Character Highlight: Dan Lewis (Doctor Who)

*A few Dan-related spoilers.*

I find that many of the Chibnall-era companions are, more than anything, an exercise in potential. They’re all introduced with some intriguing nuggets of backstory/motivation, but much of that can be all but dropped once they get on board the TARDIS. Dan is definitely a character who doesn’t seem to add up to all he could have been.

When we first meet Dan in 21^st-century Liverpool, his life seems equal parts contented and unfulfilled. He adores his home city and has a habit of stopping by the Liverpool Museum to do an impromptu, unsanctioned tour guide routine—the staff repeatedly shoo him out, and it’s never clear why he can’t either get a job there or work as a volunteer, since he obviously has a passion for it. He has a thing for his friend Di and they’re just maybe starting to head down a path toward dating. He fills boxes for the local food bank but is too proud to admit he could use some food assistance too. But for all that he seemingly isn’t able to do what he really loves, has gone who-knows-how-long without the progression he wants in his dating life, and is struggling financially, he’s a cheery, openhearted guy who wants to make other people smile. He has an outward spring in his step that only falters when no one’s looking.

But then he gets kidnapped by a dog-faced alien (it was a misunderstanding, Karvanista was saving his life,) and soon enough, Dan gets mixed up with the Doctor. And from then on? Well, he doesn’t do a ton. It’s true that the Doctor, of course, is the Doctor, and Yaz has been traveling on the TARDIS for quite a while. But both of them are roll-up-their-sleeves competent, ready to attack a problem headfirst, while Dan never truly loses his “new guy on board” clumsiness. He often feels a step behind, either wanting to help but fumbling it or being too perplexed to even know where to start. The Doctor and Yaz are both excellent at what they do, and he’s just some dude who’s along for the ride.

In fairness to Dan, though, he spends the majority of his tenure in not-quite-a-companion limbo. He is just along for the ride—the Doctor and Yaz save him from Karvanista, then all three get separated from one another in time, then they get lost in a time storm, and then he, Yaz, and Professor Jericho get displaced in time for three years. Throughout all this, there’s never an official invitation from the Doctor to travel with her. Dan doesn’t get a choice in any of this; he’s simply hanging on for dear life and trying to keep up. That’s a whole lot of enormity and alien weirdness for someone who hasn’t actually signed on for it.

In light of that, maybe it makes sense that he’s the one with the comic pratfalls, the one who’s consistently behind on the technobabble. It also makes sense that he never really develops a close relationship with the Doctor. If anything, he becomes more Yaz’s companion, as she takes the lead after they get stuck in 1901. I do like that aspect of his story because, given what he goes through, it’s only logical that Yaz winds up meaning more to him than the Doctor does.

And honestly, Dan does have his moments. He whacks a Sontaran with a wok, and throughout the Flux storyline, he remains concerned about Di, who’s put in danger (indirectly) because of him. His best episode, for me, is coincidentally the first after he actively chooses companion life: “Eve of the Daleks.” There, he effectively trolls a Dalek—they’re stuck in a time loop, so he’s reasonably certain he’ll come back after being exterminated, but there’s no guarantee—and he picks up on Yaz’s headspace, encouraging her to talk to the Doctor about her feelings. He won’t be making my list of favorite companions anytime soon, but he’s all right.