*Spoilers.*
Looking at the “fam” of Ryan, Yaz, and Graham, I’m finding it a little tricky to come up with Top Five Big Damn Hero moments. Not because any of them are bad companions, but because the show often frames them more as a unit than as individuals. As such, it can be harder to find a win that’s specifically Ryan’s compared to companions like, say, Martha or Donna. Still, I’m pleased with the list I ultimately made.
Luring the Spiders (Series 11, Episode 4 – “Arachnids in the U.K.”)
The Doctor has a plan to trap the giant spiders in a secure location where they can’t hurt anyone, and she needs vibrations to entice them there. Ryan has a ready answer for this. He rigs his phone up to the hotel’s sound system and blasts a grime song by Stormzy. The spiders follow the beat right to their capture! I enjoy this moment because Ryan is so satisfied to come up with the solution, plus it makes a nice change from being forced to go out and collect giant spiders in the dark, like he had to do earlier in the episode.
Going After Kira (Series 11, Episode 7 – “Kerblam!”)
When the Kerblam! robots abduct Kira, all signs point to her having been taken down to dispatch, which is fully automated and isn’t accessible by stairs or elevator. Ryan, who’s worked in a factory before, knows the answer: jumping down the package chute. He’s apprehensive about it, knowing that his dyspraxia makes that sort of thing difficult, but when he’s offered the chance to stay behind, he simply says, “That’s not how we roll.” He’s utterly freaked throughout the whole perilous journey (down a roller-coaster arrangement of conveyor belts that’s surely far beyond what he experienced at his last warehouse job,) and he’s not sure whether he can handle it, but he gamely plows ahead anyway. I love his delighted exclamation of, “We’re totally not dead!” after getting through a clutch moment.
Protecting Hanne (Series 11, Episode 9 – “It Takes You Away”)
Ryan doesn’t get off on the right foot with Hanne. Hearing about her missing dad, Ryan projects his own baggage onto her, assumes her dad has done a runner, and tells her as much. But when the Doctor tasks him with looking after Hanne while the others explore the mysterious portal in her home, Ryan takes the job seriously. Even after Hanne knocks him out to go through the portal in search of her dad, Ryan goes after her. There, in the ultra-creepy antizone, he does everything he can to protect her, both physically (shielding her from the flesh moths, holding the monsters at bay to give her a chance to escape) and emotionally (being reluctant to tell her what a bad situation they’re in, making sure she doesn’t stumble across the body of the dead alien in the path.) Throughout, he remains calm and tries to instill that same calm in her.
Landing the Plane (Series 12, Episode 2 – “Spyfall: Part 2”)
Yes, the Doctor is walking Ryan through this every step of the way via breadcrumbs she’s going to be leaving him later, but Ryan still gets major points for this one. The Master has just left the Doctor and co. on a crashing plane and the Kasaavin have taken the Doctor back to their dimension. With the plane falling out of the sky, certain they’re all about to be killed, Ryan sees a sign the Doctor has left for him. He maintains a cool enough head to follow her signs to a set of instructions she left which will allow him to land the plane remotely. Did she spoonfeed him from afar? Sure. But still. He keeps his head on a crashing plane and does what needs to be done. That’s a Big Damn Hero moment for me!
Investigating Praxeus (Series 12, Episode 6 – “Praxeus”)
The Doctor and the fam do a bit of “divide and conquer” in this episode, so Ryan is on his own in Peru. While looking for birds that have been infected with Praxeus, he comes across Gabriela, who’s frantic because her friend is missing. Ryan isn’t exactly pulling a Doctor here, but he’s both comforting and authoritative in his own way. He’s careful handling the infected bird carcass, he speaks calmly and reassuringly to Gabriela while letting her see that he’s not a threat, and he goes with her to try and figure out what happened to her friend. And when he finds an important clue, he calls the Doctor in, but that’s not Ryan being in over his head—he’s handling himself (and Gabriela) well, and he’s reporting back to “home base,” so to speak. Well done all around, Sinclair!
No comments:
Post a Comment