Doctor Who 12x02 Thoughts
Jan. 18th, 2020 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaSpyfall, Part 2
Another enjoyable episode.
+ Doctor/Master are so damn delightful. I always love them and this version of them is so good. I loved everything about their cat-and-mouse games this episode.
- "Kneel. Call me by my name." ♥ What I really loved here is that while the Doctor is the one kneeling she is also very in charge of herself and unmoved, that eyeroll was so great, and meanwhile the Master is this emotional mess who kneels pretty much immediately after she says his name so they can talk face-to-face. And he is so wrecked the third time she says his name. It's great.
- I loved the Doctor using four taps/two heartbeats as a method to contact the Master and the callback to Simm!Master and the drumbeats that haunted him.
- The mind-to-mind connection/telepathy! That was so good. Unexpected and I loved it.
- "Why would I stop? I mean how else would I get your attention?" ...!! I mean we all knew that was why the Master does everything he does but to have him actually say it out loud and onscreen was wonderful.
- I rather love that the Master apparently did go to the Eiffel Tower following her rules for the meeting and meanwhile the Doctor went there already setting him up.
- Loved the Master's "good" at the reveal that he never apologised about an incident in their past.
- I love that the Master wiped out all of Gallifrey because of whatever this lie is, even though most of them probably had no more knowledge then he of the truth, but then with the Doctor all he wants to do is share the information. (Ignoring the usual "I'm going to kill you" stuff that never works and frankly I don't think he ever wants to work.) He makes it all about them - "lied to us" and "not who we think. you or I".
+ I thought at the end of the last episode that there was a hint that maybe the Master was on the Doctor's side which was proved false and I think what I was seeing was desperation caused by the trauma of whatever he learned on Gallifrey. He is clearly very messed up by this new knowledge. So maybe he did try and change post-Missy but whatever he learned caused him to revert hard to what he knew best as a way to deal with it? This Master seems very committed to be as Master-y as possible to the point that it feels kind of like a performance. You see that and the desperation again when he was explaining to the Doctor that killing was like doing what he was made for. In his final message you see his despair.
+ I thought the Doctor was being a little harsher with the Master than I expected considering Missy and Twelve but then I remembered - she doesn't know that Missy chose him! That Missy betrayed her past self. :( I hope one day the Doctor finds out.
+ I love how the Doctor got the best of the Master and won the day - setting him up in Paris and taping their conversation to use with the Kasaavin. And I loved that she was so on the ball and yet still had that panicked moment of 'oops, forgot my fam are actually falling out the sky in a broken plane' which is so her.
+ I have a serious issue with the Doctor messing with the Master's perception filter. Her making the Nazis think he was a spy was great but taking his perception filter before escape was just cruel and had no real point to it. The Nazis were already turned against him. I definitely want to see more of Thirteen being darker but not like this. This was just needlessly vindictive.
Then on top of that you've got her "Now they'll see the real you." which... uh. Um. They'll see a non-white man? Is... she drawing a line from his skin colour to his character? Because, uh, NO. That doesn't work as a "they'll see you for the evil master-mind killer you are" (or whatever), they're just going to see a spy who's suddenly very much not white, and as Nazis are going to react against that for the entirely wrong reason. This whole bit left a very sour aftertaste. The hell?
+ I am very much not sold on Gallifrey being destroyed (and the Doctor being the last-ish Time Lord) yet again. I was in fact deeply annoyed by it. The Doctor's reaction was excellent but it's all very been-there done-that. Is every showrunner just going to reverse whatever the previous one did to Gallifrey? But then we got the Master's message and the reveal that he killed them all and the mystery of what the 'lie of the Timeless Child' is and what are the Time Lords if they're not who they think they are, and I found that very intriguing. So I'm deciding to approach this is a more positive way and see how it plays out. I can always be angry later if it doesn't go anywhere interesting.
+ Loved Doctor's temporary companions Ada and Noor. I love how they both held their own against the Master - Ada using what she had around her to attack him and force him to run, and Noor staring him down without flinching. Both were such great moments. But I wish they'd both had a little more to do because after that they mostly ran after the Doctor in confusion.
+ It was weird that the show didn't address Noor's fate at all. Is she a fixed point or could the Doctor have saved her? I liked her but... I don't think she's someone who should have been a side companion with barely any story. If they wanted to have her on they should have done an episode about her (like Rosa) and they definitely should have shown the Doctor struggling at least a little over her eventual fate. It was just all handled too lightly for me.
+ I was annoyed that the Doctor chose to erase Noor and Ada's memories. The Doctor has met many historical figures, who in turn have seen/learned amazing things, and never worried about erasing their memories.
+ I always have to shake my head every time the Doctor says/implies they're a pacifist. Okay, whatever you say.
+ I love how well the Doctor knows Graham. Their 'exchange' via recording amused the hell out of me.
+ "Otherwise I've disrupted all of history. Again." - Doctor. LOL.
+ I enjoyed Yaz, Graham and Ryan on the run together, trying to figure stuff out. I like that they pulled themselves together and came up with a plan.
+ The whole Barton side of the plot was much less interesting and the explanation/resolution was weak. The fact that he gets away and no one even cares says it all really.
Another enjoyable episode.
+ Doctor/Master are so damn delightful. I always love them and this version of them is so good. I loved everything about their cat-and-mouse games this episode.
- "Kneel. Call me by my name." ♥ What I really loved here is that while the Doctor is the one kneeling she is also very in charge of herself and unmoved, that eyeroll was so great, and meanwhile the Master is this emotional mess who kneels pretty much immediately after she says his name so they can talk face-to-face. And he is so wrecked the third time she says his name. It's great.
- I loved the Doctor using four taps/two heartbeats as a method to contact the Master and the callback to Simm!Master and the drumbeats that haunted him.
- The mind-to-mind connection/telepathy! That was so good. Unexpected and I loved it.
- "Why would I stop? I mean how else would I get your attention?" ...!! I mean we all knew that was why the Master does everything he does but to have him actually say it out loud and onscreen was wonderful.
- I rather love that the Master apparently did go to the Eiffel Tower following her rules for the meeting and meanwhile the Doctor went there already setting him up.
- Loved the Master's "good" at the reveal that he never apologised about an incident in their past.
- I love that the Master wiped out all of Gallifrey because of whatever this lie is, even though most of them probably had no more knowledge then he of the truth, but then with the Doctor all he wants to do is share the information. (Ignoring the usual "I'm going to kill you" stuff that never works and frankly I don't think he ever wants to work.) He makes it all about them - "lied to us" and "not who we think. you or I".
+ I thought at the end of the last episode that there was a hint that maybe the Master was on the Doctor's side which was proved false and I think what I was seeing was desperation caused by the trauma of whatever he learned on Gallifrey. He is clearly very messed up by this new knowledge. So maybe he did try and change post-Missy but whatever he learned caused him to revert hard to what he knew best as a way to deal with it? This Master seems very committed to be as Master-y as possible to the point that it feels kind of like a performance. You see that and the desperation again when he was explaining to the Doctor that killing was like doing what he was made for. In his final message you see his despair.
+ I thought the Doctor was being a little harsher with the Master than I expected considering Missy and Twelve but then I remembered - she doesn't know that Missy chose him! That Missy betrayed her past self. :( I hope one day the Doctor finds out.
+ I love how the Doctor got the best of the Master and won the day - setting him up in Paris and taping their conversation to use with the Kasaavin. And I loved that she was so on the ball and yet still had that panicked moment of 'oops, forgot my fam are actually falling out the sky in a broken plane' which is so her.
+ I have a serious issue with the Doctor messing with the Master's perception filter. Her making the Nazis think he was a spy was great but taking his perception filter before escape was just cruel and had no real point to it. The Nazis were already turned against him. I definitely want to see more of Thirteen being darker but not like this. This was just needlessly vindictive.
Then on top of that you've got her "Now they'll see the real you." which... uh. Um. They'll see a non-white man? Is... she drawing a line from his skin colour to his character? Because, uh, NO. That doesn't work as a "they'll see you for the evil master-mind killer you are" (or whatever), they're just going to see a spy who's suddenly very much not white, and as Nazis are going to react against that for the entirely wrong reason. This whole bit left a very sour aftertaste. The hell?
+ I am very much not sold on Gallifrey being destroyed (and the Doctor being the last-ish Time Lord) yet again. I was in fact deeply annoyed by it. The Doctor's reaction was excellent but it's all very been-there done-that. Is every showrunner just going to reverse whatever the previous one did to Gallifrey? But then we got the Master's message and the reveal that he killed them all and the mystery of what the 'lie of the Timeless Child' is and what are the Time Lords if they're not who they think they are, and I found that very intriguing. So I'm deciding to approach this is a more positive way and see how it plays out. I can always be angry later if it doesn't go anywhere interesting.
+ Loved Doctor's temporary companions Ada and Noor. I love how they both held their own against the Master - Ada using what she had around her to attack him and force him to run, and Noor staring him down without flinching. Both were such great moments. But I wish they'd both had a little more to do because after that they mostly ran after the Doctor in confusion.
+ It was weird that the show didn't address Noor's fate at all. Is she a fixed point or could the Doctor have saved her? I liked her but... I don't think she's someone who should have been a side companion with barely any story. If they wanted to have her on they should have done an episode about her (like Rosa) and they definitely should have shown the Doctor struggling at least a little over her eventual fate. It was just all handled too lightly for me.
+ I was annoyed that the Doctor chose to erase Noor and Ada's memories. The Doctor has met many historical figures, who in turn have seen/learned amazing things, and never worried about erasing their memories.
+ I always have to shake my head every time the Doctor says/implies they're a pacifist. Okay, whatever you say.
+ I love how well the Doctor knows Graham. Their 'exchange' via recording amused the hell out of me.
+ "Otherwise I've disrupted all of history. Again." - Doctor. LOL.
+ I enjoyed Yaz, Graham and Ryan on the run together, trying to figure stuff out. I like that they pulled themselves together and came up with a plan.
+ The whole Barton side of the plot was much less interesting and the explanation/resolution was weak. The fact that he gets away and no one even cares says it all really.
