Liz is
one of my favorite classic Who
companions. Her time on the show is too
short, and it kills me that her season is earthbound, but this smooth,
unrufflable scientist is so amazing. The
Doctor is a lot for a pragmatist to take, and she rolls with every punch,
bringing intelligence and a cool calm to her episodes (spoilers.)
Fixing the Device (Series 7, Episode 4 –
“Spearhead from Space: Episode 4”)
It’s
always a little tricky for super-smart companions, because the Doctor is also super-smart, obviously, and so he
gets a lot of the brainiest moments:
analyzing the alien substance, doing the important formulas, or, like
here, jerryrigging the device that’s going to defeat the baddies. Since this is an entirely different kind of
science for Liz, who’s encountering all this alien stuff for the first time,
it’s hard for her to compete with that, but she still manages to hold her own
pretty handily. When the Doctor’s device
fails to work at a critical moment and he’s flailing around with a Nestene
wrapping its tentacles around his neck (of
course,) it’s Liz who frantically fixes it, getting the device working
again just in the nick of time.
Catching Quinn’s Lie (Series 7, Episode 7 –
“Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode
3”)
This is
an instance where the Doctor is the initial doer of something clever, but Liz
is smart enough to pick up on it instantly.
Quinn “happens upon” the site of the Silurian attack while “passing
by.” The Doctor, rightfully suspicious,
stops Liz from describing the Silurian to Quinn and asks him to give Liz a ride
back to headquarters, at which point he changes his story and invents an
excuse. Liz twigs that there’s no way
Quinn just could’ve been passing by given where he claimed to be going. That’s a sharp eye for someone who, by the
way, has just regained consciousness
after being knocked out by a Silurian – never count Liz out.
Determining the Formula (Series 7, Episode 11 –
“Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode
7”)
When the
Silurians unleash a deadly virus on humans, the Doctor works tirelessly to find
a cure. He’s just sent word that he’s
found it when he’s attacked and kidnapped by Silurians. Liz discovers his disappearance and the mess
the Silurians made of his lab; the formula for the cure is there, but it’s in
amongst all his calculations and formulas that didn’t lead to the answer. Working under a serious time crunch, Liz
sifts through the formulas and determines which must be the right one, relaying
that information just in time to start synthesizing a cure and save lives.
Helping Lennox Escape (Series 7, Episode 16 –
“The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 5”)
Captured
by the extremists and forced to work for them to keep the similarly-captured
aliens alive, Liz has already escaped and been recaptured once. Now, since the guards are likely to be
watching her even closer, she instead hatches a plan to get Lennox out so he
can get help. Liz concocts a story about
needing more isotopes for the aliens, necessitating a supply run from Lennox,
and when the guards are skeptical, Liz sells them on it, arguing that it’ll be
on them if the aliens die. She shows off
multiple kinds of smarts here, taking advantage of the guards’ comparative
scientific ignorance to make up a story they’d buy and playing on their fears
of angering Reegan if anything goes wrong on their watch.
Standing Up to the Guards (Series 7, Episode 16
– “The Ambassadors of Death: Episode 5”)
I’ve
brought up this moment more than once, and I’ll keep bringing it up whenever I
can because I just love it so much. This
is after Liz has succeeded in getting Lennox out, and while she waits for him
to get a message to the Doctor, she’s on her own among enemies. Reegan leaves a guard watching her, who
gruffly warns her not to try anything, and Liz coolly replies, “Don’t
worry. I won’t hurt you.” All alone with dangerous people who’ve killed
before and are now threatening her, she still holds her head up and refuses to
let them intimidate her; that’s my girl.
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