Since the revival of Doctor Who in 2005, I’ve regained my fandom of the series. Doctor Who was a personal favorite of mine growing up, as my Dad and I would watch it Saturday nights on PBS. While I initially missed Christopher Eccleston’s incarnation of the Doctor (outside of a DVD visit), I was immediately drawn to David Tennant’s portrayal of the character, in many ways rivaling my devotion to Tom Baker’s version (There are ten incarnations of the same character for those who are not Who-initiated).

Regardless, the newest and final story arc of the third season takes a little bit of a history lesson to fully understand and appreciate. And given that this episode contains a MAJOR spoiler, culminating the “mystery” story arc that has run throughout the season, this review is going to be approached in a more delicate manner as to not spoil the fun for those who haven’t seen it, as well as for those outside the United Kingdom.

The story begins with a pit-stop for the TARDIS (the Doctor’s time machine), and an unexpected intervention from one of the Doctor’s former companions, Captain Jack Harkness. When we last saw Jack (outside of the current Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood), he was left stranded on a space station after being killed, then brought back to life, during a Dalek invasion. The Ninth Doctor and his companion Rose left his fate uncertain, but obviously he was able to pull through.

Why this is important is explained more through Torchwood as well as throughout the episode. In short, the Doctor had his reasons for leaving Jack behind, and there’s a bit of abandoned resentment from Jack somewhat resembling that of a spurned lover (which for the omnisexual Jack Harkness, isn’t that much of a stretch, if one-sided on his part).

Still, it touches on the revised series referencing past characters and events instead of simply eschewing them for the next adventure, and Harkness’ likable personality makes him a welcome re-addition to the cast.

In this story, the TARDIS takes the crew to the end of the universe, to a time that humans are trying to escape a world overrun by savage mutant humanoids. Of course, the Doctor steps in to help the people achieve their goal, but his mere presence forces the memories of a seemingly benign professor to surface, and things go very, very wrong.

As a stand-alone story, it provides a somewhat intriguing tale that hints to something much larger. If you’ve followed the show from the first series, however, this is a plotline that one realizes has been brewing throughout nearly two seasons. As a long-time Doctor Who fan, the show takes yet another level of depth as the weight of how bad things have just gotten for the Doctor suddenly comes to full light.

After three seasons, I have been incredibly impressed by the writing of the show. Moments and stories that seemed to be stand-alone events now take full relevance in the final moments of this particular episode. The revised Doctor Who is a completely different spin on the original incarnation of the show, yet manages to pay full homage to the events and characters of this forty-plus year old franchise. As this is the first part of a three-part story, it can only get more harrowing for the Doctor, and given the show’s two previous seasons, and the overall quality of the current third, this will undoubtedly make for quite the harrowing ride.