Last of the Time Lords (TV story): Difference between revisions

One year after the Master's takeover and decimation of Planet Earth, the Earth (Sol 3) is announced to be closed from space traffic as it is entering extinction. On a beach on the coast of England, a man named Tom Milligan directs Martha's boat in using a lamp. She arrives back in the UK for the first time since the Toclafane invasion, having traveled the world. She tells Tom she has to talk to a woman called Professor Docherty, and asks him why he is allowed to travel. He says it is because he is a doctor, and Martha is happy to realize she is traveling with a Doctor. Tom tells Martha that she has become something of a legend around the world as the one person who can kill the Master, and asks her if this is true. She does not answer him.

The Master enters the deck of the Valiant, singing and dancing happily. He rings a bell to summon the Doctor out of his tent on the floor, commenting that there is one day until launch. The Doctor is still unnaturally aged and is now refusing to speak. He only responds when the Master mentions that Martha has apparently returned to England. He tells the Master to leave her alone. The Master tries to force him to talk more, but realizes that the "Toclafane" broke the Doctor's hearts when he realized what they are. The Doctor says he has just one thing to say, and the Master knows what it is, but the Master walks away. Francine is forced to be a waitress for the Master. Lucy looks beaten and seems to be much more miserable than she was before. Clive and Tish are also working on the Valiant. Tish's job is to feed Jack, who is chained to the engines. Tish gives Jack a hand signal to explain her plan, and Jack winks in acknowledgment.

The Master, now defenseless, is handcuffed and stands before the Doctor. The Doctor announces that, since the Master is a Time Lord, he is the Doctor's responsibility and will be imprisoned on board the TARDIS. Francine Jones is talked out of shooting the Master, but Lucy Saxon, with a glazed expression, seizes a gun herself and shoots him. Rather than be a prisoner for the rest of his lives, the Master lets himself die, refusing to regenerate despite the Doctor's desperate pleas. Just before dying in his opponent's arms, the Master muses on the constant drumming in his head, wondering if it will finally stop, and with a smile says, "I win," leaving the Doctor to weep uncontrollably for his lost adversary and fellow Time Lord. The Doctor cremates the Master's body on a pyre. However, after he leaves, a female hand wearing red nail polish is seen taking the Master's signet ring from the burnt-out pyre, while the latter's malevolent laughter echoes in the background.

In Cardiff, Jack decides to remain behind to look after his team, "defending the Earth". The Doctor disables Jack's vortex manipulator to keep him from jumping through time unsupervised. The Doctor then tells Jack there's nothing that can be done about his immortality: it seems likely he'll never be able to die — though he isn't sure about aging. Thinking about what he might look like millions of years from now, Jack confesses his vanity and recalls how, as the first person from the Boeshane Peninsula to join the Time Agency, his good looks earned him the nickname "the Face of Boe."