On the off chance that no one's said Bill Potts yet: Bill Potts!
It was love at first sight. The smile she gave the Doctor toward the end of the āFriend from the Futureā short, that child-like, Christmas morning smileāthat clinched it. Next was her sense of style. Holy cow, I was really itching for Bill to be our first āperiodā companion. The jean jacket and Prince t-shirt got my hopes up, and I was immediately making eighties girl group playlists in my head for her tenure.
My favorite thing about Bill is her softness, how gentle she is with other girls. Sheās so earnest and wears her heart on her sleeve and is somehow both clever and naĆÆve at the same time, in a lot of the same ways as Twelve. I canāt yet tell if Iām annoyed or endeared by what a crapfest her love life is.
I highly suspect it hasnāt happened yet, but for now the Christmas scenes in the Pilot are definitely up there. Itās canon that Twlve and Bill often just casually hang out, and she talks to him about girls and her mundane human life, and heās invested. Of course, she gets him a present, and he puts her rug under the TARDIS, his most important possession, and the āwind in their clothesā line. And then. And then he gives her her motherās photos. You guys.
I have a whole story plotted out how Twelve managed to take so many pictures of Billās mother. Which is that he befriended her while living as her (arguably comically terrible) lodger for a few years. The lodger thing was a ploy to get some pictures, but friendship happens along the way. One of my favorite things about Twelve is that he acts all gruff and standoffish, but it takes him about three seconds to get attached. The rest of the story would be a lot like The Object of My Affection, to the surprise of no one. Heās there when Bill is born. Billās mother passes not long after, and he canāt take Bill in despite wanting to, as it would create a paradox and for other messy Doctory reasons. So, he halfheartedly gives baby Bill to Moira, who is in fact her fatherās sister and her closest living relativeā¦and then he resumes life in the 21st century, when he can finally be a presence in her life.
I do get bummed out when people shit on Clara or the last two seasons as a way to lift up Bill or this current season. Iām very suspicious of reasons why anyone would actually dislike Clara, especially when I see reviews singing praises of Billās characterization because she allegedly does not overreach her assistant/sidekick role on the show unlike her predecessor. Ew.
ā¢ Favorite relationship
Twelve. Iām totally onboard for the familial vibes by this point. Itās neat seeing the Doctor take on that role again. I actually thought I would be against the whole mentor/student thing because of the risk of infantilizing or patronizing the young female counterparts in those dynamics. Although, it would have been arguably worse if they had the mentor/student dynamic, and it was romantic (which could be said about a lot of Doctor/companion relationships TBH), so bullet dodged on that front.
Theyāre also so unconditionally and irrationally protective of each other. I never get tired of that aspect of the Doctor/companion relationship.
This last episode messed me up. We have Bill, whoās lived as an orphan her whole life, and she finally finds this heroic figure who fills that parental role, so she literally trades the entire human race to keep him alive. Wow. Granted, that is classic Moffat, but still, wow.
Aaand, heās going to die on her watch anyway and possibly by her hand, so this show is entirely made of pain.
Aside from the fact that they were happier for much longer and Billās first excursion to space didnāt have to be so abjectly traumatizing?
Bill moves out of Moiraās and into the TARDIS and promptly makes waffles every morning in the console room, thereby fulfilling its destiny of becoming a kitchen. Twelve is aghast and then not so much. She and Twelve regularly tease each other for developing crushes on pretty much everyone they meet. Twelve: āDo you have to fall in love with every girl that smiles at you?ā Bill: āUM MY DUDE MY GUY HOW MANY OF THE COMPANIONS YOU HAD WERE BASICALLY YOUR COMMON LAW WIFE? Not to mention your weird relationship with your time machine and with whomeverās in that vault thatās been banging out the Pinky and the Brain theme for ten hours on loopāyou donāt think I hear that?????ā
