Oh, yeah? Well how about you ex-ter-min-ate YOUR FACE?!

 

Let’s just be honest here: this is through and through the Doctor’s episode. He is just so fucking on during the entire thing.

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CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU OH MY GOD I’M LYING I WOULD FORGIVE YOU ANYTHING IF YOU’D JUST COME BACK TO ME

*Ahem*

Now, while the climax of this totally-didn’t-even-feel-like-a finale is a bit—well, it’s neat and bow-tied, really, let’s not kid ourselves. Despite that, I think the character beats are just fucking fantastic.

Of course the Doctor wouldn’t annihilate the Earth in order to stop the Daleks—been there, done that, have the PTSD. I don’t even know that I fully believed that he would, though his sending Rose away made me wail like a lost child.

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Me:

 

Although, about that—wtf, Doctor. Don’t you ever, ever do that again. It is unbearably sweet of you and really, I can’t help but love you for it, but Rose is a big girl. She can figure out what she wants, even if it puts her in danger.

…I’d like to reiterate, however, that I love you to pieces for wanting to both keep her safe and keep your promise to Jackie. Fuck, I don’t know. I only have one heart, and it’s confused as fuck right now. Why don’t we move on to Jack?

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Oh, my Jack…

This is a guy that was introduced four episodes ago—three, if you count The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances as one extra-long episode, which I tend to do—and damned if he’s not already a Big Damn Hero.

And this moment:

  

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Is quite possibly my favorite Jack moment of all time. He changed for the Doctor, and he acknowledges it, and KISS! This show, I swear.

I’m not even mentioning his complete faith in the Doctor because I can’t. I just… can’t right now.

I remember the first time I saw this episode, when the Daleks had him cornered, I just kept saying “no, no…” under my breath, just hoping something would save him. Actually, now I think about it, I kind of whimpered a lot watching this…

And now. I have to, because it’s a big moment for her, and for the Doctor, so…

 

I’m not gonna gloss over how deus ex it is, because it is. The Daleks had to be stopped, after all, so I’m not cursing Davies’ name for making the ending too “easy.” Frankly, I’m more inclined to forgive a plot being sacrificed in favor of character than I am the other way around. So whatevs. Rose is the Bad Wolf. Sure, why not?

What interests me is what gets her there.

I’ll admit, I get annoyed with how she treats Jackie and Mickey sometimes, but I know, okay? I know what she’s trying to say, and I understand her frustration when she can’t express it right. From what I’ve seen, Rose gets a lot of flak, and I’m not here to tell anybody how they should feel about her—but I totally understand her. I know what it’s like to feel stuck in a dead-end life, with a shitty job, and I know that no matter how much you love your family and friends and how much they love you, it doesn’t help you feel any less… useless.

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So I get it. She wants to matter. She wants to save the Doctor just as he’s saved her so many times before—and I don’t just mean from actual danger. It’s the “thank you” the Doctor rarely gets and never (there’s an asterisk there, but that comes later) asks for.

So she saves him, of course. And Jack. And the world.

And the Doctor saves her right back.

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Now, like I said, I’m relatively new to Who, so I had no idea what regeneration was, or how it worked. I pretty much thought they did that thing where they just substituted actors without mentioning it at all, like on soap operas. So this?

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… Bit of a surprise.

So… my Christopher is gone?

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But…

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Bu--

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…

…

 

Here’s your damn list. Leave me to mourn Nine.

• Daleks: [the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS and bumps into a few Daleks] Exterminate! Exterminate!
  The Doctor: [the Daleks fire wildly at The Doctor but nothing happens] Is that it? Useless.
  The Doctor: [with French pronunciation] Nul points.
  The Doctor: [beckons to Jack and Rose] It's all right. Come on out. That force field can hold back anything.
  Captain Jack Harkness: Almost anything.
  The Doctor: Yes, but I wasn't gonna tell them that, thanks.
  Captain Jack Harkness: Sorry.
• “You know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might have removed all your emotions, but I reckon right down deep in your DNA there's one little spark left. And that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me?”
• Daleks: Do not interrupt! Do not interrupt!
  The Doctor: I think you’re forgetting something. I’m the Doctor, and if there’s one thing I can do, it’s talk. I’ve got give billion languages and you haven’t got one way of stopping me. So if anybody’s gonna shut up, it’s you!
• I’d be concerned about Daleks finding religion, too. Yikers.
• The Doctor: [hologram, speaking towards the console] This is Emergency Programme One. Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing: we must be in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead, or about to die any second with no chance of escape.
  Rose Tyler: No!
  The Doctor: And that's okay, I hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doin'. The TARDIS is takin' you home.
  Rose Tyler: I won't let you.
  The Doctor: And I bet you're fussing and moaning now, typical. But hold on, and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do: let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it, no one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on, and the box will be buried. And if you wanna remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing.
  The Doctor: [hologram turns to face Rose, and with a full voice] Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life. <—Me.
• I see you there, Mickey, hoping that Rose coming back alone means resuming your relationship. Tut.
• Oh, god, Jackie doesn’t remember Rose at Sarah Clarke’s wedding.
• By the way—I love you, Jackie.
• Emperor Dalek: Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?
  The Doctor: Coward, any day.
• “I think you need a Doctor.” I NEED A DOCTOR! MY HEAD HURTS, TOO, LOOK: OW!
• This ending.

So effin’ confused, you have no idea.

DAVID TENNANT!

 

 

So, okay… After this post, there’ll be a Nine Appreciation Post, followed by reviews of the Children in Need Special and The Christmas Invasion. Stay with me!