Hegel's master and slave is a significant archetype for graduate research supervision. The master-slave relation vividly exemplifies the hierarchical bond that ties supervisor and student together. Such a confronting view of supervision provides a counterbalance to contemporary emphases on equality between supervisor and student. In what follows, I use Zali Gurevitch's interpretation ("Dialectical dialogue", 2001, "British Journal of Sociology") of Hegel's master and slave ("Phenomenology of Spirit", 1807) to analyse an extract of supervision dialogue between a supervisor and a Masters student in the Humanities. My analysis shows the mundaneness of the master-slave relation in action. This mundaneness derives from supervision's institutional underpinnings and contributes to the relative invisibility of the master-slave relation as an influential dynamic. In closing, I argue that this investigation usefully draws our attention to the third player in supervision, the thesis, and that master-slave dynamics may have both disturbing and helpful effects for supervisor and student. (Contains 5 notes.)