The Castle of Kurnos 5

War Master #5.3

Released: 28 October 2020

Listened: 1/14/22

If the last couple of stories were odd, this is downright silly. The Doctor is present for all four stories in this War Master set, but out of order. Which ruins the surprise of the first two episodes, but that’s the price we pay for strictly following the Doctor's timeline. Anyway, the Master has stolen the corpse of some ancient Gallifreyan scientist, and come to this planet, where the old guy once kept a castle and a lab, to find one of his genetic descendants so he can contact the dead guy through time, and find out where he kept his greatest weapon. Or as the Master would call it, Thursday. The Doctor shows up to stop him, and happens to arrive just as the Master has found the genetic match he’s looking for. Because this is the Master’s story, the Doctor basically charges straight in with little subtlety or plan, and it goes about as well as you’d expect. The Master gets to be suitably evil, sacrificing a few lives for his own ends, but really, nothing too dastardly. Told in the proper order, this would be a nice break, and a flashback. Looked at this way, it’s kind of a slow and unimpressive start.