We’re closing in on the end of the 4^th season (or series, if you’re feeling British about it). The last few episodes have been a big step up and now we’re beginning our two-part blow-out finale. Being written by showrunner Russell T. Davies, I expect this to have bombastic action, huge melodrama, and huge leaps in logic that could uncharitably be called plot holes. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing – it can be FUN. Let’s see if I’m right.

Following on from last week’s ending, the Doctor sees “Bad Wolf” written everywhere. It’s not explicitly explained what this means, other than him telling Donna it’s a warning from Rose. Maybe RTD just thought it’d look cool. The Doctor and Donna get in the TARDIS and go for Earth. The Doctor is worried because if Rose has been able to send this warning it means the barriers between alternate worlds is breaking down.

Regardless, the Doctor and Donna head over to Earth but everything seems fine. Our duo heads back into the TARDIS only to be jolted by a quake. When the Doctor opens the doors to look outside, they see… space. Checking on his telemetry, he finds that the TARDIS has stayed in the exact same place, but somehow the Earth is missing. It’s been stolen!

At UNIT’s New York base, Dr. Martha Jones and the staff are standing back up after a seeming-earthquake. A panicked staff member yells at Martha to look at the sky. At Torchwood in Cardiff, Capt. Jack figures the quake was caused by the Rift the team monitors. Jack heads upstairs from The Hub to survey any damage while Gwen and Ianto examine their monitoring equipment. Ianto remarks that this problem is “a bit bigger than South Wales.” Then we cut to Sarah Jane Smith and her son Luke in London. The time is supposed to be 8am, but it’s dark outside and they step to the window. Not far away in Chiswick, Donna’s mother and grandfather step out of their home to check on what happened, looking up into the sky. Finally, on the street in London where we’d just seen the TARDIS, Rose materializes with a huge-ass gun, and she isn’t surprised at all about the dark sky above.

There’s no sun or moon in the sky. Instead we see several other planets not far off.

Back on the TARDIS, Donna is worried if her family is dead. The Doctor doesn’t have an answer, so he says they’re going to get help. They’re going to visit the Shadow Proclamation. Finally! I’ve been curious what this is. They’ve been sprinkling mentions of the Proclamation and the Medusa Cascade and bees throughout this year. Time for some answers.

Over at Sarah Jane’s house, her alien supercomputer, Mr. Smith, has picked up readings of a fleet of spaceships headed towards Earth. Meanwhile, at UNIT, the American General Sanchez tells everyone that Geneva has declared a Code Red Emergency. Martha tells him she’s been trying to call the Doctor with the special phone he gave her, but the signal is being blocked. Sanchez says they’ll find out who’s doing that soon because the fleet of spaceships is entering orbit.

Martha calls up Jack over at Torchwood, but he hasn’t heard from the Doctor either. There’s a quick background moment here where Gwen calls Rhys and tells him to stay indoors and to warn her mother. Nice for fans of Torchwood, but lots of these little “fan” bits could’ve stood to be left out. I guess I like it, but I bet others wouldn’t really follow. On the streets of London, Rose stops a pair of looters with her massive gun, and then looks carefully at the monitors of the Bank they had been robbing.

At Torchwood, the team sees the massive fleet of spaceships begin to cover Earth. Mr. Smith tells Sarah Jane that the ships are broadcasting a message to every signal on Earth. He puts it through and we hear a Dalek voice chant their mantra: “Exterminate!”

The Daleks. Everyone hears the call. Martha and UNIT listen in stunned silence. Sarah Jane hugs her son Luke and cries. Jack hugs Ianto and Gwen to him and mournfully tells them he’s sorry, but there’s no time – they’re dead.

Rose hears the message at the Bank and steps outside to witness the Dalek spaceships laying waste to everything in their path. Inside the main spaceship, the Daleks obey the commands of a larger red Dalek who they refer to as The Supreme Dalek. He declares that soon The Crucible will be complete and the Daleks will rule.

At the other end of the Universe, Donna and the Doctor arrive at the Shadow Proclamation’s massive space station and are greeted by their guards, the Judoon (think Rhino-headed Sontarans). The Doctor speaks their language and they are escorted to an albino-looking lady with a big white fro and red eyes, apparently a higher-up within the organization. The Shadow Proclamation is apparently a galactic police force and she at first doesn’t believe the Doctor’s claim of being a Time Lord, saying they are a myth among the higher races. Nevertheless she tells them what happened to Earth. Along with 23 other planets, they’ve been stolen. Donna asks them about Pyrovillia, the aliens who they encountered in back in ancient Rome, but the Judoon tell her that’s a cold case because it’s been missing for 2,000 years. Donna doesn’t back down and asks about Adipose, the aliens who were trying to rebuild themselves out of human fat back in episode one. The Doctor thinks she’s on to something and places those planets and the Lost Moon of Poosh, which he knows went missing, into a 3D model with the other 24 planets. He realizes that someone is stealing planets out of space AND time and that when aligned properly, they create some sort of massive engine.

On Earth, the Daleks destroy UNIT’s flying fortress, the Valiant. Torchwood tries to come up with a way to stop them but none of their plans seem feasible. Daleks are landing all over the Earth. Jack calls Martha but General Sanchez takes her aside as the base is overrun by Daleks. He tells her that Project Indigo will be utilized, despite Martha’s objections because it hasn’t been tested. Jack tells her not to use it, but Martha is ordered by Sanchez to strap the backpack-style equipment on and search for help. He then tells her that if no help is to be found, he orders her to use The Osterhagen Key, a small handheld device he passes on to her. Martha accepts it and activates her backpack and dematerializes. Jack tells Gwen and Ianto that it is a teleport device based on Sontaran technology but that it isn’t finished. She could be anywhere.

Aboard their flagship, the Supreme Dalek orders them to round up humans and bring them to The Crucible. Supreme Dalek gets a call from their control room asking for an update. He reports that Earth has been subjugated, but the speaker in the control room, hidden in shadow, warns him not to display pride as it’s close to an emotion. The bottom half of the figure looks like a Dalek and the upper-half is human. For any fan of Who, we know that this must be Davros, the scientist who created the Daleks. The Supreme Dalek declares that the Doctor cannot stop them now. The shadowed figure warns him that Dalek Caan is nevertheless anxious and flips a switch.

A light goes on above a ruined Dalek, Caan (who we last saw doing an emergency time jump to escape the Doctor as he was the last Dalek left alive). Caan’s armor is melted and the mutated Khaled alien inside giggle madly. “He is coming, the three-fold man, he dances in the universe…oh, creator of us all…THE DOCTOR IS COMING!” says Caan and continues to laugh.

At the Shadow Proclamation, the Doctor is wracking his mind trying to figure out a way to find Earth. A Shadow Proclamation helper girl gives Donna some water and says she used to have something on her back. Donna is shocked out of her stupor (Earth HAS been stolen). Then the assistant says she’s sorry for Donna’s loss. Donna agrees, losing Earth is horrible. But the assistant says she is speaking of the loss yet to come. The Doctor asks Donna if she noticed anything in the last bit of time on Earth out of the ordinary – weather or climate changes, anything that could be a clue. Donna says she’s at a loss, the only thing she can think of is the bees disappearing. The Doctor continues to brainstorm.

THE BEES! The Doctor realizes that’s a huge clue. Donna says she thought some people assumed it was global warming or pollution killing them off, but the Doctor says no, most of them are aliens from Melissa Majoria. If he can just focus in on the Tandocca Trail they leave, he can track down Earth and sure enough it works. Donna and the Doctor rush to the TARDIS but the Shadow Architect and Judoon order them to stop. She declares that they will wage war on those who stole the planets and the Doctor must lead them. The Doctor, at the door, and shocked, just mutters that he’ll just go inside to get… his keys. And hastily leaves, to the consternation of the angry Architect.

On Earth, the Daleks have captured all the humans in London and are marching them to The Crucible. Wilf and Sylvia Noble watch in horror as a man and his children defy the Daleks and go back to their home only for the Daleks to blow it up. Wilf and Sylvia make a run for it and are immediately confronted by a Dalek. Wilf shoots the Dalek in the eye stalk with his paintball gun, but the Dalek is able to simply melt the paint away. It prepares to exterminate them but suddenly explodes. Behind it, Rose stands with her humongous gun cannon. Rose asks if they’re Donna’s family and they confirm. Wilf says he’s tried calling her but she isn’t answering. Sylvia thinks it’s nonsense that Donna is in space and Wilf tells her now is not the time to start denying this stuff. Rose says that they’re her best hope of finding the Doctor.

The TARDIS materializes in space. The Doctor announces that this is the Medusa Cascade, a rift in time and space. He says he once saw it when he was just 30 years old, and it is here that the trail to Earth ends. Donna asks where the planets are, but the Doctor says they’re gone. He’s completely given up.

On Earth, Sarah Jane and the Torchwood team have each given up and are quietly waiting at their home/the Hub. At the Noble’s house, their laptop turns itself on and a woman’s voice calls out. Jack tells Gwen to ignore it, but the woman says she’s ashamed of Jack and demands that he stand to attention. On screen, she identifies herself. Harriet Jones, former prime minister! Complete with showing them her credentials, just like she always has. Rose tries to talk to her but Sylvia wouldn’t let Wilf have a webcam so she can only listen and watch. Harriet has contacted Sarah and Torchwood but is having trouble getting contact with the fourth member she wants in on the conversation. Rose thinks it’s her and shouts that she’s there, but then Martha comes on screen! Project Indigo teleported her home and she’s with her mother.

Harriet makes the introduction of Torchwood to Sarah Jane, and Jack compliments her on how she dealt with the Slitheen and tells her, “Looking good, ma’am.” Oh Jack. Harriet has contacted them on the Subwave Network, which contacts everyone who can contact the Doctor. Harriet is asking them to form a secret army together. Sarah asks why she would do this after the Doctor got her deposed from office. Harriet says she’s had time to think and still feels that there would be a day when Earth would be threatened and the Doctor would not appear. She told him so and he refused to listen to her. Now it’s happened.

Torchwood comes up with a plan to use the Rift, which they monitor at the Hub, to boost the Subwave Network signal and call the Doctor. Luke says that Mr. Smith can help by hijacking every phone and making them all dial the same number, which Martha has.

Ianto points out that if the transmitting slows or stops, the Subwave Network would probably appear to the Daleks. Harriet understands, but says that the signal would lead to her and she is willing to risk her life for the world. They go ahead and make the call. The signal does slow and the Daleks detect it. The Supreme Dalek orders the culprit to be exterminated. The figure in shadow tells the Supreme Dalek, “I warned you, Supreme One. Just as Dalek Caan fortold, the Children of Time are moving against us. But everything is falling into place.”

The Daleks find Harriet and break into her home. She transfers control over to Torchwood before the Daleks kill her.

Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor receives the signal and excitedly puts everyone on screen and introduces them to Donna.

On the Dalek flagship, Caan proclaims that he is here, that the Dark Lord is coming. The shadowy figure orders the Supreme Dalek to give him access to the Subwave Network.

The contacts vanish off the TARDIS’ monitors but a new contact is coming in. The Doctor believes it will be Rose, but then the voice comes through. The shadowy figure proclaims, “Your voice is different, but its arrogance is unmistakable.” The figure pulls out of the shadow and it is indeed Davros, the mad scientist who wishes to kill everything to prove that he is the most powerful, like unto a god.

The Doctor protests, saying he knows Davros died during the first year of the Time War. He saw Davros’ flagship fly “into the jaws of the Nightmare Child at the Gates of Elysium.” He even tried to save Davros. Davros says that it took one more stronger than he to rescue him – Dalek Caan. Caan giggles, “I flewwww into the wild and the fire. I danced and died a thousand times!” Caan’s emergency time jump threw him into the Time War. The Doctor protests that the War was timelocked. Davros says that nevertheless, Caan succeeded at the cost of his own sanity. Davros has one final reveal. He says that just like the Doctor has his children, Davros now has his. He gave himself, quite literally, to create them. Every Dalek has been harvested from a cell from his body, which beneath his coat is now more cybernetics. Davros as his children – what does the Doctor have?

The Doctor responds that after everything they’ve been through, he has only one thing to say: “Bye!” and flips a TARDIS switch sending it hurtling for the Medusa Cascade and Earth, within.

The Supreme Dalek orders the Dalek army to exterminate all of the Doctor’s companions on Earth, while Davros tells them to hunt down the TARDIS. Caan cackles, “Death is coming. I can see it! Everlasting death for the most faithful companion.” Wow. Which one will that be?

Jack contacts Martha and asks her for certain digits on the Project Indigo teleport system. She gives them to him and he programs them into his Time Police gauntlet, reactivating it. He tells Gwen and Ianto to protect the Hub while he goes to help the Doctor, grabbing a huge gun and teleporting away. Sarah Jane tells Luke to stay at home (Mr. Smith promises to protect him) and gets in her car. Rose says goodbye to Wilf and Sylvia and teleports away, too.

The TARDIS materializes in a dark London street, empty and full of littered ruins. The Doctor asks Donna what Rose had said to her in the parallel world (last week’s episode) but Donna points and says to ask her himself. At the end of the street stands Rose.

They see each other and happily race towards one another. But just then a Dalek pulls around the corner of some cars and shoots the Doctor, hitting him through the arm. Captain Jack teleports in and blasts the Dalek. Rose, Jack, and Donna kneel over the Doctor in the street and Jack orders them to take him aboard the TARDIS.

At Torchwood, a Dalek invades the Hub and Gwen and Ianto pick up guns and declare that they’ll go down fighting, firing madly at the Dalek.

The Doctor is in pain and is dying. Jack tells them all to step back, that the Doctor is dying and tells Rose she knows what comes next. Donna doesn’t understand. The Doctor lifts his hand, weakly and it begins to glow.

Sarah Jane is driving down a street and is ambushed by two Daleks. She steps out and apologizes but the Daleks declare they do not accept apologies and she is to be exterminated, locking their weapons on her.

On the TARDIS, Jack pulls Donna back and Rose explains that when the Doctor dies he can heal himself but he’s going to also change. Rose begs him not to change after finally finding him, but it’s too late, the process has started. The Doctor struggles to his feet and bursts full of energy, as he begins to regenerate!

That’s the end for this week! What a cliffhanger. Could the BBC have kept it a secret that a new Doctor is coming? Or is there a way to set things back at all? Which is the companion who Caan prophesizes will have everlasting death? The episode may have had some plot holes/logic shenanigans, but it also had a great action-packed adventure. Moments of real heart with Rose and Donna’s family, Donna struggling to keep up, Rose and the Doctor’s bittersweet reunion, Davros’ return, and lots more. Captain Jack was a bit cheesier than normal, but with so many supporting characters, I guess there’s only room for him to be “the muscle.” I guess you could nitpick, but the thing is this was a hell of a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see what the finale brings.

I give this one 4 and a half out of five sonic screwdrivers!