So, basically, there was always an easy way out, and the entire storyline has been a scam.

Well, all fiction is a scam, of course, that's probably why I like it so much. And anyone who believed the Doctor was really going to die was...possibly engaging a little too much with the fiction. But am I really the only one who found the resolution just a little bit too easy, just a little bit of an anticlimax after all that over-emotional grind? And am I the only one who thinks that at least some of the previous incarnations would have viewed "Rule one: the Doctor lies" with a certain amount of horror?

Maybe I am. And maybe the fact that I've got trapped into thinking about this again is a sign that it's doing what it's supposed to.