okay but Missy’s blatant fear at the end of the Magician’s Apprentice is fascinating
because her bargain with the Daleks, on the surface, could look like just her being being the evil little shit that she is (which is stupidly what I thought when I first watched it), when obviously it is her trying to get in with the group with more power, but there’s even more to it than that
in her current incarnation, we’ve never seen her scared before, not even a little bit, until she realises that she’s on Skaro (which is the stuff of her nightmares), and her voice goes soft and funny while her eyes are screaming – she even takes a few steps back from the city out of pure reflex, shaking her head all the while
I mean, when she and Clara are taken inside, she’s tense as all hell, fidgeting and shifting her weight with her eyes darting around constantly, which again is totally new for her, and then the moment she gets the chance she jumps in and starts bargaining, so completely terrified that she without a second thought throws any regard for Clara or even the Doctor out of the window and immediately goes back to her primary setting which is stay the fuck alive
which means putting on the bravado, tickling a Dalek and making an enticing little speech and a dramatic pose all because, inside, she’s panicking on a whole new level because she’s so fucking scared
idk maybe this is dumb and obvious I just find it really really interesting like the whole thing is just the Master down to a T and Michelle acts it so fucking beautifully I just love it so much
