5. The End Of Time (Part 1)
Now, before you jump on me about this, please, let me defend myself. Tennant's strangely overlong farewell tour aside, I though The End Of Time Part 2 was brilliant. It effortlessly solved the sound of drums plot thread, gave us glorious performances from both Tennant and John Simm, great scenes all-round (the take-my-gun conversation between Tennant and Bernard Cribbins was magnificent) and a final bittersweet coda involving The Master, Rassilon and Wilf. No-one was as surprised as me, because frankly, I had a lot of concern after Part 1, and the way it fumbled the Master. The End Of Time was supposed to not only re-introduce us to the Time Lords and Galifrey, but also reacquaint us with the Doctor and the Master's interesting relationship. I for one really enjoyed their banter first time round through season three, and found they were never better than when it was just them together, shooting the sh*t. With no companions to slow the Doctor down intellectually and no villainous paraphernalia for the Master to ham it up with, they could have a regular like the frenemies they were. It was riveting stuff, made all the more spine-tingling by seeing the man (well, Timelord) behind the pantomime grandstanding. The best villains are the ones that can be calm, and when he wanted to, the Master could look icy with the best of them. So when we learned that the Master was coming back, I was understandably thrilled. Yet with the introduction of superpowers, all hope of these regular conversations highlights were lost. This was a very different Master from before, all tics, overly maniacal behaviour and for some reason, chucking lightning bolts while leaping high into the air. In my opinion, this was a massive letdown, and a real loss of nuance in the character I didn't want a bog-standard supervillain, I wanted the Master, a man who's first and foremost power is his intellect, proving himself a darker mirror image to the Doctor. When he decided to impose himself into billions, treating us to the sight of Simm wearing every dress and costume under the sun, we knew we'd lost any subtlety and potential to explore the Master's story and character. Really, that was a shame.