Best New Who Master

[burrunjor]

This villain has definitely been the most mangled out of all the classic series characters. 

Depressingly there have been as many new who masters as classic who masters too, but which one do you think was the best? 

I'm going to say Jacobi as he was the only one that even attempted to try and play the Master and he was also the best actor overall. After him though it would probably be Dhawan. He was in the absolute worst story of them all with the Timeless Children, and he played it as being more of a Joker knock off, but at the very least he did seem like a proper enemy of the Doctor. None of the I want to be your friend bullshit. 

Missy was the absolute worst of them all meanwhile. An utter travesty, whilst Simm was marginally better, but looking back on it, still more of a cheap Joker knock off than a proper Master. 

[Deleted]

Dhawan is growing on me somewhat. When he was talking to Tegan and Ace I sort of believed he actually knew them. I probably wouldn't have believed it if Missy had spoken to them.

[rushy]

1. It's John Simm to me and it's not even close. Most of the Master's depth in my eyes came from his performances in Sound of Drums and End of Time, when we see him be genuinely tempted by the idea of being friends with the Doctor again after the trauma of the Time War. You can tell how both of them sort of wish things had been different, but they also know they can never truly change and the Master's pride will always get the better of him. I absolutely loved that his death in End of Time involved saving the Doctor. It was a great ending for his arc.

2. Sir Derek Jacobi added a sense of classical gravitas that I miss from the part.

3. Sacha Dhawan showed some promise, was very enthusiastic about the part and kept the Master's inflated sense of ego so at least he still feels like a version of the character. My main problem with him is that Chibnall writes him to be very hammy, and I don't think Dhawan does that nearly as well as John Simm did. He always comes off as a shy, soft-spoken man who is being forced to act over the top.

4. Michelle Gomez is a fine actress, but the character was never written to be the Master so she is at the bottom by default.