The End of Time part 1 - Reaction Post
So much anticipation killed any chance that this episode might've had. I expected something even bigger than The Waters of Mars, Doomsday and Journey's End altogether, and I suppose I was bound to feel a little disappointed as a result.
Still. I'm not saying that the episode was bad but... there were parts when I thought it was all bits and pieces stuck together without much coherence. I should be patient, wait until I see part 2, because RTD has a knack for bringing those bits and pieces together and make sense of it all in a brilliant way.
Generally speaking, though, I didn't much care for the Grendizer-type Master, flying around with lightning coming out of his hands. It feels to me like RTD was aiming for the huge and spectacular, but that he missed the point: huge and spectacular is Ten's emotion in that unforgettable scene with Wilf in the café.
Enough of the negative sides, I want to focus on the positive. I kept thinking about Ten's death throughout the ep, and expecting it, too, so I gasped when the Master sent that lightning thing from his hands against the Doctor, and I literally screamed (so loud that the cat, who was lying by my side on the couch and dozing off then, ran away with a vengeful "meow") when those guys kidnapped the Master and I thought Ten'd been shot. I'd already been very close to tears in that amazing Wilf/Ten scene, but I'll come back to that in a minute.
I had to laugh at Wilf's elderly friends helping him search for the Doctor, and their reaction when they met him. Minnie wanting a photograph? And touching his bum?!? LOL! Think David had to go through that as an adulated actor, too? *g*
And then there's the scene between Wilf and the Doctor. One of the best DW scenes if you ask me, and that scene on its own made the entire episode worth it. The look on his face when he sees Donna, Wilf's insistance that he needs her (and boy has that ever been truer!), the tears he can barely hold back when he confesses that he's travelling alone and that he messed up big time, and Wilf's support throughout. Amazing acting performance from both David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins, too. Just heartbreaking and breathtaking.
The Master now. Like I said, I was mostly unimpressed with the plot resurrecting the Master and the humans manipulating him, but I have to admit that John Simm was masterful (no pun intended) in playing the megalomaniac and crazed Time Lord. I also appreciated the scene in the quarry, with the Doctor almost knocked out on the ground and the Master kneeling by him, grabbing his face and forcing their foreheads to touch. That was a very powerful scene to make the Doctor hear the sound of drums (and again, got to admire RTD's sense of continuity there). Master/Doctor scenes were very good in general; it's just a shame there were so few of them.
As for the Time Lords returning, I was so expecting that to happen, though maybe it's only temporary and RTD is leading us on. Wouldn't be the first time. ;) I don't much care for that plot unless it actually gives us some more Ten-angst. We'll see. I did wonder, though, when the Master stepped into that machine he helped put together, if that would bring Gallifrey back, since it's supposed to be able to repair whole planets. Somehow my thought immediately went to Gallifrey. Then again, isn't Gallifrey supposed to be time-locked? Though I suppose Ten blew up the laws of Time by trying to save Adelaide on Mars, so maybe those don't count any more. Anyway, not sure how I feel about that. I suppose we just have to wait and see.
Okay, so now Donna's starting to remember. That means we'll have some Ten/Donna scenes, for which I can only squee!
No matter what, I'm definitely looking forward to part 2, even though I know I'll cry.