Sorry guys, between the craziness of the holiday season, my 13y/o neice spending her XMas vacay here and my sister coming home from the hospital the 21st, it was just NUTS! Details here: http://jjb.yuku.com/topic/734843/Prayers-and-positive-thoughts-request-please?page=2. Anyway, thank you everyone for the love you all extended our way. You all really helped in more ways than one!

Now back to what matters, . STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

My neice and I knew there was no way we could watch it on XMas day so we made sure we made plans for Thursday night. My niece's Doctor is Tennant but she LOVES Matt as well. If you recall, she cosplayed as Matt for the movie.

As awesome as I was with avoiding spoilers, I failed when I went to ONTD. This was the day after the episode so I get why there was no spoiler alert anymore. Unfortunately for me, the FIRST sentence blew the surprise right away. I was so shocked that I was reading a goddamn spoiler that I blurted out "AHHHH!!!", . MY neice ran up to me and asked what was wrong and I had to yank my laptop away from her so she wouldn't get spoiled as well. Goddamn internet!!!! .

Anyway, ever since Matt's departure was announced, whenever she would talk about it, she would pout, cross her arms and say, "I DON'T want him to go!", . Well, during the episode, she kept on doing that until she got quiet a lot and tears were just flowing. Then she got excited and cried even more when Amy showed up because Amy was her favorite companion and misses her a LOT. She loves Rose and Donna but Amy has taken their places. Probably because Amy is quite young and she can relate more. She doesn't like Clara at all. She has this bit that cracks me up. She says, whenever The Doctor says something,
Clara goes, "HUH?"
Amy goes "Yeah!!"
Rose goes "Yes!"
She says Clara looks all confused, Amy says it in an excited Scottish accent while Rose, in a lovey-dovey sort of way. Quite accurate this kid, methinks,

ANyway, the spoiler I read was Amy's appearance. Wish I didn't know, I would have loved to have had my niece's excitement and fangirling!

All in all, it was a great send-off. It felt rushed but I get it's hard to cram everything in that small amount of time. I get that it would have been out of the norm to have had it extended just for this one actor's departure.

His wig was obviously a wig a lot of times since it didn't have the same floppiness or oomph that his real hair had. I'm glad bald Matt was just for a moment and I am glad they addressed it and made it part of the episode. It WAS indeed believable that Eleven's boredom would cause him to do that, . Btw, I know he's really Thirteen but Matt will ALWAYS be Eleven to me the way David will always be Ten and Chris is Nine.

I like that, in typical Moffat fashion, the end was where everything gets tied together. Now we know what The Doctor saw in that room, that The Doctor still lies especially when it comes to protecting his companions, etc etc. Of course, there are still loose threads but that's Moffat for you. I LOVE how his foes were all there and I love Matt's interaction with Wilson, oh, I mean, Handles, . I love how they threw in his dance again with kids around. just like in Amy and Rory's wedding. Just like his Fez and bowtie, that dance move is trademark Eleven, . The nun made me think of River, I don't know if there's a significance there but she's who I thought of(the flirting, the mainframe, flying the TARDIS, etc). May just be a coincidence. I also love how the crack was used as a way to get hold of The Doctor and I love how his kindness was portrayed once again. We all know he was going nuts staying with Amy and Rory but to save a town, he did and yes, not having the TARDIS helped but we all know, to save a life, TARDIS present or not, he would have stayed. I also loved how his heart/s was being torn by the fact that Gallifrey was within reach and yet to have them would mean war. I also love how he got old, felt it, and showed it. I am very glad too that when it came to his last moments, he went back to same old Matt. I LOVED the dialogue. I LOVED the emotion-filled "the first face this face saw". I LOVED everything he said before the regeneration. It was very well-written and touching and true and I can see why in the behind-the-scenes during rehearsals, Matt ended up getting so emotional that Steven had to come up to him and Matt ended up bawling and burying his face on Steven's stomach/side. And yes, when the bowtie fell, omg, the feels. It was the final goodbye, the curtain closing. It was not just Eleven saying goodbye, it was Matt too taking his bowtie off and saying goodbye to the role and to us. God knows, a bunch of us lost it then.

The thing is with Matt's tenure, his episodes may not have been consistently awesome and frankly, if you set aside nostalgia, it was the same anyway for Chris and David. The last time it was consistently brilliant for Matt, was with Season 5. However, the one thing that was consistent throughout his tenure was Matt himself, even with the so-so episodes. He always was a class act. He was just brilliantly talented and entertaining to watch whether he was just reading a book or quietly talking to Amelia or goading his enemies into getting him. He is just an interesting actor and I look forward to watching him grow even more. He is just a baby in his line of work. His future looks exciting and promising. He's already gaining great reviews for his play, too. So proud of him!

So GOODBYE Matt. I always say I make space in my heart for every Doctor and companion and even though, I'm not ready yet, that's where he'll go. I will miss him terribly and will always give him credit for bringing more of the US audience into the fold. We used to be a small cult but now we're bigger. I miss those days sometimes BUT shopping and talking about it is easier now that it's more popular. I will miss how he embraced the responsibility of being The Doctor outside the show and I know he will continue doing that with grace and humility as he always does. I really will miss him with Karen and Arthur as well. They truly had quite a friendship and frankly, those 3 are the only hipster celebs that I actually like, . God knows I can't stand hipsters, .

As for Peter, I am sooo excited. My neice was a bit disappointed that they didn't do the usual regeneration. She felt it was too abrupt. She said, "it was like BOOM, I'm Peter!", . I had to explain that Matt already started regenerating in the tower and maybe because Eleven was ready and accepting of it AND maybe because The Doctor was given a new "set" of regenerations, the rules have changed? I mean, Twelve did ask how to fly the TARDIS in the end, . My neice is still not ready for Peter and has been saying, "I DON'T like him", . I told her not too worry because she didn't like Matt either and found him weird-looking in the beginning and yet, she eventually fell hard for him. I reminded her this is the life of a Whovian, we're in a new cycle of emotions once again.

Also, I know Matt brought in some fans and I'm realistic enough to know that some of those that watched Doctor Who stayed more for Matt than the show. We may realistically lose numbers but whatever we end up with, at least, will still be actual Whovians. I know we'll get numbers from curiosity over Twelve and from Capaldi fans and that will be great. I think as long as it's not a HUGE drop, it will be okay. Then again, the numbers may get even higher, who knows?!

So right now, I'm grieving Eleven's departure. I think the sadness never leaves. I still miss David and Chris and I think that's part of the cycle. You welcome a new Doctor into the fold but you just never stop loving The Doctors you have known before.