Doctor Who Revisit: Spoilery Twelve-Clara Edition

The last spoiler-rific end-of-series-9 post for the foreseeable future.  As always, we’re talking about “Face the Raven,” “Heaven Sent,” and “Hell Bent,” and today, we’re looking at the relationship between the Doctor and Clara.

I’m not sure what to make of the big realization in “Hell Bent,” that the Doctor’s relationship with Clara is so unhealthy that the only solution is for one to have all memories of the other erased from their head.  It’s true that the Doctor loses his frakking mind after Clara’s death in “Face the Raven” – between the epochs-long angst and the horrifying rules-of-time-and-personal-integrity-breaking, it’s not a good situation.  It’s also true that the seeds are there earlier in the season, with the Doctor belaboring his “duty of care” re:  Clara and acting irresponsibly with time whenever she’s in danger.  Ashildr/Me goes so far as to suggest that the team-up of the Doctor and Clara may be the prophesied Hybrid that the Time Lords fear so much.

The thing is, I don’t get why any of this is happening.  Obviously, the Doctor cares a tremendous amount for every companion, and if they’re a companion worth their salt, they care a lot about him, too.  The bonds are always strong, and the stakes are always high.  What is it about this particular duo that’s so obsessive and consuming that it’s in actual danger of breaking the universe?  I don’t buy the “they’re too similar” idea, because regardless of whether or not it’s true, I don’t see it as a relevant factor in the Doctor’s compulsion to go too far for Clara’s sake. 

That’s another thing; it’s not really about the two of them as a unit.  It’s about how the Doctor feels about Clara and what he’ll do for her.  This veers dangerously into “Clara is the most special of them all” territory, which won’t do her character any favors, but again, why?  If she’s the one that he’ll break all his rules for, why is that?  I don’t get it.  I’m genuinely not trying to knock on Clara here.  I actually liked her much better this year compared to series 8 (it helps when she acts like she cares about the Doctor – who’da thunk?)  But with this unhealthily-strong connection, I feel like I’m being told about it instead of seeing, and more importantly, feeling it.  Don’t get me wrong; Peter Capaldi acts the crap out of any material he’s given, including these scenes.  But I don’t think the scenes he’s given in this case make sense.

In truth, I could have much more gotten behind the “this relationship is too unhealthy” claim last year, but it wouldn’t have had anything to do with the reasons suggested in “Hell Bent.”  I’ve talked at length about my extreme feelings about Twelve-Clara in series 8, and if last season had ended with the revelation that things couldn’t go on because Clara can’t see Twelve as a good man or that she seems to be friends with him mainly for what he offers her in terms of traveling in space and time (but only when it’s convenient for her,) I might have physically cheered.  Yeah – not quite what they’re going for in this finale.  So how did we get from there to here?  Last season, Clara tells the Doctor that everything bad that happened is his fault because he didn’t kill the Master years ago, and in the very same episode, she calls him her best friend (without a hint of irony, by the way.)  This season, we seem to see the Doctor and Clara in a fairly good place – looking out for each other, going on adventures, having a little fun, caring about each other’s emotional well-being – and then are told their feelings for each other are so unhealthy they might destroy time if they don’t decide to call it quits.  Anyone see how A leads to B in either season, or, for that matter, how the second one follows logically from the first?