While we’re all talking about Doctor Who and various contrived plot threads, has anyone noticed the shift in last few years in the construction, content, and emphasis of the show’s finales?

Here’s Davies’ string of finales:

1) Daleks return… and they’re crazy! Also, the Doctor dies.
2) It’s Cybermen versus Daleks! Also, Rose leaves forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3) Holy Hell, it’s the Master! And he’s crazy! Also, the Doctor chased another one away.
4) It’s Davros! And wow, is his plan ever crazy! Also, is the Doctor dying? Also, aw, poor Donna.
5) It’s the Time Lords! And they’re crazy! Also, the Doctor dies.

Here are Moffat’s finales:
1) Stonehenge turns out to be a trap created by a bunch of the Doctor’s previously established enemies who think the Doctor will destroy the universe, but in closing the trap they actually allow the TARDIS to explode, thereby destroying the universe — except somehow the Doctor previously created a predestination paradox, allowing him to rewrite the universe without himself in it, until at her wedding Amy somehow remembers him on a conscious level, which makes everything okay. Also, Rory survived non-existence in the form of an Auton by Amy remembering him on some subconscious level — and when the Doctor rebooted the universe he was alive again for real. And when Amy remembered the Doctor, that somehow caused Rory to remember being an Auton, even though he never had been. Meanwhile, what caused the TARDIS to explode? Who planned all of this? Moffat will explain later.

2) Amy and Rory’s daughter, having been groomed from a very young age to assassinate the Doctor, was therefore essential to a totally different scheme from the one in the previous series finale, even though she had long since decided not to involve herself. So a bunch of obsessed people put her in a space suit that moved on its own, to force her to kill the Doctor in a specific place at a specific time. Except she figured out to stop that from happening, which interfered with a predestination paradox, which in turn caused time to end… until the Doctor contrived a wedding ceremony where he revealed that he was wearing a previously established shape-changing miniaturized space ship and then convinced River to kiss the space ship — which put time on its normal course again. Also: DOCTOR WHO? DOCTOR WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

3) Who is Clara Oswald REALLY? Also: DOCTOR WHOOOOOO? DOCTOR WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

What I’m seeing is that Moffat has moved the focus. Where before the draw came from spectacle and recognition factor, now the show sells its finales on their plot content alone. And those plots… well. They’re a little convoluted, they tend not to actually resolve their key questions, and they tend to reuse their ideas.

Obviously Davies found his formula as well, but in his case it was simple and generally effective: Here is something new, something big, something cool (that you probably wanted to see all along) — and it has big consequences!

The appeal of Moffat’s conclusions is predicated on caring about his plot machinations in their own right. How does the Doctor get out of his predetermined death? Who is Clara? Who is River Song? What is the First Question? These aren’t organic things that come out of the material; these are puzzles that he sets up, to build toward a big one-time shock of revelation. Then once that factoid is out of the way, things tend to continue more or less as they were. There are no long-term consequences. There’s not even a real resolution. There’s just a hint at further puzzles.

Of course Davies’ consequences can change whenever he feels like flipping the switch — but in the moment at least there is catharsis. There’s the catharsis of the big momentous events that shake up the characters’ worlds and expand the show’s format (Wow, a standoff between Daleks and Cybermen! How did this never happen before?!/I didn’t realize the TARDIS could do that, but of course it can!/Now that the Master’s back, what does that mean?!), and then the second catharsis of their fallout. The world changes, the show changes, and so does the new normal. Eccleston leaves, Piper leaves, Agyeman leaves, Tate leaves. It builds up, creating the sense of evolution, of passing time.

We’re over halfway through Smith’s third series. By this point it felt like Tennant had been around forever; had been on a long, long journey. Smith, I only feel like he has just made it through his first act.

Part of this can be attributed to the lack of cast turnover (as compared to the revolving door behind the scenes) in Moffat’s era. To me, part of it is that it just feels like the show has been stringing the audience along since 2010, biding time with riddles and parlor tricks rather than dealing with things as they come. The show has become less dynamic in every sense.