I feel like some people forgot this was an anniversary special. They've always been over-the-top ridiculous affairs.
I did very much enjoy parts of this special. All the classic companions and Doctors and their moments together really made it nice for me. The regeneration scene and the time with Yaz leading up to it were beautifully done.
Chibnall got everything right with the characterizations. The exception being Dan's departure. Seems like he was jettisoned early to make way for a bunch of extraneous plot points (e.g., Vinder among others). I like how it mirrored Tegan's departure, but it came across as awkward.
I do wish Chibnall was more selective about the plot elements and getting everything to actually work together, at least mostly. There were so many unnecessary elements jammed in and they didn't really work together. I won't rehash all of them, but I agree with other comments about this aspect. But, why oh why did the Master want to force the Doctor to regenerate into him?! He could've just travelled in his own TARDIS saying he was the Doctor. But so much else didn't make sense and/or led nowhere.
A+ for characters. D for plotting. Overall I gave it a B because I did largely have fun watching it.
I really feel like people forget about some of the crap Davies and Moffat gave us.
You're right on about that. I do like Davies and Moffat's eras more than Chibnall's, by quite a bit honestly. However, RTD had some atrocious finales that suffered many of the same problems as this one. There were particular aspects of RTD that really wore on me over time.
By the time RTD left, I was honestly thinking it was a good thing. So, I'm lukewarm about him returning in a been there, done that way.
But we'll see. It's a good thing Chibnall is leaving but I'm wary about the path forward.