Don't Kill Bill

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Doctor Who series 10 episode 11: World Enough and Time.

Full Frontal Missy (Image: BBC/Doctor Who)

Missy: “Hello, I’m Doctor Who, and these are my plucky assistants, Thing One and … the other one. We picked up your distress call, and here we are to help, like awesome heroes.”

Thing One and … the other one.
(Image: BBC/Doctor Who)

If you are into humiliation, you no doubt loved yesterdays penultimate episode of series 10 of Doctor Who: World Enough and Time. In all fairness it's title should have been "Kill Bill". Seriously. Shooting a hole through Bill? If only scriptwriter Steve Moffat had disposed of Clara like that!

When the era of the impossible girl finally came to an end - there are rumours, she'll be back for the 2017 Christmas episode, yikes - I argued Clara was the dominant partner in her relationship with the Doctor. The same cannot be said for Bill but World Enough and Time has a strong femdom undercurrent, the most obvious one being enslavement. This episode deals with the genesis of the Cybermen, they are in the very early stages where they still have human hands and their head covered in cloth rather than metal.

The Silence are the scariest opponents the Doctor has ever encountered. Usually silver is awarded to the Daleks and bronze goes to the Cybermen. The main difference between the two of them is that Daleks are hell-bent on exterminating everyone, indiscriminatingly, whereas the Cybermen merely want to 'upgrade' humans. Personally I'd rather die than to be stripped of my body and have my brain implanted in a metal body and being robbed of my free will. Whichever way you look at it, being turned into a Cyberman is enslavement at its most horrific. And that is just the beginning.

I've seen that face before (Image: BBC/Doctor Who)

This week's episode shows just how painful the conversion process is. At first I didn't get it when Bill turned up the dial on one of the Cybermen. I assumed the drip feed took care of the pain, more or less. How naive. Changing the dial isn't about the amount of pain, it's simply a volume knob, perhaps best reminiscent of a gag in femdom.

Of course the evil doctor that [who] performs a full conversion on poor Bill later on, has a solution of sorts. He shows his victim some kind of strange contraption that will be fitted to her soon-to-be converted head. It doesn't take away the pain, it just makes you ignore it. Sounds a lot like the advice some dommes dish out about the need for slaves to learn how to channel pain. Zen-like and so on, I guess. Still, seeing the Cybermen in their early stages of conversion, just sitting there while calmly stating "PAIN, PAIN, PAIN, PAIN..." is rather unsettling.

Missy or the Mistress

This season's highlight no doubt has been Michelle Gomez' incarnation of a female Timelord. For some reason she is called Missy, rather than the Mistress. It is something the programme has no credible answer for:

"Well…   couldn’t very well keep calling myself the Master, now, could I?"

(Image: BBC/Doctor Who)

Early on in series 10 the audience is informed of Bill's preference for girls. Clearly Steven Moffat decided to drive the point of sexual freedom home in this second-to-last episode. After Bill is shot there is a flashback where she and the Doctor are talking. Bill doesn't want to embark upon an adventure with Missy, someone who scares the living daylights out of her. The Doctor reminisces of a time when he and Missy - they're longtime frenemies - made a pact to visit each and every star. Back then Missy was the Master [you see how silly 'Missy' sounds?] and the Doctor confesses the Master was his first 'man-crush'. He can't quite remember if he was female or male back then. Not that it really matters:

“So Time Lords are a bit flexible on the whole man/woman thing, yeah?”

“We’re billions of years beyond your petty obsession with gender and its associated stereotypes.”

No doubt some will object to this rather cool 'live and let live' sexual morale but it opens up a whole new avenue of [im]possibilities. This week's episode starts with a cold opening, literally, when the Doctor stumbles out of the Tardis and into the snow, as if he is about to regenerate. Just like there are people who prefer the next Bond to be Jane Bond, many root for the next Doctor to be female. Why not? The Master has turned into Missy [still silly] and the Doctor can't remember whether some of his early regenerations were male or female. One wonders whether Missy is the prototype for the first [on-screen] female Doctor. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that writer Steven Moffat is laying the groundwork for the first female Doctor Who with Missy. His tenure is coming to an end. A new showrunner - Chris Chibnall - will soon take over. These are his choices to make.

Missy in full control?

Another noticeable femdom-thingy is that only two weeks before the whole Cybermen menace erupted the Doctor and Bill are rescued from Victorian Mars (don't ask if you haven't seen it) by Missy flying his Tardis. Unfortunately for Nardole, he had to call the only tech support available. The Doctor may have saved the day, but it is Missy [still hate that name] who saves the Doctor. Who is the Mistress [Master] now?

From there on things go downhill. A week later, with Missy already being out of her personal 1000-year vault, she is spotted making repairs to his Tardis. Now that's a big thing. A Tardis has something akin to a soul. A Timelord's travel device is highly personal, it chooses you rather than the other way around. Remember how River Song, his recently deceased wife, was more adept at flying it than the Doctor because she was conceived in it?

And this week we have Missy playing catch up with her past. Apparently Timelords cannot remember running into their earlier regenerations. How convenient, given that most scifi books and movies warn of the disastrous effects of running into yourself.

Baddies of the universe unite! Sorry Bill. (Image: BBC/Doctor Who)

Unfortunately for the lovers of happy endings, this week's episode ends on a high for Missy, whatever she course of action she chooses. If she returns to old-skool evil she might go along with whatever plan the Master has been hatching all along. Personally I very much doubt that the Master and Missy will get along - their selfish nature will prove an insurmountable obstacle. Then again, it really doesn't matter. If Missy goes bad, she wins. If she rescues the Doctor, she also wins. [Oh boy, did I just really say mistress always wins?]

This week's episode left us with one crucial clue regarding the mindset of Missy. When the Doctor is threatened by the blue man, Missy tells Mr. Blue that killing the Doctor is her prerogative and no-one else's! Now wouldn't that be interesting? Just don't count on it. My bet is that Missy disposes herself of the Master and comes up with her own evil plan. Whatever the outcome, Missy and no-one else is in full control. How femdom is that?

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Notes
1) Bill is probably dead meat and a single season companion only, see the Sunday Express. The good ones always go first, unfortunately.
2) On a related note, it might very well be that where Clara started out as a Dalek, Bill will end up as a Cyberman.

(Image: BBC/Doctor Who)

3) My bet is that the new Doctor will be introduced during the 2017 Christmas episode, hence the cold opening with the snow. That would be one huge cliffhanger.
4) Yesterday's show reminded me of "The girl in the fireplace" my favourite Doctor Who episode. Both deal with two people who experience differently how quickly time goes by.
5) A female Doctor? I doubt it, for various reason. Doctor Who is sold to many countries and the BBC won't risk harming their franchise by introducing a female lead. Misogyny? Yes.
6) The RadioTimes has an excellent (and geeky) article on the origins of the Cybermen.
6) Don't worry, my next article will be very serious, like what is proper protocol for serious subs or the unique characteristics of true slaves and Real Dommes.