FiveByFive

Ding! Ding! Ding! This is the first season that I've ever seen anyone actively point out how much Bonnie does for the team and how little she gets back. There has been an actual journey this season with Bonnie's character that hasn't happened in ages. Her parents die, she becomes crazy evo-powerful, becomes ~*anchor*~ and it's all back to normal a few weeks later. This season, they finally had her: Acknowledge how awesome she is. Actively realize how important she is in the scheme of things. Not be Ms. Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice after Kai absorbed Luke. She was pissed and no one questioned that. Acknowledge that she does in fact sacrifice herself for her friends constantly. Have other characters acknowledge that she does sacrifice herself for her friends constantly. Acknowledge that, yeah, she should probably actually look out for herself once 'n a while and she did in spite of everyone else. Actually recognize evil and deal with it in cooperation with another character. Usually she's helping them, but no, Damon helped her. Then in the end - another character - the one who is probably "the most" team Elena chooses to let her live because they're genuinely friends. There are certain moments in a show when you can tell it's the writers speaking to and as the audience: Kai: "Your friends think you're funny? Cause maybe ... if you were funny ... if you were the one with the good jokes who they could always count on to make them laugh, maybe they'd be cool with letting you live instead of Elena?" Bonnie: "You're right! Sadistic humor is your thing. I'm just the one who does magic." That's who Bonnie has been the entire run of the series, "the one who does magic." She has literally been, 1-800-DialAWitch for years. This season finally someone sees her as more than that. Not just as a quick, throw away either. There's no one referencing Bonnie and then forgetting about her for several episodes. There's no, "implied" friendship with no actual friendship-like-actions. None of these people have a problem killing anyone. Technically Damon even killed (and then vamped against her will) Bonnie's mother. However, in the end Damon liked her so much that he was willing to put off his time with Elena so she could live a full life. Yes, Bonnie lives because she has become his best friend, who sacrificed her self for him, who he calls at night when he needs advice and who he cooked for everyday for months. That is miles away from where the two of them were at the beginning of the series. They have both come a long way.

I was trying to find it in myself to figure out the easiest way to rehabilitate Juliette - since we all know they will - after being responsible for Nick's mother's death and since the simplest explanation is usually the right one I'd say, "It was never 'her' in the first place" is the best one I can come up with. ... But I won't give these writers credit. Every time they have let us down and I keep watching hoping that will change. In any case, I don't have a problem "in theory" with Juliette going full on evil as she did in this episode but I would have a problem with them reversing it without a reasonable explanation. I love Bitsie when she was playing, "nice, kind" Juliette in season one but I haven't at all since then. As for anyone saying maybe the baby now ... much older ... created an "Illusion" ... well yeah, we saw the head so unless she can create long term illusions and the head doesn't fade away in the first five seconds of the next episode I doubt that's the case. However, I can not believe that Nick's mother is stupid enough to just randomly walk up to the house with the baby knowing that everyone was looking for the baby at one point, knowing that the Royals are all around town and having survived so long already -- without thinking to at least case the place before she went in. I'll chalk this up to the writers forcing us to get to the outcome they wanted.

Semantics. That doesn't change a thing. Juliette sent an e-mail to Nick's mother claiming that need needed her with the intent to summon her. She allowed them to murder several people around her former home and did not care. She also did nothing to stop or warn Kelly that she was walking to her death when it's been made clear she has power in spades and possibly could have stopped them. She also allowed them to leave Nick's mother's head in a box in their living room. Kelly would be alive if not for the actions that Juliette took. If you think the characters will see it differently, great but I doubt it. True, it's kind of a little different -- this is all eons ago when she was working for Renard who they are all clearly friends with now. Sean Renard sent Adalind to kill Marie. Sean Renard sent Adalind to seduce Hank. The order wasn't to kill him but to make him love her and then obsessed with her. Sean wanted the key and she raised the stakes by putting him into a coma with the thread he'd die if she didn't wake him up. I don't think she or Sean thought for a second that they wouldn't get it but oops she got depowered and Sean kicked her to the curve. That doesn't excuse the Marie thing but yeah she was going to die anyway. Adalind seems to like to cause "trouble" but not go in for the kill. Plus if any of the stuff above had of went the way Sean wanted it to, Nick would have have had her or Sean's head. What I mean is, when left to her own devices that's not necessarily her first instinct and those failures are the reason why she is alive now. Stefania killed Frau Pech while she was in Adalind's form after Frau Pech drugged Adalind but Stefania knew it wasn't her ... there was a lot of double crossing, manipulating etc. going on there so I see that as more of an "no honor among thieves" thing.

I sometimes feel like I'm a defender of all female characters and actresses on every TV series but you know what ... When it comes to Juliette ... KILL HER NOW. Bitsie may not be the greatest actress but they completely assassinated the character. There is no outcome here that will satisfy me other than her character's death. Also how stupid are they to write out Mary Elizabeth and Garcelle Beauvais for cheap, five second payoffs? Think of the stories you just threw out the window when you got rid of these two women who are actually fine, proven, battle hardened actresses! The thing I don't think even the writers have considered is that even ADALIND in her HEYDAY would have NEVER pulled that stunt. Adalind would bake cookies that made people crazy. She didn't kill them. Adalind cursed a cat's claw to make Juliette forget things and eventually it put her in a coma. She didn't kill her. Adalind lost her baby when a bunch of people stole her for the baby's protection. She didn't kill them but she did get revenge when ... Adalind turned herself into Juliette and stole Nick's powers. She STILL didn't kill him. Juliette is a hexenbiest for five cosmic seconds and she goes off and kills Nick's MOTHER. The balls?!?!?!?!!?!? If the writers can write themselves out of what Juliette did, I will personally travel to the deepest, darkest, gold mines in the furthest corners of the Earth and harness the purest gold from the hardest rock. I will then build my own forge with my bare hands and then personally create an award made from this gold with white diamonds for eyes that spray White Diamonds perfume and that turns into Angelina Jolie circa 2004 in a see through, permanently wet tank top when you rub it and hand it to them. Destroy. Her. Now.

To think this whole episode would have never had the outcome it did if anyone bothered to ever leave Mystic Falls. Matt had the right idea but apparently no one listens. I mean, how would Kai ever have found Jo if she had of bothered to go ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. Ding! Ding! Ding! I'm glad Bonnie and Matt took it seriously. I was almost surprised they didn't brush it off. I also think Jo passing out was because of her link to Kai. I also think it was really awesome that Elena immediately told Alaric. So many times do we see on these shows someone saying, "Keep it a secret!" and they do and bad things happen. I also think Enzo is completely useless and for some odd reason they're keeping the actor around. Bonnie was once the girl that summoned a big ass storm and magic spell to help take down Klaus. Now she gives people head pain and then gets stabbed in the neck or knocked out. I mean, do something girl! Cast a spell that can reveal things unseen! Make yourself invisible! Use your headache power at whatever is there. I was kind of shocked the show went there because baby fetus stabbings are pretty hard core. That's the kind of thing you don't really come back from in terms of redemption. Oh, I think that was real but after Bonnie jettisoned him in the past with a bunch of heretic vampires he's probably over it. Also, he could have killed Bonnie or Matt but he didn't. Yes, he probably needs Bonnie's blood for a loophole but really she has always been his greatest threat.

These shows are always using the, "My secret puts those close to me in danger!" excuse but they all seem to neglect that the secret has never put anyone in danger, being in close proximity to the hero is usually the thing that causes the person to be in danger. Plus, if a bad guy figures out who the superhero is when they're not superheroing it also puts the loved ones of the person in danger. So why not tell them so that they are ready? Knowing is the difference between, "This person is looking for Barry ... they may know he is the Flash ... let me get out of here," and "Oh, Barry isn't here. Sure you can wait for him stranger who wants to kill/kidnap/hurt me because I don't know my friend is a superhero but you do!" Her reaction wasn't any different than most normal people would have in this situation. If anything it was severely watered down. The girl has barely had any opportunity to express her perspective on anything ever. So saying, "STFU, Iris" is a little silly, IMHO. Furthermore, her mind was not on herself the last part of the episode. She had time to be angry and then her concern shifted to the same people that had lied to her all this time. She wanted Eddie to be okay. She wanted her dad to be safe. She wanted Barry to not get his butt kicked by Grodd so he could survive the battle and save them both since he is their only hope. She didn't rant and rave the entire time about herself at that point. She called Caitlin out on lying to her and then felt bad about what happened to Ronnie. She didn't scream, "Me! Me! Me!" anymore than appropriate. I was so happy they didn't "Thea Queen" her initial acceptance this episode. She had every right to be annoyed if not angry. I was pleased that they went with "disappointment" as her reaction. It smacks of her feeling like while they didn't "have" to tell her they really "should" have told her. It's like her best friend she tells everything to met a really hot guy and went out with him but never mentioned it. You know you can't really be pissed because it's not your business but you can be disappointed because you would have told her! While she did seem to get over it "for now" it was clear that was because her priority was not herself the last portion of the episode. Hopefully she won't let it drop that easily. (And to her credit - neither did Thea although her after reaction was, "Okay, two can play at this game!") I felt it when they actually had scenes together as themselves at the very beginning of the series but even then it was more of a "teenage crush" kind of thing. Iris is so "perfect and beautiful" and Barry "loves" her but he just can't say it so she moves on and he still cares for her but nothing is happening because he was too immature to tell her eons ago. Barry's not tall enough to ride that ride yet. The way she has stood/stands by Eddie is very telling. Even her father told Barry this is what she would do. She is committed to Eddie completely. She is his rock. Barry should be dealing with the fact that she could have been his rock but now that's not gonna' happen so easily because her commitment is to Eddie first as the guy who actually told her how he felt and acted on it. She definitely does love Barry but that's just not the way the cards are laid out right now. She's not the kind of girl that's gonna ditch a guy, especially when he's missing or worse.

There's also the little matter of people like Bonnie, Tyler and formerly Jeremy who are supernatural but don't randomly run around switching off their humanity, killing people and acting like nothing ever happened. Elena, Damon, Stephan and Caroline have done that in the past and -- well, didn't really give a care after a few weeks (aka a single episode.) As a Bonnie fan I have waited years for this. No more randomly calling Bonnie to cast a spell and then threatening her if she doesn't want to. Her time in the past has changed her for the better. Bonnie sacrificed her freedom and magic the first time around to keep her friends safe. The sheer fact that Damon even bothered to ask her to take her back again after knowing what Kai did or what those people left over there could do is silly. How did he expect any other kind of response? A few years ago he would have rushed her and taken the ascendant or threatened her. Not anymore! Bonnie is clearly not going to take that from anyone if she can help it. She's also incredibly savvy and knew what to say to get Damon out of her face without having to do anything physical. Now let her guest on the Originals and show those witches what a real witch can do.

As much as I normally hate the way Joe handles anything in relation to Iris, I found the way he responded to Eddie to be: 1.) Hilarious 2.) A great inside look into the character & 3.) Completely okay being that he was asked directly and as you said, gave an answer. The answer he gave may not have been the one Eddie wanted but it was an answer. He probably wouldn't have said anything unless he was asked directly but since they asked him -- there you go! Most people, when asked that question, would come up with some a lengthy reason for answering the way they did either before or after answering. Nope, not Joe. He answered and was immediately on to the next thing. He didn't try to comfort him or sugarcoat it. Eddie: I want to propose to Iris. I'd like your blessing Joe: No. Eddie: ... come again? Joe: No. You do not have my blessing. .... That's Barry, we gotta go! He didn't feel the need to explain it to Eddie or qualify it. He just said exactly how he felt and I think most people would agree his assessment of the situation was right. After all, Iris did tell Barry she loved him the alternate timeline but more than likely because they were about to die. The feelings are there and one day they'll come out and Joe knows that Iris being the way she is would never leave Eddie once they got married.

Nichelle Nichols / Uhura relayed the story years later that it was actually William Shatner's idea. Her kiss was supposed to be with Spock (green blooded alien) not Captain Kirk (the human, white, star of the show.) Something tells me history would view it differently if it was Spock instead of Kirk as in, history wouldn't view it as a milestone at all. So, good for Bill Shatner for not having it any other way. It's an example of someone other than the writer of the show making a choice that would have never been made by the writer of the show. Whoopie Goldberg did the same years later by changing a line in a Next Generation episode describing a relationship as, "When a man and a woman are in love ..." to "When two people are in love." I hope she has a long and successful career beyond The Flash. I really don't know why anyone would feel as if they have a valid reason for complaining about her acting or even Kat Graham's acting on TVD because up until recently on the latter series we never saw the actress get to do anything worthy of judging. It's people like Shonda Rhimes who have catapulted portrayals of African American women (and even women in general) on television to a whole new level. The only time it appears Shonda gets flack as a writer is when Olivia Pope actually does something stereotypical because people are so used to not having to see that on her shows. That being said, it would really help if the writers at least made an attempt to give Iris something to do or some tie in with the story other than being the romantic interest. She works at a newspaper, why can't someone ask her for information on anything? They had a villain of the week have a distant previous relationship with her (of course it was unrequited romance because ... we've covered those reasons) and that was great(ish) because it actually drew her into the story in an active role. Why not do it again? There are smart and intelligent ways to bring her into the story in some small way other than the object of Barry or Eddie's affections. All it takes is for them to try.

I stuck with it until the end and I totally agree with you. They did, eventually, get back to focusing on Nikita and Alex after the inevitable Nikita vs. Alex but I think they had shed a lot of viewers before then. I think there are (like the topic implies with the comma) issues indicative to a character's race on a show and issues indicative to a character's gender on a show. Occasionally the two can meet and you have a character twice hated or otherwise maligned by the writers or fans. I also think it's easier to spot these things when you're of that gender or of that race although it doesn't relegate the views of those outside of that race or gender to the garbage bin. Finally: What I would love for someone to do is take characters like Iris and Laurel and apply someone like Laura Mulvey or Carol Clover's primary feminist film theories to them because a lot of what they've stated based upon watching characters like these in film still applies today. I feel like all of the characters mentioned in this thread as being problematic to one group or another are so because of the writers that have created them and not necessarily the actors playing them and that is a largely overlooked issue by fans who often see the character created by the writer(s) and the actor as one in the same.

There can be more than one of or either issue. The mistreatment of women on most of the shows discussed here is at times ridiculous. However if anyone remembers "Nikita" another, now completed, CW show; a lot of these issues weren't present. Granted, it was a female headed show - but then again so is TVD. Nikita, Alex, Amanda, Sonya and even Jayden to an extent (before she died) were all tough female characters who managed to have sensitive sides and interesting pasts. The relationships they had with men were secondary to their own personal goals even for the non-main characters. At no point were any of the women on Nikita all about their male counterparts. They were about the mission/gaining respect/taking back the family company. If The Flash and especially Arrow could pull that off with any of the characters I'd be pleased. They almost did it with Plastique (and killed her) but then had the Peek-A-Boo's episode mainly focus on her boyfriend.

Iris is supposed to be such a wonderful and talented writer that based off of her blog she could land a job at a newspaper and yet the show continues to treat her like the village idiot. How many more people will know the "Flash" secret before the writers have to realize it's simply ridiculous she doesn't. If and when she does find out the show had better not allow her to let everyone get off easy. Her boyfriend, her best friend/foster brother and her father have all been lying to her to "protect" her. What the show really isn't saying is that they feel the need to "protect" her because she's a woman and that is wrong. No one made the "protect" argument for Eddie but she is still in the dark thanks to some "Thea Queen must never know her brother is the Arrow" level lying by the men in her life. Lana Lang found 1,001 ways to get knocked out, trip, fall, be in another room or just miss the reveal that Clark Kent is [will be] Superman every single episode. This isn't Smallville and none of these characters are supposed to be seen as stupid. There will always be people that have legitimate reasons for not liking a character (I don't like Laurel as Black Canary because I loved Sarah) but there are always people that have have sexist or racist reasons for not liking a character as well. The writers, however, need to stop helping them! 1. Bonnie Bennett on The Vampire Diaries is a powerful witch everyone tends to forget exists for several episodes in a row. The worst moment the character ever had IMHO was when her mother was killed and turned into a vampire and rather than be able to be upset about it on screen, we had another (white) character relay Bonnie's feelings to Bonnie's friends while Bonnie sat in another room. 2. Lana Lang WAS a Mary Sue. There is no denying that. However it was Smallville and that show was so saccharine at times that being a Mary Sue should have been expected and accepted. However, they still wrote her like an idiot while Chloe and later Lois (the white characters) got to do all the smart, fun, intelligent things. Lana always needed to be "saved" while Lois/Chloe could (at times) take care of themselves. 3. Martha Jones from Doctor Who was hated before she even shot a single episode. Also, she was on the show about the same amount of time as her predecessor who didn't get even a tenth of the hate that she did. At least they made her actually helpful as a medical student but she lasted on the show the same amount of time as Donna whose actress actually CHOSE to leave and wasn't simply written out because she was so hated. Remember when they made Martha pretend to be a maid so they could talk about racism and sexism? 4. Abby Mills couldn't just be the star of the show who had a male counter part who she helps guide through the modern world of Sleepy Hollow, that male counterpart also had to have a wife so no one would even think to put the two together. Katrina, the worst witch ever, drags down the show. She's excessive. The time Katrina set a piece of paper on fire with a spell was the first time she ever did anything remotely useful. 5. Tara Thorton on True Blood? Don't even get me started. They never let that girl have a moment's peace and then they killed her in the first episode of the last season. Tara never let anyone step on her and the price she paid was having fans of the show call her annoying and cheer when she died both times! Iris has all of those problems: 1. They gave her a boyfriend who was not the lead rather than have her remain single at any point which is great for tension but we know we can't think about Iris/Barry being together because she is so devoted to Eddie. 2. Everyone treats her like she is a fragile flower who will be put in danger by knowing Barry's secret. Guess what? She has already been put in danger because everyone knows she's cool with the Flash. The men in her life have to make decisions for her because apparently she is not to be trusted to be smart enough to take care of herself. 3. We only know how she feels based upon her interaction with male characters. Even then her feelings are limited to: report about the Flash, sort of pine over Barry, yell at Barry for pining over her, be lied to and take it & be arm candy for Eddie. Caitlin, who is not the lead, has had her own spotlight several times on the series, way more than our lead female. Does Iris have a life beyond them? Not that we've seen! Which is pretty silly at this point since she's not a part of the Flash's "super hero" world. 4. I am so in favor of color blind casting, as a person of color who is also an actor, but people hated her after the previews when they discovered in this Flash, Iris is a black woman and the world will have to deal. 5. When Iris stands up for herself some fans go crazy and find ways to express that they feel she is "annoying" even when she has every right to be pissed. I always wonder what would have happened to Cordelia Chase's character if Bianca Lawson was able to keep the role, since was offered the role originally. I suspect, she probably would have been dead after the first season. It is 2015 and there is zero reason for any of this to still be happening to a POC on a relatively progressive TV series.

Healing factors don't always work the way people would expect them to in the comics so I figure it's probably not much different here. They made it pretty clear Whitehall did quite a lot to Jiaying and dumped her body when he got what he wanted and she appeared to be dead. Her powers could have been completely taxed by the time Cal found her because in the comics even healing factors have limits. Furthermore, there's also Deadpool who has a healing factor but also has scars which cover his entire body. That doesn't mean he cant heal internally or regenerate limbs - it just leaves scarring. This isn't much different than he was on The Tomorrow People. He is pretty to look at though and he seems to have mastered getting rid of his natural non-acting accent. Good for him! Overall I really can not stand the Skye storyline. It's the story of a Mary Sue learning about her past. I have just never gotten over that aspect of the character and as much as I like the "idea" of what's going on - I still find Raina, her mom, her dad, Gordon, random guy going backpacking in the woods, etc way more interesting. I like the fact that we found out Agent May was discussing kids with her husband before they jumped into the May kills a kid and gains a title story. However ... honestly, she was a SHIELD agent and the girl hurt a lot of people. I don't get the dramatics. I still don't completely buy how much it apparently "damaged" her. She snapped a guy's neck earlier in the episode who may not have needed his neck to be snapped if not for the girl. Maybe I sound cold but I'd think May would rationalize it at some point and think, "Well ... what were we supposed to do with her? If I didn't do it, everyone's lives including mine would have been over. There really was no other option." However, instead we got lots of "Oh! This changed my LIFE!."

I think we've seen over the course of the past few episodes and last season that everyone has adjusted to doing their part in taking are of Liam. Carl, Debbie and Sammi have kept their eye on him. At the end of the day Fiona is just his sister and they are also just his siblings. I think this was a great moment for Fiona. I was hoping, as she walked away she'd smile because to me finding out that Jimmy had lied to her again after she told him to let her go was a signal to her that she had made the right decision. Hopefully now she will continue to make positive choices. When I was in school, since financial aid is done over the summer or earlier when dorms are closed or just open to summer session people, my forms were always sent to my home address since that is likely where I would be. Also since my parents had jobs they would be the ones putting in their own financial information so it made sense for it to go directly home. I also, like Lip, didn't know that I had to fill it out every single year but I had siblings who went to college and informed me. I love Sammi finding her place with the family. It fits in nicely and makes her slightly less annoying than she was last season. She is making the kids breakfast and taking care of the house (and Liam) and none of it seems that weird since she is their sister and seems to have a good heart. I don't like the idea of Svetlana moving in with Kevin and offering her "services" but I do like their interactions together so that Kevin has someone to talk to other than Vee and her mother since Fiona is really Vee's friend. I also like that no matter what you think about what Svetlana does, she does care enough about that baby to grab him and move out when Mickey refuses to see how having Ian around after that incident isn't something only he should have the final say over. I do suspect Mickey, coming home and finding an empty house, will make him snap out of it. Ian is gone, Mandy is gone, Svetlana and his son are gone; it's just him now.

This episode seemed to be a bit of a mess but overall I did enjoy it with a few nitpicks. However, this was the first episode where I didn't entirely find Clara to be boring. I still don't like Capaldi's Doctor because it's clear that he is being super ... "Doctor(y)" but in a bad way while Clara is there as the straight woman to drag him back to the ground. I like my Doctors to educate their companions or be on almost equal footing, like with Donna, where they both learned a few things and needed one another while remaining their own people. Even though his previous Doctor was very young and impulsive he still seemed like he was on top of things. As for nitpicks & likes: I really hate that the "creature" on Dan/Rupert's bed was never explained. I think since the episode established The Doctor was just seeking out an answer to his own fears we're supposed to believe it was just a classmate but as Dan said nothing ever came into the room so there's no explanation for that one. Also all three of them saw it. I love the episodes where a simple concept is turned on it's head like The Weeping Angels and of course The Silence. This just kind of fizzled out once we learned the nothing was ... nothing! I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to go out with Pink or at least want to make a relationship work. Okay, so maybe she felt bad after traveling back to his time and possibly setting him on the path to become a soldier, but then he freaked out because someone at "work" told her that his name was really Rupert and not Dan then exited because she lied? He was just upset that she had run out when he got upset earlier now he is upset because she came back, used his real name and isn't wearing a jacket? He just seemed volatile. Either way the whole thing was too much. It was obvious their great grandchild recognized his great grandmother and confirmed it by saying the army man was a family heirloom before handing it to her despite her failed protest. She more than likely in the future will tell her great grandson about it. I strangely don't have a problem with Clara comforting the young Doctor since she was already established as being very important to his existence and SHE WAS MADE TO SAVE THE DOTOR! I do think it's weird The Doctor agreed to never investigate just where she went or rather if it was any Doctor but this one I would think it's weird. Technically she was the companion who was fiercely intelligent and (if you take away all of the horrid Doctor attraction) strong enough to make a trip around the world alone, teaching people of the good The Doctor did and then convincing all of them to, "Clap if you believe in [Doctors]" all on the same date at the same time thus allowing The Doctor to gain enough strength to stop The Master and undo "The Year That Never Was." Plus, if you look at the old new series companions, she was the only one who rejected traveling with The Doctor and later joined U.N.I.T., helped out Torchwood and now works as an alien hunter. So, yeah, I guess you could argue she's special because she never returned to a normal life and is capable of doing her own thing. And if the "new" ... new ... series wasn't so weird about it after the writer change, she'd be the only one I'd expect to ever believably see again.

As much as I wanted to love Capaldi's stint as the Doctor this episode wasn't helping. I know Moffat knows that most people are tired of the Daleks although I'd rather have them than the Cybermen again. The only interesting thing about this episode, to me, was how the Doctor legitmately did not care about whether or not he was at fault for making the Dalek evil again. So it was basically, "Let's find out why he's good and repair him! Oops! He's evil again! Told ya' so!" Clara bores me to tears and it's not the fault of the actress. Mostly the character did what she had to do to become the most "special companion ever" prior to this season so everything she does now is just, "Eh." It would be more interesting, at least, if she acted like she remembered the fact that she was, "Made to save the Doctor!" and actually take a role on the series as such. She shouldn't be a subordante. She should be an equal more in the way Donna became towards the second half of her run. Her teling The Doctor off was a good step in that direction. That was pretty much what I was thinking since it follows the history of the show's introduction to companions. Donna popped up before appearing as a companion in a Christmas special. Technically Martha popped up (although it was her cousin) in an episode before her appearance as a companion. Now we have Clara who popped up before her stint as a companion. I have a feeling when Clara goes, Journey will have stopped being a soldier for a significant amount of time and somehow become entanged with the Doctor again and get to travel with him.