So, the Master is clearly struggling with dissociation in S12, right? Because I never saw this talked about directly, but it’s been on my mind since Spyfall.
The Master is obviously traumatised by the events preceding the season and trauma is what dissociation stems from, so I guess that’s what made me look out for it. And then it just seemed so blatantly obvious to me:
The constant insisting on how sure he is about what he is doing; how right it feels - while looking utterly lost. (Nothing he does makes him feel anything, because he is completely detached from his own emotions.) The unfocused eyes during important moments. (Spaced out, can’t focus, no matter how much he wants to/ knows he should.) The mood swings. I know, every Master had those to an extent, but while in his previous incarnations it seemed almost voluntary, in this one he seems completely overpowered by it. (Inability to handle emotions.) The way he frantically claps his hands on the plane, a typical grounding technique, the same way I nervously tap my nails on my phone all the time (driving all my friends nuts).
And then the way he needs the Doctor, this time. (Even more desperately than Missy, in my view.) From making her say his name (from personal experience: your best friend saying your name; very grounding, 10/10 would recommend) to forcing her to take his hand, just to feel it in his; a prove that he still exists. The constant mentions of their past, trying to get her to talk about who he was, to find comfort in her reassurance. And the way he reacts when she says his name; he almost breaks down. He doesn’t remember who he is, but she knows and he needs her to tell him; show him, so he can feel real again.
And then the apathy toward the end; he doesn’t care if he dies, because why would it matter, when he doesn’t feel alive anyway?
the way agatha immediately knew it would be rio who would be summonded as the green witch the second jen said "may she be pleasant looking" sister knew there would be only one option: her own wife.
in the club freakin it in a sensitive style
Ok I can’t wait for the edits about Agatha using the legend of The Witches Road to suck the power out of hundreds of witches for centuries.
And I just realized that’s what Rio meant when she said "You get your power and I get my bodies". They’ve been having a working relationship for years.
I’ve just always been disappointed that the only distinct physical trait of kalashtars is being thin and symmetrical, so now you can use this handy chart to roll your own sleep paralysis demon.
So now we've seen the finale, now we've seen how Rio chose to present to first Agatha before everything went wrong (coming for Nicky at his birth), and then to Nicky, while Agatha was sleeping - that gorgeous green dress, holding the green flame aloft. It's very different from the way she showed herself to Lilia.
It's also wildly different than how she chooses to appear to Agatha in the end. Rio's wild with grief. She's been pining for centuries. Agatha has just given her the most final, definitive, insulting no she could muster. There is no future here. There is no past to hold on to. There is only Agatha telling her she doesn't want her. That even in the end, she doesn't want the comfort of passing into a lover's embrace - she wants Rio masked. She wants Rio, essentially, to roleplay anonymity, strangeness, distance.
Now. Given what actually happens - and their moments of tenderness and Agatha's part in them throughout the rest of the show - I don't think we can take Agatha at face value here. But it is the first time Rio's heard Agatha's "no" when it comes to their relationship's viability.... and believed it.
To Agatha, in the moment immediately before everything went wrong, Death appeared as a beautiful woman, bedecked in green, expensive, well-made clothes. She appears the same way to Nicky. She's familiar, she's non-threatening. She tells him to come with her and he goes. She tells him no, kiss your mother, and he does. She extends her hand to him, and he takes it, and they walk together through the darkness. He knows her.
I wonder if she could ever be that version of herself again - or if it went with Nicky. I think there's a subtextual reading of what's going on in Agatha/Rio's relationship where Rio's grieving, too, but Agatha will never be able to see it, for so many reasons - where Rio's angry because she knows she'll never stop being invisible in this way. Where all she wants is for Agatha to see her.
⚠️🚨 IS YOUR CHILD TEXTING ABOUT THE LOCKED TOMB? ⛔☠️
LMAO: lyctorize me at once
OF: one flesh (one end)
TBH: try being haunted
WTF: weak thanergy, friend
SMH: siphon me harder
lore accurate chuuya canonically drives a 2006 sparkly barbie motorcycle
let him cook