4. We Know How The Eighth Doctor Met His End
A warm, caring, kind man, ends his life alone, scared and uncertain, being dragged into a war he went out of his way to avoid. He was clearly desperate, and obviously...well, not in the best of shape physically nor mentally. I mean, just look at the man, and look at the exterior of the TARDIS. He shows up on a spacecraft, tries to save a life, and finds out that the woman he wants to save is so terrified by the ongoing Time War that she'd rather die than go off with him. Not, perhaps, the most pleasant thing. But then we see his final moments. The would-be companion is dead, and the Doctor is about to be forced to finally get involved in the war. Near death, and only alive because of the Sisterhood (more about them later), he essentially casts-off the name of the Doctor and becomes something different. I don't think any of us expected that was how the character would go out. I'm going to need some time, personally, to really process this, but I think it's a good way to handle the regeneration. I would have preferred a full-on episode giving us a chance to really savor the Eighth Doctor, but this works, too. And, hey, at least it's better than him dying by hitting his head on the TARDIS console.