MR 052: Scherzo

Who is this Doctor person anyway? Why does he constantly take people, usually young women, out of time and space and travel with them? And why is he constantly trying to sacrifice himself? Does he really care so little for his own life?

This is a hard story to review because it's mostly just vibes. Most of it takes place in a white void (give me any other story harder to make in a visual medium) with the Doctor and Charley having a conversation. There's a plot, but barely, just enough to string the conversations along. It's actually about questioning the entire premise of the show and the relationship at the heart of it. As such, most of the review will be meditation on the basic premises of Doctor Who.

When we last left the Doctor in Zagreus, he was going into the Divergent universe to sacrific himself so that the universe generally and specifically Charley would be able to live. He was filled with anti-time energy and letting that into the universe would cause it to be destroyed. Only Charley followed him into the TARDIS. She isn't safe at all. His sacrifice was for nothing.

There's a fantastic line right at the beginning that sums up where this story is going to go. The Doctor is hiding behind the console and talks to Charley, but as if she isn't there. He believes she is some sort of ghost or phantasm. "Impossible. You can't be Charley. She's safe in her own universe. She would never betray me like that." To the Doctor it is a betrayal that Charley would even think of coming with him when he's already made this huge noble self sacrifice to keep her alive.

This is a trend with the Doctors. He tries to sacrifice himself for his companion, for the world, for everyone else. The idea that they wouldn't let him is absurd. Time and time again on Doctor Who (mostly classic, but even in new who sometimes) we see the Doctor telling the companion what to do and she just obeys without question. The Doctor can't even fathom that the companion might have a mind of their own. At the end of my Zagreus review, I even said that it felt absurdly condescending to do the "cruel to be kind" routine at Charley after all they've been through. The Doctor won't consider her feelings. He CAN'T consider her feelings. They do not matter in the slightest. Charley is safe, what she wants doesn't matter. Nevermind that she doesn't want to live in a universe apart from the Doctor. She didn't ask for his noble self-sacrifice. What if she wants to sacrifice herself for him? No no. Unthinkable.

So when the Doctor sees Charley he feels betrayed. He is centering himself first and foremost and that leads him to this feeling. Charley acting on her own feelings is a betrayal. He's mad that Charley dared to come with him and now she's here, not safe. The Doctor was very much expecting to die alone and yet here he is not dead and not alone. In Neverland and Zagreus, both of them said they loved each other, but what does that even mean? Is the Doctor capable of that feeling? They're best friends, supposedly. The Doctor says they are. But are they? Is the Doctor capable of having friendship like that? If they were really friends, why is the Doctor so upset that Charley acted on her feelings? Friends care about each other, not just what they can get out of their relationship.

The Doctor isn't sure he even meant it when he said that he loved Charley. It might have just been a way to make her feel better before she died. To which Charley is rightfully horrified that he would say that. He can say things so fippantly, so casually, and not mean it or, indeed, even understand what it means. What does that make the Doctor?

The plot, such as it is, is barely there. They've created a creature out of sound that adapts and evolves along with a corpse that keeps changing and evolving over time. But they keep eating from it, the Doctor cutting up the corpse with Charley's broach. It's a horrible thing to imagine, but they keep doing it and keep getting used to it as the sound creature continues to try to communicate with them using just sound. They eventually start evolving as well, their hands fusing together until they become one creature. The sound creature feeds on sound and so tries to cut open their necks to get at their vocal cords. The Doctor even has Charley cut his throat open and let his vocal cords pop out so the sond creature can feed, despite there being no blood and he doesn't die. It's all filled with body horror and I'm glad I can't see it.

I particularly liked how the Doctor starts to seek a reason for all of this. He, at first, was quite resigned to the fact that he was going to die and was disappointed, in fact, that he did not die. But now that there is a mystery to solve, the Doctor is more than enthusiastic to solve it. Yet there is no explanation. It simply is a strange environment, they're walking in a glass ring forever and ever with a corpse and a sound creature that keeps changing. Given the opportunity to solve something, of course the Doctor springs to life. Yet there is nothing to solve.

The Doctor angrily lashes out at Charley. Why are you here? Why? What do you want from me? I was supposed to die here to save you and yet you came with me? WHY!? And it's a good question. Why does the companion go with the Doctor? To see the universe? Friendship? They don't think they have anything to live for at home? Adventure? Excitement? A sense of danger? Charley counters with the same question. The Doctor saved her, why did he do that if he didn't want her around?

I LOVE what comes next. The Time Lords have a theory that the Doctor takes companions because they are "memento mori," reminders of death. Time Lords live for thousands of years, humans don't even reach one hundred. What then is the point of them other than the fact that they will die? They will all inevitably leave him or die in his care and he will be left with the empty ache, the pain of losing something, the loneliness. Yet he keeps bringing them onboard despite knowing how it will end.

He didn't expect to care about Charley as much as he did. He put her above time itself, knowing that she was supposed to die and yet he didn't care. He let her live and sacrificed everything so she would survive. Yet again, he feels like she has betrayed him. He doesn't even want to see her anymore because that would mean he's failed in his self-sacrifice. Once again, not caring about or thinking about Charley's feelings because what do the feelings of a short lived human matter to a Time Lord? Charley loves him and won't leave him behind. Their love for each other has killed them.

We get a surreal scene with each character as Charley is giving her brooch to her "daughter," which appears to be the sound creature. The brooch gets handed down from mother to daughter forever and ever. But Charley doesn't have a daughter and will never have one. That's what the sound creature, created by the Doctor and Charely's presence, is her daughter. Yet it doesn't know how to use the brooch and doesn't serve it.

The Doctor talks to something that has Charley's voice and they talk about the Doctor's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Doctor will die for Charley. He'll die for the universe. He'll die for anyone at the drop of a hat. He values life so little. Only one of them can live: the Doctor or the sound creature. The sound creature values its life while the Doctor will sacrifice himself easily, he doesn't value his life at all. So it is only a matter of time before the Doctor sacrifices himself for the sound creature. So naturally the Doctor is willing to die so someone else might live.

Only Charley is a part of him now. They have fused together. She says it isn't the same thing. Why not? The Doctor dying so Charley can live. The Doctor dying so the sound creature can live. It is functionally the same. Why isn't it any different? The Doctor often can't see a difference. He's so willing to sacrifice himself at the slightest provocation that he has no priority system. He doesn't prioritize himself or his friends or those he claims to love. None of that matters at all in the slightest. And Charley won't let him. He will survive. And she accepts that she will one day die for him, not the other way round.

They can keep evolving, go on and become something greater. They can rule this new universe and have everything, but Charley doesn't want everything. She just wants the Doctor. They separate and go explore this new universe together, hand in hand as they began.

Once again Robert Shearman creates a casual masterpiece. This is one of the most intimate conversations between a Doctor and companion ever recorded and with good reason. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. It's as raw, emotional, and unfiltered as it gets on Doctor Who. Shearman understands this show intimately on a level that perhaps nobody before him had even considered. These questions are fundamental to the entire premise of Doctor Who, but nobody ever asks them. Yet here they are. This was hugely influential on Doctor Who going forwards, clearly, in audio, but especially in new who. We have this story largely to think for the stronger relationships between Doctor and companion in new who than we did in classic.

This story questions the entire premise of the companion. No, the companion shouldn't just be a prop. They shouldn't just be there to ask the Doctor questions and make him seem smart. No, the companion shouldn't just do whatever the Doctor says without question. They're there for a reason. They're people in their own right. The Doctor does consistently ignore their feelings, particularly towards him, and perhaps it's time he didn't. What better Doctor and companion to pull off an intimate story like this other than Eight and Charley? The most romantic Doctor questioning that very nature. The most romantic companion being rebuffed over and over, yet still persisting. And they end up going together anyway, stronger together, as they should be.