Other Doctor Lives: Gentleman Jack: Season 1, Episode 8 – “Are you still talking?” (2019)

*Episode premise spoilers.*

Peter Davison skipped a few episodes in the second half of the season, so we’re now arriving at the season 1 finale. Some major developments have happened since then, so I will be spoiling some stuff from the episodes that I didn’t review.

Miss Walker’s family’s relentless interference into/judgment of her life drove her to a breakdown. She’s been drowning in religious guilt over her and Anne’s relationship, and so she pushed Anne away before being taking by her sister and unscrupulous brother-in-law to their home in Scotland—ostensibly for her health, but really so her brother-in-law can try to manipulate her. Anne has embarked on her long-waited European travels without Miss Walker, and while she’s been enjoying all that Denmark has to offer, she can’t stop herself from wondering if Miss Walker is all right. And in short, she very much isn’t.

I really like this episode. The scenes of Anne’s travels are well pitched—in addition to her broken heart and worries over Miss Walker, she’s had other recent disappointments to bring her down. There’s a part of her that can’t help but be delighted with everything she’s doing and everyone she’s meeting on her travels, and she’s such a singular woman that she quickly gains fascinated admirers wherever she goes. But she can’t fully lose herself in these enjoyments. In the back of her mind, there’s always a portion of her thoughts that are on Miss Walker.

I like that, while Anne is tough and swaggering and independent, there’s also a softness to her that she’s unable to guard entirely. It shows that some of her brusqueness is camouflage to try and protect her heart. As she says at one point, “I’m not as strong as you think. Well, I am, obviously…but sometimes I’m not.”

Miss Walker’s family were so determined to keep her out of the clutches of “sin” that they punched a hole in her mental health, and for all that they worried about Anne’s influence over her, they’ve now dropped her into the lap of someone who really does have self-serving intentions towards her. As Miss Walker struggles to put the pieces of herself back together, we see the parallels between her and Anne. While Anne acts tough and hides vulnerability, Miss Walker appears weak but possesses an inner strength that a lot of people don’t realize she has. It takes extraordinary circumstances to awaken that strength, but once she unlocks it, she’s determined to retake the reins of her life.

There are some great scenes between Miss Walker and her older sister Elizabeth, who’s trapped in a “respectable” but cruel marriage. It’s lovely to see these two women, who’ve both spent major parts of their lives being overpowered by those around them, figuring out how to fight for each other. These scenes are filled with sisterly love, thoughtful insight into the lives of women in Victorian England, and a simmering tension over the fear of Elizabeth’s husband. Just well done all around.

Peter Davison comes into the episode through a letter Miss Walker sends to her cousins. In response to it, Mr. Priestley is appropriately concerned but altogether hapless when it comes to actually doing something about it. He dithers ineffectually, worrying about getting on the wrong side of Elizabeth’s husband and mumbling over scheduling, all while simultaneously declaring how much he really does want to help. There’s a moment where he declares, “I’ll deal with this,” with all the backbone of a wet noodle.

As I said at the start of these write-ups, I wrote my season 2 reviews as the episodes were airing, then circled back to rewatch season 1 and review these episodes. So, when I start my season 2 posts next week, it’ll be from the perspective of a me who hadn’t seen season 1 since 2019.

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Galinda Upland (Wicked)

*Galinda-related spoilers.*

*Note: I’ll use both “Galinda” and “Glinda” to refer to this character, depending on when in the film I’m looking at.*

It’s not much of a stretch to look at Elphaba and potentially see an autistic-coded character, even if I feel the movie really leans into those aspects of her. Galinda was much more of a surprise me, but I see it all over the film. With stories like this, it’s easy to view things from a lens of “autistic outcast and their neurotypical nemesis-turned-bestie,” but the way the movie portrays the characters, my interpretation of their nemesis-turned-bestie relationship is one of unmasked autism vs. high-masking AuDHD.

Yes, Galinda is fashionable and popular, and yes, she instantly acquires her own entourage of hangers-on when she arrives at Shiz. In the Elphaba/Galinda feud early in the film, pretty much the whole student body is thoroughly Team Galinda. But while Galinda is able to use and understand social cues to her advantage—in a way Elphaba really can’t—that comes with a lot of effort on her first.

So much of how Galinda presents herself is wrapped up in artifice. From her fawning remarks to Ms. Morrible to her calculated hair-tossing, she’s all about carefully controlled precision to achieve the result she wants. She’s constantly performing “personhood” for everyone around her, and even if she often manages to get her way, she does it within the confines of who she’s “supposed” to be.

Everybody else buys the performance Galinda is selling, but not Elphaba. The moment they meet, Galinda “charitably” declares her intention to study sorcery and one day use her magic to heal Elphaba of her green skin, and Elphaba sees through her self-aggrandizing vow. Being seen as a good person is crucial to Galinda's sense of self, and Elphaba isn’t afraid to challenge that.

This, I think, is at the heart of their early conflicts. It's not just that Galinda is pretty and popular and Elphaba is green and weird. It's that Elphaba has no issue pointing out that Galinda isn't what she pretends to be, and that rattles her. At the same time, it probably burns Galinda up that Elphaba refuses to give in to what other people think about her when that’s practically all Galinda cares about. Even as they bicker and jostle, is there a part of Galinda that’s jealous to see someone who’s so boldly and unapologetically herself?

Perhaps because Galinda is always pretending, she’s able to see one of the few instances where Elphaba pretends. At the Ozdust Ballroom, Galinda has let her friends goad her into playing an unkind prank on Elphaba, “gifting” her the odd black hat Galinda’s granny gave her. As everyone laughs, Elphaba dances anyway, refusing to let them drive her out, and Galinda realizes that Elphaba does care what people think about her—she just pretends not to.

This is the start of Galinda and Elphaba’s friendship/love story(?), and in my view, it’s the tentative start of Galinda’s unmasking journey. "Popular" is more than just a recompense, a genuine way to try and help Elphaba after tricking her with the hat. Even as Galinda tries to make Elphaba more like her—ultimately giving up when she realizes that Elphaba is already lovely as herself—this is Galinda at her most unmasked, which actually makes her a little more like Elphaba. She is extra as hell throughout this whole song, delightfully goofy and hyper and excited. It's in stark contrast with Elphaba, who doesn't know what to think here, but this is who Galinda is when she's not performing for everyone around her. Elphaba is always 100% herself and never lets anyone take that away from her, and in "Popular," Galinda lets Elphaba see her.

But Galinda has probably spent her whole life molding herself into what she thinks she ought to be. It’s how she’s gotten anything she’s wanted, and Galinda is an ambitious young woman who wants a lot more. This is a person who gives up her own name in “tribute” to Dr. Dillamond when she senses Fiyero pulling away from her, connecting with Elphaba over how upset they both are at his removal from the school. No matter how much she comes to care about and admire Elphaba, Glinda can’t just tear down all those many layers of protective performance.

So we come to the end of the movie, to "Defying Gravity." Elphaba immediately blows everything up with the Wizard and Madame Morrible because she knows how wrong this all is, showing her hand without a second thought. She’d rather be seen as a villain than compromise herself, and she’s instantly prepared to throw everything else away for her ideals. When everything is chaotic and messy and they’re running, Glinda’s automatic instinct is to go with Elphaba. But when she has a moment to breathe and think, Glinda retreats back into her mask. She can’t give up her sense of self, constructed by what other people think of her, and she can’t give up her goals and dreams when Elphaba doesn’t even have a concrete plan.

This is Glinda’s essential tragedy: when offered the chance to truly break free, she can’t go through with it. She turns away from her dearest friend, the woman she loves, breaking her own heart in the process. She goes back to the safety of a performance that’s so all-consuming, she’s ensnared herself in it.

Doctor Who: Season 2, Episode 0 – “Joy to the World” (2024)

Christmas special time! This Moffat-penned episode is a little messy, but I still liked it—absolutely glorious to see the Fifteenth Doctor in action again. (But when I checked out the season 2 trailer on YouTube afterwards and it just said “2025”??? Come on, Who, what are you doing to me? You can’t tell me a month? Give me a ballpark at least!)

The Doctor, traveling solo, stops in a hotel lobby and discovers a mystery. A man with a mysterious case has just checked into the Time Hotel, where every door opens into a room from a different time and place. Following the case to a room in London over Christmas 2024, the Doctor meets Joy, a sad young woman away from home over the holidays, and Anita, a lonely hotel worker.

In a lot of companionless Christmas specials, there’s a very clear stand-in companion—even if the Doctor interacts with a larger ensemble, there’s typically one who’s the main oneshot character for the episode. That’s not fully the case here. Ostensibly, it’s positioned to be Joy, delicately played by Nicola Coughlan. The episode title is literally a play on her name, and Coughlan is the one whose name is in the opening credits beside Ncuti Gatwa’s. But thanks to some timey-wimeyness, we don’t see Joy onscreen for sizable chunks of the episode. In her stead, we see the Doctor latching onto two different hotel staff: Trev from the Time Hotel (played by Joel Fry—go, Frenchie!) and Anita from the London hotel where Joy is staying (played by Stephanie de Whalley—not familiar with her, but she does a lovely job.)

I really enjoy the Doctor’s interactions with all three characters. It’s a delight to see Joel Fry in Doctor Who! Trev is completely confused and out of his element, but proves immensely loyal and eager to help out. Anita is down-to-earth, very warm behind her loneliness, and the sequence with her and the Doctor is beautifully done. And Joy is someone who’s been pulled into way more than she bargained for—her story with the Doctor goes to some interesting places. But because this is a story where the Doctor sort of moves from stand-in companion to stand-in companion, rather than interacting with a single stand-in companion within an ensemble, it does leave the special feeling a little disjointed. It has a segmented air to it, like there are ideas for two or three different episodes combined into one.

Still, I had a good time. I laughed out loud on multiple occasions and shed a tear toward the end. I’m on record as being fairly easy to please when it comes to Who, and Ncuti Gatwa always gives me plenty to love. He just exudes Doctor-ness from his pores—his smiles, his winks, his thoughtful looks! All my highlights from the episode are basically just the Doctor being himself. There’s a scene where he gives comfort to a virtual stranger who’s dying, a fun gag with a plunger, and entertaining lines like, “Pardon my French, but what the French is going on?” At this point, I can very confidently put Fifteen in my top tier of Doctors.

And it’s just interesting to watch him in this story. When we saw Fifteen on his own at the start of “The Church of Ruby Road” last week, he seemed very content and comfortable in his skin. But this episode must be relatively recent for him after saying goodbye to Ruby, and the Doctor is not handling it great. Oh sure, once the mystery kicks off, he jumps right into the thick of things, and he adapts well to unexpected curve balls. But he also catches himself making two cups of tea on autopilot, Ruby’s absence is felt lingering over his head, and there’s a timey-wimey moment where he takes himself to task for everyone always leaving them.