Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Doctor Who Episode 2.

The Big Picture

• Jinkx Monsoon's Maestro is Doctor Who's new standout villain, stealing scenes with gleeful evil.
• Maestro is the Toymaker's child, aiming to feed off unsung songs until the universe stops.
• Monsoon's captivating performance highlights the episode, even outshining the Doctor and sending chills.

"The Devil’s Chord" has introduced Doctor Who’s most chaotic villain since John Simm's iteration of the Master first graced screens in 2007. The latest episode of BBC One and Disney’s Doctor Who soft reboot is a testament to two concepts: how much of their own time a Brit will lend you for a cup of tea, and how much scenery Jinkx Monsoon can chew in 51 minutes. The RuPaul's Drag Race winner and Broadway star is no stranger to the screen, with multiple television credits to her name, including Steven Universe and AJ and the Queen, but her turn as the sinister Maestro might just take the cake.

To be the standout of an episode that features Ncuti Gatwa’s best outing as the Doctor (to date) is no small feat, but Maestro manages to steal the show in each scene they grace. With all the irreverence of Pat Carroll’s Ursula, Jinkx Monsoon cackles and cavorts her way across the screen in a gleefully evil portrayal of a soon-to-be classic villain. As the non-binary god Maestro, Monsoon eagerly eats up every second of screen time she’s given and gives back what already promises to be the season's most memorable antagonist.

Maestro Shows Us Who's the Boss on 'Doctor Who'

"The Devil's Chord" begins with just that; in the 1920s, composer Timothy Drake (Jeremy Limb) gives his young pupil a piano lesson in music theory before playing the Devil's chord, an eerie tritone allegedly once banned by the Catholic Church, lest it bring forth the Devil. On cue, with the gusto of a showgirl popping out of a cake, Maestro bursts through the piano in all their devilish glory. Maestro wastes no time setting their plans in motion, stealing Mr. Drake's musical essence with a moan and a giggle before breaking the fourth wall and launching into a haunting version of the Doctor Who title theme.

When the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) visit England in 1963, hoping to watch the Beatles record their first studio album, viewers see the discord Maestro has managed to sow in a few short decades. Due to their unquenchable appetite for music, Maestro has not only robbed the world of music, but actively bred a distaste for it. There's not a soul left in the world that plays music from the heart, the Beatles included. Trying to suss out the cause of this musical malady, the Doctor provides Ruby with a piano and instructs her to "bring music back". His plan seems to work, with nearby residents even enjoying Ruby's song, but before long, Maestro emerges from the piano with a familiar arpeggio giggle, one that sends the Doctor running. Few villains in Doctor Who have been imposing enough to scare the Doctor into hiding, but Maestro doesn't so much as show their face before the Doctor deems the situation out of hand and runs for the hills.

'Doctor Who' Introduces the Toymaker's Child

Maestro's giggle is one that viewers have heard before. 'The Giggle', part of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, re-introduced the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), a classic Doctor Who villain brought into the 21st century, and his now-famous arpeggio giggle. As the Doctor explains, the Toymaker warned that "[his] legions are coming," and Maestro must be the first. Using a tuning fork as a type of dowsing rod, Maestro hunts for the Doctor and Ruby before catching up with them in present-day London. In a classic bit of villain monologuing, Maestro drops the 'The Devil's Chord's big reveal: that the similarities are no coincidence, and they are a child of the Toymaker. A god in their own right, like their father, Maestro is the essence of music and plans to feed off of every unsung song until the universe stops turning.

Enacting the Toymaker's rules of fair play, the Doctor forces Maestro to reveal that just as the right chord summoned them, the right chord will be enough to banish them. Maestro then traps Ruby and the Doctor in 1963 by taking control of the TARDIS, and the duo works to find the notes of banishment, the necessary chords to banish the Toymaker's child. It's not long before Maestro catches up with the Doctor once more and, much like The Little Mermaid's Ursula, attempts to steal Ruby's musical essence, the unsung songs of a girl who plays "lovesick songs for heartbroken lesbians," the last human with music in her heart (Maestro would get a kick out of Chappell Roan).

Jinkx Monsoon's Maestro Steals the Show on 'Doctor Who'

After a music battle between Maestro and the Doctor that would put "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" to shame, Maestro is defeated with a little help from the Doctor's friends. Get it? It's the Beatles, John and Paul specifically, who play the final chord that banishes Maestro back from whence they came. But when Maestro is finally banished, kicking and screaming, for the first time in a while, it seems a shame to say goodbye to a truly memorable Doctor Who villain.

Far and away, the standout of "The Devil's Chord" is Jinkx Monsoon's performance as Maestro. There's no competition: from the second she appears on-screen, Monsoon belts and giggles and upstages her way through one of Doctor Who's most memorable performances. Monsoon's Maestro commands viewers' attention and refuses to let go, turning each Maestro-less scene into a tantalizing waiting game. Russell T. Davies' decision to cast the inimitable Monsoon (a two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner) as Maestro was pure genius and no doubt stemmed from Monsoon's Broadway performance in Together Again, Again! Much like her drag persona, Jinkx Monsoon’s portrayal of the devilish Maestro creates a villain viewers can't take their eyes off of.

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