Gallifrey review: Panacea is series three’s finale, but how much does it resolve?

For five years, Panacea was the final episode of Gallifrey. Did it resolve the Doctor Who spin-off in a satisfying way?

Panacea was more than just the finale of the third series of a major Doctor Who spin-off. In some ways, it was almost designed to be the finale of the series altogether. Indeed, after Panacea‘s release in August 2006, there wouldn’t be another episode of Gallifrey made for almost five years.

So does Panacea do a good job of resolving the series? Does it make sure to resolve all the major threads that had begun since Weapon of Choice? After all, Gallifrey was a hugely popular Doctor Who spin-off. There’s no way they would leave the series on a massive cliffhanger for years, possibly forever. Was there?

With both the Civil War and the election over, Panacea finally gives us a glimpse of what Gallifrey’s become. And it’s not good. With so many Time Lords dead and so much left in ruins, Gallifrey is on the very brink of total collapse. No one in the Temporal Powers is keen to help. Indeed, they’re all eagerly anticipating the fall of the Time Lords, so that a new power may take their place.

As a result, Gallifrey must turn to other means for its continued survival. Other people to help…for a price. Which is why an absolutely amoral character like Mephistopheles Arkadian has returned to the planet of the Time Lords.

A satisfying resolution?

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I absolutely love Arkadian. It’s been a while since he last showed up in A Blind Eye, but his return is a more than welcome one. He’s just such a brilliantly fun character, and you can’t help but love him. It’s fitting that, in an episode such as this, he finally makes a grand return.

As for the regular characters, things aren’t looking too great. While an old enemy finally died in the previous episode Mindbomb, Romana still lost her Presidency. Naturally, thanks to her old “friend”, Braxiatel, who’s made a surprise return. But what’s his agenda this time?

It wouldn’t be Gallifrey without something incredibly clever and devious going on, and this finale gives us one of the cleverest and devious plans of the series yet. This is an episode that shows that you really can’t trust anyone on Gallifrey, not even your oldest friends. No wonder the Doctor left.

But will even the best laid plans be enough to avoid total disaster? Surely, with so much resolved already, the series would provide a nice, tidy resolution at the end? It certainly wouldn’t do anything as bad as end mid-sentence, would it? Well, the truth is…

Did you listen to Gallifrey when it originally came out? Were you frustrated by that ending? Let us know in the comments below.