
The two on the left are leaving after this year’s Christmas/New Years/Saturnalia special.
“According to the Radio Times, Cole and Walsh may have an “open-ended departure,” meaning the door is open for them to make guest appearances in future episodes. This is similar to the exit of previous companion Freema Agyeman, whose Martha Jones left after acting as the main companion for season 3, but appeared several times in season 4 and in the show’s spin-off Torchwood. Martha left of her own accord and got to live a (relatively) normal life afterward — which became weirdly uncommon for companions that followed her. Since the 2005 revival, the series has tended toward splashy tragic endings for its companions, from amnesia, to death, to getting trapped in alternate dimensions. It would be a relief for the companions to be able to just leave and not die horribly for once. Since showrunner Chris Chibnall has shown such an affection for the classic series, which saw very mundane departures for its companions, that will likely be the case for Graham and Ryan.”
“Affection for the classic sereies?!?!?!” Ha! Ha! Ha! (gasp…wheez…gasp) Ha! Ha! Ha!
Yeah, there leaving has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this season’s Doctor Who has the worst ratings in it’s history.
BBC released a press missive two days after The Timeless Children in reply to the outraged Doctor Who fans. The press release basically said, fuck you, we own this you Alt Right Goblins and we are going to do what we want with it.
The fan response must be wrong because look at all of the positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. It’s at 91% even though the fan score is at 16% but that’s just the audience, what do they know?
Regardless, Chibnall may as well kill them off because they aren’t coming back. No one except the BBC NPCs want anymore of this. They will give Jodie and Chibnall a victory lap season but the victory in question is the kind that goes, “well when you really think about it, I won that fight.”
Dr. Who seems to follow the pattern Sarah Hoyt observed of failing properties: If you cannot figure out how to get your groove back, and the numbers are dropping: Roll hard Left.
The Capaldi season was weak: we stopped watching because the stories have to be pretty bloody entertaining in order to put up with the random irrelevant genuflections before the Narrative. (Hail! All hail the Narrative!) I suspect we were not alone. Dr. Who was waning fast.
So… Roll hard left, gain all kinds of critical acclaim. Double down on your critics and fold, so everyone gets a golden parachute. “We’re not storytelling / creative mediocries who can only hit on quality by accident! We’re just too Woke! The Nazi-alt-right-bogeymen stopped us because Hate. And White Supremacy!”
The big losers are all the young Diversity Pokemon who got picked up for the Roll. Their big chance to hone their craft on a major projec; get a leg up for future ones was just a fake out. Most of them will end up with careers binned. They’ll probably blame bigotry and The Man, and never understand why they’re right.
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