Even
though the First Doctor’s companions really do contain a fairly surprising
amount of variety, for both the male and female companions, Sara Kingdom feels
like someone different. Her time on the
show, though short, is enough to leave a lasting impression on fans (some
Sara-related spoilers.)
Not to be
confused with Sarah Jane Smith, Sara Kindom is a different animal
altogether. She hails from the year
4000, working as a Space Security Agent under Mavic Chen. She carries a gun and knows how to use it –
although the convention has changed somewhat in recent years, the number of
companions who pack heat is still relatively small – but it’s more than just
her skills that make her lethal. Her
unswerving devotion to Mavic Chen isn’t as discerning as it ought to be, and
when the Guardian points out the Doctor and Steven as enemies to the Solar
System, Sara doesn’t think twice about going after them with ruthless
efficiency.
Luckily
for the Doctor, he has the truth on his side, and while Sara is a loyal soldier
who doesn’t ask questions, she doesn’t resist irrefutable evidence when she
sees it. Swept up with the Doctor and
Steven on a journey that bounces them through time and space (alternately
pursuing and fleeing the Daleks,) Sara is forced to face the ugly truth about
her illustrious leader and her complicity in his traitorous actions.
She feels
hugely culpable, and with good reason, but rather than let herself drown in her
remorse, she takes her determination and supreme capability and points them at
Mavic Chen, placing her former leader squarely in her crosshairs. She’s never quite beholden to how the Doctor
does things, but she sort of resigns herself to being along for the ride if it
opens a path for her to thwart the Daleks’ evil plan (do they have any other
kind?) and take Mavic Chen out of power.
Sara is
the second companion in a row to die on the Doctor’s watch (“The Daleks’ Master
Plan” does not play fair.) With her predecessor, it feels like a bit of
a waste, like the show gave up trying to figure out how to incorporate
her. With Sara, though… I’m not sure. Certainly, it’s a shame to lose her, and I’d
have preferred to see what kind of life she might have made for herself on the
TARDIS. That said, there’s a kind of
balance to her death – like, despite the corner she turns joining the side of
the angels, the universe still has to account for the lives lost at her hands
before she started rolling with the Doctor – and you can’t deny the punch
packed by that scene of her aging to death under the effects of the Time
Destructor.
Also, I
know that there are quite a few differences between the characters, but doesn’t
she feel a bit like a proto-River Song?
Both are kind of Mrs. Peel types, beautiful but deadly, devastatingly
good at what they do, and both of their names evoke a certain mystery.
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