With his plans approaching fruition, the Master travels to Stamford Bridge in the 1970s: a location he believes might hold the key to his success. But what terrible secret lurks under the stairs of No 24 Marigold Lane? And what sacrifices will the Master make in the name of ultimate victory?
- Affably Evil: The House Computer, once Cole gets around to talking to it. It's The Dragon to Tandeeka (and after tinkering The Master), yet is nothing but polite to everyone it speaks to from the start.
- Bad to the Last Drop: The Master is disgusted by the coffee in Stamford Bridge, and advises Cole not to sample any coffee made in England before the mid-1980's.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Cole Jarnish says he'd do anything to stop the Time War. The Master takes him at his word, strapping him into the Heavenly Paradigm and throwing the switch.
- Bigger on the Inside: An understairs cupboard holds a vast hanger for experimental spacecraft. Averted with the rest of the house however, which just looks like an ordinary house in 1970's Britain to further disguise it.
- Call-Forward:
- In "The Sound of Drums", the Master says he was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. Turns out he actually caused it!
- The episode ends with the Master setting up his Professor Yana guise from "Utopia".
- Evil Laugh: The episode ends on the Master unleashing his Large Ham as he contemplates his return after the combatants in the Time War have killed each other off.
- Foregone Conclusion: Given there's numerous Doctors and Masters competing over the fate of the universe years later, it's clear the Paradigm scheme is doomed to fail.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The Master manages to get the Heavenly Paradigm to work using Cole as its battery. It works so well that it reaches the limits of its processing power and goes haywire, turning what should've been The Master's ultimate victory into one for The Daleks instead.
- Hallucinations: The house computer gives Cole the illusion that he's trapped in a burning room. He's not happy when Mrs. Wilson takes him back into that room for a cup of tea.
- Harmless Lady Disguise: Mrs. Wilson, the old widow living in No.24 Marigold Lane, is actually Time Lord agent Tandeeka, subjected to Rapid Aging during the Time War and now working as a guard at the Research and Development Repository until her next regeneration.
- Hero Antagonist: Downplayed. Tandeeka is a Time Lord assigned to guard the various temporal weapons hidden in 24 Marigold Lane. She's a paragon compared to our Villain Protagonist, who she even calls out as someone whose intellect could be applied to kinder things.
- Hope Spot: Tandeeka reprograms the Heavenly Paradigm, but the Master just kills her and changes it back again. Then the Heavenly Paradigm appears to have changed the universe for the better, with worlds destroyed by war or environmental catastrophe coming to life again. However the Paradigm can't cope with the reality changes from the Time War and eventually breaks down. Worse, the Master ends up creating a timeline where the Daleks win.
- Ironic Echo: The Master says that a universe without a master barely bears thinking about, a riff on his "The cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about" in "The Five Doctors".
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The Master tells Cole they should split up and search the house, and to shout if he finds anything...terrifying. He does.
- Loophole Abuse:
- The Master reprograms the house computer so it can't harm him or destroy the Heavenly Paradigm, however there's nothing to stop it freeing Tandeeka or turning a blind eye to her changing the settings on the Heavenly Paradigm.
- Exploited with Cole. Cole is a walking abuse of Loopholes, per The Master's plan to fuel the Paradigm with paradoxes. Sacrificing Cole undoes these, killing Cole and ensuring the Iso-suit-wearers that would ravage the Web Of Time never even existed.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Deconstructed. The Master intends to use the Heavenly Paradigm to invoke this, saving the universe from the Time War so that he can oversee it as ruler. However, he grossly over-estimates the power of the Heavenly Paradigm and the device breaks down; its following malfunction turning Time Lord victories into Dalek victories instead. He understandably freaks out and gets the hell out of dodge.
- Manipulative Bastard: It becomes obvious that the Master has been guiding Cole towards this point since "The Good Master".
- My God, What Have I Done?: Even the Master is shocked when he realizes the changes to the timeline have helped the Daleks win the Time War.
- No Canon for the Wicked: Inverted. "Only The Good" ultimately ends with the Heavenly Paradigm breaking down and creating a worse Time War where the Daleks have the upper-hand. The Master hides in the guise of a human, setting up the TV episode "Utopia."
- Psychological Torment Zone: The Mindspike protecting the house torments Cole with the worst things he's done in the past. It was less effective on the Master, who finds his past evil actions rather invigorating.
- Resolved Noodle Incident:
- The previously established incident wherein the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform — a major event in the Time War which spooked the War Master enough to run for the temporal hills — is finally expanded upon.
- The iso-suit-wearers from the last episode are referenced constantly here and almost slip past the narrative...until the last few minutes, in which The Master's sacrifice of Cole wipes them from existence.
- Ripple Effect Indicator: The Master points out to Cole that the proprietor of the cafe they're drinking in has changed while they're talking, showing that even this place isn't immune to the temporal changes from the Time War.
- Schmuck Bait: Despite being frantic to get through the door before the locals tear them limb-from-limb, the Master politely invites Cole to enter first. Cole does and trips the Mindspike Booby Trap.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Cole is destroyed to empower the Heavenly Paradigm...which promptly reaches the limits of its computing power and breaks down, turning many Time Lord victories into defeats and worsening the Time War.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: The Master catches Tandeeka doing a Reverse Polarity on the Heavenly Paradigm so it will change the Master's timeline for the better instead of the Universe. Tandeeka urges him to let the changes stand, as instead of a psychotic Evil Genius, he could become The Paragon.Tandeeka: You could be the most wonderful man in the Universe!The Master: (kills her) I already am, my dear. I already am.
- Slipping a Mickey: The Master doesn't drink the tea he's offered by Mrs Wilson, but lets Cole go ahead because he wants him unconscious for the next bit.
- Superweapon: The Heavenly Paradigm can change entire timelines and would have been used to win the Time War if only the Time Lords could get it to work. The Master thinks he has the solution by using Cole—a walking temporal anomaly thanks to the events of "The Good Master and "The Sky Man"—as Human Resources to power it.
- Town with a Dark Secret: A boring town in 1970's Britain holds the Time Lord Research and Development Repository. When the Master and Cole try to break in, every resident in the area tries to kill them, having been subconsciously programmed to do so.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The Master just wants peace and order for the Universe, under his rule of course.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Regardless of everything they've been through together, the Master sacrifices Cole without a qualm in exchange for ultimate power.
