A Little Ethics-Driven Rewrite of A Scene From “Last of the Time Lords”
Spoiler Warning For Doctor Who’s “Last of the Time Lords”
Anyone who knows me can tell you one thing about me: I’m a hardcore Whovian. I love Doctor Who with a burning passion, it is my favourite show, and it probably always will be. There’s something about the premise of a two-hearted alien traveling around time and space in a blue box that’s bigger on the inside that just gets my imagination pumping. I’d argue it’s one of the most malleable storytelling formats in pop culture history, and that is probably the biggest reason I love it so much. Across six decades, fourteen lead actors, 39 (soon to be 40) series of television, 300+ televised stories and countless pieces of expanded media under its belt, this thing is big.
Just because I love Doctor Who, it doesn’t mean I think every single moment in its 61-year history is perfect. There’s a lot of moments that suck for for one reason or another, whether it be weak characterisation, botched execution or dodgy internal ethics. That last one in particular sparked this little essay you’re reading right now. There is one scene that keeps rattling around in my head and whenever I rewatch it, I find myself frustrated by its optics and moral stance in relation to the story it’s in. The objective of this piece is to find a way to reframe and tweak this scene to make it more interesting and less iffy.
The scene in question comes from the 2005–2022 era’s third series, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Freema Agyeman as his companion Martha Jones, specifically the final episode, “Last of the Time Lords”. Some context: The Master, the Doctor’s arch-rival, has just been defeated. Having spent the last year subjugating the Earth, killing its citizens, and torturing Martha’s family, not to mention his wife Lucy, the Master is a prisoner. When the subject of what’s to be done with him comes up, both Martha’s dad Clive and sister Tish suggest executing him, to which the Doctor objects and states “That’s not the solution”. Martha’s mother Francine picks up a gun and aims it as the Master, and the Doctor tries and talks her out of it by insisting she’s better than the Master. She can’t bring herself to kill the man who made her and her loved ones’ life hell, despite the Master’s goading, and lowers the gun, crying. The Doctor then states he’ll take responsibility for the Master as the only other Time Lord left in existence and watch over him, an idea that the Master clearly finds repellent. However, Lucy then shoots the Master, who refuses to regenerate purely to spite the Doctor, leaving him sobbing over the Master’s dead body.
So, I like parts of this scene. I like the idea of Francine not being able to kill the Master, providing a nice bit of emotional vulnerability and showing that not everyone has the stomach for revenge, and I love the Master’s death scene because it allows David Tennant to give one hell of a performance as he is left, once again, the last of the Time Lords purely through his best enemy’s sheer bloody-mindedness. The part of the scene I really don’t like is the Doctor’s castigating of the Jones family for wanting to kill the Master not being called out by Francine. It makes sense that the Doctor, especially the pacifistic anti-gun Ten, does not want the Master to be killed, given his whole damage with being the last of his species. However, it is really uncomfortable to have the Doctor telling the Master’s victims that killing their abusive oppressor is bad, and not to address it. It makes the Doctor seem quite insensitive, but that in and of itself isn’t the problem. A flawed protagonist is not an issue, but those flaws being unchallenged by the story can be, and in this case absolutely is. The Doctor’s strident “don’t kill the genocidal tyrant” rhetoric being unchallenged, and his tacit suggestion that Francine killing the Master would make her as bad as him is a little bit gross, and undercuts an otherwise decent finale.
Before I forget, I’m also half-and-half on the Doctor’s line, “I forgive you”, which works as the rejoinder that breaks the Master’s confidence. It works in terms of the characters, with the Doctor being in the position to forgive being framed as a sign the Master has been defeated. Whilst it could be read as the Doctor forgiving the Master for all his crimes against humanity, which would compound the problem because the Doctor shouldn’t be forgiving the Master on Earth’s behalf, it could be a more general forgiveness for their years–long feud, or the specific humiliation and pain the Master caused to the Doctor. Because of the ambiguity, I’m not touching it in this essay.
With all this in mind, here’s my proposal for a tweaked version of this scene that doesn’t break the flow of the scene, still allows for Francine and the Doctor’s respective intense emotional moments, and maybe even adds some nuance to the Doctor’s worldview:
The question of what is to be done with The Master is raised by Jack. Both Clive and Tish suggest execution. The Doctor pushes back against this, whilst Francine picks up a gun and points it at the Master. However, when the Doctor tries to discourage Francine, she asks him plainly something along the lines of: what makes you think you can tell me not to kill the man who tortured me and my family? Forgive him yourself if you want, but don’t try and force me to. The Doctor thinks about this for a second, conflicting emotion on his face, before he nods and steps back, letting Francine know one bullet won’t kill him. She resolves to at least kill this incarnation, in a form of catharsis, but she can’t because she’s not a killer at the end of the day. The Doctor then tells her he’s sorry, before telling the Master he intends to keep watch over him, and then Lucy shoots him, and the scene plays out as normal from there.
I’m not saying this rewrite is perfect, and I’d be lying if I said I was 100% satisfied with it. But I think that a few extra lines would have given this scene some more moral play and dealt with the Tenth Doctor’s myopia without removing what made that incarnation tick. Keep in mind, this rewrite was done out of love, because I really do adore this show, and I think the various ways each incarnation handles justice and forgiveness is interesting.
