Classic!Who s9-The Sea Devils
Well, that is another much-belated review. But a delightful Master story! Seeing the Doctor and Jo pay a visit to an imprisoned Master was pretty much the best thing ever. I quite loved the two sides of that-first, the pretence of a reformed and pretty much overpowered Master, guarded by a staff that had been trained to resist his hypnosis. (His intense hypnotism face went almost cross-eyed. XD His frustrated face wasn't bad either.)
The pleasantries of their encounter were just amazing, the Doctor/Master fun went beyond all limits again, not to mention the amazing humorous tidbits such as the Doctorʼs first and first-glance remark being that the Master had PUT ON WEIGHT of all things. Boy, youʼve been looking at his body for sure XD There was also the Master working out (Time Lords are such shallow fuckers XD), and the Master watching kiddo TV and taking it very much too seriously. SIMM AND THE TELETUBBIES WERE A TRIBUTE, GUYS. My life is made.
But yes, well, the Master was actually not very repented at all, but doing anything he liked, down to requesting TV in his room. XD And he was completely manipulating Trenchard, who was in charge of the prison and thought he and the Master were allies up until they werenʼt. And then he got killed off. Interestingly, the Master manipulated him by using his patriotic streak and making him think he was doing stuff against enemy agents, blah blah. This actually couldnʼt be more wrong, since the Master is plotting against the humans and wanting to get the Sea Devils on his side and cause war between the two to annihilate the human race because the Doctor likes them. Very valid reason. (Dysfunctional OTP alllll the way.)
In the meantime, Sea Devils are a cousin species to the Silurians, and the ending of that one story comes to hit the Doctor in the face: “Last time you tried to negotiate a peace, how did it end?”. We-ell. But this time it is the Doctor who, when the peace fails (theyʼve been trying to do treaties forever seriously, new!Who hardly got such an original concept as Eleven made it sound with his “whoa, my friends are negotiating a peace treaty” attitude, bless him), has to blow up the Sea Devils, the very thing he got quite mad at the Brigadier about when it was him doing it. (Side-note to say that UNIT and the Brig are rather absent this season, first episode and maybe the last. Jo and the Doc are cool on their own but I miss them.)
There is also the swordfight of legend. There is the Master getting a captive Doctor to work alongside him, which is not at all a pattern of his. Then the Doctor corrects the Masterʼs errors loftily, and the Masterʼs little smile is a precious thing, but then he claims credit for the whole thing. Never mind that because the Doctor tricks him all the way through. Priceless I tell you. But both of them can still be remarkably clueless around the other for sheer plot reasons, such as the Master not triple-checking the Doctorʼs work to make sure it shall not purposefully go boom, and the Doctor leaving someone to watch over the Master, HE WILL USE HYPNOSIS, FOOL! As I said, plot reasons.
Because there were other people in this episode but the Master and the Doctor, I will say a word about Jo Grantʼs cuteness and epicness, her skill in escaping and freeing the Doctor and her wonderful teamwork with him. The little "After you." as they were escaping, the handshake-I canʼt even.
The Doctor, ungrateful bastard that he is, shamelessly stole a plate of sandwiches from her later. Stealing sandwiches is a thing in this show. Channelling Yates, Doctor! (And he even told her off for wanting them in the first place, too, JUST LIKE YATES.)
Also, Joʼs outfits look utterly lovely and yes, thereʼs girlcrush time involved. SO CUTE.
The side characters were also fun: Trenchard, and the horribly gross and obnoxious official called Walker, who acted like he knew better than everyone, pushed for open war against the Sea Devils, treated everybody like shit, was sexist and even physically gross (demanding food and tea while trying to launch a war/annihilate a species), then acted like a complete and hilarious coward when things got bad and he became a prisoner, looking like a sorry little chicken while Jo and captain Hart were actively trying to escape and get shit done. The caricature semi-villain, semi-just-a-godawful-human-being characters are really a thing, and they often are headdesk-worthy bureaucrats as well, who thinks theyʼre so much better than everyone else, you will notice.
Quotable lines:
Three: [about the Master, at first glance] "My word, he's putting on weight."
Master: "I am the Master and you will obey me. You understand? *You will obey me.*"
Guard: "You'll let us know when you've finished with the book, sir?"
Three: "Is there anything that I can do for you at all?"
Master: "There is one thing. Please come in now and then to have a chat." /NOT SHIPPY AT ALL
Jo: "You felt sorry for him, didn't you. You wanted to come down here and see that was all right."
Three: "Well, he used to be a friend of mine once. A very good friend." [♥♥♥]
Master [to Trenchard, because he is totally an overpowered prisoner]: "I wonder, do you think I could have another television set? For the bedroom. […] Colour, of course."
Master [about the TV show he's just been watching]: "It seems to be a rather interesting extra-terrestrial life form."
Trenchard [slowly]: "Only puppets, you know? For children."
Master: "Oh."
Sailor Guy #1: "What's that noise?"
Sailor Guy #2: "It's a mermaid. She can't resist us."
[It was a Sea Devil. Pretty sure Guy #1 died.]
Jo [about the radio the Doctor is working on]: "Hmm, I've seen things like that in a modern art exhibition. You don't honestly think you can transmit with it, do you?"
Three: "Well, though I say so myself, I think that's a remarkably efficient piece of work." [stuff blows up in his hands]
Three [getting uncuffed]: "How very kind of you."
[getting cuffed back to the chair] "How very unkind of you!"
Hart: "Well, I presume you're a trained diver in addition to your other accomplishments then, Doctor?"
Three: "Naturally."
Walker: "Your opinion is quite immaterial, Captain Hart."
Walker: "Murder? War always is, my dear. Where on Earth's that girl with my toast?"
Three [to the Master]: "In about ten minutes from now the whole place should go up. Enjoy your revenge."
Master: "But--but we'll both be killed!"
Three: "That's right. Unless we can both escape."
[together or not at all, all the way]
Three: "I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow." [He does that a fair bit, I'd gathered]
The pleasantries of their encounter were just amazing, the Doctor/Master fun went beyond all limits again, not to mention the amazing humorous tidbits such as the Doctorʼs first and first-glance remark being that the Master had PUT ON WEIGHT of all things. Boy, youʼve been looking at his body for sure XD There was also the Master working out (Time Lords are such shallow fuckers XD), and the Master watching kiddo TV and taking it very much too seriously. SIMM AND THE TELETUBBIES WERE A TRIBUTE, GUYS. My life is made.
But yes, well, the Master was actually not very repented at all, but doing anything he liked, down to requesting TV in his room. XD And he was completely manipulating Trenchard, who was in charge of the prison and thought he and the Master were allies up until they werenʼt. And then he got killed off. Interestingly, the Master manipulated him by using his patriotic streak and making him think he was doing stuff against enemy agents, blah blah. This actually couldnʼt be more wrong, since the Master is plotting against the humans and wanting to get the Sea Devils on his side and cause war between the two to annihilate the human race because the Doctor likes them. Very valid reason. (Dysfunctional OTP alllll the way.)
In the meantime, Sea Devils are a cousin species to the Silurians, and the ending of that one story comes to hit the Doctor in the face: “Last time you tried to negotiate a peace, how did it end?”. We-ell. But this time it is the Doctor who, when the peace fails (theyʼve been trying to do treaties forever seriously, new!Who hardly got such an original concept as Eleven made it sound with his “whoa, my friends are negotiating a peace treaty” attitude, bless him), has to blow up the Sea Devils, the very thing he got quite mad at the Brigadier about when it was him doing it. (Side-note to say that UNIT and the Brig are rather absent this season, first episode and maybe the last. Jo and the Doc are cool on their own but I miss them.)
There is also the swordfight of legend. There is the Master getting a captive Doctor to work alongside him, which is not at all a pattern of his. Then the Doctor corrects the Masterʼs errors loftily, and the Masterʼs little smile is a precious thing, but then he claims credit for the whole thing. Never mind that because the Doctor tricks him all the way through. Priceless I tell you. But both of them can still be remarkably clueless around the other for sheer plot reasons, such as the Master not triple-checking the Doctorʼs work to make sure it shall not purposefully go boom, and the Doctor leaving someone to watch over the Master, HE WILL USE HYPNOSIS, FOOL! As I said, plot reasons.
Because there were other people in this episode but the Master and the Doctor, I will say a word about Jo Grantʼs cuteness and epicness, her skill in escaping and freeing the Doctor and her wonderful teamwork with him. The little "After you." as they were escaping, the handshake-I canʼt even.
The Doctor, ungrateful bastard that he is, shamelessly stole a plate of sandwiches from her later. Stealing sandwiches is a thing in this show. Channelling Yates, Doctor! (And he even told her off for wanting them in the first place, too, JUST LIKE YATES.)
Also, Joʼs outfits look utterly lovely and yes, thereʼs girlcrush time involved. SO CUTE.
The side characters were also fun: Trenchard, and the horribly gross and obnoxious official called Walker, who acted like he knew better than everyone, pushed for open war against the Sea Devils, treated everybody like shit, was sexist and even physically gross (demanding food and tea while trying to launch a war/annihilate a species), then acted like a complete and hilarious coward when things got bad and he became a prisoner, looking like a sorry little chicken while Jo and captain Hart were actively trying to escape and get shit done. The caricature semi-villain, semi-just-a-godawful-human-being characters are really a thing, and they often are headdesk-worthy bureaucrats as well, who thinks theyʼre so much better than everyone else, you will notice.
Quotable lines:
Three: [about the Master, at first glance] "My word, he's putting on weight."
Master: "I am the Master and you will obey me. You understand? *You will obey me.*"
Guard: "You'll let us know when you've finished with the book, sir?"
Three: "Is there anything that I can do for you at all?"
Master: "There is one thing. Please come in now and then to have a chat." /NOT SHIPPY AT ALL
Jo: "You felt sorry for him, didn't you. You wanted to come down here and see that was all right."
Three: "Well, he used to be a friend of mine once. A very good friend." [♥♥♥]
Master [to Trenchard, because he is totally an overpowered prisoner]: "I wonder, do you think I could have another television set? For the bedroom. […] Colour, of course."
Master [about the TV show he's just been watching]: "It seems to be a rather interesting extra-terrestrial life form."
Trenchard [slowly]: "Only puppets, you know? For children."
Master: "Oh."
Sailor Guy #1: "What's that noise?"
Sailor Guy #2: "It's a mermaid. She can't resist us."
[It was a Sea Devil. Pretty sure Guy #1 died.]
Jo [about the radio the Doctor is working on]: "Hmm, I've seen things like that in a modern art exhibition. You don't honestly think you can transmit with it, do you?"
Three: "Well, though I say so myself, I think that's a remarkably efficient piece of work." [stuff blows up in his hands]
Three [getting uncuffed]: "How very kind of you."
[getting cuffed back to the chair] "How very unkind of you!"
Hart: "Well, I presume you're a trained diver in addition to your other accomplishments then, Doctor?"
Three: "Naturally."
Walker: "Your opinion is quite immaterial, Captain Hart."
Walker: "Murder? War always is, my dear. Where on Earth's that girl with my toast?"
Three [to the Master]: "In about ten minutes from now the whole place should go up. Enjoy your revenge."
Master: "But--but we'll both be killed!"
Three: "That's right. Unless we can both escape."
[together or not at all, all the way]
Three: "I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow." [He does that a fair bit, I'd gathered]