When Doctor Who came returned to our screens on New Year’s Day, nobody was expecting an episode quite so thrilling and action-packed as the first part of “Spyfall.” On the first day of 2020, Doctor Who returned to form and brought along with it one of the best cliffhangers in the show’s recent history.
If you haven’t seen the episode, look away now. Or, better yet, go away, watch the episode, and then read this article. Because the Master is back. In a twist that no one saw coming, the Doctor’s best enemy returned with a new face, a menacing attitude, and even more evil schemes a-brewing. We look back at the most wicked things the Master has ever done.
Convincing The Doctor To Kill Clara
This proves that the Master is just as dangerous and deceitful when they’re an ally. In the Season 9 premiere, the Doctor went missing and in order to find him, Clara had to reluctantly team up with Missy, the Master’s first female incarnation. Despite helping Team TARDIS, Missy was still very much not good.
After demonstrating this by randomly killing a new father, Missy trapped Clara in a Dalek casing so that they could infiltrate the Dalek citadel. They rescued the Doctor but Missy lied about Clara’s whereabouts, claiming that the Clara-Dalek killed her. The Doctor was very close to killing Clara, until the Dalek asked for mercy.
Killing Chantho/The Masterful Reveal
While Doctor Who has admittedly used the Master reveal cliffhanger perhaps a little too often in recent years, it’s easy to understand why, as it continues to surprise viewers — unless you inexplicably reveal the surprise in a season trailer three months in advance. However, the Yana reveal was easily the best cliffhanger.
Professor Yana was the nicest, most selfless human who had possibly ever lived, and so when he opened the watch and killed his faithful assistant Chantho, it was almost too surreal to believe. He and Chantho were adorable together and then in a few seconds, Yana had turned into a raging, hateful killer Time Lord.
Killing Himself (Thrice)
Only the Master could kill himself three times and still live to tell the tale. The first time this happened, his evil plan to declare war on the universe had just been thwarted by the Doctor, who was fed up with being alone, and so was prepared to have the Master join the TARDIS — until the Master was shot and refused to regenerate, just to spite the Doctor.
The second (and third) time was when Missy and the Master joined forces with an army of Cybermen to take down the Doctor. However, Missy’s growing conscience got the better of her and she stabbed the Master in the back, who retaliated by shooting Missy, suspending her ability to regenerate. The Master killed himself to stop her from ever aligning themselves with the Doctor.
Ageing The Doctor
This was one of Doctor Who’s most shocking scenes, as it placed the Tenth Doctor in an extremely vulnerable position that we had never seen before. It also served to highlight just how powerful and insane the Master really was at the time. To make matters worse, he deliberately broadcast his actions to ensure that Martha would see it.
In the Season 3 epic three-part finale, the Master took control of the whole planet and decimated the human race. During this time, he used his laser screwdriver to age the Doctor, suspending the Doctor’s regenerative abilities. First it was 100 years, and then, more horrifyingly, the Master increased it to 900, with the Doctor no more than a withered, bald creature.
Turning Danny Into A Cyberman
It’s never explicitly confirmed, but Danny’s initial death just seemed way too much of a coincidence for Missy not to have been involved in some way. Missy’s original plan was fiendishly complicated, but basically involved collecting dying minds in the Nethersphere, ready to be downloaded into their new Cyber-augmented bodies as part of a massive Cyber-army.
In order to achieve this, though, she needed the Doctor, and so she set him up with the biggest control freak in the universe: Clara Oswald. Missy knew that if someone close to Clara died, she would do anything to get them back, including using the Doctor. Danny was collateral damage. Worse than that, he was a Cyberman, part of the living undead.
Enslaving The Human Race
Despite the Master being an insane, homicidal Time Lord, he is still very much just a stereotypical villain. And a lot of villainous stereotypes involve plans to take over the world. While the Master is slightly more interesting than that, he has been known to go back to his archetypal roots occasionally.
In the Season 3 finale, the Master finally achieved total planetary domination, with the help of the Toclafane. It was a horrific sight to see Earth so desolate and hopeless. What remained of the human race had watched their loved ones die and were now nothing more than slaves building missiles for the Master’s insane plan to take over the universe.
Turning Bill Into A Cyberman
For a mad person, the Master sure likes to recycle old plans. Take over the Earth, reveal himself in cliffhangers, and, of course, turn the Doctor’s friends into Cybermen. This time, however, it was poor Bill Potts who the Master targeted, a proper companion to the Doctor who honestly deserved so much better than what she got.
Firstly, the Master befriended her for years under the guise of Razor, making her feel comfortable around him. Then, at the most inopportune moment, “Razor” betrayed Bill and turned her into a Cyberman. What’s worse is that the Master then allied himself with Missy and used Bill’s fate to taunt and hurt the Doctor.
Leaving Yaz, Ryan And Graham To Die
Missy had been a great Master, but her redemption arc in Season 10 just seemed a little bit out of character. The Master is always a lot more fun to watch when he’s being insane or evil, because that’s when he’s at his most unpredictable.
Thankfully, the newest incarnation of the Master is fully back to his old self, and it was nice to see that he hadn’t lost his penchant for making a dramatic entrance. After revealing himself, the Master blew up half the plane, teleported away, and literally vanquished the Doctor, leaving her “fam” with no feasible escape plan. It was a deliciously evil moment.
Killing Osgood
Missy is probably the “softest” version of the Master. She’s still veritably insane and very much dangerous, but she never really opposed the Doctor as much as other Masters had. However, just because Missy had a soft spot for the Doctor, it didn’t mean that it extended to the Doctor’s friends. If anything, Missy was more of a threat because of it.
Osgood first appeared in Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special and went on to become a fan favorite character. She was brought back for the Season 8 finale and managed to impress the oft grumpy Twelfth Doctor. Missy noticed this and of course, she couldn’t have that, thank you very much. So, Osgood bit the dust and Missy stamped on her specs.
Becoming The Human Race
We talked previously in this article about the Master’s tendency to take over planet Earth, sometimes successfully so. However, this instance was so much worse. In the Tenth Doctor’s swan song, both he and the Master knew that they were going to die soon. This meant they could relate to each other in way they hadn’t for a very long time.
On this occasion, though, the Master was two steps ahead of the Doctor, because of the foolhardy arrogance of an idiot billionaire. Thanks to some highly advanced alien medical tech, the Master was able to become the human race. Every single human was now the Master, and the Doctor was completely and utterly helpless.
