#dw: spyfall

[dooweeedooguy]

alr i noticed this whole ago i thought id share it with y'all anyone notice that the 13th doctor's coat for her tux looks a lot like it couldve been one of the 12th doctor's old coats, in-universe? like it has the iconic red lining of his and not to mention it being a bit oversized for 13

(here're two more pics of 13 from her first ep in 12's coat and 12 from The Lie of The Land for comparison)

[causalityparadoxes]

A morsel for my lovely Rogue!Master truthers

[dandelionjack]

random out of the blue theory-slash-headcanon regarding "Rogue": he's either a Time Agent, Division or CIA. the whirlwind romance was a honeypot for the Doctor, practically textbook spycraft. and it worked.

the Doctor loves to fall for morally grey rascals, right? so they, whoever 'they' are, construct a perfectly designed handsome bounty hunter for the Doctor to become enchanted by, complete with a 'heart of gold' and undue self-sacrificial heroism.

then a monster. there needs to be a monster. since this is all play-acting and showmanship, make them cosplayers. draw the Doctor in. make the puzzle irresistible for him.

break his heart. enthrall his mind. entice him to place the tracker ring onto his finger of his own accord. gather intelligence: confirm that this is The Doctor, the sole living Time Lord in the universe, highly dangerous entity, war criminal of his own admittance, and my oh my, what a prize. what a bounty on his head. but not quite yet. Rogue's recon mission along with his Chuldur fellow travellers was just for information, and they got that aplenty, TARDIS console tour and all.

all six of them were oddly calm as Rogue pressed send on the triform trap: they weren't going to a barren dimension. they were headed back to Headquarters, ready to report a successful task completed.

[thetorturedlovergirl]

Happy anniversary to the scene where The Master’s eyes check out The Doctor’s face and for one second land on her lips.

[starleska]

oh (O) dear. friends, i have begun Thirteen's era and regret to say...the Master's finally gotten me (again) 😳😳😳💖💖💖

[ssaalexblake]

honestly the best moment in the woman who fell to earth is when Yaz and Ryan are tasked with operating a crane by the doctor and they have to youtube it to work out how. So underappreciated. So realistic. Of Course they'd go on youtube to work it out and of course there's be a video on there telling people how to work a crane.

[acetheta]

hi so idk how many doctor who nerds are familiar with aboriginal australian mythology lmaooo but ive learned about it in school a bit and as i did it seemed vv familiar

so as you (probably) know spyfall pt.2 takes part in place in australia right? well!

in aboriginal mythology there is this thing called the dreaming. the dreaming was basically this realm that was “shaped by the actions of mythical creatures”. it is this kind of in between realms, right? an other.

so that doesn’t have to be related to thr kasaavin right? well dwdw theres more,.

one of these “creatures” are known as the great fertility mothers, which basically created the first humans. i think that could relate to how the kasaavin have been around for eons. they have always been around, right? they didnt just appear one day.

now really these could be coincidences, but then u get to this idea of totemism, and tjurungas.

basically, totems would serve as agents, playing certain people in the land of the Dreaming? Look familiar?

seeing this image is what got me thinking about this, because wow ur telling me these long wooden objects connect u to another realm, one that is shaped by the actions of mythical creatures? huh. thats interesting.

lastly, the idea of the tjurunga. basically it was a ritual object, most often made of wood or stone, that represented the manifestation of a mythical being. kinda reminds me of this, yeah?

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Chibnall's Master is just a mess of motivations, and it's no surprise that many struggle with this take on the character, but it's frustrating when some get mad about this, insisting that the character isn't badly written, people "just don't understand them" and then rattle off a load of headcanons to explain them that are exclusively things fans made up to fill in the gaps in Chibnall's characterisation.

[glitterywastelandobject]

Broken pieces of the night

Sing like hollow lullabies.

You and I, always in disguises—

Lover, hunter, friend, and enemy.

You will always be every one of these.

If this isn't the Doctor and the Master, I don't know what is.

[firstofficerkittycat]

every time someone makes a video about the worst dw episode in terms of badly handling social issues and mention multiple chibnall episodes but not spyfall i feel like im losing it

[dooweeedooguy]

why does she have a flip-phone

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

There are a lot of issues with Dhawan!Master’s writing, but one thing I think they did right was the Agent O thing. He just hung out being friends with her. For years. No way did he have to work on a plan that took that long. He liked being able to be proper friends with her while being sort-of-mostly himself. Maybe he missed what Missy built up with Twelve and kind of regretted throwing it away. Anyway I just like imagining that era

[dandelionjack]

ohhh my god and still he’s doing it all for her

he asks her why she didn’t die when the kasaavin attacked her, knowing full well the answer to that: he knew they wouldn’t kill her, because he’d never allow that to happen. he could destroy everything, gain the ‘maximum carnage’ he’s dreaming of, rule as king of a ruined universe, but he would keep her alive for as long as he’s there, no matter how much he convinces her or even himself otherwise. it’s been the same with every incarnation. he doesn’t want her dead, not really. they’d be unbearably lonely without one another. intertwined in a deadly dance on top of the world

[thetorturedlovergirl]

Happy anniversary to my mentally ill babygirl with iconic moments, bad executed ideas but memorable outfits. Hope the tooth is more comfortable than the Rasputin outfit, but never as iconic.

[prosocialbehavior]

UNIT, self-preservation, and the Doctor

so UNIT is sus, right, we know this, they're getting too powerful for their own good and I feel like everyone is expecting them to get infiltrated or corrupted or something for a season finale plot twist in the near future. but lately I've been thinking about the weird and impossible position they're in.

so! you're in charge of the planet's main (only? idk what torchwood is up to these days) line of defense against alien attack, and your species has been adopted by a sort of alien trickster god.

this eccentric, erratic alien with apparently godlike power has decided to attach themself to you. The Doctor is benevolent and willing to sacrifice almost anything up to and including their own life for the good of the human race, but they're also unpredictable, unreliable, egotistical. you know what happened the last time a human authority crossed a moral line they decided was unforgivable:

so your organization is technically independent, but there are certain decisions you can't make, otherwise the Doctor might decide the weeds need trimming. you're in theory the highest military authority when it comes to alien conflicts, but if you decide to shoot those guys attacking you with your giant ray gun, there's every chance this guy could crawl out of the woodwork to burn your house down. you can't take any action without also taking the Doctor into consideration.

so what do you do?

maybe when they show up, you take them under your power. they're humanity's strongest asset and you need to make sure you have at least some measure of control over their actions.

but now that you've got them, how do you keep them from wandering off on a whim? how do you keep them inclined to work with you?

you formally grant them the power that is de facto already theirs. you rely on them, blatantly and obviously, making it clear that you need their help and their presence to have any hope of survival. you flatter their ego and encourage their attachment to you.

but in the end, it's been proven that nothing will keep the Doctor anywhere they don't want to be, and nothing will stay their hand when they've decided something needs to be destroyed for the greater good. so how do you make sure your organization stays on the safe side of that line? how do you sway the Doctor's judgment?

you employ their weak spot.

the people the your alien protector trusts, loves, has chosen, you bring them into the fold, and so you bring yourself into their fold. the Doctor can't attack you without attacking them, and their trust will rub off on you and your organization. you find what they value most in the world and keep it close.

so you end up with this defense organization which is semi-independent, but also built up totally around this one individual.

the Doctor is the most passionate defender you could hope for, but they also cut off your own ability to defend yourself. a good amount of your defense protocols center around hoping this guy happens to turn up. you HAVE to rely on their support, and you also have to fawn, flatter, and appease them if you want your organization to go on existing. if you want to get away with anything they might seriously disapprove of, your only option is to dazzle and flatter them, collect their friends, and hope they won't look close enough to find your secrets.

I'm not saying Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is some kind of Machiavelli spending all her time finding ways to manipulate the Doctor. but I am saying that UNIT probably has a protocol somewhere saying that in times of absolute crisis, if the Doctor shows up, the first thing you should do is dangle candy in front of their face by means of having someone they like give them a great big hug.