Last year, I reviewed the first two seasons of the revived Doctor Who series. At the time, I said the second season finale out-did the first’s, and that was a feat. Does the third season finale trump the second’s?
Before I answer that, let’s go on a quick retrospective of the third season. In the Christmas special and the early episodes, the Doctor was dealing with the ‘loss’ of Rose. They laid it on a bit thick from time to time, but whatever. As the season continued he grew to respect Martha, and the episodes went from entertaining to totally engrossing. Seriously, the first episodes were good, but from “Human Nature” onward, there was no contest: Season Three is the season to beat. Even “Blink,” the episode with almost no appearance by the Doctor, usually one of the weakest episodes, was amazingly good. In fact, I’d rate that one as one of my favorites (here’s a good review).
So the season itself was a winner. Was the finale? Well, it was really a three-parter. Part one blew me away (after some slow pacing in the beginning). Part two was excellent. Part three, the actual finale, was amazing at times, but faltered here and there, which was pretty disappointing. One review summed it up very well:
The final half of the story almost redeems the episode as whole. For one thing, as pay-offs to season-long story arcs come into play, it actually feels natural and not forced. Davies [writer/executive producer] even goes so far as to give some payoffs to story arcs from the entire series, making the final half of the story feel like he’s saying farewell to the series and is stepping aside. And I will give the script credit — for the most part, I like the way all the pay-offs play out.
Overall, I’d say it was good. It had its problems, but I enjoyed it. The big reveal about Jack is one thing that took me completely by surprise, and I loved it. That really made me want to go back and watch a few episodes over again.
It seems like there’s a big heartache in every season finale of this show. I realize it makes for great drama (obviously I love the episodes), but maybe they could figure out a way to make it just as compelling next year with nothing but happiness at the end.
The don’t miss episodes of this season? Simple list:
- Human Nature
- Everything after it
Honorable mention goes to “Gridlock” for being a good episode, but mostly for having an absolutely critical scene at the end that impacts the full season story (and the series’ story, for that matter).
Technorati Tags: Doctor Who, Torchwood, David Tennant, John Barrowman, TARDIS, The Doctor, Gallifrey
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