'Doctor Who' Season 12 Episode 7: When is it really time for a companion to say goodbye to the Doctor?
Spoiler alert for 'Can you hear me?' Season 12, Episode 7 of 'Doctor Who'
The arrangement between the Doctor and their companions is a strange and very loosely defined one. There is very rarely much more to it than them reaching out a hand to an interesting enough human being and saying something along the lines of, "Come see all of time and space with me!"
No one ever discusses how long these travels will last, and they pretty much disrupt every companion's personal, normal life. At some point, however, the adventures end and none of the companions have grown old together with the Doctor, and it's safe to say they never will.
Sometimes it's the Doctor who leaves their companion behind and sometimes it's a matter of circumstance beyond anyone's control. With Graham (Bradley Walsh), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Yasmin (Mandip Gill), it looks like the companions are the ones gearing up to say goodbye.
The relationship between the Doctor (Jodie Whitaker) and her companions is a strange one. She plucked three humans from out of their lives and has adopted them as family.
The question of why they're there, and what the purpose of their interstellar vacations is is one that's been uneasily avoided and the companions are feeling restless.
We've already seen it with Yasmin, who is being pulled further and further away from her family, and in this episode, Ryan brings up some serious concerns with their situation.
With each new adventure, he is taken farther and farther away from the life he knew. It's not just that he's spending months at a time away from his home — as Yasmin points out, the Doctor can just return him to any time he wants.
What Ryan notes is that he's changing. One does not come away from seeing the wonders of all of time and space without being fundamentally changed. There's nothing wrong with change, but it's not necessarily something any of the companions signed up for when they joined the Doctor.
The companions aren't like other adventurers. They have no quest, no goal, no specific worlds or lives to save. The universe will continue to turn without them, and the companions can just return to their lives any time they wish.
There comes a point in every relationship where the initial wonder starts to fade away, and the people in the relationship have to decide whether or not they're committing, or walking away.
The show seems to be setting the companions up to decide that very question for themselves, and without a clear sense of purpose, it seems like the companions are leaning towards leaving the Doctor behind.
The Doctor's never really been one for commitment, but then again, every new Doctor represents a chance for things to change. Jodie Whitaker's Doctor seems a little more invested in keeping her fam around than the other Doctors — but what can she do to keep them around if what they want is to leave?
The next episode of Doctor Who airs February 16 on BBC.