Knocking Four Times...

“It is told that I will knock four times,” the Doctor tells Donna's grandfather, Wilifred, when he explains over the dinner table that his end is coming along. Soon.

The last hoorah for David Tennant in the latest incarnation of Doctor Who is spiraling towards the end with a favorable pace and style. Though the story does leave for some disappointment. There is, however, more good than bad.

Considering that these are supposed to be his last episodes, we are left with a story filled with the end of the world trademark. Here's to hoping that the payoff will be a good for for the next, and final, installment for the Tennant period.

Everyone in the world is having bad dreams. It is revealed through the dreams that the arch-enemy of the Doctor is coming back from the dead. His imminent return is sparked by a black arts ritual. Even in death, the Master remains a threat. The Christmas special “The End of Time” focuses on the brotherly rivalry between the Doctor and the Master which stretches across the timeless ages. They are lost souls in the middle of the battlefield.

The Doctor's previous assistant Donna grows more aware of the things going on around her as her memory is slowly returning at the risk of burning her thoughts out. And her grandfather becomes a new player in the ongoing saga of the end of time. He finds that he has a role to fill as he brings his old World War II revolver that he has never used before.

It becomes evident that the government is behind something of importance in which the Master grows entangled with as he is captured by the new prime minster of England. It is called the Immortality Gate. By taking over the device, the Master restructures the world in his own imagery much like the god in the old testament in the bible. The only ones who are not affected are the Doctor and Wilifred who are protected by radiation shields while Donna is still a Time-Lady who's unearthly body is different from humans. Naturally, as already seen before, Capt. Jack of the Torchwood series has left earth already. So he isn't affected either.

It is left at the very end of the show that the original Time-Lords are coming back to straighten out this whole mess. But they're coming back with a sheer force as they are gods of time.
It's not a bad episode. Russell T. Davies might be overreaching himself with too many ideas being thrown together to create something big, BIG. It works to a certain extent.

But we're left with the Master looking like Keuana Reeves from the Matrix flying around like Superman. There's John Simm going overboard with his performance as the Master which might have been better if he was more restrained. Some of the aliens appearing about halfway in the show seems uninspiring.

The whole thing with an actor as Obama appearing in the episode is bit silly. What are we going to expect next? Bin Laden versus the Doctor next? Saddam comes back from the dead? That's just silly. After the whole changeover, the bit with the Master looking like a lady in a dress is just silly.

That word “silly” just keeps popping up in my head.

I'm making a wild guess about the Doctor knocking four times... judging from the next show's trailer, he will be using the old revolver four times. Probably once on himself to save the world, if not the universe. Just making a guess. But we won't see the final show until New Year's Day.

So what worked in the episode of the “End of Time”? The little details work out the most. The conversation between the Doctor and Wilifred works out so well as they watched Donna live her life at a safe distance. Bernard Cribbin's performance as the grandfather is one of the highlights in the show. I wish I could have seen more of the Master's estranged wife Lucy (Alexandra Moen) who was pretty good in this too.

The whole bit with the grandfather's friends coiling around the Doctor like a league of fans is a pretty good spot too. It's a good crack up to see an old woman pinching the Doctor while they were getting their photo taken together.

I can see that Davies is trying to wipe the story clean for the forthcoming show runner to come around and make his own stamp on the series. I'm thinking he's saving the best for last which will be an extended show for New Year's Day. The bits with Timothy Dalton appearing as what looks like the head of the Time Lord council looks pretty awesome which makes hair curl. I hope Dalton scares the “living daylights” out of the Doctor.

The Time Lords do look pretty a formidable lot indeed. They look like they are returning to the original status of being gods in the cosmos. They don't look like anyone should be screwing around with. They mean business.

I do hope the next show will be a good one. It's a bit of a gamble working your way up to the single most anticipated show with Tennant going one last round as the Doctor before turning the page in the history books. I have always made my case concerning Tennant's all too soon departure from the series. I have always preferred that he did an entire season of thirteen shows in the series instead of doing a handful of specials. But he wanted to take leave now instead of letting his character and series develop a little more. He might have gone a bit big-headed since his status as an actor has grown immensely on both sides of the Atlantic. He didn't want to feel too chained to the Doctor Who series.

I still say it's a bit of a mistake leaving the one role that made him famous.

I'm sure he'll regret in in time. Much like Christopher Eccleston's fast departure in the role as well. Maybe the actors do regret it after a time. A role like this doesn't come often in a lifetime.

However, the last show will be met with final thoughts and deep sorrows. Everything will be moving on. And I will be looking forward to the next episode. At least we won't have to be waiting so long this time around. Just a matter of a few days. What will we be expecting? Something big, I'm sure. Maybe the final revealing of what really happened during the height of the Time War that has always been the backdrop of the series.

Who knows? Yes, exactly. Who knows. And it could be the one secret that he has been carrying for the longest time, his guilt which has followed him to his very grave.