I’ve mentioned, on more than one occasion, that Jamie is one of my favorite classic Who companions, so it’s of course fun to
talk about instances of him being brave/tough/clever. With companions who tend to respond more
physically to threats, it can sometimes be hard to identify their best moments
without sounding repetitive – i.e., Jamie fights the soldiers, Jamie fights a
Kroton, Jamie fights an Ice Warrior.
However, for my favorites, I was able to find a variety of cool Jamie
moments that demonstrate a number of different abilities.
Working Together with Kemel (Series 4, Episode
40 – “The Evil of the Daleks: Episode
4”)
Sketchy
racial politics aside (Jamie is attacked by an unspeaking “swarthy manservant”
while searching for the kidnapped Victoria,) I like what goes on here. Jamie, when confronted, intitially fights
Kemel, but when the fight puts Kemel in risk of falling to his death, Jamie
decides to save Kemel instead. Jamie
recognizes the potential for an ally in Kemel, and though their ability to
communicate with one another is limited, they quickly come to understand each
other, their mutual interest in rescuing Victoria, and the benefit of working
together. That partnership proves
crucial, as each saves the other’s life more than once throughout the ordeal;
Jamie is often one to jump into a fight, but here, he’s better served by
trusting his instinct to befriend his opponent rather than finish him off.
Getting into Salamander’s Good Graces (Series
5, Episode 18 – “The Enemy of the World:
Episode 2”)
Obviously,
this is a coordinated infiltration with multiple moving parts, and it’s safe to
say that Jamie is probably not its
brainchild; Astrid most likely sees to that.
However, it’s a good plan – staging an attack on Salamander’s life for
Jamie to thwart, letting him show off his skills and defense knowledge, which
gets him a job working for Salamander – and Jamie carries it off well. There’s a lot riding on him to be
convincing. Even apart from the plan, if
Salamander doesn’t buy it, Jamie is likely dead. But Jamie does a fine job playing his part,
no small feat for someone who doesn’t always improvise well.
Fighting the Quarks (Series 6, Episode 4 – “The
Dominators: Episode 4”)
This is a
good example of Jamie doing what Jamie does best. He has for once, managed to temporarily get
himself out of trouble, but seeing his friends in danger, he immediately sets
about trying to help, endangering himself in the process. Here, he diverts a Quark away,
drawing its fire to him and leading it to a vulnerable spot where he and Cully
can drop a boulder on it. A smart plan
that feels pretty rooted in Jamie’s skill set, and again, a good example of him
putting his friends’ safety before his own.
Intercepting the Bomb (Series 6, Episode 5 –
“The Dominators: Episode 5”)
And a
second Big Damn Hero moment for “The Dominators” – this is a good serial for
Jamie. While this moment is played a bit
for laughs, with the Doctor declaring, “It’s so simple, only you could have thought of it!”, it is a good notion, and again, it relies on Jamie’s skill set of more
practical thinking compared to the Doctor and Zoe’s genius. The Dominators are boring a hole in the
surface of the planet to drop a seed device that will set off the internal
volcano, and neither the Doctor or Zoe can see any way to stop it. It’s Jamie who comes up with the “simple” but
effective solution: dig an underground
tunnel perpendicular to the Dominators’ borehole and intercept the seed device
on its way down.
Saving the Doctor (Series 6, Episode 28 – “The
Seeds of Death: Episode 6”)
Aw,
bless. Here’s Jamie leaping into danger
again for the sake of his friends. This
time, he does it in a pretty big way.
The Doctor has been sent up to the moon base by T-mat, where the Ice
Warriors have him held captive. Jamie
convinces Zoe to program the T-mat to send him up as well, where he arrives moments before the Doctor is due to be executed. Jamie physically tackles one Ice Warrior while the Doctor uses his solar device against another.
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