SPOILER WARNING…beyond this point, there be continuity dragons!
PART 2 of 2
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Graeme Harper
“I said: ‘Rose Tyler’.”
“Yeah…and how was that sentence gonna end?”
“Does it really need saying?”
How the hell do I review Journey’s End? This was completely and utterly BONKERS: mad, bad, dangerous, and makes one wonder if the production team was consuming far too many recreational drugs…
But after three viewings, I’ve come to the conclusion that this exercise in fanwank overload is also full of brilliant, surprising, touching, powerful moments. All tucked in between the large scale bangs, flashes, and CGI brilliance. It might threaten to topple over at any second…but it never does.
OK, let’s get the fanwank out of the way first. This episode nearly eats itself alive by giving us the following:
(1) the sudden appearance of Mickey and Jackie to save Sarah from the Daleks, complete with big guns
(2) the series of end-of-the-line ransoms presented by each group of companions
(3) multiple Daleks chanting, ranting, raving, and flying, as per usual…
(4) Davros descending into mad proto-Dalek ranting
(5) The TARDIS dragging the Earth home, complete with over-the-top rendition of the Ood song
(6) The everybody-out-of-the-TARDIS & goodbye scene that wouldn’t be out of place at the end of another cut of The Five Doctors…to say nothing of the probable new additions to Torchwood (come on, you KNOW it!)
And last but not least…
(7) The Doctor NOT regenerating, but diverting the energy to his hand…and a second Doctor GROWING out of that same hand!
So…still with me? Lots of people were turned off by all of this…lots of people not liking the same-old / same-old continuation of the madness in The Stolen Earth (though many of them were fandom, as this episode went to #1 in the UK ratings by a LONG way). But look in between all these scenes…
…because that’s where you’ll find the MEAT of the story, especially in its final ten minutes.
First of all, look at that gorgeous scene when Martha arrives in Germany with the Osterhagen key. Graeme Harper’s German-expressionist camera angles, the untranslated German that leaves an incredible amount of creepiness to the imagination…and German-speaking Daleks shouting “exterminate”…which brings a certain decades-old metaphor full circle.
This is followed by some fascinating counter-points to the first new-series finale, The Parting of the Ways (down to emerging from the TARDIS for a confrontation). Back then, the Daleks force the Doctor into the same choice he made at the end of the Time War. He refuses to make the same choice, and abandons the damaged, hurt, resentful man he was.
But Journey’s End gives us a Davros tuition on the Doctor’s usual modus operandii…and the realization that, perhaps, he isn’t quite the peaceful “cowarad” he would like us to believe. His companions are his weapons…and the consequences to their lives can be as painful as the destruction of planets and civilizations. Very nicely done…with a very effective montage, ending with a reminder of Jenny from The Doctor’s Daughter…which caused my friend Corey to shout “Oh, that’s not fair!” 
Which leads us into the newly grown Doctor…a Doctor born of blood and battle. A David Tennant version of the Christopher Eccelston Doctor, with the same wit, charm and energy, but with a more dangerous glint in his eye…and far more dangerous in his actions. It also helps that is allows Tennant to demonstrate another acting tour-de-force. His competition with Catherine Tate to see who can “out-Donna” the other should be preserved on a tape loop and showed in a broadcast museum. 
But the final ten minutes…that’s where the success of Journey’s End truly lies. First of all, the return to Bad Wolf Bay, last seen in Doomsday. Rose is given everything she wants: a Doctor for herself. Someone to love and grow old with…and a part-human hybrid who will grow old with her and love her back. Suffice to say, this resolution has split fandom down the middle, but I, for one, think it’s amazing. Not only does Russell Davies finish Rose’s journey once and for all, he closes the door on her life with the Doctor with an universe-shaking thud. Just look at the way the Doctor walks into the TARDIS, not looking back. Look at the way Rose watches the TARDIS disappear. She’s thinking what all of us are thinking: she has everything she wants, but once again, the Doctor sacrifices his personal happiness for someone else, without another word, or a second glance. It’s bleak and it’s beautiful.
And yet, ALL of this pales next to the conclusion of Donna’s story. This is, by far, the most bleak ending a companion has EVER suffered. Far more shocking than the death of Adric in Earthshock, and far more unsettling than the memory-wipe-and-return of Jamie and Zoe to their homes in The War Games. Circumstances force us to watch the death of a person we have come to know and love…someone who has come so far, so fast…and it’s all destroyed to save her life. What makes it even worse is that the Doctor has to perform the act himself, and without any words - just his eyes - we know exactly how much he aches inside his heart. Out of all his recent companions, Donna was his closest friend: his pal…his sister. They were made for each other…and to save her life, he destroys her…and obliterates his own happiness in the process.
I’ve watched that ending three times…and three times I’ve been left stunned, breathless, and immesurably sad. The fanwank, the psychological parallels between Davros and the Doctor, the Rose resolution…as good (or as loud) as any of that was…THIS is the gold standard of why Russell Davies’ Doctor Who works - at its best AND at its most frustrating.
The slate is wiped clean. Christmas with the Cybermen, and four more specials are all we have until Steven Moffat launches his first season as showrunner in 2010. Journey’s End is not perfect, but it will blow you away…for good, and for ill. It’s Russell Davies final statement as executive producer…everything that follows throughout 2009 is just a series of encores.
7.5
