How would you like to see the current crop of companions bow out?

Each to their own, but you haven't actually made any sort of a rebuttal there: you've just said I'm wrong and given me a reading list (and honestly, not a particularly compelling one; in five longass essays, there's nary a mention of any of the criticisms that exist for any companion).

Complex, I'll give you -- but I think that complexity comes largely from the gaps in her characterisation. Even those articles seem to gloss over it. Ruth Long's view of the change between the Clara of Season Eight and Season Nine is 'My, look how she's grown as a character!', not 'Hang on a sec... what changed in those few months where the English teacher is now ordering around UNIT troops?'. That's my problem with Clara, I think: it's all 'What changed?' and 'Why did this happen off-screen?'. Danny checking out didn't convince me, but I could have been sold by the original close of Last Christmas as an ending for the character: tragic and a little lost without him. It's the sudden reinvention that grates a little, because for all of Ruth Long's argument -- to paraphrase: 'Nu-uh, she's perfect' -- the shift just didn't sit right with me.

That's not a reflection on Jenna Coleman, of course; if anything, it's my one big criticism of Moffat. As much as I enjoyed Clara in Season Nine, I think it would have worked better if it had come straight on the heels of The Day of the Doctor: fresh from diving into time itself to save the life of the most amazing man she's ever met, the nanny loses track of her own limitations and begins to think she can do anything -- because after all, isn't 'You can do anything?' the one message that the Doctor gives to even the most ordinary of people he meets? That way, you could dispense with fannying around trying to lead a 'normal' life on earth, and the non-starter Danny Pink subplot could be left behind.

But that would just be my take.

/r/gallifrey Thread Parent