Master blackmails Krasis into servitude
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The Master enters the Newton Institute's radiation laboratory and asserts his dominance over Krasis, the High Priest of Poseidon in Atlantis. He reveals his intention to control Kronos, a powerful temporal entity.
Krasis resists the Master's claim, initially denying that anyone can command Kronos, but later confirms Kronos's historical obedience to Atlantean priests.
The Master reveals his plan to use the Atlantean crystal and the high priest's seal to control Kronos, aiming to become the master of the universe with Krasis's help.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Coldly triumphant, masking instability with performative authority
The Master enters the laboratory with theatrical confidence, immediately asserting dominance over the scene. Using Krasis’s sacred devotion to Kronos as leverage, he escalates from mocking interrogation to outright coercion, promising Krasis a share in universal power in exchange for servitude.
- • Convince Krasis to submit to his authority over Kronos
- • Secure Krasis’s active cooperation in his temporal scheme
- • Establish Krasis’s moral compromise as irreversible
- • That coercion through shared ambition is more effective than brute force
- • That Krasis’s piety can be exploited to make him complicit in sacrilege
Shocked and outraged, then inwardly destabilized by the threat of powerlessness
Krasis, dressed as a high priest, is thrust into direct confrontation with a profane claim to authority over Kronos. His initial outrage at the Master’s blasphemy gives way under the weight of fear and coercion, as he’s forced to confront the fragility of his devotion when faced with a ruthless pragmatist.
- • Defend the sanctity of Kronos from profanation
- • Protect his spiritual integrity
- • Survive the encounter without total surrender
- • That Kronos must remain supreme and untouched by mortal ambition
- • That the Master’s claim is a lie that must be exposed
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The TOM-TIT Device remains powered down in the background as the negotiation unfolds, serving as a silent witness to the coercion in the chamber. While not directly manipulated, its presence underscores the technological context of the Master’s temporal experiments and the unholy collision of faith and science.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Radiation Laboratory, originally a sterile scientific space, has been corrupted into a coercion chamber where moral negotiation replaces empirical research. The cold, metallic surfaces and flickering monitors bear silent witness to the transformation of science into a weapon of spiritual blackmail.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
Within this episode
"The Master's plan to control Kronos using the Atlantean crystal and seal (#1) directly informs his later plan to reverse the interstitial flow to drain time energy from the crystal (#2). Both beats reveal the Master's strategic adjustments to leverage Kronos's power more effectively."
Master reveals time-draining plan to Krasis"The Master's assertive dominance over Krasis in the Newton Institute laboratory (#1) is directly carried forward to his emergence from his TARDIS later (#2), where he continues to manipulate Krasis and outline his plans. This establishes the Master's persistent control over Krasis."
Master reveals time-draining plan to Krasis"Krasis's initial resistance to the Master's claim about commanding Kronos (#1) is directly echoed later when he warns the Master that Kronos cannot be controlled (#2). This shows Krasis's consistency as a character who initially resists but is eventually coerced into revealing Atlantean secrets, only to repeatedly warn of the dangers of Kronos."
Master seizes Kronos control from KrasisAcross episodes
"The scene of the Master hypnotically dominating Percival in Episode 22 ('hypnotic submission of Percival') is echoed in his initial confrontation with Krasis in Episode 23, where he again asserts dominance over a powerful yet reluctant figure."
Hypnotic submission of Percival"The Master's violent confrontation with Benton in Episode 22, where he disarms and incapacitates him, directly enables his unopposed control over the laboratory and sets up his subsequent interactions with Krasis in Episode 23."
Benton confronts Masters chronal theft"Krasis's successful summoning of Kronos in Atlantis (Episode 22) directly enables the Master to exploit this act by bringing Krasis to his lab in Episode 23, where he is blackmailed into servitude based on his knowledge of the ritual."
Krasis summons Kronos with forbidden ritual"Krasis's initial ritual invocation of Kronos in the Temple of Poseidon (Episode 22) serves as the spiritual foundation for his eventual subjugation to the Master's temporal machinations in the Newton Institute (Episode 23)."
Krasis welcomes Kronos ritual begins"The Master's initial blackmail of Krasis (#1) directly enables Krasis's later compliance in the Master's plans (#2), as Krasis is physically and spiritually trapped into servitude. This coercion forms the foundation of their relationship across episodes."
Master reveals plan to Krasis"The Master's initial assertion of dominance over Krasis (#23) is carried forward as he brings Krasis into the TARDIS to initiate the final phase of his scheme (#24), reinforcing his consistent manipulation of Krasis to achieve his goals."
Master reveals plan to Krasis"The Master's initial blackmail and dominance of Krasis to serve his ambitions (#23) directly informs his gloating over trapping the Doctor in the TARDIS and manipulating him (#24)."
Master gloats over Doctors arrival"The Master's domineering and assertive behavior toward Krasis (#23) is echoed in his mocking and taunting of the Doctor and Jo as they chase him in the TARDIS (#24)."
TARDIS trembles as master taunts Jo"The Master's initial blackmail of Krasis to serve his ambitions (#23) directly escalates to his gleeful devastation of the TARDIS and the Doctor's allies (#24), demonstrating the Master's willingness to escalate temporal chaos to achieve his goals."
Master revels in devastation around him