I really love how this isn’t a clear cut happy ending. Like they won but not without a lot of death and total genocide.
And even the Doctor’s not sure if he made the right decision, mirroring his ripples speech earlier in the episode. And this episode arguably sets off the early stages of the Time War (you could also argue that it started in Genesis).
It also parallels his later actions both saving Gallifrey as Eleven and Ashildr as Twelve respectively. But I guess we’ll see how both of those play out this Saturday.
I think that’s what makes the Seventh Doctor work for me. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And when he does horrible things, he acknowledges that they’re horrible things and doesn’t try to soften or justify that. And he’s not sure that the decision is right, but he takes responsibility and makes it anyway – and then takes responsibility for whatever consequences it will have.
And that’s a wonderful screen shot for this discussion.