[Den-O]

Finally finished.

A few thoughts. It was a very solid episode overall. I loved the idea of 11 dying of old age and the way they aged him he looked a tad bit like Hartnell. Now the Tardis hopping back and forth was silly but a necessary device to move the story I suppose. I too am frustrated that Gallifrey would appear to simply disappear again. But the way in which they restored his regenerations was very welcome.

Here's where I'll disagree with some people. The appearance of Amy was entirely unnecessary and killed the moment for me. I didn't care for Karen Gillan and Arthur Darville outside of series 5 anyway. But to loop everything around back to her just seemed to take away from the impact of that brilliant speech 11 was giving. And what a brilliant speech it was! I understand that Amy was integral to his character but I just felt it wasn't necessary to have her appear. Amelia running around as a child would have been fine.

Of course the Capaldi appearance can't be judged on 20 seconds or so But I'll say he seemed fine. It'll be interesting to see what a regeneration reset does to him. Having apparently no clue how to fly the Tardis may handicap the types of stories they could tell. But let's just assume he can't fly it because that version of the Tardis desktop is too odd for him.

If we want to talk about regen power as this huge destructive force, I'm starting to get more of a Highlander Quickening feeling from it. It's like every time it becomes more and more powerful. To the point that it's preposterous. But I enjoyed the surprise of the Daleks at the regenration. And finally THANK YOU for repairing that garbage plot point from Asylum. The greatest enemies of the Doctor not knowing who he is? Ridiculous.