Chris Chibnall: Step one: make the doctor the timeless child. Step two: fix the mess I made in step one.

I literally said in my own review “Council of Geeks is NOT going to like this” when talking about the Timeless Child revelation 😄

*Issues unlikely to be explained:* - If the Doctor isn't Gallifreyan, what are the chances of her having two hearts?...or the same biology at all? *- Why didn't Clara see these Doctors when she entered his time stream?* - Russell has confirmed that the woman in The End of Time - a Time Lord, but not Rassalon - was the Doctor's mother. *- How can Ruth have a Police Box TARDIS?* - If the Doctor chose her name prior to her memory being wiped (prior to Hartnell), how does she remember it? Did she never question her ignorance? *- If the Judoon identified that the Doctor had previous bodies, why does no one else? Ever?* - Why would the Time Lords reset the Doctor after seemingly letting Ruth go?

"You can paint a turd, but it's still a turd." Simple

-How was the Doctor supposed to die in Turn Left if he's effectively immortal? did he just get too wet? -In The Brain of Morbius, How does the doctor explain his pre-Hartnell incarnations to himself if he doesn't remember them. -How does Susan fit into all of this, does she know about the Timeless Child? -Just Why?

"At least its better that Hell Bent" you take that back right now!!

With Eleven, throughout his tenure, there was the acknowledgment that he had become too big and yes, 900 years of defeating everyone, your name will get around. However, by the end, he was back to being just the individual of his society he wanted to be, still the “Last of the Time Lords” but now living quieter than when he started. And that’s where you get a lot of Twelve’s great lines being “just a traveler” knowing his Society has returned.

I'm confused. Where did the Master get the idea that the Timeless Child was the Doctor? Because nothing he actually shows her in the Matrix seems to back that up, and there's a big gap in its records of the Timeless Child. Is the Doctor just taking the Master's word on this, or did I miss something?

This makes Matt smiths regeneration feel a bit redundant

The other things we learned; - The Doctor's rule breaking was encouraged by "The Division" a new made-up secret faction of the Timelords. - The Gallifrey home security is rubbish because one person, The Master, can kill everyone easier & qucker than the Daleks could. - Graham O'Brian saw Star Wars because that plan was streight out of when Luke Skywalker & Han Solo dressed as Storm Troupers to escape. - Chris Chibnall thinks Cybermen wear suits of armour rather than them being a one size mechanism containing cut-up to fit organics. - All prior episodes/plots which talk of limited regenerations and the Doctor's origins on Gallifrey are now pointless and wrong. Clara only saw & helped a small fraction of The Doctor's timeline. etc.

Question: HOW did the Master conclude that the Doctor was the timeless child? Maybe I missed that explanation, but the info was redacted before ANY connection to the Doctor could be made. So, HOW ON GALLIFREY did the Master make that conclusion?

Surely it makes more sense for the master to be the timeless child and could be used to explain how hes always coming back after his original 12 regens were up and how he has some sort of subconscious hatred for the time lords and would actually be a good backstory for him. Having the doctor as the timeless child just creates more plot holes than it actually fills in.

My Theory is - The Valeyard, altered the Matrix with the stuff about "The Timeless Child" brainwashed the Master making him think it true, also captured a future incarnation of The Doctor and made her think she was a past version of the Doctor

“He knew very well that immortality was a curse. Not a blessing.” The First Doctor, in The Five Doctors. The Doctor is now immortal. There are no longer any stakes in terms of the Doctor’s life. Who cares if the Master or Daleks come back. She/he can’t die. If she/he does, she/he will simply regenerate. Infinitely. In some ways I hope this is a lie by the Master. Creating a false sense of confidence within the Doctor, thus accelerating her/his actually finite regenerations and her/his eventual demise.

Ruined it in my eyes. I know Moffat tiptoed in this kind of thing but this has gone way too far. He's ruined the backstory of the doctor, Gallifrey and the origins of the doctor. The doctor was like the equivalent to the average timelord on Gallifrey, who ran away and stole a TARDIS. Now he's the flipping chosen one. This has just irritated me so much.

I feel that Chris Chibnall has abused his power of running the show I just hope in all that the Master is lying and he's just playing a twisted game.

Also I'm wondering if Chibnall was just really desperate to canonize the Brain of Morbius Doctors.

As a Dyspraxic, Ryan's basketball payoff was something I was waiting for whole season. While it is very very predictable, it's nice to get little victories amongst the big ones

Headcanon: The whole timeless child thing was just something some bored gallifreyan students made up and put in the archive.

Two warrior races combined, standing in the ruins of Gallifrey. You could say they were... a Hybrid.

I hadn't heard that leak and I was really enjoying the episode until the Doctor asked "what happened to the child?" and I froze. Even without the leak I _knew_ the Master was going to say it was her and in those few seconds I kept hoping he wouldn't, but damnit he did and I was so disappointed. It felt like such a cliche. Another nitpick: how did the Judoon just teleport inside the TARDIS? I thought that was supposed to be nearly impossible, and the Judoon certainly don't seem like the type who could manage it.

I saw a really good comment on Reddit that said it felt like Chibnall had an idea when he was growing up watching the show, then decades later it no longer worked in the canon that had been established since but he decided to go with it anyway.

What bugs me more than anything is actually: How did the Judoon get into the TARDIS?

Well I'm just going to believe the Master is the Timeless Child and he was lying. Perhaps because he thought he might be able to drive the Doctor crazy like him. It's better that way.

Why was 11 dying in time of the Doctor Why didn’t Clara see any of this The dr is now the most important character in Timelord history not some renegade “a madman with a box” (Why limit it to 12 regens??)

In an attempt to not be too negative, i'll just say that we had it good with Capaldi.

You really seem to misunderstand the 11th Doctor's arc. 🙁 Army's being chased away just by his name was presented as a BAD thing. They were saying the Doctor shouldn't be like this and it's wrong the show has built him up to this point. That was the whole point of that and his arc was to get the Doctor back on track to being just an everyday person instead of this God-like figure they were built up to be in the RTD era.

Would have maybe been slightly acceptable to have the Master use the Moment to destroy Gallifrey, purely so the interface can take a form of a young Doctor to try and guilt him out of it, like Academy Era Doctor. Like a little Theta would be sweet to see and have the potential to explore the Master/Doctor relationship and have an emotional impact. idk.

Don't worry, in a couple of years this will probably be retconned.

Why can river regenerate? The Time Vortex doesn’t do it you need the doctors DNA....... I mean river has that but.....

Can't we just happily expect The Master is lying about the Timeless Child? And isn't it previously established that what the matrix shows can be untrue (in The Trial of a Time Lord)?

the moment you snapped for the spoiler warning, i got an ad. good timing lol.

I definitely see where you're coming from in regards to what the point of the Timeless Child is, if it has no actual lasting impact on the Doctor. But I'd actually say it does have lasting connotations for the show as a whole that really intrigue me. When 'The War Games' happened, a lot of the Doctor's story was demystified - we knew where the Doctor came from and why they ran from Gallifrey. As the years went on, the development of Gallifreyan lore continued to impact on this, and we ended up in a position where the Doctor wasn't really much of a mysterious character anymore. We still don't know everything about them (like their name), but we know so much that this aspect has been mostly lost. The Timeless Child reveal keeps the Doctor's history as we know it intact, but adds an extra dimension of mystique that makes them so much more interesting then before. Where does the Doctor actually come from? Did they have parents? Why were they abandoned? Why can they regenerate? Was the little girl who was found even their first life, or does it go back even further? These are questions I actually hope are never answered in much detail, and for me it adds new significance to the title 'Doctor Who'. I'm sure we'll explore some aspects, like how Ruth actually fits in, and what 'The Division' were up to, but I just feel really excited to feel like I don't truly know this character that well anymore, and neither does the Doctor. It seems like a much stronger version of the Cartmel Masterplan (which I never liked), but instead of the Doctor being some kind of knowing God that created the Time Lords, they were a pawn/victim in the Time Lords quest for power and status. I think that's actually really powerful. It makes the Doctor more important, yes, but not in a way that is detrimental to the character and everything that's been previously established about them. Plus, from the Doctor's personal point of view, Hartnell is still the first life they lived through that made them who they are today, so I don't think it affects his legacy either. I do understand why people don't like this though. I honestly would have thought it would bother me too, but Chris Chibnall actually really delivered on this one for me.

I was sooo waiting for this. The irony though, Chibnall out-moffated Moffat.

I didn’t mind the timeless child so much But why couldn’t it have been the master? That would have been so much better, and would justify (or justify it more) his rage

When I was watching, I felt that the Dr. being the Timeless child was not the conclusion I saw. The Master being the timeless child, and the Doctor being Tecteun who was experimenting and working on the child - I think if you are doing /this/ would makes so much more sense - The masters endless rage towards the Doctor. The Doctor trying to help all the while running away. I think it would explain a lot of the deeper unconscious behaviors of both of them.

14:57 "That means the Time Lords don't even exist if it wasn't for the Doctor" - More directly, don't they owe their existence to Tecteun and her experiments? After all, heart transplant patients owe their lives to the ground-breaking work of Christaan Barnard, not the person whose heart he used.

Can anyone explain why every Cyberman story for the past 6 years has had to involve the master in some way? That way usually involving him/her completely taking the spotlight from them?

What we need in the future is a series where each episode is stand alone, where you go to the past every now and then (which is kind of the point to time travel fiction), stay away from commonly used monsters and create new ones, have dynamic companions who contribute to the plot and action, and mix genres between episodes to show the full range the show can offer. In other words, do what the did in the 60’s and 70’s. You know, the period everybody that had the most popular Doctors, the best writers, and the most unique stories.

I'm just glad the timelords didn't evolve from time-traveling humans.

They should have made the Master the timeless child and the Doctor the one to discover them. All those endless regenerations, and bitterness over being used, would explain why the Master is the way he is. It would also explain his unique love-hate relationship with the Doctor. The Doctor could have come to regret his treatment of the Master and giving the Timelords the ability to regenerate. That could be a major reason why the Doctor went rogue in the first place. The Master wants acceptance and the Doctor redemption. A sort of f***ed up parent-child tragedy.

Hot take: The timeless child thing doesn't bother me. And honestly I wonder why The Master thinks the timeless child was the doctor and not the master himself. And I'm curious as to what was in the redacted part of the matrix/memories.

This is a minor point in the grand scheme but I'm slightly confused how the master "killed" all the Gallifreyans and yet they had regenerative powers as the time-lord-cybermen. Surely by killing them he would have to destroy them mid regen (like 11 and spaceman style)? idk

Why does “Everything Will Be Changed” have to be every writer’s go-to when handed a long-running property? Why not try to be remembered simply for the strength of the smaller stories? Ultimately, though, I can live with retcons. I’m not one of those people who thinks canon has to stay the same at all times. But a retcon has to be judged by what it adds to the overall narrative and what it detracts. But my reaction by the end of this episode was… I guess it could have been worse. Chibnall could have screwed up everything much more. But this is basically the exact same plot twist as The Matrix Reloaded. I liked the Doctor nobody special. Just a dropout bum by Time Lord standards. It makes the character’s ascension to one of the most important figures in the universe by sheer virtue of their actions one of their most inspirational elements. Now, all of that’s flushed down the toilet. The Doctor has always been “Special,” has always been “Different.” Now, they’re not even a Time Lord! They were never born into the society they rebelled from. Their separation from Time Lord society feels less like a choice. Less like free will. Because they were never truly one of them. The idea is not without merit, though. I do like some elements of this. That they chose the name of the Doctor because they chose it before… and the implication that the “First” Doctor chose this TARDIS because it was the one he used in his past lifetimes… interesting stuff. (Of course, it detracts from all the wonderful bits of dialogue from the TARDIS in “The Doctor’s Wife.”) And honestly, I will admit it’s kind of clever to finally work out the canonicity of the “The Brain of Morbius Faces” and the implications that were laid out for the unresolved Cartmell Masterplan. But ultimately? It’s just not worth it. This retcon, in my opinion, detracts more from Inspirational Message of the character of the Doctor than it adds to them. Also, I feel sorry for the poor wiki editors who now have to figure out how they hell they’re going to rewrite every Doctor’s page. Oh yes, and destroying Gallifrey again? At least the first time, the Doctor had done it themselves, to add some additional emotional weight to the character. And saving it likewise had a huge emotional impact on the character. Now it’s just… gone, and it means nothing. The Time Lords have always been plot fodder for the Doctor, their machinations providing plenty of storytelling potential over the decades. But now they’re really gone (in a way that any future writer so inclined will have to jump through some pretty impressive hoops to bring back), and all the potential stories that can be had with them is gone as well. Once again, the decision, in my mind, was Not Worth It.

In my head, I believe that the Master was trolling the Doctor all along, because that's what he does

Thought: Chibnall wrote this as a fan fiction when he was a kid and was determined to make it an episode when he got the show runner job. Even if it does mean scrubbing all of the lore created in the last 15 years of nuWho.

My interpretation: the Timeless Child revelation is there not to break the Doctor, but to break the Master. The Master would not have taken such risks had he not felt overshadowed yet again by the Doctor. The Master has always been jealous of the Doctor, always one step behind. It's alluded to here, and visible in earlier episodes. To realize that the Doctor is the literal reason he can exist is what breaks him, and he expects it to break the Doctor as well. He almost succeeds at the end, where the Doctor is willing to use the Death Particle. That would have been his victory. Regardless of how one feels about it, it did get resolved this series, so it isn't hanging over the story going forward. There's room for exploration, yes, but the "mystery" aspect is "solved". And it may end up impacting the character as we go forward; we'll have to wait and see.

To quote Chris Jericho: “A stupid idea from bad creative”

I wouldn't be surprised if this gets reckoned out in a season or two.

Someone said that it would have made a lot more sense if the timeless child was in fact the master. And I agree.

Literally none of this makes sense! Like the Master wasn’t kidding when he said everything was a lie. Literally everything we knew about the Doctor, Time Lords, & Galifrey was a lie! This is the biggest slap in the face retcon I’ve ever seen! Thanks I hate it.

It creates some interesting questions: Where is the doctor from? Is there any more of the Doctors original race? Why was the Doctor left alone? What is the division? Why was the Doctor arrested? We still don't knows: When is Ruth from? Why does she have a police box TARDIS? What is Jacks role in all this? I think for me I need a complete story to judge this story looks to be a long term thing

I'm really glad we weren't alone with our thoughts on The Timeless Child! Great video buddy, our reviews are pretty much identical!

The Doctor is no longer a timelord, timelords aren't even timelords, just imitation Doctors, and the Doctor is now a deus ex machina.

With 10: when the doctors ego gets to big a human knocks him down a peg With 11: has to erase his history cause he knows he’s gotten to big With 12: I am an idiot with the box

I'm accepting what's been presented as canon for the moment, but I'm leaving open the fact that our only source for this information is The Master, the very definition of "Unreliable Narrator." I've seen people complain about "show, don't tell" but if The Doctor discovered this truth for herself (show) then it solidifies the canon, being told this by The Master leaves it open for later discrediting. This is either genius writing, or a lack of guts depending on your opinion of Chris Chibnall. "Ah!" you say. "But what about The Fugitive Doctor appearing in The Matrix?" To which I ask you, did The Fugitive Doctor tell the 13th anything she didn't already know? "Perhaps you summoned me" could be construed that this is the Matrix embodying 13's subconscious, and this is just 13 talking to 13. The Fugitive Doctor could still fit into the Season 6b theory, with the Timelords gifting a regeneration for the 3rd Doctor and keeping the regeneration maths intact. But, for the moment, I'm alright with the idea that The Doctor is The Timeless Child, not an important figure in Timelord society like Rassilon, Omega, or The Other, but the secret shame of the Timelords, hidden from everyone, even the child themselves. I quite like the idea that no matter how many times they might reboot and try to indoctrinate the Timeless Child, they will always find their way to being The Doctor in some way, by name or not. Their only destiny is to reject Timelord society and roam the universe, fighting injustice. I'm even entering Ko Sharmus as a potential future Doctor, many many regenerations in the future, standing with the last humans. That they were willing to take 13th's place appeared like someone who had spent so long fighting the Cybermen, and now in their most dangerous form could make a sacrifice with meaning. Perhaps someone who had lived a universe worth of regenerations and was ready to go. Perhaps I'm being an optimist, but the fact that The Timeless Child was mentioned in series 11 and has taken 2 years to come to light, means that there may be more of this story to tell. *Whistles MST3K theme song*

"Why...Did...You...Do It?" EXACTLY! Totally spot on. (and there still isn't any explanation why Ruth's TARDIS was in the shape of a police box.)

I was hoping the "Big Reveal" was going to be that both The Doctor and Master were Loomed from The Other/ Timeless Child

People still write essays about the characters and themes in Hell Bent five years after it aired. All anyone will remember about The Timeless Children in 2025 (if anything) is how stupid and pointless the retcon was. The show is no longer about anything other than itself.

If I could change the Timeless child story line: The master is the timeless child and Ruth’s doctor (who’s pre hartnell as chib wants that and can’t stop that really) was the tectiune time Lord person who found the master and experimented so they sipped both their minds after and gave the doctor a new regen cycle. I believe this would open up a lot of doors in the storyline. Now theirs a reason why the Masters not on the doctors side anymore (Missy), there’s a reason he wants revenge. It opens up great acting moments for Jodie. She can judge her morality she did this terrible thing in a life she didn’t know about. She can judge her name like is she a good person? I loved that arc for the 12th doctor but there wasn’t a reason why he didn’t know if he was good and it kinda got thrown away abit too quick but this time we can really explore the doctor trying to discover if she’s a good person. Also when Jodie meets back up with Ruth like she will they can have an amazing scene where this rage of Jodie comes out as she has a go at Ruth for what she did but she’s also having an argument with herself. Omg even throughout the series have moments where Jodie is unsure of herself and maybe even has a hard choice to make to save people and she struggles to make that choice because of her own morals being questioned as she doesn’t know what person she is. And then at the end of her run whenever it is. Have like Omega or some big time lord bad guy be behind the whipping of their minds. And the doctor will actually want to attack this dude and maybe threaten death to only realise that the doctor is something herself choose with Hartnell. I think that could be an amazing arc for a doctor that has struggled to really put her stamp on things. Make Jodie be the doctor who really clarifies why she is the doctor. I think my storyline opens up a lot better opportunities for acting for all actors and is just better tbh

The point? Getting rid of the time lord academic posh elitism and reintroduce some mystery. Result? “Splat!”

For anyone curious about the "timeless child" twist. Look at who told the doctor this. The Master's manipulation of the matrix. He attempted to break her. It didn't work, that was the point. No matter what information/challenge you throw at the doctor she will not break and she will always remain true to what she was/is.

I had very much the same reaction, but there were a couple things you didn't bring up that I'm wondering about. The biggest of these is why the HELL did the Master destroy Gallifrey in the first place? The only impact the TC reveal has is that it turns out the Gallifrey creation story is a lie. And like... Okay? That's not really a genocide-worthy reveal. The only one it hurts is the doctor (and that's just temporary emotional turmoil) and since the Master as tried to kill them countless times I really don't see him being pissed that they hurt the Doctor. They're still implying Ruth was Pre-Hartnell. I know you said you doycare about lore, but this one gets me. Because it's Canon that the chameleon circuit breaker with the first doctor. So if Ruth came before him, why is she travelling in a police box? Come to think of it, why is her TARDIS interior clearly more advanced than the first three Doctor's at least? There's not enough casualties. When the Cyberman were just Cybermen, they wiped out all but 2-3 humans (not counting team TARDIS because they aren't from that time). So upon being upgraded by the master to regenerate, we should have seen some example of their power beyond one regeneration. Instead we get one last, willing casualty. On top of that, from their reveal as part Cyberman and part timelord (guess the doctor and Clara weren't the Hybrid after all) it only takes about ten minutes to defeat them. Ten minutes where they do nothing. How did Jack know to give his warning in the first place? I don't think the lone Cyberman was going around boasting about the doctor giving him the cyberium. Even if he was, they were pretty focused on executing humans and we're extremely successful at it. The only people who would have known would be the ones team TARDIS come across, and if they'd met Jack surely he would have saved them? This one is pretty nitpicky, but still. Why couldn't the Master be the timeless child? There would be no break in continuity, it would explain a lot (including why he destroyed Gallifrey)... I've heard a couple people say they made it the doctor so they could give her infinite regenerations, but destroying the time lord council who regulates them does that anyway. I FULLY blame toxic fans for this bullshit. They bitched and moaned about there not having been a overarching plot in S11, so Chibnal went "have ALL the storyline"

It would of been cooler if the doctor wasn't the child but instead the person doing the experiments. It turns out that the doctor was THE doctor

The best thing this episode did was make the entire reveal of the Timeless Child be done by The Master, which basically means that any future writer after Chibnall should have enough resources to make this entire reveal a lie and part of the Master’s manipulation, I think the vast majority of the Doctor Who fan base want this to be retconned as soon as possible, and thankfully there’s enough material there to do that, we all just gotta hope Chibnall doesn’t take this reveal and run with it so far it makes it impossible for future writers to change.

That Thumbnail tells a story

And I figured out that the "Timeless Child" was the Doctor from the time they were first mentioned by the Remnants.

Could someone please explain to me why Brendan didn't regenerate at the bottom of the cliff after falling and being shot? If you se this on other channels sorry I am only trying to get an explanation from someone.

I feel that the twist gives the middle finger to the “first doctor” and makes time of the doctor getting a new regeneration cycle pointless Also why couldn’t have he been omega as you know he CREATED TIME LORDS

Stop trying to make The Doctor more "special". Imagine how much more interested it would be if The Master was the Timeless Child instead and The Doctor really was just some kid he grew up with. It would keep 98% of the story intact and make for a more interesting character development.

i think whats important is the Doctor does not want to be more than an idiot with a box, but sometimes by their actions becomes more important. I really like i think a 5th Dr episode, where he says please don't mention it as he leaves, and Turlough leans in with a " really , he means it, don't mention it"

I still think there's more to it. Ruth has a police box so she CANT be pre-Hartnel

I really think it damages the mythology of the show. Even the Doctor as a character. I think it makes him/her too special compared to the time lords in a non personality way. It's hard to explain. The doctor became a mythical figure because of what the doctor did. Not because he/she was born as the first person to regenerate. Honestly this felt like a child wrote it. Really wanting to create a backstory for the doctor when it was completely unnecessary. What a shame Chris is show runner. I hope somehow this is retconned.

For all the KZfaqrs reviews for this episode, yours was the one I was most looking forward to. I wasn't disappointed. You're always so passionate 🙌🏻

Hell Bent was a masterpiece compared to this pompous piece of cow excrement. The Timeless Children was a waste of mental space, a waste of time, of plot devices and a total aberration. Doctor Who doesn't deserve this type of crap. Watched season 6 again and I realized we have all been slowly lowering our expectations for Chibnall to the extent that we are nitpicking the positives in the episodes... gleaning the good bits and avoiding the dumb ones like handmines. It was a totally pointless story.

You lost me at “better than Hell Bent”. Unbelievable.

That line about Yas not having much to say about Graham because she's from Yorkshire didn't ring true to me. I lived in Sheffield for seven years and those guys never shut up about how lovely and friendly they are

is it wrong that i found myself rooting for the master at some points in this

"I'm Rey" "Rey who?" "Rey Timeless Child"

Hellbent didn't destroy the entire cannon of the franchise.

I'd say the fans owe Phillip Hinchcliffe a big apology.

Also I LOVED her line delivery about how she doesn't know who she is anymore, like "why would they do that??" I thought that was excellent writing

YES! THANK YOU! THIS DID NOTHING FOR THE DOCTOR AND THE OVERALL PLOT.

Honestly my approach is to hope they do a 'the Doctor is half human' and just pretend this never happened. It's amazing to me that Chibnall managed to find a way to make the Doctor more irritatingly 'the most important person in the universe' than Moffat ever did.

This episode makes me want a season focused on the master. Maybe a 4 episode limited series. The actor is absolutely fantastic

If there's anything positive about the reveal, to me it didn't seem definitely show it was the doctor & room to write themselves out of it.

One of the faces of past Doctors from Brain of Morbius was the producer, Philip Hinchcliffe. This means Philip Hinchcliffe is now officially an incarnation of the Doctor. Mind blown.

watching the episode, the one thing that I took from it is that the Doctor may or may not be the Timeless Child. It is never proven as it is just the Master saying so and the Doctor eventually believing it, which leads to the idea that the Master was lying for some reason

I thought the episode was great, even the timeless child story was good except for the sole aspect of the timeless child being the doctor.

This review was absolutely terrifying. I think your sarcastic smile could cut through glass.

Still doesn’t explain why Ruth had a police box tardis. Guess Chibnall just didn’t bother to think about that

Does anyone know or have any ideas on how Captain Jack knew about the lone cyberman?

“At least it’s better than Hell Bent” summarised my feelings exactly

I absolutely loved it. We learned more and yet we know the doctor so much less now. What species was she originally? Where were her family? Was she an abandoned experiment? Was the small black girl the actual first incarnation? Are her actual species still out there? Does she have infinite regenerations? Etc. The master, the companions, the cybermen, the doctor and the music were all brilliant. That scene where the doctor destroys the matrix with her mind made me grin so hard. The flashbacks with the music was beautiful! I was so worried and I can see why this may annoy people but this was done so cleverly and it was clearly very thought out. I just loved it, one of the best finales, one of the best stories... ...and I’ve been watching since I was 4 years old, I’m 18 now. I saw rose when it first aired, and I personally feel this era is EXCELLENT. 10/10 very ambitious and truly felt like doctor who.

The Doctor can't be changed by the revelation without first having a crisis of identity. You didn't want a crisis of identity. You got that. Deal with it.

The Doctor just feels like a much less interesting character to me if they are more than an ordinary but renegade timelord. Even if you're cool with the Doctor becoming important before, at least then it was through their own pure wit, and not a result of them being a biologically important chosen one kind of character.

I also wonder if the Doctor’s adopted mother is the older lady the 10th Doctor seem to recognise in the End of Time

It bothered me less. In my mind the child became rebellious because it was a pawn and it was decided to split it into a good half (the doctor) and a bad one (the master) which also explained why they had been fighting each other throughout their lives.

So I'm a bit slow here but what did the revelation tell us about the original relationship between the Doctor and The Master? Was the Master the Doctor's adoptive mother or am I overthinking it?

You know, for a video subtitled "a frustrated rant" this was surprisingly positive. :)