10 Disturbing Doctor Who Implications You Totally Missed

2. Lucy Saxon's Black Eye

Doctor Who Last of the Time Lords Lucy Saxon
BBC

Harold and Lucy Saxon's marriage was always a bit messed up, but it clearly got way worse during Last of the Time Lords' year from hell.

It's easy to miss in some moments, but Lucy Saxon can be seen sporting a pretty nasty-looking black eye during the Series 3 finale, signalling that the Master isn't just a genocidal megalomaniac, he's also a domestic abuser.

The black eye is never mentioned in the script for obvious reasons (too brutal and too real for the kids at home), which is presumably why so many Doctor Who fans completely missed it. With Scissor Sisters dance routines, Dobby Doctors, and the big, bombastic nature of RTD's finales, it's easy to overlook something so subtly handled, but this does provide clear motive for Lucy's murder of the Master at the end of the episode.

This detail also makes The End of Time even more traumatic. A domestic abuse survivor, serving time for killing her abuser and finally reconciling her past and her pain, is forced to watch this monster come back to life. That sort of incredibly dark melodrama isn't out of place on BBC1 on Christmas Day – it's just usually found in EastEnders and not Doctor Who.

In this post: 
Doctor Who
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies.