Here’s
the Sunday Who Review, which was preempted yesterday for a 100 Years of Buster Keaton write-up.
After
seeing Nardole’s first appearance, I couldn’t have imagined a) him coming back
as a full-time companion and b) me enjoying
him so much as a companion! In “The
Husbands of River Song,” I found him doofy and not very funny, and “The Return
of Doctor Mysterio” was only a slight improvement. When I heard he was joining the show in
series 10, I sighed, prepared to like Bill and tolerate Nardole (a few
Nardole-related spoilers.)
Much to
my surprise, though, Nardole grew on me a lot.
I suppose it maybe helps that there’s so little “there” there in his
early appearances, so he’s practically a blank slate. Reintroduced in series 10 as something like
the Doctor’s Alfred, a cross between a valet and a confidante, Nardole is
tasked by the Doctor with helping him (the Doctor) keep his own promise to
guard the Vault. Given the Doctor’s
notoriously-itchy feet, that’s no easy task, and while most of Nardole’s role
early in the season is relegated to stern party-pooper who tries the keep the
Doctor earthbound – fat chance – he still plays it well enough. Even though the Doctor and Bill sneaking
around on adventures in time and space behind Nardole’s back is the early order
of the day, the story doesn’t frame Nardole as too much of a chump in the
scenario. Rather, he endeavors to be the
Doctor’s voice of reason, a thankless job but necessary in this case, and when
he comes to terms with the fact that he can’t keep the Doctor on Earth, Nardole
steels himself for the possibility of having to guard the Vault on his own.
Now,
after his Christmas specials, the idea of Nardole steeling himself for anything
would be a big stretch, so we’re already coming out ahead, but he gets better
from there. Once he starts joining the
Doctor and Bill on their travels – at first reluctantly, then as a more equal
participant – we start getting a better notion of him. This Nardole can still be doofy, but it’s
mostly in a more entertaining way. I
like his random little anecdotes about past exploits, like his dabbling in
alien martial arts, and his awkward-but-endearing methods of trying to
“ingratiate” himself with the locals wherever they go.
He also
proves himself to be helpful in many of the usual companion ways. He’s often brave (the “scared but going
through with it anyway” variety, which I like,) he’s shrewdly observant and
makes important connections, and his tech skills and general sci-fi-relevant
knowledge often come in handy. And,
probably most of all, he takes the Doctor to task when he thinks the Doctor
needs it. The Doctor asks Nardole to
shoulder some heavy stuff over the course of the season, and Nardole does his
best, helping out and not betraying the Doctor’s trust but still urging the
Doctor to do the smart thing and come clean about what he’s going through.
The
reason Nardole wound up getting a Character Highlight post instead of a Favorite
Characters like many other companions is because, even though I do really like
him, he’s still kind of… blank. He’s an
alien, but we have no idea where he’s from, what his species is like, and how
he connected with River in the first place.
While those non-sequiturs of his are fun, they’re also a reflection of
how Nardole can be basically anything the writers need him to be because so
little has been established for him. And,
don’t forget, in “The Husbands of River Song,” he gets his head chopped off and
attached to a robotic body, and the Doctor, evidently, puts him back together
out of assorted parts. What does Nardole
think of that? Who knows, because the
only references we get to it are jokes.
There’s a
bit in “The Doctor Falls” where Nardole says to the Doctor, “This is me we’re
talking about. Me. You know what I was like. If there’s more than three people in a room,
I start a black market.” It’s a line
indicating how being with the Doctor has changed Nardole and how he worries
that, without the Doctor, he’ll fall back into his old ways, but that’s not
what I think when I hear it. I think, “Since
when?” This scene suggests Nardole is
similar to Jack, a former conman who reformed while traveling with the Doctor,
but the only things during Nardole’s
whole time on the show that fit into that narrative are this scene and the mere
fact that, when we first meet him, he’s working for River (albeit not very
competently.) We don’t see Nardole go on
any journey from con artist to hero.
Hell, we don’t even see him go from doof to person-with-a-backbone; it
just happens, because it’s decided that that’s what he’s going to be.
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