in the home stretch of the thirteenth doctor's run and while i will fully admit that having never watched any other doctor who ever probably affects my ability to analyze its writing within the context of the rest of the show, the thing is i don't see a lot of people trying to analyze this writing at all. i feel kind of insane about it. the literal only thing i've ever heard people saying is that "jodie whittaker is good but the writing is shit, what a shame." "jodie deserved better writing." "chris chibnall was the worst showrunner and writer in history and destroyed doctor who and should get crushed by a house." okay, like 0.5 degrees less violent but only just.
to me, thirteen's writing is ambitious and uneven and fun and occasionally deeply poignant, and despite sometimes feeling on-the-nose, a lot of that poignancy comes from the stuff that the doctor doesn't say, specifically because that's the whole point of how the thirteenth doctor is written.
but aside from the quality of the writing i can't find anyone talking about what the writing is actually attempting to do.
"there are too many companions" <-- okay, but what are multiple companions attempting to serve for the thematic material of thirteen's run? well, early ideas in thirteen's run are about family and community--not just the cozy happy ideal of chosen family, but also of the sense of obligation (ryan and his biological father in resolution, erik and hanne in it takes you away), the weight of family history (demons of the punjab), the profound duty we have to each other and our planet (yes, even the very uneven orphan 55 and praxeus). ryan, graham, yaz, and the doctor represent this kind of network in microcosm, people who love each other but who also sometimes fail to understand each other, keep secrets from each other, and feel a strain of duty or obligation bound up in that very real care for each other. the "fam" breaking up at the end of the revolution of the daleks is a thematic continuation of the doctor's personal journey through s12, a reflection of the doctor's internal status quo falling apart and her feeling like she belongs nowhere and to nothing. it's great because it's both a triumphant conclusion for ryan and graham (ryan has learned the value of communal care from the doctor and has a purpose, graham embraces the family he's got left), and one of the quietest tragedies for the doctor. she needs a community now more than ever, and she won't ever tell them she needs it. and you can't do that with a single companion, not quite, because then narratively it would become so entangled in that specific dynamic, rather than a dissolution of an entire community.
"the companions are boring" <-- sure, i won't ever find ryan or dan the most compelling characters ever, but what are these characters trying to be for the doctor? grief and loss and anger abound in thirteen's seasons; s11 has grace as the deep, running thread haunting the narrative, and then as the seasons wind on, the doctor becomes more lost, scared, angry, guarded. her companions are, by and large, normal people who care for others--not just care about, but literally give care. ryan starts out pretty shit at this (it takes you away) but then grows through his journey with the doctor to setting up his friend with a support group. graham is defined at first by wanting to care for ryan as his grandfather. dan helps at a food bank. and yaz's whole deal is inspired by the police officer who offered her support when she was at her lowest. these companions reflect all of the doctor's core elements (her grief, her kindness, her value of communities/life), and they also serve to balance out the doctor by being gentle with her. they push her, yes (especially yaz, toward the end), but there's no massive conflicts between them because thirteen's massive conflict is with herself. like there's a reason why the timeless children ends with the doctor's mirror having an unhinged suicidal temper tantrum on the ground. AND SPEAKING OF.
"the timeless children..." <-- no. no! i understand i do not grasp the intricacies of the lore, but in terms of the thematic goals of this run, the timeless children and its fallout was some of the best stuff in concept and execution. "the master should have been the timeless child"? no, that would have made it so much more boring. with the doctor as the timeless child, did the master destroy gallifrey for the suffering their people caused her? because, like the doctor, he's angry that they lied? because he's not entirely himself anymore, because he owes some foundational part of himself to the doctor, and that can't be undone? yes to all of the above! and, in good writing fashion, it's a manifestation of all the same feelings the doctor is having: she's angry that a child suffered, angry that they lied about it, angry that there's a part of herself that she doesn't understand, that's not hers anymore.
and it's where all the previous themes come home to roost too: the exploitation of workers (kerblam, this post is too long to get into that mess, don't at me) and planetary resources (orphan 55 and praxeus, again), the overwriting of truth, creativity, and history (nikolai tesla, ada and noor in spyfall), loss/leaving/abandonment (a true series staple), all of thirteen's messy yearning for and pushing away of community--all of that culminates in a story about a colonialist power using a maybe-abandoned child as a resource for their own idea of progress and lying about it. and that child still kind of calling that colonialist power home, because it was.
AND it's especially infuriating because not only is sealing away the fob watch a fine narrative ending to this arc, half a triumph about defining oneself, half a tragic reflection of thirteen's fear and repression, it's so clear to me that the watch, and the timeless children implications, are this writing team's gift to the next. more possibilities. more story hooks. the doctor contains multitudes, far more than she ever thought or knew. what are they? tag, you're it.
and thasmin, oh my god. i am a very hopeless romantic ace, so even when i hadn't watched this run and was only seeing the queerbaiting accusations flying around in real time, i still didn't get why everyone was so kiss-oriented. and i understand it even less now. the writing was never geared toward the big sweeping kiss because that's not who thirteen is--or rather, that's a step out of her reach right now. she is so deeply hurt and closed off that her emotional triumphs look smaller, conventionally, and yaz is a great partner for her because she's able to understand this and treat these things with the weight they deserve. and everyone has said this but thasmin is paralleling all over the place with the kinds of romance this run emphasizes: the second chance (graham and grace, nick and sarah, adam and jake) (and by the way, from the way people talked about it, i didn't think there was a romance storyline between two men in doctor who until fifteen), the almost (dan and diane, the old couple who didn't get married in orphan 55), the fighting against impossible odds to get back to each other (adam and jake again, bel and vinder, even to some extent umbreen and prem).
anyway there's more stuff here about how if yaz's arc is definitely becoming more like the doctor, for better or worse, then thirteen's arc is on some level about becoming a companion--like many companions, she feels like she's lost and doesn't know who she is. she grapples with being abandoned as a child, much like the doctor (even unintentionally) abandons her companions. she has her agency threatened and taken away and many times has to rely on others to help her (which forces her to actually live those communal values she likes but often fails to uphold for herself--that is a hypocritical feature, not a flaw, in the writing). she literally spends a glorious five minutes as a companion to the fugitive doctor.
anyway, you can criticize the writing for sure but if you just give me a blanket statement about how the writing was shit, i'm pretty sure you don't actually want to talk about the writing. and that's a shame.
