This review has been a bit long in the making. I could pretend that I was busy (actually I was), but then I found time to watch this single episodes more than three times since its original broadcast.
I was wrong.
The review of the first part of The End of Time suggested lazy direction, messy script-writing only saved by David Tennant's awesome acting and Murray Gold's music. Whilst it still remains true that Euros Lynn's directing was more clichéd than usual (especially when shooting the Christmas lights out of focus), we had never seen him do Christmas before and it is a way of putting the Christmas spirit into an episode which distinctly lacks snow. In addition, his usual slanted-camera shots were still there but they were inserted more subtly.
Much more importantly, the madness of the Master takes on its full potential in the second part. More than the comic relief brought in by the idea of John Simm in a dress, the ease with which he uses his 6bn incarnations (who said there was a 13 limit?) sends chills down the watcher's spine. He is mad - mad enough to think he can pull off a pact with Rassilon.
Oh, wasn't that scene iconic? Yes, as a fan, I squeed when I saw the High Council of Gallifrey (or the Panopticon?), when the scenes of the Lungbarrow era were expanded on and when I saw Rassilon in a less positive light than presented in The Five Doctors and Lungbarrow. I squeed a bit less when I saw Gallifrey in the Sol 3 sky, because I thought planets appearing in the sky has been a bit overused recently. But despite all the fangasms provided by the episode, THE scene from that episode is the one that sees David Tennant wave a gun at the Master and at Rassilon.
Because it encapsulates so many things: the Master's madness and desire to go forward, the importance of values for the Doctor (despite holding a gun, he does not fire it at anyone) - but also because it allows the Doctor's character to go further than ever before. The Time Lords can no longer be seen as a holy race (which had been the case since 2005) but as a menace. The Doctor can no longer yearn to find more of his people. Is this the end of the post-Time War trauma and the lonely angel whatnots? Is this the start of a clean slate for Steven Moffatt? In addition, will the Master become a free agent no longer bent on evil but on vengeance against the Time Lords, or who will be able to associate with the Doctor?
For those reasons, it needed great acting and even better directing. Luckily, it got both, so that the end of the Time Lords was as momentous as it deserved to be. But the good writing does not stop with the Time Lords. Russel T Davies got us used to seeing proper endings for main characters. David Tennant got a massive dose of that - he got his reward. Through that, we got to see old companions in a 20 years later kind of way; but more importantly, it showed that the Doctor cared about his companions. About all of them, with no exception. That's why we also see Verity Newman towards the end, or Alonso. They were minor characters, but not to the Doctor. So well done for an excellent piece of writing, even though it may have alienated casual viewers.
It raises many issues though: to what extent is Human Nature pivotal in Doctor Who history? It is hard not to spot the similarities between the cafe scene from part one, the regeneration scene and the last words of John Smith. Some new man goes sauntering away indeed. Will the 11th Doctor feel guilt not over the sacrifice he had to make, but about his cowardice which was expressed just then? We can only hope so. Because if he does, that will mean more action, more inconsidered risks for the Doctor. And that sounds very good.
Like in all momentous finales of RTD's, in the End of Time, the plot itself is just a pretext. It is not central to the story - the characters are more important. So who cares if the Doctor falls from higher up than Tom Baker did when his regeneration was triggered? Who cares if holding back a regeneration is something that seems weird at first (though it is assumed in fan circles it happened when Three became Four)? Some people do, but they miss the strength of RTD's writing: to bring out the most in all characters.
The End of Time is thus a worthy end to the best of the 10 Doctors. 10/10