I Can’t Decide Whether You should Live or Die

Doctor Who – Last of the Time Lords

[SPOILERS AND STUFF]

Well, the series certainly went out with a great finale, as ever, but somehow it seemed more satisfying than the previous two years.

I really liked the way that, instead of picking up where the cliffhanger left off last week, it was a whole year later. Martha had been travelling the Earth while her family, the Doctor and Jack had been held captive by the Master on his ship.

There was a great scene towards the beginning on the ship where John Simm’s Master was dancing and singing along to the Scissor Sisters I Can’t Decide (which is where the post title comes from). It’s a great song anyway, but it fitted so well with the character and situation that, if I hadn’t have known better, I would have thought it were written for the scene (it wasn’t – unless Jake and Babydaddy can travel in time too?!). It very cleverly filled in what had been happening on the ship over the past year and everyone’s position in relation to the Master. Like the song, the scene was apparently light an frothy, but had very dark undertones.

What I really liked about this episode was how Martha became the strong one – the Doctor was relying on her to be able to save the world. And she did. Not with guns and weapons, but with words. The episode where they met Shakespeare set up the premise of word having power so it was great to see it used again. Martha’s mission to save the world by telling her story about the Doctor was a great way to defeat the Master – good non-violent action!

I must mention the fantastic acting of both David Tennant and John Simm. It was so great to see such well matched performances as the Doctor and the Master. I really appreciated them.

Finally, Freema Agyeman has been wonderful as Martha this series. She seems to have really grown as both a character and a performer. It was with sadness that I watched her choose to leave the TARDIS, but fortunately it won’t be for good. And she’s going to be in a few episodes of Torchwood too. So I’ll look forward to that.