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Also, how believable is it that people would even listen to Martha's story of the Doctor, let alone follow her instructions? I don't know about you, but if some psycho chick came into my house ranting about "saying 'Doctor' at the end of a countdown" I'd show her the door and get her the hell out of my house and away from my children. Stupid psycho woman. Yeah, right... I'm totally gonna tell all my friends to say Doctor at the end of the countdown! Psycho.
A minor niggle, perhaps, but I would like to point out that weapons of any kind are not supposed to work inside the TARDIS, including Jack's assault rifle, which he used to destroy the paradox machine. I know this has never been rigidly stuck to in the old series, and one could explain it by referencing the state the TARDIS was in at the time, but it's still a flaw, however minor, and it wasn't explained.
In addition to the concept of the paradox machine seeming quite unnecessary, it also feels like a huge reset button has been pressed, which is a writing technique I can never identify with. Pete pointed out above that it had been building up to this for the entire two-parter, and he's right -- but that doesn't make a bad solution good. A horrible idea can be built up for a long time and be tied well into the story, but that doesn't make it a good idea. The fact of the matter is that it was still a substantial cop-out, and it essentially rendered the entire episode meaningless, even when you consider the memories built up by the main characters.
Lucy Saxon was also acting very weird and inconsistent throughout this episode. For the first two-thirds of the episode, I kid you not, she seemed like she was high or drunk or something, because she was really out of it, and I mean in a hugely noticeable way. She seriously looked like she was on some kind of tranquilizer or antidepressant or something. And then at the end, even though she seemed to have no regrets about supporting the Master throughout the entire episode and presumably for the year before, she suddenly switched sides at the end, and said "Doctor" right along with everyone else, and in fact fired the shot that killed the Master at the end. That seems like very inconsistent or possibly just lazy writing to me, like RTD needed a character to fill multiple roles, so he used the same one in two places with little regard to established characterization.
Russell T Davies also threw out pretty much my entire perception and understanding of a Time Lord's regeneration process in this episode, seemingly ignoring previously established continuity. He has made regeneration not only a very minor issue ("it's only a bullet, just regenerate"), but also seemingly a process of will rather than a fact of biology. It has never been stated or even implied in any previous situation involving regeneration in either the new series or the classic series, and it seemed to me that RTD changed the fundamental principle behind regeneration in this episode, which I strongly dislike.
I was also very surprised when the Master was actually killed off. I know it was made obvious that there was a return route established, as Tom said above, but I still just didn't like how RTD just saw fit to simply kill the Master. Even if the Master does make his return later on, there was still a sense of finality to that final scene between the Doctor and the Master, which there shouldn't have been, because the Master has supposedly died many times before, and there has never been any kind of reconciliation or anything like that between the Doctor and the Master at the end, and it also screws with the audience's perceptions. Even though it was obvious that the Master survived in some way, the scene was definitely treated as an ending (especially the cremation scene), and it just shouldn't have been written like that where it's being so harped-on if he's just going to come back. It somewhat cheapens the scene, the episode, and the Master's eventual return.
The cremation scene itself seemed rather strange. My friend Steven noted that the Doctor was following Native American practices for disposing of the body, and I'm not really sure why. It just didn't seem like a very Time Lord or Doctor-like practice and the scene felt rather strange. Also, I'm not sure what to make of the scene where the woman picks up the Master's ring. When I saw that, I had to do a double-take, because it messed up my perception of what I thought was the end of the Master, and as a result, cheapened the beautiful acting and good writing of the Master's actual death.
The sound of drums -- this never panned out. I was thinking that this was going to be somehow relevant to something or at least explained better, but in the end, it meant nothing at all, and the only significance in the end was hearing it stop when he died. Also, it was said that the Master heard the sound of drums his entire life from childhood, which would imply that Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley suffered from this same problem -- so why would they have never said anything about it, whereas John Simm can barely keep quiet about it?
I also notice that the TARDIS interior was perfectly restored back to normal, with no reconstruction period, no hinted regrowth, and no explanation or even hint as to how exactly the Doctor just put it all back to normal. That was rather a letdown, partially because I was somewhat hoping for a new console room or at the very least a new console, but also partially because it seems again to be a symptom of RTD's itchy trigger finger on that reset button.
Seeing Jack leave was also kind of sad -- I knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier. Also, I must say, I have my concerns about RTD's current writing of Jack. His behavior here seems to completely contradict essentially everything that had been established about Jack throughout Torchwood, about desperately seeking the Doctor for answers and just to be with him again, and also expressing a huge interest in dying. The Jack we saw at the end of this episode was perfectly happy to leave the Doctor after a relatively short time so he could hang out on 21st century Earth (poor taste), and seemingly no more interest in dying. It just seems like a radical change in direction for Jack, and I don't like it, because I'd gotten used to the Jack we saw on Torchwood. I also think it would have been much better to keep him around in the TARDIS.
I also have to comment on Martha's departure. This came as quite a radical shock to me, as I was definitely expecting (and hoping for) at least another year with Freema Agyeman, but now it seems she's leaving, at least partially, already. I can understand Martha's second reason for departing, in that she didn't want to waste her life with the Doctor since he didn't reciprocate her feelings for him. But I also think that's rather shortsighted of her, because truthfully, nearly everyone on the planet has to live with some kind of close friend that they have feelings for but they simply don't feel the same way. At least Martha has a good friendship with the Doctor, which she doesn't need to sacrifice just because they can't be a couple. In addition, she is not just giving up her friendly relationship with the Doctor, but also the ability to travel through time and space. Now that's just dumb -- I had pegged Martha to be smarter than to give something like that up for such a poor reason. As far as her first reason goes, I didn't really understand it at all. I mean, wanting to stay with humans and care for her family is all well and good, but the Doctor does have a time machine, and there wasn't even a real catastrophe to clean up after anyway. So I think her first reason was pretty poor, and acting on the second reason was pretty stupid. I'm also gravely disappointed that she won't be back, or at least not full time. I really liked Martha and I would have welcomed more full season with her. I was looking forward to keeping the cast between seasons for the first time in the entire new series, but it seems I will be denied that now.
Character limit reached again -- continued in next post...
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