Maybe this speaks to tumblr’s bizarre ‘perfect pure progressive thing/trash awful anti-progressive thing’ dichotomy more than anything else (because a different more unknown white guy will be writing the new Doctor?) , but I’m sort of discouraged that the reaction to the 13th Doctor news from a lot of quarters has been “oh good, I can finally watch this show again, it is Progressive now”. And I don’t want to underplay the huge deal that a female Doctor is, it is a huge deal. But…
Bill Potts was a huge deal too. People who see themselves in her have written about her importance at length. She was (heck, is, she’ll almost definitely be back for the Christmas Special, Pearl Mackie’s been spotted on set) a black, lesbian, working-class co-lead on one of the biggest sci-fi shows ever. Bill beamed out from a lot of the posters and from the children’s tie-in magazines. Bill kissed a girl on television, a full-on passionate overjoyed kiss, during family viewing hour on the BBC. Bill had natural hair. Bill became immortal (by choice) in a world where TV producers almost seem to hate gay characters getting happy endings. Bill was an audience surrogate who represented a lot of Brits who don’t see themselves represented on British TV often. It’s just –
The companion’s the audience surrogate. Everyone was encouraged to see themselves in Bill Potts. And she was the co-lead. That bears repeating. The Doctor’s one lead of Doctor Who and the Companion’s the other one.
If a black, lesbian, working-class co-lead wasn’t enough to get you to Finally Watch The Show Again, why is a white female co-lead what eventually manages to do it?
#i thought she was horribly murdered????
Without giving too much away, no, she wasn’t. Actually, out of all the Moffat companions, I’m pretty sure she’s the only one who’s never died. (Clara’s immortal, but her death is a a fixed point; River is dead but her consciousness exists in a computer; Amy is dead from the Doctor’s perspective albeit after living a long life; and Rory…. let’s not get started on Rory.)
Being shot didn’t kill her, what happened to her in the Doctor Falls didn’t kill her, her love for another woman did save her life (it’s complicated) and now she’s functionally immortal, with the option of returning to being human if she really wants to.
