One of the most difficult elements in Doctor Who is the person of The Master/Missy (I’m going to use Missy because that is how the character is identified in the episode I’m reflecting on), this character is a longtime enemy of the Doctor and someone who seems to understand the Doctor and yet represent everything the Doctor does not. Missy is intelligent and malevolent, clearly unconcerned with violence and will do anything and harm anyone simply to gain power, and even allow self-harm to harm the Doctor. Like other classic villains in the series, Missy is motivated completely by self-interest and this leads to all kinds of violence and evil because these are necessary to promote Missy. And yet throughout the entire show the Doctor shows Missy kindness rooted in empathy. The Doctor never seeks to destroy Missy but to rehabilitate her, never looses hope that she will understand the harm she does and will join him and help put wrongs right.
With that understood, there are two elements in the video clip below (from season 10 episode 6 Extremis) that I want to highlight. First is the fact that in this scene the Doctor has an opportunity to be rid of Missy completely, allowing her to be judged and executed by someone else, but chooses to save her. Not only does he save her, he gives an oath to care for her for a thousand years and holds to it. This is part of the Doctor’s commitment to trying to avoid violence at all costs, we might ask, “Why continue to give this person chances, why not simply allow them to be destroyed and rid the world of evil?” The response of this episode is the Doctor calls her “friend”. Has she ever been a friend to the Doctor, not really, there are references to their youth together but we have never seen a time when Missy has in any way shown friendship. Yet, the Doctor tries to restore her, and uses loving language about her, why because the Doctor wants to be committed to helping. The Second element that I want to focus on is the responses the Doctor makes to the questions, standing alone and unarmed, but unafraid.
When we approach evil in this world we often want to jump straight to violence as the solution for the problem of evil, without recognizing that such a solution often simply leads us into evil. God, though, is patient with evil, always seek ways to restore the creation that is commuted to evil. Even when individuals are abusive and recklessly kill and destroy the world, God stands there offering restoration, prolonging judgment, waiting for people to respond. We can, all too often, become cynical about God’s timing because we are unwilling to understand that God loves even the most unlovable and holds out hope for the people we have given up on.
And to the people seek justice through vengeance God often seems intrusive standing alone and unarmed between them and the object of their violent desires. The tension that we wrestle with in approaching God and violence is this, we see times when God is willing to allow or even use violence to protect people or creation from the threat of further violence, and yet we also see times when God is willing to peacefully protect even the violent from the violence of others, like in the story of Cain. Cain kills his brother and yet God does not allow him to be destroyed by violence, instead God commits to protecting him and without committing violent acts, allows Cain to die in peace in old age. Justice would dictate that Cain should have been killed because he took his brother’s life, that is fair and equal. Our definition of justice is so often tied to being “fair” giving back to the person what they deserve. But God’s definition of justice is about relationships being right, and so God must give a person time and take the time to help restore people to relationship. So God often appears alone and unarmed willingly trying to help the most evil individuals be restored to the family that God is creating. So here we are living in the midst of this tension, recognizing that God is willing to resist the violent and simultaneously willing to stand in the way of violence using nothing more than a conversation. And it is in that tension of God that we will turn to the last theme in the above clip, that is the reaction to the Doctor’s words and how our views about God impact how we see the relationship between God and violence. But that will come in tomorrow’s post.
Squinting in the Light 