As far as attempts to tie a bow on the entire new series to date go, I doubt they could have done much better. It was quite possibly the best episode of the past two years. It had me smiling throughout.
Much better than the last 8 episodes which, while I liked more then most others I've spoken to, were a bit of a let down.
It felt like an effort to heal the Doctor's darkness. By retroactively undoing the destruction of the Time Lords and making it be a conscious effort of genius and problem-solving on the Doctors' part, it gives the character a whole new facet going forward. In combination with Matt Smith regenerating in the upcoming Christmas episode, it feels like the end of an era.
I like that is doesn't undo the darkness (as 9/10/early11 don't remember) and now the 'last of the Time Lords' lonely god thing can get replaced by a "desperately seeking home' lonely god thing, that will still, no doubt, last a few seasons.
There's plenty that doesn't make sense when you scrutinize it, but that's always the case with this show. For example, if Gallifrey wasn't truly time locked after all, things like the events in The End of Time don't work anymore. And there's no real explanation for how the Doctor coordinated all of his incarnations to show up at Gallifrey (even though it was a super cool moment).
I don't know that Gallifey itself was time locked so much as the Time War was time locked and the Time War included the destruction of Gellifey. Is it possible the war is still locked but the destruction of Gallifey is now replaced by the events of this episode.
I wonder if they're really going to go through with an attempt to find and restore Gallifrey, and what that might mean to the series as a whole. The entire new run of Doctor Who has been about the Doctor as a lone wanderer, but of course that doesn't mean that's how it always has to be.
As I said above I think we will still have a lonely wanderer for some time (a few years at least) but now with hope. It had to be done as if it had continued as is (continual loss and being alone again) then the show would run out of steam.
And if this really was an attempt to heal the Doctor's darkness, I wonder if that means anything for the concept of the Valeyard and whether or not they'll use it during the next Doctor's run.
He will show up sometime. My wild guess is it will be part of the doctor getting a new set of twelve regenerations as that is a core part of the old Valeyard story.
Totally fun episode, though. This show is at its best when it's doing big, fun, galloping, complicated stuff with lots of emotional investment. Bring on the future.
Agreed. I suspect the early episodes of the next doctor will be darker than this but also a lot of fun. The director they have hired for the first 2 has a background in horror and a morbid sense of humour. It was great to get a glimpse of Peter Capaldi and quite a brooding look it was as well.
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