Doctor Who review: The War Master reigns supreme in He Who Wins
By James Aggas
The final episode of The War Master: Anti-Genesis features the Doctor Who villain finally ruling over everything. But is it really what he wants?
What happens when the Master wins? In some ways, the whole series of The War Master has been very much about exploring that question. Whereas in Doctor Who, he’s always bound to lose, the box sets Only the Good, The Master of Callous and Rage of the Time Lords have all featured him winning, to some degree. Usually when he’s working for the Time Lords, or at least working towards a smaller goal.
But Anti-Genesis takes that question one step further: what if the Master won during one of his more insane schemes? What would happen if one of his plans for ruling the whole of the universe actually worked? Most of the box set has been focused around that question, but it’s the final episode, He Who Wins, that gives us the answer.
Unsurprisingly, this is the episode that focuses on Derek Jacobi’s Master the most. More than that – it gives us fresh sides to him. Usually, the War Master is extremely confident, even when compared to most of his other incarnations. He knows how to plan carefully, and even when things do go wrong, he knows how to improvise. No matter what the situation, the War Master always feels in control.
At least, that’s how he usually feels. But he’s not quite himself in He Who Wins…
Seán Carlsen (Narvin), Derek Jacobi (The Master) and Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks) all feature in the final episode of The War Master: Anti-Genesis.
(Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions.)
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Parallel Masters
Derek Jacobi is fantastic to listen to in He Who Wins. Of course, he’s always brilliant, but in this story, the Master feels more openly vulnerable. Not in spite of being at the top but rather because of it. Because there’s nowhere for him to go but down. It’s great to hear this Master at both his highest and his lowest points, and Jacobi portrays both conflicting sides of his character perfectly.
On top of that, following his Master’s reintroduction in Shockwave, Mark Gatiss also features in this episode. And even better, the two Masters actually meet! This allows for a rather unusual multi-Master story, as they’re not technically different incarnations of the same man, but parallel versions. So while there’s a clear similarity there, they also have very different perspectives, too.
It’s fantastic to hear Jacobi and Gatiss performing together. They’re both fantastic as the Master, and writer Nicholas Briggs clearly had a lot of fun giving both of them great dialogue. It’s also clear that both Jacobi and Gatiss have just as much fun portraying two fantastic villains and giving each other great banter.
How well does He Who Wins resolve the epic plot of Anti-Genesis? Pretty well, I’d say. I will admit, there’s one aspect of the ending that I saw coming, but it doesn’t stop it from being a satisfying conclusion. Especially when you get to the story’s final moments.
When this box set was announced, it was done at the same time as the announcements for both The Master of Callous and Rage of the Time Lords. Currently, no further box sets have been revealed, but if this is the final box set (and it really needn’t be), then the ending is a fitting one. It’s a satisfying conclusion, which basically describes He Who Wins as a whole.
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Would you like to see the Master win on television? Or do you believe we’ve already seen that in episodes such as Last of the Time Lords? Let us know in the comments below.