*Spoilers.*
I have my ups and downs with the John Simm version of the Master, but he does manage to be quite impressively evil during his tenure. Here are my picks for this Master at his bastard best.
Stranding the Doctor and His Companions (Series 3, Episode 11 – “Utopia”)
This scene remains one of my favorite cliffhangers in new Who. The newly regenerated Master starts off with quite a bang: he steals the TARDIS, stranding the Doctor, Jack, and Martha at the end of the universe. I love feeling the tension of this scene ramp up, with the Master taunting the Doctor from inside the TARDIS before gleefully peacing out.
Killing His Cabinet (Series 3, Episode 12 – “The Sound of Drums”)
The whole “funny”/“not funny” bit in this scene is absurdly overdone, but regardless of his shtick, the Master’s actions here are 100% cold-blooded. Newly elected prime minister thanks to low-level hypnosis performed on the entire country, the Master’s first act as the most powerful man in Britain is to gas his entire cabinet to death. After calling them traitors for jumping ship from their own parties as soon as they realized he was going to win, he nonchalantly dons a gas mask and activates dispersal units built into the conference table. As one of his dying advisors calls him insane, he gives his victim a double thumbs-up and a maniacal grin.
Creating the Paradox Machine (Series 3, Episode 12 – “The Sound of Drums”)
After twisting the last humans at the end of the universe into the murderous Toclafane, who obey his every whim, the Master wants to take them back to 21st century Earth to wreak havoc on their ancestors. In order to bring his perverted scheme to light, he cannibalizes the Doctor’s TARDIS, turning it into a Paradox Machine. The TARDIS, which has aided the Doctor in saving the Earth countless times, is turned into something against its nature and forced to be complicit in its destruction. What a gross thing to do.
Unleashing the Toclafane (Series 3, Episode 12 – “The Sound of Drums”)
Arguably, the Master has done eviler things than this, but I feel like this is a strong contender for the most Magnificent Bastard thing they’ve ever done. He rips open the fabric of time over the skies of Earth, opening the floodgates for billions of Toclafane to rush in as he orders them to decimate the human population. The capper, though, is actually the music. The whole time he’s gloating to the Doctor and watching the bloodshed down below, he’s grooving to Rogue Traders’ “Voodoo Child.” I just…he picked out a soundtrack for the end of the world. Can you get more Magnificent Bastard than that?
Trapping Bill (Series 10, Episode 9 – “World Enough and Time”)
Talk about a long game! When Bill is gravely injured and separated from the Doctor, they’re on opposite ends of a ship that’s too close to the event horizon of a black hole. As proximity to the black hole slows down time on only one end of the ship, minutes go by for the Doctor while Bill waits years to be reunited with him. And while she’s stuck on the “fast end,” the Master (in disguise) is her only companion. He spends years pretending to be her friend, while she’s fitted with a Cyber chest unit to cope with her injury. In an absolute peak bastard move, the Master waits until the Doctor is on the lift heading down towards Bill before he betrays her, pretending to help her but instead trapping her in the operating theater for full Cyber conversion. By the time the Doctor arrives, Bill has already been turned into a Cyberman, and the Master taunts that he “missed her by ten minutes.” Just evil.
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