| MASTER by Joseph Lidster |
| Story 49 Synopsis: Dr John Smith invites his two oldest friends, Victor and Jacqueline Shaeffer, to a special meal to celebrate his 10th anniversary in the town of Perfugium. Victor is perturbed by a recent spate of murders. John is perturbed by his persistent amnesia about his past. Jacqueline suggests using a ouija board to try and find answers. During their effort, there is a lightning strike outside, which Jacqueline sees affect a strange man. John and Victor bring him in, where John treats him. He soon recovers, calling himself Dr Vaughn Sutton, in the area to find a friend. John tells him about the recent murders, and his thoughts on the subject of evil. Sutton knows there is evil inside John, though he is unaware of it. John has begun to hear strange whispers. Victor and Jacqueline are surprised to find chaos around Sutton, and when John's cat dies, Sutton decides he has no option but to let John know the truth. He explains about the Master and the Doctor, and that he doesn't have to go back to his old self. But the housemaid, Jade, comes, and reveals that she too has a secret identity - she is Death, and the Master is her Champion. The Doctor made a deal with her to allow the Master these past 10 years, on condition that the Doctor killed him at the end of it. The Doctor can't do it. Death reveals that Victor is the missing murderer. John admits he loves Jacqueline, and the Doctor feels that with her alive, he won't become the Master again. But Death drives Victor to kill Jacqueline. Death then gives the Master a choice - to save Jacqueline, he must kill Victor, though either way, he will become the Master again. The Doctor vows that one day he will save the Master from being his burden. |
| Review:- The 3rd of 3 plays examening the motives of the Doctor's enemies leads to a return for the Master, last heard in Dust Breeding. Here, in a supposedly-haunted house, he lives in ignorance of his past, unaware of the cruel nature which has been suppressed. When the Doctor arrives by chance, his past comes back to haunt him... For the most part, this play works very well indeed. Philip Madoc as Victor is one of the best guest stars to feature in the original series, and Geoffrey Beevers returns to the title role with a softer tone than usual, in line with his different personality. The secluded setting is a cliche, but still effective, and the mystery of the missing murderer, and John's missing identity, keep things buzzing along nicely up until the arrival of the Doctor. Enjoyably, the Doctor and John hit it off immediately, and with the former recovering unnaturally quickly from being struck by lightning (!), their intellects drive forward the search for answers - though John is unaware of the danger of the truth. At one remove, the Doctor is apparently relating the tale to a young assassin, as if to put him off his actions. This device doesn't really work, except as a way of bridging some awkward scenes in the 3rd part, especially when the Doctor relates the huge info-dump accounting for the Master's origin... ...and it is this which is the crux of the play. That a savage over-reaction to a bully, resulting in death, led to a life of killing. When Death turns up at the end of this part, things start to go to hell... ...and the topper revelation that the murderer wasn't the Master at all, but the Doctor, who then evaded his destiny by getting Death to take his friend instead. And they both later left Gallifrey as part of a voluntary cover-up. And I just do not buy that one bit. It's slightly feasible that the Master might become inured to a life of killing after such an early encounter with it, but to suggest that the Doctor should not only do the deed, but cowardly weasel out of it and condemn his best friend, so that he can be free and then spend the rest of his life trying to free his friend again? If this were entirely a standalone play, with no telly series to precede it, then it might just about get off, but not as it stands. It pretends that actions have specific consequences, which isn't necessarily true. To suppose that the Doctor became a resolute force for good because of a moment of weakness is rather more far-fetched than the idea that he was just a good person who wanted to help those who need it. Sadly, whilst this principle was intended as a answer to the riddle of the Master's behaviour, it casts more light on the Doctor instead, and to no great benefit to either. The physical presence of Death doesn't help the play, either. It's a blatant abdication of a writer's responsibility, resorting to elemental characters to avoid honest handling of issues. The Master becomes irresponsible because he is Death's Champion, and though he denies it, has been working for her. Just complete crap. To add further insult, the outer story of the assassin is fizzed away when he realises that the Doctor has meant to kill him, and still can't. So, instead of killing the Doctor, which is the only way she can get even, Death lets him go, and the Doctor remains hopeful that he'll win his friend back, one day. None of this treats the subject seriously, and so neither can I. As a play exploring why a slightly-psychotic power-mad alien should find killing so comfortable, it fails because it cannot understand the real motives of killers. Ultimately futile. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |