Missy's redemption? Discuss (Spoilers in Tags please)

I have a feeling it's a ruse - seems just like the Master to pull something like that to get out of a trap set by the Doctor. And, if not, I guess it's just the natural progression of what started back with Simm's Master. Since the character has been reintroduced to the series by RTD, the Master/Missy's always been more of a tragic victim turned bad, as opposed to just an outright villain.

Hmm... It's an interesting question. Can the Master be redeemed (or I suppose to her mind "tamed") or is she instead looking for her own version of the Dalek Factor to use against people like the Doctor?

I'll point out another adversary that also attempted a renewal of sorts -- Davros. His time with the Baines couple working for TAI saw him attempt to turn over a new leaf and become a different person, but what stopped him was what always stops Davros. The weight of historical precedence. Patterns occurring and reoccurring in such a way that -- to his varied brand of logic -- changing would seem a ludicrously stupid and weak thing to do. He'd become one of the cattle, one of the rabble, obsessed with irrelevance and triviality. He cannot change, nor compromise his vision. To do so, would be weakness and weakness cannot be tolerated.

It's a credit to all of their depictions across the countless years that the Master themselves is a very multifaceted character, almost as much as the Doctor is. They had charm, guile, a ruthless spirit. A range of personalities that range from the deranged to the elegant to the comical. As was recounted in Master, the Master's life germinated in a bargain struck between the Doctor as a child and Death who claimed him as her champion. The Dark Path demonstrates his descent into villainy as just that, he goes careening over the edge due to an act of genocide perpetrated by someone who had already betrayed him to her superiors. Had events transpired differently, would the Doctor have instead taken the route that he did?

Instinctively, we would say no, but the Doctor's own beginnings (indeed, his very moniker) are down to the influence of Ian and Barbara. Things could have turned out very differently had he chosen instead to kill those two schoolteachers in the junkyard rather than take them onboard as prisoners. Could Missy do the same but from the other end of the moral spectrum? If she is so much like the Doctor and vice versa, is she really irredeemable?

Here's a thought .... SimMaster is all in Missy's head a la SPOILER in Lie of the Land, but here he's all the worst excesses of the Master.

You couldn't redeem the Zombeevers, or the Velvet Smog, or Ohh Hello, or SimMaster? No.
But Missy? Roger? maybe.

Was the Doctor really a collaborator? No.

Was the regeneration that they'd hinted at in earlier trailers real? No.

We'd been told Missy was in the vault, but was this just a double-bluff? No.

So, is Missy going to reform...... I'm inclined to guess 'no', but (as nucleusofswarm2) has reminded us, the original version of the Master was supposed to die saving the Doctor, and since we've been told that the actress who plays Missy whose name escapes me is leaving at the end of this series, it could very well be that she also dies saving the Doctor, and thus is deemed to have reformed till somebody else brings the Master back. The question is, how does this tie into ? Evil Master versus Good-but-not-necessarily-very-nice Master?

(Mind you, Capaldi's insane laughter on that boat wasn't exactly reassuring. And it's lucky that Bill hadn't acquired a gun herself in the intervening six months....)

*** Moderation ***

A reminder for the use of spoiler tags. Not everyone follows rumours and speculation threads and not everyone knows what's coming or who's appearing in the (yet to be broadcast) upcoming episodes. 

I am going to add spoilers to the title but please think about other members when you post. Not everyone will have seen last night's episode, so spoiler rules still apply. 

*** End Moderation ***

Exactly. Not ever, not in all 12 regenerations plus the extra lives he stole from people like Tremas.

Which doesn't mean they won't do it!

Maybe, just maybe we will get a TV spin on the idea of

There's no way Missy isn't tricking The Doctor by using his compassion against him. She's playing a long game.