Doctor Who essay: What if God was one of us?

[elisi]

What if God was one of us?
The Doctor: But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful.
Donna: And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you were stood there like... I don't know... a stranger. And then you made it snow - I mean, you scare me to death!
‘The Runaway Bride’

So... Doctor Who. Mostly the last three episodes of S3 (and spoilers for everything up to the finale of that season), although I do try to tie in earlier eps in as much as I remember them. And this is pretty much pure meta - so although there is the occasional squeeing, I’m not going to complain about the wonky plotting - I’m interested in what’s underneath...

Anyway, I’m going to tackle two main subjects. Will take them one at a time, although they’re kinda intertwined. And yes, there’s a helluva lot of stuff I’m skipping. This is just me delving into the things that interest me - I hope you’ll like it. (I should probably mention that I have not read a single piece of meta on the last three episodes, so if I’m just repeating what fandom has been saying for weeks, then I’m sorry...) The Buffy fans among you will know what to expect - anyone else who reads this... well I can ramble for Britain (the whole thing is nearly 7000 words! If I state opinions as facts, it's because it saves time). And I attempt to dissect the Doctor/Master ‘relationship’ down to subatomic level. Enjoy. :)

ETA: I didn't realise that 'Time Lord' is two words back when I first wrote it, and I'm too lazy to go back and fix it all. Sorry. Also thought I'd link to my meta on The Sound of Drums, even though it overlaps a lot.


Humans

The Doctor: Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Shakespeare: I might use that.
The Doctor: You can’t, it’s someone else’s.
‘The Shakespeare Code’

The Master: Human race. Greatest monster of them all.
‘Last of the Timelords’

I liked Utopia the first time - except for the cannibals. They struck me as rather pointless... grr argh ‘monsters’ that gave people something to run from. And then a few days ago my brain did a funny slidey thing and suddenly it all made sense. They - ‘The Future Kind’! - were very important - they brought into focus a main theme:

The Doctor: He’s cannibalised the TARDIS.

The Master: All that human invention, that had sustained them across the aeons, it all turned inward, it cannibalised themselves.

The human monster... people refusing to accept their fate... destroying their very self to survive... these themes are woven into the entire season.

ETA: In the very first episode, we have this:

MR STOKER: Who are you?
FLORENCE: Oh, I'm a survivor, Mr Stoker. At any cost.
'Smith and Jones'

We even had The Daleks - the most unchanging of creatures - attempting to evolve, to change, to do anything to survive. And the result was Dalek Sek killed by one of his own, out of disgust at what he had become (just like Milligan shoots the Toclafane). Interestingly, in many ways the Toclafane have turned themselves into Daleks... locked up and hidden away in their shells, unable to touch or feel or interact. And the image of them all, poised on the edge of space, ready to launch into full-out war with the universe, reminded me of the Daleks in ‘Parting of the Ways’ in a very disturbing way.

Now the theme of avoiding death was rather hammered home in ‘The Lazarus Experiment’, with man attempting to recapture youth long gone and cheat death. Of course this is not a new theme...

Cassandra: Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am.
‘The End of the World’

Humans will do unspeakable things to stay alive. And there is something truly terrible about humanity at the end of the universe, looking into nothingness...

The Master: The last of humanity - screaming against the dark. There was no solution. No diamonds. Just the dark and the cold.
‘Last of the Timelords’

But then, suddenly, I knew what they had become. The Master used the made-up word ‘Toclafane’. But what they were - what they had become - was (Firefly) Reavers:

Jayne: These Reavers, the last years... they show up like the boogeyman from stories. Eating people alive? Where does that get fun?
Kaylee: Shepherd Book said they was men who just... reached the edge of space, saw a vasty nothingness... and went bibbledy over it.
Jayne: Oh, hell, I've been to the edge. Just looked like more space.
Kaylee: I don't know. It can get awful lonely in the black.
‘Serenity, the movie’

I never saw it as a satisfactory explanation (and of course it wasn’t), but DW took the concept and changed it: Humanity reached the end of time and space. And there was nothing. Nothing at all, except death... with cannibals snapping at their heels. Literally and metaphorically.

Of course this quote also then made me think that maybe RTD did it on purpose...

The Doctor: There is no such thing as the Toclafane - that’s just a made-up name like the boogeyman!

Milligan: What about us? We’re the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?
Toclafane: ‘cause it’s fun!

Side note: ‘Blink’ is very much a standalone, but suddenly it hit me that it ties in very wonderfully - The Weeping Angels send people back in time! Which is just... neat!

We know that The Doctor loves humanity... and yet he has no illusions about them:

The Doctor: Don’t let me hurt anyone. [...] But you know what humans are like.
‘Human Nature’ (from memory)

He knows indeed:

The Doctor: I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run - as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming; the human race.
Harriet Jones: Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf.
The Doctor: Then I should've stopped you.
Harriet Jones: What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?
‘The Christmas Invasion’

And this is the thing...

Harriet Jones: You said yourself, Doctor. They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today - Mr. Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case - we have to defend ourselves.
The Doctor: Britain's Golden Age.
Harriet Jones: It comes with a price.
‘The Christmas Invasion’

Humans can do many things, but they are still limited. They are caught up in this great world and although they can manipulate it to some extent, they are forever fighting against nature. So they lash out, they destroy, they change everything they can, including themselves... twist and bend and cling to life in any shape - any shape at all.

Refusing to accept their fate can be both their best and their worst trait...

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas (full poem here)

How much do I love the show for putting in that quotation? But more than that, there is ‘Gridlock’ (I *knew* it was a great episode!)... we have The Doctor trying to run away from reality, trying to pretend that things are OK. And in contrast we have the people of New Earth, stolidly accepting fate. And even as they reach ‘the promised land’ they still keep that mindset... The singing city at night time is one of my favourite things ever. I struck me as odd, so bizarrely religious, the first time. But oh, it makes sense:

Abide with me,
Fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens;
Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail
And comforts flee,
Help of the helpless,
Oh, abide with me.
(Full hymn here.)

It is the flip side to ‘Rage against the light’... In essence this theme can be summed up in this quote:

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference."
Reinhold Niebuhr

But - it is not that simple. Because into this equation comes The Timelords... masters of creation, brilliant and eternal. Capable of bending time and space to their whim, to change that which should never be changed... but do they have wisdom?


Timelords

Baines: He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing - the fury of the Timelord. And then we discovered why - why this Doctor who had fought with Gods and demons, why he’d run away from us and hidden. He was being kind.
‘Family of Blood’

The Doctor: But you’re changing history. Not just Earth - the entire universe!
The Master: I am a Timelord. I have that right.
The Doctor: But even so. Why come all this way just to destroy?
‘Last of the Timelords’

What do I love most about that last quote above? The fact that The Doctor does not argue The Master’s right to act as he does: He agrees (however tacitly) that it is their right to shape the universe - time and space itself. That is what they are...

The word/title ‘timelord’ gets thrown around a lot, but The Master shows us what it really means - takes it to its extreme.

I am going to indulge in some quoting from scarlettgirl’s brilliant meta post on Human Nature/Family of Blood:

Now, to the meat, the gristle in the teeth, the I TOLD YOU SO moment of the show - the Doctor's treatment of The Family. I've said over and over again that this Doctor is much darker, almost unhinged and probably slightly sociopathic than Nine ever could hope to be. We are starting to see the overt manifestation of "no second chances" and my god, is it delicious. I get the impression he's trembling on the knifepoint of completely losing control and the cracks in his facade are widening. It's starting to pile up - Gallifrey, the loss of his people, his companions, his friends and if he doesn't let it out and deal then the meltdown will be of nuclear proportions. There was a line in the BBC7 audio "Phobos" where he kills an empathatic species with an overload of his memories and thoughts. What finally kills isn't what he's done, or what he's afraid of, it's what he's capable of doing. I think a full-out Time Lord meltdown would bring down galaxies and that's always lurking just below the surface with this Doctor. His choice of *justice* for The Family went beyond punishment. It was vindicative and cruel. He knows the curse of immortality and the pain of being separated from your people yet he cruelly condemns The Family to that very fate. It crossed a line and I don't think he particularly cares.

To pick out the two central lines:

What finally kills isn't what he's done, or what he's afraid of, it's what he's capable of doing.

I think a full-out Time Lord meltdown would bring down galaxies and that's always lurking just below the surface with this Doctor.

Now The Doctor is the hero of the show and therefore the writers can only take him so far into the dark... which is of course where The Master comes in.

I know that Derek Jacobi could probably have brought more gravitas to The Master... but that would have destroyed a large part of the point. The Master is The Doctor’s dark side, and their physical and behavioural similarities highlights this. You could of course say ‘But what about Old!Doctor?’ I think it has a lot to do with the fact that The Master was Prof. Yana when they first met. And I think he is deeply embarrassed about The Doctor having seen him so old and sweet and vulnerable - humbly asking for The Doctor’s help. So he inflicts the same fate on him. Tries to alleviate the pain of his own humiliation by reversing their positions:

Master: Still - if The Doctor can be young and strong... then so can I!
‘Utopia’

Anyway, as I said, their alikeness is wonderful. This exchange for example:

Mrs Saxon: But you promised. You said Arcangel was 100 percent!
Saxon: Mmm.... 99? 98?

I could almost *hear* The Doctor speaking those same words. Which reminds me that I can’t imagine Jacobi (wonderful though he is) infusing his portrayal with so many layers... Simm’s Master is like mercury, changing and shifting all the time, uniting a million different facets into one glorious, unpredictable whole - there has not been a villain who has delighted me so deeply since Angelus (incidentally I think that The Master is far more nuanced and has far greater depth). And just as Angel and Angelus are two sides of the same coin, so are The Master and The Doctor: They have the same glee, the same brilliance, but directed in opposite directions - and yet they understand each other. They share... a certain outlook:

DOCTOR: Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey--
ROSE: Yeah, he's not a kid.
DOCTOR: It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright??
‘Rose’

Master: He’s not that old. He’s an alien with a much greater life span than you - stunted little apes!

It is not that The Doctor despises humans the way The Master does, but more that he automatically sees himself as above them. Because Timelords are... (See my previous post). So we see that it is just their goals, their motivations, that are at opposites. The Doctor tries to save, The Master to rule/destroy (which of course is illustrated beautifully in their names - the names that they chose themselves!).

The important point: What The Master does is what The Doctor could do. He has the power to rule all of the world. All he has to do is reach out and grasp it. He doesn’t... but he could. He is a Timelord and he has that right. And he knows it. We see it every time he steps in to save the day, every time he takes charge:

Doctor: If I don't like it... then it will stop.
Mr Finch: Fascinating. Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence. You seem to be something new. Would you declare war on us, Doctor?
Doctor: I'm so old, now. I used to have so much mercy... You get one warning. That was it.
‘School Reunion’

To quote toysdream:

The impression I get now is that he's trying more than anything else to preserve, to conserve the universe's dwindling supply of wonders. He's like a naturalist who has to choose which endangered species to save and which to sacrifice, because the Time Lords are no longer there to take care of it.

Which puts him in the position to pass judgement on creation... to choose who should live and who should die. Is it any wonder that he feels like a lonely God?

The Master: “What did it feel like though? Two mighty civilisations, burning. Tell me. How did that feel?”
The Doctor: “Stop it!”
The Master: “You must have been like God.”
The Doctor: “I’ve been alone ever since.”

And we see The Master reaching for that... actively seeking it, whereas The Doctor flees. (Although - again - we see that The Doctor does not deny The Master’s insinuation.)

The degree to which The Master accomplishes his goal of God-hood is beautifully illustrated in these scenes:

The Master: And I looked down upon my new dominion, as Master of all. And I saw that it was - good!

"But he never comes to Earth. He never walks upon the ground. [...] He walks among us. Our Lord and Master."

Because what The Master is actually living, is this:

The First Evil: It’s not about right. It’s not about wrong. It’s about power!
‘Lessons’ (BtVS 7.01)

I knew I loved the moment in ‘Sound of Drums’ when The Master offered his wife a jelly baby, but then thanks to the ‘Quote Who’ meme, this popped up on my flist:

"One grows tired of jelly babies, Castellan. One grows tired of almost everything, Castellan, except power."
The Doctor (Tom Baker) in "The Invasion of Time"

Toclafane: We come back in time. All to build a brand new empire, lasting 100 trillion years.
Master: With me as their master. Timelord and humans combined. Haven’t you always dreamt of that, Doctor?

Which reminds me of this:

Illyria: To never die, and conquer all, that is winning.
‘Time Bomb’ (AtS 5.19)

To quote ‘Dune’ again:

Paul: “The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it.”

And The Master revels in that power...

Now just for a moment I’m going to jump slightly sideways and mention a throwaway line that suddenly hit me over the head. When The Master does his broadcast, to show Martha that resistance is futile, he says to The Doctor: ”Say hello, Gandalf.”

I’d not thought of it much, just figured that it was nice to show how much The Master knew of human culture (he has after all often been to Earth). And then - whoa! Gandalf! To quote a certain geek:

Andrew: “You’re like Gandalf the White, resurrected from the pit of the Balrog, more beautiful than ever. Oh, he’s alive Frodo! He’s alive!”
‘Damage’ (AtS 5.11)

(And how sad is it that I remember that by heart? *g*) But - if The Doctor is Gandalf, then The Master is Saruman... Remember they used to be friends, but Saruman was overcome with a hunger for power... the parallels are just piling up! They're both the same kind, gifted with powers far above any human - oh and Saruman keeps Gandalf imprisoned, Saruman has plans of world domination, and it’s Saruman’s most loyal servant who kills him (although I think that in The Master’s case there’s a twist...) *takes deep breath* OK, will stop now. If you know LotR, you’ll see the picture clearly. It just makes me so very excited, because it’s doing what Buffy did. And doing it well!

Speaking of names, the ‘human’ names our Timelords choose are v. interesting. The Doctor goes by ‘John Smith’ - so ordinary as to be almost ridiculous. To quote Wikipedia:

’Smith’ is the most common family name in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, representing more than 1 out of every 100 persons in each of these countries. It is particularly prevalent among those of English descent, the name being English itself, but has often been taken by non-English natives or immigrants to the above countries in order to blend into the majority culture more easily.

But The Master calls himself ‘Harold Saxon’:

Harold is an Old English name, meaning ‘army leader’... and of course we also have Royal connections with Prince Harry and various Scandinavian kings bearing that name.

Saxon ties back to English history - and invasions. (More info here.)

But leaving that behind, I want to focus on all the fire imagery for a moment (I can’t resist fire-imagery, it’s a thing. I really wish I remembered ‘42’ better, because that was all about the burning and heat.):

The Master: You should have seen it [Utopia] Doctor - furnaces, burning.

The Master: Two mighty civilisations, burning. Tell me. How did that feel?

The Master: And down below the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ship set to burn across the universe. My children are you ready?

Toglofane: We will fly and blaze and slice. [?]

The image of The Master as a child, looking into the vortex... and flames leaping up... echoed in (and foreshadowing) the scene with his funeral pyre (same music - same gorgeous, gorgeous Timelord theme, so sad and haunting and majestic... *meeps*).

The fire of war.

Fire - destructive and wild... very much like The Master himself. Unleashing armageddon because he can. Because he has to:

The Master: The drumming - the neverending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child and I looked into the vortex. That’s when it chose me - the call to war.

I love how he describes it: ‘it chose me’. It implies an acceptance of his insanity, that he’s not using it as a get-out clause, but as a calling. Something to strive for, something to aspire to - even as it makes him lonely. To continue the quote from above:

Master (almost despairing): Can’t you hear it? Listen - it’s there now - right now. Tell me you can hear it Doctor. Tell me.
Doctor: It’s only you.
A beat.
Master (decidedly): Good.

The thing is, I think The Doctor understands far better than he might let on...

The Doctor: Children of Gallifrey were taken from their families at the age of eight. To enter the Academy. Some say that’s where it all began - when he was a child. That’s when The Master saw eternity. As a novice he was taken for initiation; stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It’s like a - gap in the fabric of reality, through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, 8 years old, staring at the raw power of time and space - just a child... Some would be inspired, some would run away - and some would go mad.
‘Sound of Drums’

ROSE: I can see everything. All that is... all that was... all that ever could be.
DOCTOR: That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?
‘Parting of the Ways’

And talking about loneliness, then The Doctor has always to some extent been alone...

DOCTOR: When did you start calling me 'Doctor'?
REINETTE: Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now.
She opens her eyes.
REINETTE: How can you bear it?
DOCTOR (stepping away from her): How did you do that?
REINETTE: A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction...
The Doctor stares at her, vulnerable.
REINETTE (softly): Oh, Doctor. (steps towards him) My lonely Doctor. Dance with me.
DOCTOR (warningly): I can't.
REINETTE (adamant): Dance with me.
DOCTOR: This is the night you dance with the King.
REINETTE: Then first, I shall make him jealous.
DOCTOR: I can't.
REINETTE (sadly): Doctor... Doctor who?
She looks at him for a few moments.
REINETTE: It's more than just a secret, isn't it?
DOCTOR: What did you see?
‘The Girl in the Fireplace’

The Doctor and The Master were always loners - renegade Timelords, unwilling to adhere to the ‘not meddling’ rule. But I think The Master is a further step removed thanks to his madness... there is the moment I quoted above when he asks The Doctor if he can’t hear the drumming - desperately trying to bridge the gap. But it only lasts a moment. Because what makes him lonely also makes him special. One of a kind. He has a calling...

Doctor: I’ve been alone ever since... But not anymore! Don’t you see? All we’ve got is each other!
Master: Are you asking me out on a date?
Doctor: You can stop this - right now. We can leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations, if that’s what you want - but not on earth.
Master (looking tempted and sad): Too late.
Doctor: Why do you say that?
Master: The drumming. Can’t you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never, ever stops. Inside my head. The drumming, Doctor, the constant drumming.
Doctor: I could help - please, let me help!
Master: It’s everywhere. Listen - listen - listen. Here come the drums. Here... come... the... drums...
Doctor: What have you done? Tell me, how have you done this? What are those creatures - tell me!

We see the connection there; see - I think - how The Master wishes that he were someone else, how part of him wants to take The Doctor’s offer... but he knows he can’t.

I remember shapinglight asking post-’Sound of Drums’ where Prof. Yana and The Master overlapped, and - apart from the drumming - this is it:

The Master: I’m doing it for them!

They’re both saving the last of humanity! The professor obviously worked on this his entire life, even to the point of sacrificing himself - staying behind so the others could go to Utopia. The Master does what he could not as Yana - save the future of humankind. And he must sacrifice the present to do so, which he is obviously sad to do:

The Master: Have you seen these things? This planet’s amazing! Television in their stomach - now that’s evolution!

But that is the price he has to pay. We can see that on some level he regrets that it has to be that way (“Too late...”) but he’s committed to his cause. He calls the Toglofane ‘his friends’, and talks of them as his offspring:

Master: Down you go kids!

Master: My children - are you ready?

Of course he also does it so he can use them to take over the universe... ;)

But - although he throws The Doctor’s love of humanity in his face:

Toclafane: Tomorrow to war. Tomorrow we rise. Never to fall.
The Master: You see? I’m doing it for them! You should be grateful! After all you love them - so very, very much.

I think he really *does* care, in his own twisted way. Even if he won’t really admit it. And just like The Doctor he makes a choice between who should live at the expense of someone else. He chooses the people at the end of the universe, The Doctor chooses the people of now. We see in the end that The Doctor sends the Toclafane back, without intending to help them in any way - leaving them to their fate.

And there is a moment - just after The Doctor says “I forgive you” - when The Master suddenly looks panicked: “My children!”

The Toclafane then all rush to save the Paradox machine... but on The Master’s part I think it’s more than just worry about his power slipping away. He looks genuinely upset - because he knows he’ll lose those he cares about. And it hurts. (He was their *savior*. The Paradox machine was his *masterpiece*. He invested an insane amount of effort and work in bringing them back in time. And I'm sure there were other ways of taking over the universe.)

But... to go back to the parallel I mentioned before - because The Master is there to show us something about The Doctor (as well as being a brilliant foil of course!) - it is as though we have Angel and Angelus as literally two different people. Their basic nature is similar, and although they hate each other, they are also bound together.

To quote fenchurche:

Even in the old series, I always loved the dynamic between the Doctor and the Master... the idea of having an Enemy (with a capital E) who the good guy always fights but can never quite bring himself/herself to kill (and vice versa), no matter how much they might think they want to. Always dancing around each other, with a sort of deep-seated attraction going between them, even if it's incredibly buried subtext. In fact, now that I think about it, it might be the Doctor/Master dynamic I was exposed to as a child that led me to love Buffy/Spike as much as I did when he first came on the scene in Season Two of BtVS.

Which brings me to the fact that Doctor/Master has become my newest OTP, right alongside Spike/Buffy and Spike/Angel. It’s in the same league, and for the same reasons: It’s not just about love. This might sound ridiculous as concerns S/B in particular (and yes I’ll always stick to my view that S/B is the most beautiful love story I know). My point is this: Take away the love and you still have a ship. You have the attraction, a connection...

Kyerumption: When two warriors meet on the field of battle and recognize their mutual fate.

Of course there’s love also, but love is just one aspect of their relationship, and not even the most important one. It’s is not the driving force, and that is why it adds to the whole thing in such a wonderful way.

But to focus on the differences for a moment. We see the consequences of their save/destroy mindsets most clearly in those who love them:

Rose: But it was... it was a better life. And I - I don't mean all the travelling and... seeing aliens and spaceships and things - that don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. [to Mickey] You know, he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't--
‘Parting of the Ways’

The Master: I took Lucy to Utopia - a Timelord and his human companion. I took you to see the stars - isn’t that right sweetheart?
Lucy: Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe.
The Master: Tell him what you saw.
Lucy: Dying - dying - everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart. And I thought: There’s no point. No point to anything. Not ever.
‘Last of the Timelords’

We see this again of course with Martha - how Martha’s faith in The Doctor inspired a whole world...

To go off on a tangent, I’m thinking that it might have been deliberate to name Mrs Saxon ‘Lucy’. Because we of course have a very famous Lucy in literature - C.S. Lewis’ Lucy, who is the first to find Narnia - a child in a fairy tale, inspired by what she finds... but The Master destroys this Lucy’s innocence. A lovely, dark parallel.

But now I have to talk of the conclusion to their story (for now - it is never over!). See I thought that The Doctor would have to kill The Master - echoing ‘Becoming’ and ‘Home’... having to destroy him to save the world. But no... it didn’t go like that, and I am so very, very grateful. I love it when stories take me by surprise. Anyway, first there’s this:

Doctor: You know what I’m going to say: I forgive you.

I cannot explain how much I love that line. Because in a show where The Antagonist is planning on unleashing armageddon upon the entire universe, setting himself up as the Master of all creation, this line is quite possibly the most arrogant thing I’ve ever heard. Breathtakingly so. To quote C.S. Lewis for a moment (thanks to ezagaaikwe):

One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sin. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men's toes and stealing other men's money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did.

For The Doctor to claim such a God-like position is... well words fail me. Except of course it’s not really about that, is it. It is about the two of them, and the relationship between them:

“Who is The Master?”
“He is my sworn arch-enemy, a fiend who glories in chaos and destruction.”
“Do you know any nice people? You know, ordinary people - not power crazed nutters who are trying to take over the galaxy?”
Seventh Doctor and Ace (I think)

Arch-enemies are always trying to out-do each other. Which is why The Master cannot kill The Doctor - he needs him to be there, to witness his triumph... (I love that The Master plays I Can’t Decide - the metaness of it is delightful). The thing is of course, that The Doctor with three words makes all of The Master’s plans futile. He slaughtered millions of people - planned on a galaxy wide blood bath - and The Doctor ‘ain’t bothered’. Look at Spike and Angel f.ex... Spike gets under Angel’s skin, and always has. That gives him power over the other (see the mineshaft scene for the perfect example). But The Master cannot win that way.

I of course touched on the subject of forgiveness before, and I love how it mirrors in these two characters - it is the one thing The Doctor wants more than anything, but cannot have, and it is the worst thing The Master could imagine. It implies that he is - could be - sorry. Could truly regret his actions. And that never enters into it. To quote AtS:

Illyria (to Angel): You learn to destroy everything that's not utterly yours. All that matters is victory. That's how your reign persists. You're a slave to an insane construct. You are moral. A true ruler is as moral as a hurricane, empty but for the force of his gale. If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your ambition.
‘Time Bomb’

It occurs to me that Illyria and The Master would be the most formidable partnership... there should be fic. Just imagine the possibilities...

Anyway, going back to what I said above about The Master seeing his insanity as a calling, we see that he applies this to his entire outlook: He kills the cabinet for ‘betraying’ their parties, even though he himself to a large extent was responsible for their actions. The fact that he’s insane does not, in his world view, in any way absolve him of his sins.

Anyway, forgiving The Master is also in many ways the most cruel thing The Doctor can do - and he knows it. I’m reminded of Faith and Angel at the end of ‘Five by Five’... except The Master isn’t a little girl. The Master is evil, The Master has killed millions with a smile on his face. By forgiving him, The Doctor makes it ‘not count’... and also of course sets himself up as being *above* The Master.

ETA: It can certainly be argued that everything The Master did was designed to hurt The Doctor. And then it gets brushed off just like that. (Sorry - try harder...) Interestingly, by The Doctor's reaction to The Master's suicide, it would seem that he loves The Master more than all of humanity... because, I think, in The Master is contained everything The Doctor has lost. Oh, except... Rose! I'd love to know how she would have changed the equation. If she'd been around, and The Master had killed her - would The Doctor have been able to forgive him? Hmmm...

Moving forwards, we get a moment that I adore...

“So you’re just going to... keep me?”

Whereas I don’t particularly see the slashiness in the pairing (The Doctor doesn’t really do sex), that line is just nudging on the line line between subtext and text in the most wonderful way. :) But then came this:

“Maybe I’ve been wandering for long enough.”

And I knew that something was going to happen. The Doctor is The Lonely Wanderer. You cannot change that. Ergo, something was up. And then - bang!

Of course it parallels the shooting by Prof. Yana’s assistant very nicely, and The Master choosing to die is excellent. But... having re-watched the ep quite a few times, I have theory. I’m not saying that it is better than going with what we see, and it is possible that it has been discussed all over fandom. In which case I apologise.

Aaaanyway - I think he did it on purpose!

First I thought about the whole ‘he’s a hypnotist’ and that he made Lucy do it, but no... watching carefully I think there’s something else going on. Because this line of The Doctor’s jumped out at me:

Doctor: As if I would ask her to kill.

The Doctor would never ask that of Martha... but I think The Master would have no problem using his companion in that way. And remember what Timelords can do. From ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’:

DOCTOR: Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for, there's only one way I can do that. Won't hurt a bit.
[Reinette nods her assent and the Doctor places his fingers on her temples and closes her eyes. Reinette also closes hers.]
REINETTE (after a moment): Fireplace man... you are inside my mind.
DOCTOR: Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here.
[...]
REINETTE: To walk among the memories of another living soul... do you ever get used to this?
DOCTOR: I don't make a habit of it.
REINETTE: How can you resist?

It would not at all surprise me if The Master had used his powers on Lucy. Right after the ‘Are you just going to keep me?’ line he closes his eyes and tilts his head back... and moments later Lucy shoots him - looking utterly devastated.

So I think that this was his way of getting out, his contingency plan. He probably had the ring fixed to contain him or... something. Maybe. Timelords, you know what they’re like. Because he knew that once he was trapped in the TARDIS there’d be no getting out - just look at what The Doctor did to the Family of Blood. Not that he’d be that cruel to The Master of course, but he would have the means to make sure he could never, ever get away. So I think The Master took the only way out that he could find. And in the process broke The Doctor’s heart (bonus!). The reason I like this theory is that it stops The Master being an opportunistic victim and makes him a total Grade A bastard. Which is exactly what he is of course! He has been killing people and making evil schemes with a song in his heart for centuries, and he’ll never, ever be sorry for that. There will never come a point where he’ll take that ‘I forgive you’ - he cannot be redeemed!

But getting back to my theory, we even have this:

The Master: Always the women.
The Doctor: I didn’t say that.

No - he didn’t. That was The Master establishing his alibi. Did I mention the insane evil genius thing? *g*

“I’m dying in your arms... happy now?”

Ye Gods above, what a line! I mean... just wow. I think RTD must be the shippiest TV writer on the planet! And of course The Doctor falls apart... (he runs SO FAST when The Master gets shot. So very, very fast that he manages to catch him before he falls... it breaks my heart in too many ways to count.)

“Who about that... I win!”

And The Master finally found out what was unforgivable - how to hurt The Doctor...

ETA: From 'Dalek' (1.06), after the last Dalek commits suicide:

ROSE: Is that the end of it? The Time War?
DOCTOR: I'm the only one left. I win. How about that.

I nearly fainted when I re-watched that ep. The continuity of this show is insanely good and brilliant. And it breaks my heart.

And this is of course why I love it so - this whole complex web of history and interactions and feelings... love of course fits in there, but when one of them is insane and evil, it twists things. The Master wants The Doctor to care! They’re arch-nemeses after all - they care deeply about what the other thinks and feels. Look at Buffy and Spike in ‘Smashed’, or Spike and Angel in ‘Destiny’... the words cut far deeper than the physical blows. That’s the point.

And The Doctor begging The Master to regenerate is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen...

Doctor: There is no one else!

Oh my poor, poor Doctor. So very, very lonely...

And... I can’t help but compare this to ‘Doomsday’ - because I think this hits him harder. Because Rose was something far different to him:

Doctor: So, that's the trap. Or the test or the final judgement, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill her. [...] Except that implies - in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils - that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi gods and would-be gods - out of all that - out of that whole pantheon - if I believe in one thing... just one thing... (with passion) I believe in her.
‘The Satan Pit’

Going back to Buffy verse parallels, in this case The Doctor is Angel (or Spike) and Rose is Buffy. Someone brilliant and wonderful that he loves just because she’s her. Someone to have faith in. Someone who miraculously turns out to be a kindred spirit, despite all the things that separate them. And also - someone The Doctor knew he was going to lose, sooner or later. That tragedy was in-built. But The Master is someone like himself. Like Spike and Angel are mirrors to each other - understanding each other because they are the same, no matter the differences (“Once upon a time...”).

The Master might be an insane megalomaniac, but he was The Doctor’s insane megalomaniac. Their similarities far outweighed their differences... The last of the Timelords - the only two who could remember their home, who knew what it meant to see all of time and space... what it was like to feel like God.

And yet - all those powers are for nothing in that last scene. The Doctor can do many things, but he cannot fight death. We have the God-themes woven through the whole season, and then in the end The Doctor is shown to be just like us. Helpless in the face of nature.

He failed. Again.

“I’m not here to kill him. I’m here to save him.”

And the twist is of course that The Master refuses to be saved.

I was reminded of this, from Utopia:

Regenerated!Master (inside the TARDIS): Use my name!
The Doctor: Master... (then softly, almost pleadingly) I’m sorry.
The Master (gleefully): Tough!

That moment is The Doctor asking forgiveness for killing their people and destroying their home. And The Master (not really knowing what The Doctor is talking about), brushes it off. Later however, he uses it against him, refusing to forgive him:

Master: Once the Empire is established, and there is a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then - it stops.

Very clearing saying: You destroyed our home. And you should feel guilty!

And I just realised that The Doctor’s “I”m sorry” at the end of ‘Utopia’ is echoed in ‘Last of the Timelords’:

Doctor: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
Master: You can’t do this. You can’t do this! It’s not fair!
Doctor: And you know what happens now.
Master. No. No. No. NO!
Doctor: You wouldn’t listen. You know what I’m going to say.

I don’t think the ‘I’m sorry’ is just about the ‘I forgive you’... Because where the first sorry was asking forgiveness for what he had destroyed - their home and history - then this sorry is a pre-emptive apology. Because The Doctor is about to undo all of The Master’s work... all his plans, including a new Gallifrey. Destroying his future. Maybe that lies at the heart of the forgiveness - The Doctor understands The Master’s motivations, just like The Master understands The Doctor’s. And to get religious for a moment:

‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’

To be forgiven yourself, you have to be able to forgive others. But - until the last The Master withholds forgiveness. And if he kills himself on purpose - as a way of escaping (which means that The Doctor was right about him) - or if he quite simply grabs the chance to hurt The Doctor in the only way he can (and he wants to win, more than to stay alive), doesn’t really matter to be honest. Both options fit, and both leave The Doctor broken.

I’ll end by quoting scarlettgirl again:

He just seems so tired of losing what little he clings to over and over again. I don't know how he can come back from this and fall back into the happy-go-lucky scamp mode that a good chunk of fandom seems to prefer.

I’m sure this woman is psychic or something. Because the above quote perfectly describes the end of the show - The Doctor trying to be all jolly and excited, and Martha silencing him with just a look.

ETA: Re-watching 'Smith and Jones' I noticed that The Doctor was wearing the same blue suit then as he is at the end of LotT. And Florence says this:

"You're quite the funny man. And yet, I think, laughing on purpose at the darkness."

I wonder where he’ll go from here. Because if there is one thing I’ve learned from watching Buffy, it is the fact that there are always consequences. Always.

And I think Doctor Who knows that rule.

Comments

[elisi]

The Doctor .... Spike .... Forgiveness and love!
It's all of my favourite themes, but explored in completely new ways! It's brilliant!

Thank you for trying to put your thoughts on paper
My pleasure! (And I kinda *had* to do it, because otherwise my head would have exploded or something...) So glad it was helpful for you. And thank you for reading! :)