I had my worries when it was announced that Varada Sethu would be joining the cast of Doctor Who as the newest companion for The Doctor, after her successful guest turn as Mundy Flynn in the first series of Who with the Fifteenth Doctor. She was great in the role – and I’m a huge fan of her work on Andor (and I hope she’s back in the upcoming second season) – but I wasn’t excited at the prospect of the series potentially trotting out the “magical girl”* trope that was such an annoyance back when Clara Oswald was the companion. I don’t need to “solve” just why The Doctor has been presented with a companion who looks like someone or has a larger role to play in the universe. And while the revelation that Belinda definitely doesn’t want to be a companion was a nice twist, I’m still a bit worried that we might be in for precisely what I feared: a series centered on solving the mystery of Belinda.
*While Clara Oswald was a poor version of this (where her place in the structure of the universe was a mystery that set off the entire season, but the resolution was just a disappointment), I should acknowledge that Davies previously did something similar to this with the introduction of Donna Noble. While Donna was, at the start, just a temp (and, as became a key tenet of the revelation as to her importance, nobody special), that season let us get to know Donna the person before introducing that she was a key piece of an intergalactic puzzle. Her magic was in her ordinariness and unassuming nature which made her the perfect person to save the universe. But, unlike Clara who was a puzzle box character from the jump, Donna was allowed to become a character before we learned she was special. And that is a key distinction that this introduction to Belinda is missing.
But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Before we start worrying about what might be coming our way in the future, I need to write about what has just occurred and yeah, that was a bit of a mixed bag of an episode. I don’t subscribe to the idea that a series can ever be “too woke” – diversity in storytelling and stories that challenge the current power structure of our everyday lives are necessary and interesting. But I suspect that charge will be headed Russell T. Davies way for this one (not that he cares – nor should he). Because I’m betting a story about how an entitled white incel destroyed a whole planet just because he felt unseen by a girl will set off the worst parts of the internet.
Personally, that revelation was fine. I just wish the story surrounding it had a bit more meat and complexity to it. Sure, Davies had to account for the fact that he was reintroducing Sethu as an entirely new character so soon after her first appearance. And that Ruby – the companion from the previous series – was nowhere to be found. But the story itself was pretty thin. Belinda is abducted by alien robots to be taken to the star named after her to marry a vindictive AI. The Doctor, who arrived several months prior thanks to a time disturbance, infiltrated the underground revolutionary movement – who, perhaps unsurprisingly, aren’t thrilled with Belinda’s appearance and see her as a dangerous outsider – and wants to wage a revolution to overthrow the AI overlord and save the planet. Of course, none of that really happens since the reveal that Belinda’s loser of an ex is behind everything ends with his destruction and the freedom of the planet, but it felt incredibly fast and forced. There wasn’t enough time to develop the revolutionaries into anything more than placeholder characters and archetypes, and even The Doctor’s involvement was strangely limited.
Introducing a new companion is a delicate thing – and we don’t quite yet know just how long Belinda will be with The Doctor, especially since she really wants out of that Tardis and back to her old life – but this wasn’t the strongest introduction. The story felt so fast, the characterization was so surface, and there wasn’t much time to see The Doctor and Belinda truly interact – most of their time together was either steeped in robot exposition or consisted of Belinda shutting down The Doctor’s offer of being a companion – that it felt a heck of a lot more like a quick meet and greet episode and less like the beginning of a long-term storyline. Sure, we know that the destruction of Earth is set for May 24, 2025 – which presumably is the date the series will be counting down towards while The Doctor tries to solve the mystery of Belinda’s place in all of this (again, not thrilled at the possibility of a season centered around a magical companion considering the poor track record of that on Who). And I’m betting we get to know Belinda a lot more as the episodes unspool – it was a tad ominous to see Mrs. Flood back on the scene, living next door to Belinda at the start of the episode. But on the whole, it was a pretty hum-drum start to this season. I know Davies can do better – and Ncuti Gatwa and Sethu are incredibly capable actors who can handle whatever is thrown their way. I hope they get a real shot to shine this time out.
-
Writing
-
Acting
-
Direction
