Clara Oswin Oswald: The Only Mystery Worth Solving

[Llywela]

But 12 is an older, crankier, more emotionally aloof man - he spent 900 years on the planet called Christmas, watching this utopia fall apart because of him, his only constant companion being the senile head of a cyberman called Handles.  For Clara that same time sequence happened in the span of half a day.  11 was far and away the longest regeneration - about 1100 years.

Yes, no one is denying that - although the show seems to have forgotten, since the 12th Doctor spent an entire season angsting about whether or not he's a 'good man' (which he should already know, his past self having just been through all that) rather than struggling to adjust to life as a traveller again after his lengthy ordeal at Christmas (which again should have proved the point). It's Clara's attitude to his change that grates. That it was 900 years for him and half a day for her makes no difference - it was the regeneration she had a problem with, not the time differential. Plenty of other companions have been through regenerations, and most of them didn't even know it was possible beforehand, which Clara did - she knew what to expect and still pitched a fit about it. There've been dramatic personality shifts before without '900 years' (or, you know, a single montage attempting and failing to convey 900 years) as a reason - it's the regeneration that changes him, not the passage of time. It's the regeneration and the changes it brings that come as a shock to the companion - Clara would have reacted the same way whether she'd been with him throughout or not. It took her the entire season to get used to it - that's longer than it's ever taken anyone else. And she had the luxury (or perhaps curse) of going home in between adventures - she wasn't stuck with him, she could have left at any time, but she chose to keep putting them both through it. Most companions adjust to a new regeneration with a hell of a lot more grace than Clara did - and there've been some for whom the transition was every bit as shocking and difficult as it was for her, if not more so.

 

Elle's point was that in the past companions haven't had the luxury of popping home whenever they felt like it - they were either in or out. Clara might have got the hang of the new Doctor a bit more quickly and easily if she hadn't been so distracted by trying to have her cake and eat it too.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

(should state that I'm new to the whole show & fandom, just binge watched all of the available 'nu'Who (2005) episodes - series 1 - 8, plus specials - over the past week +...) 

 

I think I like the fact that I can stand and even like the character, Clara Oswald.  Makes me feel apart from the (apparent) crowd. 

 

I also think that the character gets the shaft because the show's writing treats her horribly.  People claim the show is more about her than the Doctor and episode plot lines.  While that may be true, or at least perceivedly apparent to some, I see it as the writers causing that by feeling the need to make her a one-day-a-week-visitor to the TARDIS/Doctor instead of a constant traveling companion like all of the previous companions were.  Of course she's going to have a separate arc(s) if she's shown to have a nearly full life outside of the Doctor's constant sphere of influence.

 

And I'm not going to get into the whole 'shipping' thing, but since they decided from the very start that because of the age difference (& his new crotchety old man demeanor) that 12 was "not her boyfriend", they did the [sarcasm]logical[/sarcasm] thing and paired the younger beautiful actress with an attractive actor to be able to say that, yes, there was a romantic subplot and audience "hook" to the season/series.

 

If there weren't other things going on in Clara's life, when she wasn't on the TARDIS/with the Doctor - which was a LOT - then there'd be complaints that she was a flat 2D character who magically was always impossibly unburdened & immediately available every time the Doctor 'needed' her.  This is a script writing fault, not a character flaw.

 

And as far as references to it being the "Clara Show", she was no more important than Rose, Donna, or Amy.  In fact, if you were inclined to look at it a certain way, she could be seen as the least important to the Doctor [of all his previous companions] considering he hasn't (yet) convinced her into being a full-time companion.

 

I see the reservations and complaints about the character, and I do understand a lot of them, but again, it was how the writers/PTB handled her writing and direction that caused 95% of those character faults.  I didn't mind the idea of the Danny Pink character, but the way they wrote him/their relationship and his interactions with the Doctor, it just made me glad to see him die.   The whole thing really put a draining effect on her character and her relationship with the Doctor, when all the two males could do were go all "sir, yes sir!! / not a soldier!" on each other. 

 

For the sake of potential unfair opinions about JC as an actress, I can only wonder if we will be saddled with another "Danny Pink" for Clara this coming season/series.  God, I sure hope not.  Or, at least, get a writer in there that knows how to write a romance without it draining the life out of a character/show. 

[alias1]

But 12 is an older, crankier, more emotionally aloof man - he spent 900 years on the planet called Christmas, watching this utopia fall apart because of him, his only constant companion being the senile head of a cyberman called Handles.  For Clara that same time sequence happened in the span of half a day.  11 was far and away the longest regeneration - about 1100 years.

I found this 900 year aging on the planet called Christmas to be the most ridiculous thing that Moffat has ever done (and he's done some ridiculous stuff).  It wasn't earned.  It was all a voice over and we never really saw it or felt it.  Well, I didn't.  It seemed more like make believe than anything that really happened.  No wonder Clara was stunned by the sudden-ness of it.  I just hope they have better story lines going forward.  I'm tired of the forced Clara drama (and no more romance please).  I've liked Clara from the beginning and she deserved better than what Moffat has done to her.

[MadMouse]

It wasn't earned.  It was all a voice over and we never really saw it or felt it.  Well, I didn't.  It seemed more like make believe than anything that really happened.

 

Probably the best description of the Moffat tenure as show runner.

[Fat Elvis 007]

In the thread for the Season 9 trailer, truther said:

Color me underwhelmed. Sorry. It's the exact same trailer they use for every Hollywood blockbuster and since Clara's in it it's the exact same flawed show I grew to dread watching last season.

Clara is a horrible human being, but so is the twelfth Doctor. In fact, if there was a consistent theme last season it was that it was the Doctor's influence that made her a horrible human being. So I'm suprised he doesn't get as much flak for the show's problems as she does. Capaldi is fine for the role but he's written as a disrespectful jerk most of the time. His relationship with Clara is toxic and hateful.

"Kill the Moon" was the worst episode for both characters (and my personal Worst Episode Ever). The Doctor withholding crucial info from Clara to get her to "make a choice" was stupid and cruel. Rational adults do not behave that way. Leaving someone to make a terrible moral choice without giving them all the facts is wrong. They are supposed to be a team. He betrayed her. Then again Eleven was disrespectful toward Clara too but that was also mostly ignored. Even he would have never done this, though.

Clara ignoring the people's vote (which was her idea) so that she could save a giant alien fetus that could have eaten the earth or destroyed it just by hatching was stupid and cruel. It made no sense. No rational adult would ever make that decision. It was the wrong decision; the narrative only tried to make it the right one by withholding information that no rational viewer would have ever guessed could be possible. She wasn't right because she weighed the options or figured anything out, like most companions would (and like she has done before). She was right just because.

Her outburst to the Doctor in that episode was understandable, but then she immediately starts traveling with him again and continues to make awful choices. In the tree episode she tells the Doctor not to save the children because they'll miss their parents(!), and not to save her because she doesn't want to be the last of her kind. It was at this point that I began to wonder if the show was being written by sociopaths who have only seen flash cards of human emotions.

So yes, Clara is awful. Some of that I think was definitely intentional--you couldn't accidentally write an arc like this, it's obvious she was supposed to parallel the Doctor and be corrupted by the time she spent with him. Some of it I think was supposed to be way more sympathetic than it ended up being. I wanted to like Clara and I genuinely found her more interesting this season even if often what made her interesting was what also made her such a terrible companion.

If we get a new companion I'll be happy, but that still leaves the Doctor. How will he treat his next one? To me just getting rid of Clara doesn't solve the problem because it was the Doctor who caused Clara's problems in the first place. He was openly disrespectful and condescending to her from the beginning of the season, and he's like that to mostly everyone. She retaliated by telling him to shut up and/or threatening to hit him in nearly every episode. I thought people were exaggerating when I read so many complaining about that but having finally caught up on Netflix (minus the Christmas special) it really is almost every episode!

I want a new Doctor AND a new companion who won't have such an adversarial relationship. But mostly? I want a new show runner. It's possible this dark arc could have been done well, even if the very idea bums me out, but it wasn't.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Fat Elvis 007

[Ringthane]

In the thread for the Season 9 trailer, truther said:

Clara is a horrible human being, but so is the twelfth Doctor. In fact, if there was a consistent theme last season it was that it was the Doctor's influence that made her a horrible human being. So I'm suprised he doesn't get as much flak for the show's problems as she does. Capaldi is fine for the role but he's written as a disrespectful jerk most of the time. His relationship with Clara is toxic and hateful.

"Kill the Moon" was the worst episode for both characters (and my personal Worst Episode Ever). The Doctor withholding crucial info from Clara to get her to "make a choice" was stupid and cruel. Rational adults do not behave that way. Leaving someone to make a terrible moral choice without giving them all the facts is wrong. They are supposed to be a team. He betrayed her. Then again Eleven was disrespectful toward Clara too but that was also mostly ignored. Even he would have never done this, though.

Clara ignoring the people's vote (which was her idea) so that she could save a giant alien fetus that could have eaten the earth or destroyed it just by hatching was stupid and cruel. It made no sense. No rational adult would ever make that decision. It was the wrong decision; the narrative only tried to make it the right one by withholding information that no rational viewer would have ever guessed could be possible. She wasn't right because she weighed the options or figured anything out, like most companions would (and like she has done before). She was right just because.

Her outburst to the Doctor in that episode was understandable, but then she immediately starts traveling with him again and continues to make awful choices. In the tree episode she tells the Doctor not to save the children because they'll miss their parents(!), and not to save her because she doesn't want to be the last of her kind. It was at this point that I began to wonder if the show was being written by sociopaths who have only seen flash cards of human emotions.

So yes, Clara is awful. Some of that I think was definitely intentional--you couldn't accidentally write an arc like this, it's obvious she was supposed to parallel the Doctor and be corrupted by the time she spent with him. Some of it I think was supposed to be way more sympathetic than it ended up being. I wanted to like Clara and I genuinely found her more interesting this season even if often what made her interesting was what also made her such a terrible companion.

If we get a new companion I'll be happy, but that still leaves the Doctor. How will he treat his next one? To me just getting rid of Clara doesn't solve the problem because it was the Doctor who caused Clara's problems in the first place. He was openly disrespectful and condescending to her from the beginning of the season, and he's like that to mostly everyone. She retaliated by telling him to shut up and/or threatening to hit him in nearly every episode. I thought people were exaggerating when I read so many complaining about that but having finally caught up on Netflix (minus the Christmas special) it really is almost every episode!

I want a new Doctor AND a new companion who won't have such an adversarial relationship. But mostly? I want a new show runner. It's possible this dark arc could have been done well, even if the very idea bums me out, but it wasn't.

 

I think, and this is just my opinion, one thing you're missing or forgetting about the Doctor is that he's an alien.  He's not human, no matter how much he likes us/tries to fit in with us.  He's just not going to respond in the same way that someone like you or I would.  Sometimes he's a jerk to people - the first Doctor almost bashed a caveman's skull in in "An Unearthly Child", until Ian stopped him, and then almost got them all killed in "The Daleks", because he wanted to explore the Dalek city so badly he pretended to sabotage the TARDIS.  Four refused to help save someone in "The Seeds of Doom".  Seven used and manipulated everyone around him, including Ace, to get what he wanted. 

 

For every "do I have the right" scene the Doctor has, there's a scene that shows his darker side.  Some of his incarnations are better at hiding it than others, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. 

 

As far as Clara goes, though - yeah.  She's just a horrible person.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Ringthane

[Fat Elvis 007]

I think, and this is just my opinion, one thing you're missing or forgetting about the Doctor is that he's an alien.

Taking to the Doctor thread.

[goodbyeglittergirl]

CONFIRMED - She's leaving! http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34266847

 

Hooray!

[darkestboy]

Nearly confirmed but it's been obvious that Clara wouldn't go beyond Series 9 anyways.

[penguinnj]

Clara is not my favorite companion, but I have warmed to her.  I didn't think she was a great fit with Matt but I've rather liked her with Capaldi.  What I would like to see is a different type of companion this time around- someone not quite as forward or anxious to be the the Doctor themselves.

[elle]

If  Clara is over at the end  of this series, I really wish they had stuck with  their guns and given her the  old Wendy storyline.                                                                                                                                                                                                              

From the spoilers/speculation thread:  What is the Wendy storyline?

[NeenerNeener]

 

From the spoilers/speculation thread:  What is the Wendy storyline?

 

I'm assuming that's a reference to Peter Pan, where Wendy & Peter meet again at the end of the story and she's grown old. But that's just a guess.

[Daisy]

From the spoilers/speculation thread:  What is the Wendy storyline?

 

basically the Peter/Wendy storyline from Peter Pan. Pan, boy who never grows up, always visits Wendy until she can't anymore (because she's too old). I think it would be a really good story for Who. the Doctor, no matter what his face -  never really 'experienced' that (in my tenure and I'm only a NuWhovian, so there you are). Having the Doctor come and find an aged Clara and having him deal with that would have been awesome

[elle]

Thank you, NeenerNeener and Daisy!  I thought I had just missed an episode with a "Wendy" character.

[Bruinsfan]

I'd say the Doctor sort of experienced that with Sarah Jane Smith, although of course she was still active and awesome when he last saw her (and due to Liz Sladen's untimely end, there's now no possibility of him encountering her decades further down the line).

 

I don't quite understand how Clara could be so thrown by the Doctor regenerating when she'd inserted herself into the lives of ALL his past incarnations. Surely the current version's crustiness can't be that big a surprise to someone who was around the William Hartnell and Colin Baker versions?

[Llywela]

I don't quite understand how Clara could be so thrown by the Doctor regenerating when she'd inserted herself into the lives of ALL his past incarnations. Surely the current version's crustiness can't be that big a surprise to someone who was around the William Hartnell and Colin Baker versions?

The show has been fairly vague on this point, but overall has given the impression that this Clara has little or no actual memory of her splinter selves' experiences - and many of them anyway only encountered the various Doctors tangentially, rather than actually spending time getting to know them. So no, she doesn't really know his past selves. She's familiar with the concept of regeneration, but this was her first direct experience of it. And she handled it very badly.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Llywela

[Fat Elvis 007]

Taking the "Wendy" discussion to the Amy thread.

[call me ishmael]

basically the Peter/Wendy storyline from Peter Pan. Pan, boy who never grows up, always visits Wendy until she can't anymore (because she's too old). I think it would be a really good story for Who. the Doctor, no matter what his face -  never really 'experienced' that (in my tenure and I'm only a NuWhovian, so there you are). Having the Doctor come and find an aged Clara and having him deal with that would have been awesome

Didn't they already do that and then change it in Last Christmas when JC decided to stay?

[Daisy]

Didn't they already do that and then change it in Last Christmas when JC decided to stay?

 

yes. which in my mind cheapens it. the whole thing is - Pan never grows up, Wendy does, and dies. Pan can't change that. in Doctor Who, twice now, his companon ages and with 1: Doctor doesn't even see it/isn't there, just sees the gravestone (so robbed), and with Clara, it's like. HAH! we can just wibbly wobbly timey wimey it away (I can't remember how it actually ended in Last Christmas). I just felt like it would have had more gravitats has Clara just had died (regardless of my feelings towards her - Doctor gets there, and unlike everything else he can just escape. he can't stop human aging, he can just be there with his friend as she passes on in the night).

 

Season 9 - deal with that sort of like with season 3 - and it hits him that Clara (Rose) is indeed gone (and unlike Rose - gone gone.). 

[call me ishmael]

yes. which in my mind cheapens it. the whole thing is - Pan never grows up, Wendy does, and dies. Pan can't change that. in Doctor Who, twice now, his companon ages and with 1: Doctor doesn't even see it/isn't there, just sees the gravestone (so robbed), and with Clara, it's like. HAH! we can just wibbly wobbly timey wimey it away (I can't remember how it actually ended in Last Christmas). I just felt like it would have had more gravitats has Clara just had died (regardless of my feelings towards her - Doctor gets there, and unlike everything else he can just escape. he can't stop human aging, he can just be there with his friend as she passes on in the night).

 

Season 9 - deal with that sort of like with season 3 - and it hits him that Clara (Rose) is indeed gone (and unlike Rose - gone gone.).

Do you mean Rose or Amy?

[Daisy]

Do you mean Rose or Amy?

 

Amy

[elle]

In "Nightmare in Silver", Clara steps up and takes over the platoon.  She does it with the Doctor's orders and the unknown, yet, back up of the emperor.  It is not surprising she would feel that she could do that anytime.

 

Apropos of anything, I love Warwick Davis!  I think Clara was a fool to not take him up on his offer, but he was better off that she didn't, maybe. ;0)

Edited October 7, 2015 by elle