Doctor Who End of Time part 1

Part 1 of the Doctor Who special End of Time played this week. It's special for two reasons: One, it's David Tennant's last episode in Doctor Who after four years. Two, it's the return of the Doctor's archnemisis, the Master.

First off, I thought the acting was quite good. John Simm, who plays the Master, gets to really go completely crazy this time around because the Master has really lost his marbles now. He's also the emo version of the Master, so he's sporting the bleached hair and hoody. The character notes how funny it is that he's the master of disguise trapped inside the body of the prime minister, one of the most recognizable faces.

The story caught me off guard. I don't know if I misread the Sound of Drum/Last of the Timelords episode or if they purposely misled us. (Spoiler alert) I assumed that Lucy had shot the Master because she knew he had told her to because he knew he could come back to life using that ring of his. She wears red nail polish, and at the end, a red nail polish hand picks up the ring. I assumed it was Lucy. But in fact, it wasn't her that picked up the ring and she really did want to kill him, as was hinted at when she made a grossed out face after he kissed her in season three finale. It almost felt like whoever wrote this epsisode had nothing to do with the writing of the other episode and is fabricating the answers to the clues. I don't really know.

But it's a really good episode. More Doctor/Master moments, which was lacking in season 3. I liked when the Doctor can actually HEAR the sound of drums inside the Master's head and the Master realizes that the sound isn't just his insanity, and that it is real. The heartbeat of a Timelord? I suppose to heartbeats would sound a bit like that.

And the cliffhanger. Oh the cliffhanger.

Next week: