So the season 3 finale sees the Doctor come face to face with a fellow Time Lord, although probably not the one he was hoping to see again, it's the Master!
The Doctor, Martha and Jack arrive back on Earth to discover that the Master has used his hypnotic ways to become Prime Minister of Great Britain. He's also married a woman called Lucy. There's just something weird about seeing the Master with a wife. I suppose technically the Eric Roberts incarnation had a wife temporarily before killing her and becoming all camp ("I always dress for the occasion" I mean what were they thinking!)
The Master's plan is to conquer the Earth by taking over it with the help of the desperate humans from the end of the universe as seen in the previous episode, who have now devolved into kind of mutant blob things who live in metal balls...yeah I don't really understand it either but just go with it. Future humans killing past humans should cause a paradox but fortunately the Master has the TARDIS which he is using as a paradox machine which can hold the instability in place. This paradox machine also acts as this years Duex Ex Machina when at the end of the story it can be destroyed and the last yeah of hell with the Master in control can be completely erased just like Superman spinning thr world backwards to turn back time. Yep the ending is utter garbage but lets not get ahead of ourselves.
There are some cool call backs to previous Master stories, such as the Master watching an episode of Tellytubies similar to how his Delgado incarnation enjoyed an episode of The Clangers in the 1970s story The Sea Devils. Speaking of The Sea Devils, they also get a mention! As well as the Axons! Why have the Axons never been brought back?? They would be really cool, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time.
We also have a great scene where the Doctor and the Master have a face off over a telephone conversation. This sort of mirrors the very first time they met in Terror Of The Autons which was over a phone line.
By the stories end, the Master's plans are defeated (obviously) and the Doctor claims he will take him into his own care in the TARDIS. That would have been a weird set up, but I guess no different to Turlough constantly trying to kill the fifth Doctor. Unfortunately we never get to see this as Lucy shoots the Master dead right in front of everyone and he dies in the Doctor's arms. This is one of the stand out moments really. Clearly the Master is a right pain in the ass but the Doctor is so desperate not to be the final Time Lord that he ends up pleading with the Master to regenerate, only for the Master to refuse and die.
So no one on Earth can remember the year under the Master's control apart from those at the eye of the storm which includes Martha and her increasingly dumb family. They finally realise that the Doctor is the good guy in all of this but having suffered through a year under the rule of a terrible dictator, Martha decides she can't leave them so decides to hand in her TARDIS key. Well she claims that's the reason but then she goes on to basically admit that she is love what the Doctor and knows that he will never feel the same so she is quitting whilst she is ahead. Good on you girl! I like Martha, and fortunately she's not gone completely yet!
So that was season 3. Some pretty bad stinkers in there (Daleks In Manhatten, 42) but also some absolute classics (Human Nature, Blink). The series ended with the cliffhanger of the Titanic crashing through the TARDIS but it will be quite a while until that is resolved as I have a whole series of The Sarah Jane Advenures to get through now!
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