 Alan Stanley Blair of Airlock Alpha was positive in his review. In his opinion, the episode never failed to deliver and "acts as a tribute to everything Russell T Davies put in place when he resurrected the series in 2005." He described the storyline as "fast-moving, bursting [with] excitement" and said that it contained "everything you would expect to see from an adventure comprising of all companions and a new Dalek empire" and "acts as the ultimate climax to four years of storytelling and will leave you with goose bumps for the full 42 minutes." Blair was impressed about how Torchwood and Doctor Who crossed over when their original target demographics dictated it "should never have happened", and commended scenes that depicted Gwen's concern for her husband Rhys, Ianto watching The Paul O'Grady Show, and Sarah's and Jack's emotional response to the Dalek transmission. Although his review was positive, he did criticise two parts of the episode: the concept of "time-lock [ing]" the Time War was questioned because the Time Lords were annihilated in the conflict; and he complained that the Doctor's phone number was out of service.
