I thought we were not gonna see the Master for a bit after ‘Mind of Evil’, but here he is again! And he was the star of the show. For someone that acts sooo dignified, he can get into just as much trouble as the Doctor. You’re saying he escaped Earth last episode and was almost immediately captured by the Axons? Loser. Anyway, he’s back, this time in a I help you you help me deal with these Axons: he leads them to Earth and gives them knowledge on time travel, they free him, give him back his TARDIS, and kill the whole planet + the Doctor, as a treat. Typical Master plan. How did the Doctor put it in ‘Terror of the Autons’? Vicious, complicated and inefficient. 

The Master does it all in this one. He’s captured, he’s hypnotizing people, he’s killing people with the ray gun, he’s wearing a mask, he’s breaking into the TARDIS, he’s fixing the TARDIS, he’s criticizing the Doctor for being messy, he’s making deals, he’s working for UNIT for like 10 minutes, he’s running away with the Doctor, he’s running away without the Doctor. Great great great stuff. Now, I’ve been a good girl and kept quiet so far, but I shall not be silent any longer. The levels of Thoschei in this whole season are astronomical. Amazing to see that this ‘ooh they’re exes and the breakup was bad’ energy has been with them from the very beginning. Pertwee and Delgado are great together. They both approach their roles with a certain aura of dignity (read: both the Master and the Doctor snobs), and when they turn that towards each other it’s always very funny to see. That bit where they’re trying to fly the TARDIS but the Doctor forgets to put that little piece back, suddenly remembers, tries to put it back quietly, the Master realises, somehow rolls his eyes without rolling his eyes (Delgado is great at this particular look), and they both just silently agree to ignore what just happened… That’s cinema, my friends.

Other little comments: my girl Jo didn’t get to do much this time apart from yelling at a government official, but neither did anyone else apart from the Master, so I’ll let it slide. The Axon threat was pretty good! Seemed like their plan had good chances of actually succeeding. The Doctor was this close to saying ‘timey-whimey’ 40 years too soon in his attempt to explain the time loop to the UNIT gang; not that Three ever would, he’s too chic for that kind of language. They went all out with the sets and costumes on this one, it all looked pretty cool.

And finally, SHE’S BACK ONLINE BABEYYY, WELCOME BACK, WORKING TARDIS!!! And thanks to the Master, who’d have thunk? One thing: did the TARDIS herself show him that he needed that light-accelerator switch thingummy to fix the Dematerialization Circuit? From what I understood, the screen on the round things just turned on out of nowhere, zoomed on that bit of the machine, and the Master went “Oh, of course”. Huh. Anyway. I really liked Three’s exile stories. He was constantly trying to fix the TARDIS, visibly upset at being stuck in one place, and I think it worked very well for the character. Gave him something to rebel against, and a very clear goal to work towards. Things are not 100% fixed, though. The TARDIS is rigged to return him to Earth like a “galactic yoyo”, but at least we can move about a bit. At the right time too. I do love the UNIT stories, but it was getting a bit repetitive.