Hello and thanks for reading! And replying of course! :)

the scene with the flames is overlaid on the Doctor's face very similarly to the end of LotTL. More fuel for the fire imagery.
Oh yes! Love that scene! It was definitely the moment when Ten became *my* Doctor. Thanks for pointing it out - it is awkward writing meta on a show I don't know inside out. (on the other hand it could easily have been twice the length...)

I kept trying to write some meta about Lucy's characterization as everyone was arguing abused victim vs fellow nutcase.
Now that's interesting, because not actually being in the DW fandom, I've not seen any of these arguments.

the Master, for whatever psychotic reason, actually was in love with Lucy -- because the Doctor *doesn't* love Martha that way, and the contrast is intentional
Oh I always saw Lucy as The Master's Rose (see this post). We even have the line in 'Sound of Drums' where she says how kind he was to her father... the parallels are just overwhelming.

I think she's a foil for the Doctor, instead, because there's no way they could portray the relationship between the Doctor and the Master as that ugly
Hmmm. I don't think she's 'abused'... I think The Master is quite simply not capable of loving someone properly - or maybe unable to stop himself from hurting those he loves, to prove that they care...

Bruises on the Doctor, esp. if the ep got any more subtexty-slashy, would push past the general viewer's comfort level.
Family show and all that... (I'm a Buffy fan where they - much to my delight - generally didn't shy away from the violence.)

Fandom is happy to go there, generally.
Of course! :)