Master hypnotizes Jo to deceive UNIT
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The Master questions Jo about the Radio Telescope Station to confirm the Doctor's involvement. He then instructs her to give UNIT a negative report, assuring them that everything is in order.
The Master hypnotizes Jo. He ensures she follows his implanted instructions and forgets their meeting.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Initially anxious and confused, but rapidly descending into a trance-like state of passive acceptance. Her emotional responses are suppressed, replaced by a hollow compliance that reflects the erosion of her agency under the Master's control.
Jo Grant stands before the Master, her posture initially tense but gradually slackening as his hypnotic influence takes hold. She responds to his questions with mechanical precision, her voice devoid of its usual warmth and curiosity, replaced by a hollow obedience. As the Master implants his instructions, Jo repeats his words back like a parrot, her eyes glazed and her expression blank. The transformation is chilling—within moments, she is no longer an independent agent but a puppet, her memory of the encounter already fading into the fabricated narrative the Master has crafted for her.
- • Unwittingly comply with the Master's hypnotic suggestions to deliver the false report to UNIT.
- • Suppress any memory of the encounter, ensuring the Master's deception remains undetected.
- • The Master's instructions are absolute and must be followed without question (due to hypnosis).
- • Her role as the Doctor's assistant requires her to trust authority figures, even those who may be manipulating her.
Coldly triumphant, masking a simmering disdain for human frailty. His surface demeanor is one of detached professionalism, but beneath it lies a glee in exerting control—particularly over someone connected to the Doctor.
The Master dominates the scene with a predatory calm, his piercing gaze fixed on Jo Grant as he methodically extracts information about the Doctor's whereabouts. He speaks with measured precision, each word a calculated step in his hypnotic induction, ensuring Jo's compliance and the implantation of false memories. His posture is rigid, almost theatrical, as he orchestrates the erosion of Jo's autonomy, leaving her as a hollow vessel for his deception. The office's dim lighting casts shadows that seem to accentuate his control, as if the very environment bends to his will.
- • Extract critical intelligence about the Doctor's activities to assess and counter his interference.
- • Hypnotize Jo Grant to deliver a false report to UNIT, ensuring the organization remains oblivious to his Nestene activation scheme.
- • Humans are inherently weak and susceptible to psychological manipulation, making them easy pawns in his schemes.
- • The Doctor's curiosity and protective instincts will lead him into traps, allowing the Master to outmaneuver him strategically.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Master's hypnotic suggestions function as the false report, a psychological construct implanted directly into Jo Grant's mind. This 'object' is not physical but a carefully crafted narrative designed to mislead UNIT into believing the Radio Telescope Station is secure and free of suspicious activity. The false report serves as the Master's primary tool for deception, ensuring UNIT's blindness to his true intentions and buying him critical time to proceed with the Nestene activation. Its power lies in its intangibility—it cannot be detected or countered through conventional means, making it an ideal weapon in the Master's arsenal of manipulation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Farrel's factory office serves as the claustrophobic stage for the Master's psychological domination of Jo Grant. The dim lighting and cramped quarters amplify the tension, creating an atmosphere of isolation and vulnerability. The desk, cluttered with drawers of card files and a telephone, stands as a silent witness to the Master's manipulation, its mundane presence contrasting sharply with the extraordinary nature of the hypnosis unfolding. The office's shadows seem to deepen as the Master's influence takes hold, the very environment conspiring to obscure the truth and entrap Jo in his deception.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
UNIT is the unseen but critical target of the Master's deception in this event. Though physically absent, its influence looms large as the Master orchestrates Jo Grant's hypnotic programming to deliver a false report that will mislead the organization. UNIT's role here is that of an unwitting victim, its investigative capabilities neutralized by the Master's psychological manipulation. The organization's reliance on human agents like Jo—who are vulnerable to hypnosis—exposes a critical weakness in its operational security, one that the Master exploits with ruthless efficiency.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Jo accidentally reveals herself to The Master (beat_f19a2d235cfcafe7) which directly leads to her being questioned by The Master about the Doctor and the Radio Telescope Station (beat_98340cf9f77ef801)."
Master forces factory system override"Jo accidentally reveals herself to The Master (beat_f19a2d235cfcafe7) which directly leads to her being questioned by The Master about the Doctor and the Radio Telescope Station (beat_98340cf9f77ef801)."
Jo exposed by accidental discoveryPart of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"MASTER: Who went to the Radio Telescope Station?"
"JO: Myself, the Brigadier and the Doctor."
"MASTER: As I thought. Curiosity is his weakness. Well, I should have to see that it's satisfied. You will return to UNIT with a negative report. You found nothing suspicious. Everything was in order."
"JO: Yes. Everything in order."
"MASTER: When you leave this room you will have no memory of meeting me, only Mister Farrel."
"JO: Only Mister Farrel."
"MASTER: Your instructions are already implanted. You will obey them without a further word from me."
"JO: I shall obey."