Master to end on. I still find this version of the Master incredibly annoying. I still think John Simms is a bad fit for the wacky antics that this character seems to love so much. But when he’s given smaller, more dramatic moments to play, Simms does some great work in the role.

So after the actual plot is wrapped up, the final 5-10 minutes of this actually become pretty good television. But it’s not enough to make up for what was a terrible main plotline that actively seems to go against the themes and character development of the series.