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Comments 30

john_amend_all November 8 2014, 23:34:25 UTC
I'm pretty sure the Doctor didn't shoot her. Either Brig☛Cyberman shot her, or she teleported away.

And given that the Nethersphere was still in operation at that point (as we know from the ending, it kept running for at least a couple more weeks), there's no reason why she wouldn't have arrived there, picked up a spare bracelet, and returned to her TARDIS. As you say, she's the Master - it beggars belief that she'd build an afterlife without including a revolving door for herself.

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jjpor November 8 2014, 23:43:42 UTC
I didn't really pick up on CyberBrig shooting her when I was watching it, perhaps because when CyberDanny was shooting his Cyberbrethren in St Paul's it seemed far more explode-ey than the comparatively tasteful bluish swirl we got in the cemetery. As you say, though, it's inconceivable that the Mistress wouldn't have an escape route in place before embarking upon what was an impressively crazed scheme even by her/his normal standards.

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gonzo21 November 9 2014, 00:12:32 UTC
Yep, my reading too. Cyberbrig shot her. But then in the next sequence we learnt that the bracelet somehow brought people out of the Matrix and reincarnated them with a fresh full body.

So the Mistress will have been back out like, 3 seconds after CyberBrig shot her.

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jjpor November 9 2014, 15:25:02 UTC
I think that seems like a safe bet on reflection - s/he's survived worse over the years.

And good call on the Matrix - clearly that's what it was, or using the same Gallifreyan technology, although I didn't catch it being explicitly referenced as such in the story.

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akashasheiress November 9 2014, 06:27:15 UTC
More importantly, ROMANA should be back, if there was any justice in the Universe? :D

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jjpor November 9 2014, 15:26:12 UTC
The Mistress also had red fake cherries on her hat just like Romana did in Shada - another deliberate red herring planted by Moffat (one that I missed this time until last night's episode)?

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akashasheiress November 9 2014, 18:59:06 UTC
Possibly. And the Master was totally doing that deliberately as a gut-punch to the Doctor IMO. ;)

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persiflage_1 November 9 2014, 06:51:13 UTC
The Doctor zapped her and she transported away - and I'm pretty sure he knew that was going to happen because he fiddled with the device before shooting her. But Clara didn't know it could do both things.

What I want to know is what he saw when he went to the coordinates for Gallifrey - 'cos whatever he told Clara, it wasn't good from the way he was beating on the console after he shut the door again.

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ravenskyewalker November 9 2014, 09:08:15 UTC
I assumed he saw absolutely nothing where Gallifrey should've been. So he didn't find it at all. That would fit in with how astonishingly he and Clara were lying to each other in that last conversation. And of course New Who has broken the Doctor's hearts all over again, and I'm not sure how well the Twelfth Doctor can deal with that, for all the cranky Attitude he puts on as armor. (Hmm. Not well at all. Running away from the truth as fast as he can. I hope he actually knows he's lying, and hasn't tipped over into delusion.)

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persiflage_1 November 9 2014, 11:23:41 UTC
He might not like hugs, but Twelve seriously needs LOADS of them!

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jjpor November 9 2014, 15:45:43 UTC
I'm not sure whether that really is the end of the Doctor and Clara, but if it is it's a great summing up of their relationship as shown in Series 8 - both absolutely lying through their teeth to each other, but for what they think are the best of reasons, out of kindness, really. It'll certainly be interesting if they ever do meet up again and the truth comes out.

Capaldi was great in those closing scenes, his anger when he discovered the Master's lie and then his hideously upbeat façade for Clara's benefit. I fear for the Doctor too.

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lost_spook November 9 2014, 13:22:35 UTC
I thought it was the CyberBrig, too. But, as you say, when is the Master ever dead - and I wouldn't mind seeing this one back, actually, because Michelle Gomez did a great job here.

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jjpor November 9 2014, 15:38:38 UTC
As you say, it's all academic anyway - she or he will be back like the proverbial bad penny sooner or later. And thinking on, the Doctor actually doing anything like that seems like an unlikely choice given his explicit rejection of such brutal, direct problem-solving just a few minutes earlier. He was just playing for time for Clara's sake, I think, when CyberBrig intervened.

I thought Michelle Gomez was excellent, especially in this episode more so than in her previous appearances (where the Mistress was clearly just having a laugh). The extreme cruelty and the fact that the Mistress/Master clearly finds it hilarious came out strong in this one, as well as the way it's all about the Doctor. I also think she's made the kind of impression that if the character comes back in the next couple of years, she'll definitely be first choice for the part (plus the fact that going back to a male Master too soon would make the "female Master" thing look like a gimmick, which I don't think was the intention behind it at all).

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lost_spook November 9 2014, 16:56:14 UTC
Yes, once we were allowed to know who Missy was, her performance really became very much the Master & I would certainly not mind seeing her again - that wasn't enough yet. And it is the Master, after all. I felt, there was both the latter incarnations' insanity, but almost something of the older Masters kind of observing what they had become, and, hey, it's helpful for doing evil, so why not?

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librarylover82 November 9 2014, 14:30:30 UTC
It was definitely Cyber Brig who shot Missy, and saved Kate. That's why the Doctor saluted him. I didn't pick up on the shooting on the first watch either, but I did on the second. Plus I saw the extra where Moffet makes it totally clear that the Brig saved the day!

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jjpor November 9 2014, 15:32:20 UTC
Oh well, that would seem to lay that one to rest - I still need to re-watch it, and will do so now with that interpretation in mind. I'm glad somebody else didn't pick up on it first time around, though! :)

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dbskyler November 9 2014, 16:24:12 UTC
I didn't pick up on it either. And, I wasn't sure what was going on with Gallifrey (other than it made the Doctor angry). I think people are right that he just saw empty space, but that wasn't clear either.

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gonzo21 November 9 2014, 17:29:14 UTC
I don't think empty space explains his extreme anger.

Surely he would have expected MIssy to lie, just giving up the location of Gallifrey so easily?

I don't buy it. I think MIssy had been there first, and turned everybody into Cybermen as a trial run for what she was going to do to Earth. And that's why the Doctor was so angry.

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