<lyonsheart:
clara was introduced in the 50th year; a season dedicated to establishing the ponds’ departure, the 50th anniversary, and the eleventh doctor’s death
at the end of this year she had to find a role within two out of three of these storylines, which realistically didn’t have room for anything but the pre-established characters, let alone significant development of a companion – something the 50th did miraculously manage to do to an extent; progressing clara’s character slightly, but not hugely because it was only her ninth episode.
criticizing clara’s characterization because she’s not experienced a huge transformation at this point feels like pointing out rose’s development seems incomplete in the middle of season 1. i can’t help but think well of course it fucking does and while i’m not against criticizing the writing, it’s still extremely unfair and illogical in my eyes to compare the actions and development of companions in their final/penultimate stories to that of anything clara’s experiencing now because her story’s not over yet; she’s had half a season
because you can’t just ignore the contextual differences between the way companions are introduced when you’re comparing the development of a character who’s experienced 10 episodes with one who’s experienced over 30
#people are comparing development that took place accross 30 episodes#and expecting clara to have it all and THEN SOME#in less than a season’s worth of episodes#AND THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE#even comparing her to martha and donna is unfair#because their primary development occured in their final episodes#which was their 12th and 13th#still more episodes than clara’s experienced