purplecthulhu

Expanded from a comment to lonemagpie:



I'm really not convinced about Simms as The Master. He is so far giving the impression of a petulant schoolboy, let out of detention and hell-bent on revenge. The Master, especially Delgado, was never like that. He wasn't hyperkinetic, he wasn't petulantly or gratuitously insulting, he wasn't threatening and gloating. He was charming, the ideal iron fist in a velvet glove. Polite, charming, warm, until the veil lifted and menace and evil were revealed.

I don't think Simms is unsalvageable - he might be reveling in a plan coming together after so long and we'll get something more like Delgado when things start to go wrong, or if we get to see him at an earlier stage of a later plan. But at the moment, not happy.

I think a lot of the fannish squeeage about the episode around the net is because of the window dressing, the nods to the past of the series - jellybabies, laser screwdriver, clangers-to-teletubbies, UNIT, Gallifrey, Jack, and the presence of The Master, even if he's not that great. Take all that away and what squeeage is left? A fairly incoherent plot, too similar to what RTD has written before, and some dubious characterisation of a new Master.

Things might get better next week - I hope they do - but I don't think its likely.



So all-in-all, not that impressed, especially after 4 such good episodes.