Further Squeeing on Recent Whovian Goodness

[fangrrl_squees]

I was a little perturbed during the final few minutes of Utopia, I'll admit that, now. But an OTT-ish Master has grown on me. It's been rightly pointed out that the urbane, sinister Master (with only occasional moments of scenery-chewing) really wouldn't balance well with Ten, whereas what John Simm is doing seems to be exactly right. Yeah, yeah, you could say that the nigh-reflection of Ten's mannerisms and cadence is a bit of a copout, perhaps, but I love it. So there.

I've been reading some really smart responses to the eps in general, and the Master in particular and, once again, I'm glad to have such smart, articulate friends because damn, it would have taken me forever to reason my way around to what they've so easily posited. F'r instance:

I totally agree with bovil's suggestion that whilst the Master is, indeed, as crazy as a rat in a coffee can, he's not necessarily enjoying himself all that much. Particularly if one considers - as doctor_toc suggests - the probability that he's carrying a big load of survivor's guilt, compounded by the fact that the supposed best choice for fighting the Time War turned and ran, leaving the Doctor to take care of matters. Yeah, that's gonna leave a guy full of hate and resentment at the best of times. Oh sure, he's having some fun, but most of the time - particularly during that conversation with the Doctor - he seems to be fundamentally unhappy and not in control - being driven by something and it might not be as simple as plain ol' meglomania. Of course, a control freak like the Master is not going to react well to losing control, is he? Thus a dandy feedback cycle of anger and hate and bad, bad craziness.

(Given my love of control-freak characters, I know some fic will be falling out of my head, momentarily. It might even be - heavens! - genfic, although I'd be a liar if I said there wasn't some slash brewing, too. The way those two say each other's names? Serious guh.)

What the Master is getting out of his current course of action - aside from some deeply twisted jollies, I don't know. Then again, deeply twisted jollies might be all he really needs. Crazy is as crazy does, but I think there's more to it than that. Or, I should say, that I hope that there's more to it than that. I know, pantomime villains hardly need more of a reason than Because it's there! but sometimes, that's not quite enough for the audience. Well, not quite enough for me.

Oh! Almost forgot. Part-and-parcel of the not-in-control-and-not-happy-with-it thoughts I've been having dredges up the why is the Master taunting the Doctor et al ? That "The country needs a doctor" moment comes to mind, in particular. Again, it could be ascribed to sheer sadism and arrogance, but I wonder if there isn't just a bit of the classic please catch me thing going on, too? It would sort-of fit with the notion that the Master's mind has gone places even he doesn't want it to go and he knows that he needs the Doctor - and not like that! *Ahem* Anyways, it's just a thought...

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I've read a rather interesting theory as to what the Toclafane (sp) really are but I won't share it here. Suffice it to say that I think said theory might well be on the right track...

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For the record, I like angry!Martha far more than moony!Martha. And her expression when she says "I'll get him" (referring to the Master, when they're aboard the Valiant) was a beaut. I don't think that situation is going to end tidily or well...

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I'm still chewing on how I feel about the I rebuilt Torchwood in your honor bit. At the moment, I'm inclined to be cynical and speculate that perhaps RTD is scrambling a bit to rectify some inconsistencies that cropped up during the madness of production. Oh, yeah, the institute was founded on a kind-of anti-Doctor remit, wasn't it? Aw, hell...

Not that I don't think it's all sweet and noble for Jack to be doing something useful with his time - although one wonders how involved he was with Torchwood pre-Canary Wharf and it's not-so-Doctor-friendly mission. I've got my own ideas, of course, but suffice it to say that I think Jack's got more than one reason for being involved with TW, and has probably been with the organization since shortly after its founding. The rest of that blather, I'll save for rpg!Jack.

And can we keep flirty!Jack for season 2 of Torchwood? God knows, I like 'em broody (I watched every season of Angel, fer Crissakes) but, let's be honest, kids - flirty!Jack is why we all tuned in. I've a few other wishes for the next series of Torchwood but, again, this isn't quite the time to air them...

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Thinking of rpg!Jack, Alex is just a wee bit smug as his hypothesized ideas for the return of the Master as put forward in tardis_tour turned out to be almost spot-on. Okay, so we had The Master taking over UNIT after The Christmas Invasion, rather than being the Minister for Defence (how'd he get the lovely and no-doubt-doomed Valiant built in 18 months? Oh wait, I'm trying to apply logic to a sci-fi story again, aren't I?) but otherwise, Alex had the right end of the stick. As I said, smugness abounds. Now Alex is working on how to shoehorn something akin to the current continuity into that game whilst I'm pouting over the departure of Harriet Jones...

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