The main issues:
For instance, we saw that both The Doctor and Amy were able to touch past instances of themselves without the paradox situation seen in Father's Day.
This only happens in the bubble-universe at the heart of the destruction of time/space. Within that bubble, there are no stars, and no other species within time. Thus, there are no Reapers to appear. And, as The Doctor said, time was shrinking. Thus, what caused a spark of temporal energy (the two screwdrivers touching 2000 years in the past), would have no effect by 2010. And, with the erasure coming up within at least twelve years of their current position in 2010 (i.e. little Amelia erasing in the museum), The Doctor could touch himself from ten minutes in the future, and Amy could touch herself twelve years in the past.
1. The time vortex wrist device just made it far to easy
Subjectively speaking, I would agree with you. However, since the circumstances of the episode's environment (the collapsing time/space continuum) was a different ballgame, there were different rules applied.
2. The idea that the Doctor would be written out of time and memory was miraculously resolved by Amy remembering due to the time journal being given as a gift, yet how did Riversong get there?
I've probably totally missed the point here so a re-watch may be necessary. But with the TARDIS exploding, time is unwritten. Let's think about this, this erases everything that has happened since the Roman encampment. Now, if Riversong was at the heart of the explosion, surely she's be erased first. Remember, Van Gough's painting illustrates the TARDIS in pieces. Furthermore, by unwriting time, Amy's history is unwritten, she is re-born, but her parents are still alive and well which creates an alternate timeline where the Doctor never appeared. YET everything falls into place with the journal, Riversong's appearance and finally the Doctor.
If River Song is time-sensitive like The Doctor, and there's plenty of evidence to suggest she might just be, then there's no reason why she couldn't have remembered him. Amy, however, having lived near the crack in her wall her entire life...her mind was changed (as The Doctor told her). She could will these memories back into existence because of her link with the restructuring of the timeline.
3. While it was explained, I thought the ability of Amy to be in the Pandorica in a time period where the universe had ended and arrive where the universe lived on was just inconsistent.
But, for those two-thousand years the exploding TARDIS was keeping the Earth warm....in the eye of the explosion, as it were...time progressed more or less normally. Except, the changes were, there were no stars (since everything else had already ended around it). So, there was no real inconsistency.
The Doctor explained it by the Pandorica taking an image of the Universe and projecting it (kind of like the way in which Windows or Mac OS takes a ghost image of an operating system) outward.
Did he? I thought that was his brief explanation of how The Pandorica would reboot the universe. I could be wrong, though.
4. Everybody lives, everyone happy and live goes on better than ever. I'm not saying that the result should be an absolute dystopia, but in previous finales, while the Doctor has remained victorious, it was always at the expense of something.
And this time, it would have been at the expense of The Doctor, himself. Erased from time. It was only thanks to Amy Pond that he was able to escape his sacrifice and re-integrate with the timeline. So, in effect, exactly what you wanted happened. But, someone saved HIM for a change. And thus, we got the rare 'happy ending' for the season, which (like others) I thought a breath of fresh air.
The final point it a minor one but did annoy me; but why didn't we see how Riversong dealt with the Dalek? Surely the team didn't think that to show the shooting (if at all it happened) was too violent? To me this just overly sanitises the show. There's no way it would offend children. If we saw the burned skull of a human fall out of a Cyberman's helmet, then how could a concrete coated dalek exploding be any worse?
Pacing? Time? Melodrama? The answers are varied and many, I'm certain. However, I doubt it had anything to do with morality or the ""sanitization" of the show. Probably just came down to budget, and having to rig the destruction of a new Dalek prop, than anything else. And, really...isn't what she did in your head better than what they could have shown? I thought it was pitch-perfect, myself.
This episode did leave me with a sour taste in my mouth. I truly am saddened because I have absolutely loved this year's series. Matt has been an outstanding Doctor in the way that he's grown on me faster than the previous two, the writing actually has been quite good up until this point and i've enjoyed the companion. But the finale just really let this down.
Well, that does suck man. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much the rest of us. But, that is also the beauty of the show. It should never please everyone, all the time. Doctor Who can be anything, and I love seeing the variety of ways it's been presented to us over the decades. Here's hoping Season Six/Forty-Eight is more to your liking!
