Despite not being present physically, the Master played quite the role in the third Doctor Who special “The Giggle.” Don’t worry, the Doctor’s oldest and most snappily dressed adversary hasn’t been replaced with the all-singing all-dancing Toymaker; the Master is still very much in play.
What happened to the Master?
Last time we saw the Master, back in the episode “The Power of the Doctor,” he was played by Sacha Dhawan. (Like the Doctor, the Master changes faces, genders, and pronouns frequently.) He attempted to switch places with the Doctor, then played by Jodie Whittaker, but was thwarted. And while his actions caused the Doctor to regenerate, the Master still lost. He was left behind on a disintegrating planet … but then the Toymaker came along.
What did the Toymaker do to the Master?
The Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) explained with relish what he did to the Master. “The Master was dying and begged for his life with one final game,” he tells David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor. “And when he lost, I sealed him for all eternity inside my gold tooth.” Cue the Toymaker showing off the sparkly gold inside his mouth.
How did this happen?! Maybe the tooth is a TARDIS? Or more likely, the Toymaker simply warped reality the way he did during his fabulous Spice Girls dance sequence.
Sadly, we don’t get to see exactly what went down between the Master and the Toymaker, but what a great back-and-forth that must have been. (Hopefully it contained at least one musical number.) Maybe we’ll see it in a flashback one day?
What happened to that gold tooth?
At the end of the episode the Toymaker is defeated by—wait for it—not one, but two Doctors. David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa share the screen as the Toymaker is removed from existence. But after that, the gold tooth plinks to the floor. And then, just when you thought the scene was over, a hand with red painted fingernails picks the tooth up.
Now, this has happened to The Master before! It’s a nice little callback. In the 2007 episode “Last of the Time Lords” a very similar hand with red nail varnish picks the Master’s ring up from his funeral pyre. Of course, he wasn’t totally gone, and in “The End of Time” two years later that hand was revealed to have belonged to a person named Miss Trefusis (Sylvia Seymour), a member of a cult who wanted to bring the Master back. The cult members succeeded at the cost of their own lives and the Master was free to terrorize Earth and the Doctor once more.
So who’s the person who picked up the Master this time? We don’t know yet, but some Who fans on social media have noticed something interesting about Kate Stewart (Jenna Redgrave).
However, Kate is an ally of the Doctor, so if it is her, what’s her motivation for saving the gold tooth? To ensure the Master really is locked away so he can’t threaten the planet, maybe?
Is the Master coming back?
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Showrunner Russell T. Davies hasn’t given any indication that he’s planning to use the Master in the upcoming season with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor. However, if he did want to, Sacha Dhawan would happy to return to the role. He told the Radio Times this October:
“I’ve been seeing all the speculation in the press [about Doctor Who] and I have such major FOMO. I know it’s going to be so good, as well. I think it’s good to maybe have a break from it, and if I was asked to maybe come back, I think I’d inject a new lease of life into it now having had a break from it.”
But there’s also speculation that a brand new actor or actress could step into the Master’s shoes. Some have even wondered if maybe that’s the unknown role Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan has been cast in.
One thing’s for sure, the Master’s definitely not gone from the Doctor’s life. And that’s the tooth.
