The 10th Doctor's final episode -- the second part of "The End of Time" -- ended up being quite a bit better than I expected it to be, considering that the first part was absolute rubbish. Figuring that it would be awful, I set out to make the experience a little more enjoyable during my New Year's Day viewing by printing out two (one, two!) of the various Bingo cards circling the web, grabbing a handful of change, and mixing up a rather strong Bloody Maribelle -- which is my name for a Bloody Mary with a few spoonfuls of sugar; I think the sugar enabled me to tolerate twice the amount of vodka I'd normally put into one. It was a very nice drink.

[WARNING: The second image below may contain spoilers if you can read very tiny print, so you may want to avoid clicking to see the larger version if you haven't watched the episode. There are also some spoilers in the following discussion, so proceed with caution!]

Even though the episode didn't entirely suck, I can safely say that that potent Bloody Maribelle made the experience of watching it that much more enjoyable. I think I would've been much more annoyed by the Oodsong if I hadn't been well tipsy by that point!

A more general criticism that's been bugging me since I watched the episode is that they treated the Doctor's regeneration a little too much like a death. Yes, the 10th Doctor must "die" for the 11th to be born... but he's still the Doctor, and "everything he is" doesn't perish because his face changes. If that were the case, the 10th Doctor wouldn't have had any meaningful connection to Sarah Jane and K-9, the Master, the Time Lords, the Daleks, or any other characters or events that were part of the Doctor's past -- and I wouldn't have any reason for continuing to watch the show (Daleks notwithstanding) given that I haven't cared for the vast majority of 10th Doctor episodes. The Doctor's face and attitude change with each regeneration, but nearly "everything he is" remains intact. That's largely what keeps the character (more/less) compelling despite the changes to the show and different actors who have played the part over the years.

And I wasn't tipsy enough not to despise Smith's debut -- I absolutely hated what followed the regeneration -- but I think that's partly because of how they treated the regeneration. They really made it seem like the 10th Doctor died -- and in a state of unwillingness at that; his final words were "I don't want to go" -- and then suddenly here's this new guy jumping all about and making dumb cracks about being a girl when he's spectacularly ugly for a guy and screaming, "GERONIMOOOOO!!!!" with a big doofy delighted expression on his face. It was like he was skipping atop the 10th Doctor's coffin because he didn't even wait for them to cover it with dirt, and that just doesn't sit well with me at all. The way they played it, the 11th Doctor's tenure should have started with a moment of silence.