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pitynostars · 2 years

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this is baseless speculation as ive done the bare minimum deep thinking on potd but you mentioned the master’s bitterness because of ttc when talking about the forced regen and that has me thinking a little bit like. i haven’t made real sense of what happened but maybe him becoming her stems directly from that bitterness and the knowledge that there is a piece of the doctor in every time lord. if the master is the doctor then he’s the special one, not her. in s12 he says something like ‘you went around acting like you were special and now i know you really are’ and so mayhaps the forced regen can maybe be seen as him wanting to level the playing field? take her down from the pedestal he’s put her on bc of ttc or allow him to get up there too. the doctor made the time lords but now the master is the doctor and he’s making his own bigger army of special cybermen (? is that what he was doing? i maybe didnt pay enough attention) it’s the whole ‘we’re not so different, you and i’ thing. he’s just trying to make them equals again and it’s such a big deal for him that if he has to kill her to achieve his goals then so be it. maybe. they still coulda fleshed it out a bit more (that’s an understatement)

unrelated but man it’s so frustrating to have to come up with all these what ifs for intention like if it had been written well then we’d know! it feels like an attempt at making up for how much things were spelled out in s11 like a 180° turn from infodumping to not even having the time or care to rationalize the stuff that happens. it’s hilarious that ive seen so much more speculation about the things that happened and were supposedly resolved IN the episode than about the (literal) cliffhanger. good riddance.

him becoming her stems directly from that bitterness and the knowledge that there is a piece of the doctor in every time lord. if the master is the doctor then he’s the special one, not her.

yeah thats how i'm reading it atm. there's also this deep self hatred w Dhawan master so i think part of it is supposed to be that too, especially with the emphasis of the "i erased you doctor. don't let me go back to being me" line as it's being reversed (+ dhawan emphasised this self hatred in his interviews)

"it feels like an attempt at making up for how much things were spelled out in s11 like a 180° turn from infodumping to not even having the time or care to rationalize the stuff that happens."

this has been on my mind a lot actually. i dont think it HAS been a 180 but i think its symptoms of the eps/place in the era.

we still get mountains and mountains of unnecessary exposition, but it's all about just. what's happening in the plot. we dont get much insight into whats motivating the characters (or if we do, it's heavy handed exposition like dan's "oh i almost died so i want to leave" which is simple and understandable) but say 13, the master, yaz i'm left just like.... why'd any of them do any of that??? unless you sit there compiling notes about one off lines the characters had in the past + what the cast and crew have said they were TRYING to do.

compared to s11 i think it's just become more noticable because back in the beginning they were still building the characters (lol) + there was less going on plot wise for them to react to in ways that felt in or out of character. but at this point the END of the era we should KNOW these characters well enough to understand why they're doing xyz. but say like, yaz's reason for leaving the tardis is so difficult to understand because it just sort of. happens. i think a lot of that can be built on the back of weak characterisation before, but as i've argued already in the case of yaz i feel her exit goes completely AGAINST her defining characteristics and "Doctorification" arc as i understand them.

i feel the same with 13. her defining character has always been about her being "socially awkward" and closed off, an arc which like. in any other situation the logical satisfying growth and resolution is "the doctor opens up to her friends". but no instead it's like. don't bother making an effort actually. it's fine to be an ass and just pass it off half heartedly as social awkwardness.

they all jsut feel so static and one note, but equally this characterisation is sometimes just ignored when its convenient for the plot or another piece of characterisation (e.g., i'd say one of yaz's defining characteristics in the beginning is she's quite stubborn... but not really to the doctor, because she's been so beaten down after being snapped at/told off every time she dares ask the doctor something (which then i guess is supposed to tie into her... loving the dr ???))

again like the logical conclusion to yaz's arc mirrors something like Clara or Martha's. either she needs to realise the Doctor not returning her feelings (or, if you think she DOES return them like, at least not being willing to act on them) hurts too much and leaves for her own adventures, or they have a tragic thing where yaz strives too hard to show herself like. worthy or whatever and crashes and burns. instead she just... sort of walks off? for no apparent reason??

of course, that's not to say that those arcs HAD to finish in those ways, but DO SOMETHING with them. why bring them up as character flaws/traits if they're not going to go on a journey alongside the plot and character??? everyone just feels so static. i could watch TWWFTE and TPOTD back to back and i'd be like "oh that Doctor had a short run"

off from character, but i also think the "over exposition" in s11 vs say flux and that in s11 the plots were simpler, and so the exposition was just repeating things you already knew/had seen so it was like beating a dead horse with The Point, whereas in this and flux, there's so much going on that it's like a new point every second. "paintings are stolen. the master is rasputin. oh cyberman planet. oh there's daleks in volcanoes. the master is doing something funky with regeneration and the doctor. ... wait the doctor is regenerating.... now they're dhawan?? ... wait no but it's just the master. but then why does the tardis let him in ?? so it's the doctor?? then why are they acting like that it must be they've merged. why is tegan climbing down a shaft. oh they solve it by... making all volcanoes on earth metal now??? that seems a very very bad idea. that kid from the beginning i forgot about, the master can apparently control it and kills the doctor w it." it's just wham wham wham new point about something completely different that if you're just trying to watch it you blink and miss like 3 different plot points. (or maybe thats my undiagnosed potential adhd unable to keep up lmao)

it’s hilarious that ive seen so much more speculation about the things that happened and were supposedly resolved IN the episode than about the (literal) cliffhanger.

LMAO literally i've spent (checks calendar) 3 days just trying to make sense of the plot and character choices chibnall era has been EXHAUSTING

#replies tag #long post #dw spoilers

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