The shippy review of EoT Part 2!

[manicsfan]

In my first post I attempted to keep the shippy side of things out of my reivew and focus on all the other points. Which sadly meant it was a pretty "meh" sort of review. Since going simply on those merits I considered it to be good in some ways, but also to have a lot of down sides too, especially plot wise, and overall being a "meh" sort of episode.

I have since watched the episode again and in this review I am going to focus on the one main redeeming feature. Yes, that is of course the wonderful Doctor/Master subtext in this, and the wonderful scenes between them which even eclipsed that beautiful wasteland scene from the first part. Focusing on the ongoing history and love/hate relationship between them.

This is cut because it's gonna be a long spoilery post (even thought I forgot to cut the last one!) but also because it will have a few screencaps, and to save anyone who doesn't have any interest in this pairing from having this dumped on their flist.

The screencaps used in this were snagged from here: http://community.livejournal.com/skylar_town/31962.html



So, we get straight into the kink with the Doctor now assuming the role of being in the bondage gear!



Yes, then we have the wonderful slashy conversation between the Doctor and the Master:

Master: Tell me. Where's your TARDIS?
Doctor: You could be so wonderful.
Master: Where is it?
Doctor: You are a genius. You are stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are.
But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. 'Cos you don't need to own the universe, just see it! I have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough."
Master: Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?
Doctor: I can help.
Master: Don't know what I'd be without that noise.
Doctor: Wonder what I'd be, without you.
Master: Yeah.



Oh that bit just breaks my heart. Especially to image how the Doctor and Master could have been had things been different. This is quite probably about as canon as my pairing is gonna get in New Who! Unless a bigger shipper takes over as writer one day.



We skip ahead to the Doctor discussing various things with Wilf, amongst which is how the Doctor is going to deal with the Master.



Wilf tries several attempts to get the Doctor to take the revolver to shoot the Master. wilf saying to the Doctor "Don't you dare choose him (the Master) over them (the human race)" but he does. Clearly the Doctor's refusal is not simply a case of "I don't do guns" as it usually is, because two minutes later he is quite happy to take the gun to use against Rassilon.

We skip ahead again to the Doctor crashing through the roof and pointing the gun at people. First at Rassilon, and then the Master. The Master tells him he wouldn't have the guts. The Doctor once boasted that he knows the Master too well, and this scene shows that the Master knows the Doctor just as well. They know each other better than anyone else in the universe could.



There is a brief back to Rassilon moment, before the Doctor points the gun at the Master once more. Maybe the Master here is wondering whether he knew the Doctor so well after all? He looks like he has given up.



However, then the Doctor tells the Master to move and instead shoots the machine. Of course he was never going to shoot the Master. While the Doctor has let the Master "die" in the past, that was down to inaction, as opposed to a direct action such as shooting him.

In a turnabout, just as a pissed off Rassilon is about to kill the Doctor, the Master pops up and tells the Doctor to move before saving his life - alright, so it was also about venting his own hatred over what was done to him but he STILL saves the Doctor's life in the process - and zapping Rassilon repeatedly following him and the other Time Lords back into the time lock.



I was sorta sad there wasn't a bit longer with the Doctor wondering what will have happened to the Master by following the Time Lords back there. I'm sure from past experience, though, he knows that if anyone can find a way to survive it's the Master.



So anyway. I am also sad that those scenes, although slashtastic, are the last ever scenes my Doctor and the Master will have together. But I really do hope the Master will be back in the future to have scenes with the next Doctor(s). Although Ten's song has to end here, I'd hate their story to end here.

This has made me melancholic again. I think I'm gonna get some hot chocolate and read some Doctor/Master fanfic.

Stay Beautiful,

Aissa.

Comments

[superinsane95.livejournal.com]

I started crying when the Master disappeared with the Time Lords but still, there moments in this episode were completely slashtastic and I loved it.

[manics-fan.livejournal.com]

It was sad, but better than him outright dying. Which I was wearily suspecting was going to happen to him. I'm optimistic that RTD has purposely done it ambiguously to give Moffat a change to bring him back if he wants to (and I REALLY hope he does!)

[superinsane95.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that sounds like the best option. I hope he does too.