Spyfall part 2
Once again more liveblogish than my yeah nah format. Starts out bullet points but quickly devolves into ranting paragraphs.
Ryan is indeed the best. Glad he got to have a hero moment, especially since there was focus on Graham and Yaz in the previous one. (Also, he’s my favourite, can you tell?)
The video like that in Blink/Family of Blood/etc was a nice reference, though it did feel a bit like copying RTD’s homework.
News from home? I was so excited for that and was really hoping the Time Lords were wanting some favours.
“You can have me” “I’ve got you anyway” Those two lines were certainly something. I want a hundred smut fics about it. And definitely primed me for what came next.
Because wow. That kneel scene was certainly something. Especially how quickly the Master then goes down to the Doctor’s level once he’s gotten what he thinks he needs (emotionally) from her. Like I love it because it's very them and very very shippy and Whittaker absolutely kills it with her expression of 'this again? fine, you asshole' but also? 😬😬😬😬😬 Did you have to be horny on main Chibnall? Did you have to make your female Doctor kneel and say 'Master' three times when asked to? Was it absolutely necessary?
Then again, post-Fleabag (which Chibnall COULD NOT have seen coming), the scene definitely reads more horny than degrading. And if you’re a Doctor Who fan and are familiar with the Doctor and the Master’s relationship... well. You were probably reading it as horny to begin with.
I like the implication later in the conversation that yes, this is basically extreme hide and seek.
Contact! Heartbeats! I’d really like to see Chibnall give an explanation for doing this double dose of fanservice that’s a) platonic, b) heterosexual and c) has the Doctor and Master being intelligent around each other.
Their Paris indeed. So like I hope that’s Chibnall acknowledging Missy happened. Almost don’t care if it’s supposed to be a hint that Dhawan comes before Gomez, just I NEED him to recognise that hey, there’s a dude who ran the show for eight years before he did and that his episodes exist and Chibnall can reference them.
"That's a low." Indeed, so why did you do it Chibs. Why? It's like the thing about female characters dressing in skimpy outfits - unless there's very, very good character reasons for them to do so, that's just the author/artist/director wanting them to be so. And you are the writer. That paints you in a very bad light, especially with the knowledge that Noor’s death was filmed, even if it was wisely left on the cutting room floor. (Also wtf were the script editor/Strevens & Wilson doing? Or the director? Or the costume department? Maybe the script editor didn’t know Dhawan was going to be asked for the role, but Strevens and Wilson would have! The director and costume department knew too, and if the script merely said [the Master walks in, leading a squad of Ges**po] and didn’t specify Na** officer, then they’re the ones to blame and are an extremely good reason why Chibnall should be on set for his stories rather than staying the fuck in London.)
Also fascists, that's more the Daleks. The Master is more of a dictator. They are different.
And er... like... we know Thirteen (and you Chibnall) have a thing for choking and bondage, but really? That happened but you didn't make the Master grab the Doctor's face? At least Moffat made them kiss. Never mind either that choking is a very common form of domestic violence and highly triggering for some people. Like I can tell Jodie and Sacha were staging it safely (her hand is placed over his and she’s in charge of it’s position and selling that she’s trying to stop him) but it is so very much not a good look. (And I only know they’re staging it safely because I did drama in highschool and it’s really just a variation on being dragged by the hair. Not everyone has that same experience!)
And wow... did you mean to make the Doctor so cruel? Make her DIRECTLY responsible for sending the Master to a concentration camp, to a firing squad? Because yeah, back to what I said about very good character reasons? That’s not a good light you’re painting yourself in Chibnall. You could’ve left it at the whole Twenty Committee gambit, but nope, you had to make the Doctor cruel and have her strip away the second to last ounce of protection the Master has.
3 masters in the 20th century? That’ll be fun for fans and the EU to fill in.
😟 So 13 is back to the erasing memories bullshit? Is Chibnall purposefully ignoring 12's entire era and all the lessons learned from it? (Like I mean... I suspected that Capaldi decided to decline to continue with Chibnall after meeting him and presumably talking about where Chibnall wanted to take the series, but uh... this makes me think even more so. All that work he put into Twelve learning that it’s wrong to violate someone’s memories like that, especially without consent? If they discussed any specific details about episodes I can see why he bailed.)
Chibnall. Mr Lee Haven Jones. You are both cowards. Let the Doctor kiss a girl, even if only on the forehead.
😡 Destroying Gallifrey again? Again? However I will admit I like the Doctor and the Master being the last two Time Lords again. 😍 They HAVE to be together now.
😡 Fuck Lungbarrow and anything derived from it or even remotely resembling it though. The Doctor does not, in any way, shape or form, need to be more special that the weird, nigh-immortal, super intelligent alien they already are. They do not need to be a god in the shape of an alien. (I’m okay with Time Lords being glowing squid aliens in meat suits though, but I doubt that’s what the Timeless Child is all about.)
That post-Gallifrey sequence was nice though, lots of good stuff for Whittaker and Dhawan to work with, and I am glad my suspicion this Master would be recurring is probably true. Hopefully. (Some of the comments Jodie made about Chibnall’s plans seem like this will be stretched on for far too long (until the 60th) and, though that also makes it sound like she’ll be sticking around until then too, it may mean that Dhawan’s Master only pops up once a series whenever the Timeless Child mystery is brought up again. Which I sincerely hope isn’t the case because the fandom loves him a lot and wants to see plenty more of him. And it’s not too late to insert him into more scripts for series 13 either!)
Also like... really liked that Dhawan and Whittaker got to do so much across from each other. Lots of stuff I'll interpret shippily, though a decent chunk will also get ignored or reinterpreted because it's stupid and ouch and fuck you Chibnall.
Vor subplot was basically there for a little bit of padding this episode. Which feels useless and pointless, especially the way it sort of literally fizzled out at the end. (Chibnall's not great at sticking the landing)
Also I’m very disgruntled that the BBC Voices audience response surveys haven’t been sent out yet. I hope it’s just because they’re still on holiday, because I don’t like the options why I haven’t received one.
They could not have received an order to run the surveys this series. Which uh... cocky much about your writing Chibnall?
There’s no money to run them for this series, which is a whole bunch of whelp in regards to the BBC being bled dry by the Tory government.
For some reason I’ve been kicked off the panel/no longer qualify. Which would suck. I like giving them what for.
