10.44: Journey’s End

In which Davros teaches the Doctor that using people is bad.

Broadcast: July 2008

Watched: October 2021

“This is my final victory Doctor. I have shown you yourself.” 

Also, “Nevertheless. The. TAR. DIS. Is. A. Weapon.” 

Also, also: “Oh my god – he found you!” 

It’s fun, and all, but... I still just don’t think it works. Sorry. 

All the cliffhangers end up being fake outs – the diverted regeneration is a plot point, but feels a bit of a cheat; Tosh’s time lock is a massive cheat. At least Mickey and Jackie arriving with big guns is fun, but it feels like there should be some more consequences than we get.

After that it’s surprisingly slow. Rose, having acted like a superhero for two episodes, turns out to have no solution beyond “finding the Doctor”, which was the solution last week and wasn’t that great then. 

The “children of time” bit, and the clip show of noble self sacrifices – which I loved at the time – now feels like it’s pulling its punches. The show observes that turning people into heroes means turning them into weapons, and that the Doctor often talks people into doing his dirty work... but it doesn’t go anywhere with it, Tennant looks sad and then the story moves on. (Can’t help but notice how most of the clips are the RTD episodes, too, presumably because those are the ones he remembers best? Or maybe he’s commenting on his own writing?)

The splitting the Doctor into three pieces bit is a bit weird, because the pieces don’t match up: one is his mind, one is his vengeance, one is just all of him? What? Hardly ego, supergo and id, is it? (I do like that the human Doctor runs in to save the day and immediately gets knocked over though.)

And the script keeps *saying* that Donna is special but it’s all authorial fiat: the only thing she does is “stand next to the Doctor at the right moment to get zapped”, her Donna-ness is irrelevant.

Oh, and this is the second season finale where the deus ex machina is the companion becoming a god, the third if you count “any regular”. Perhaps it’s the only way out a threat this big but again, bit of a cheat.

God I’m being really miserable, aren’t I? It’s not bad, it’s fun, it just feels like it could have been more. Some things in it I like:

• The German Daleks, and the entire section of dialogue with Martha speaking German.

• The Chinese and African UNIT guys.

• Martha Jones having gone from a medical student to a person entrusted with the power to wipe out the human race.

• Jack deliberately getting himself killed as a trick.

• Jackie instinctively helping someone who stumbles.

• Mickey's obvious rage that Jackie is going to die and he doesn't know how to stop it: just the way that communicates that there’s a warmth between those characters now. 

• Sarah Jane and Davros.

• Julian Bleach! His Davros is the best thing in it, he knows exactly which lines to go big and which lines to throw away. His delivery of “The reality bomb!” is genuinely unhinged, it's a natural extension of the “Yes, I would do it!” bit in Genesis.

Then they tow the Earth home with the help of Torchwood and K9 (ooh I’d forgotten he was in it, if I liked K9 I’d probably be quite excited about that), which is cheesy but probably in the right way (the Doctor/RTD are still mocking Jackie for being a silly middle aged woman, btw). And everything is sorted at minute 47, which leaves just enough time for the Lord of the Rings-style 14 different endings.

And neither of the big endings really work. Rose is denied agency, just shoved off screen again with a psychotic Doctor-shaped sex toy (is this the first time she and Tennant kiss?). Donna’s fate just comes out of nowhere – again, it’s authorial fiat, and again there’s an uncomfortable consent issue, the Doctor wipes her mind while she begs him not to. Stephen Bush said he’s made peace with this because it’s the closest a kid’s show could come to killing a companion, but it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Maybe it’d be okay if Donna was special for a reason other than “standing next to the Doctor”.

The only reason it works as well as it does is because of Wilf and Sylvia (“She’s my daughter” is a genuinely great moment). But in the last moments the show wants us to feel sad for the Doctor being alone, not either of the women he just screwed over. [The thought occurs, a year on from writing that, that there are signs RTD is aware of and planning to correct for at least some of this in the 14th Doctor & Donna trilogy.]

Stolen Earth is bobbins, but attains greatness through sheer audacity. But I really don’t think Journey’s End delivers, and I think it looks worse now than it did in 2008.

God I’ve really gone on this time haven’t I? Sorry. Random other observations before I shut up:

• Martha abandons Francine AGAIN but it feels like progress that Francine accepts it.

• At one point, the traitorous Dalek Caan says “no more”.

• Sarah Jane has a very odd idea of how big families can be.

• This is the second time Mickey skips universes to get away from Rose. Was he meant to show up in Torchwood or something? [Yes, apparently.]

• I assume from Dimensions in Time that's actually the character of Gita from Eastenders who we see disintegrated by the Daleks.

• Sarah Jane’s “Good to see you again!” is hilarious.

• Rels. Cool.