Thursday 30 October 2014

Who is Clara?

So the two-part finale of Doctor Who starts this Saturday and the question that everybody’s asking is “who is Missy?”


I’ve decided to ask a different question. If you recall Moffat’s writing style for extended series like Doctor Who, he relies heavily on misdirection (which incidentally can be abbreviated to “Missy”), so I’ve decided to look into the possibility that there’s still more to Clara.

Now this isn’t exactly a genius move by myself, given the content of the finale trailer, but it’s still worth some theorizing.

So, Moffat was pretty clear when he cast Capaldi that he’d be using the fact that Capaldi already appeared in-universe as a plot point. This manifested in the first episode, with the Twelfth Doctor very much aware that he’d seen his new face somewhere before. This was actually an idea that Russel T Davies had when he considered casting Capaldi instead of Tennant.

But what if the in-universe idea is just that; an idea. A handy reminder that a Time Lord can take the form of someone who already exists. In this respect, we can ask the question of whether Clara is even Clara or just a Time Lord or Lady who’s taken her form. There are a few hints towards this idea; for example, Clara seems to have a working knowledge of which leavers to pull when she wants to stop the Doctor from flying the TARDIS. Is this just observation on her part or is she a Time Lord with no memory. The Doctor mentioned trading away a watch that Clara seemed quite familiar with (chameleon arch?).

Capaldi’s face would be a hint towards this, as would the amnesia he suffered post-regeneration. He said himself in “Deep Breath” that it was as though his subconscious was trying to tell him something by adopting this form. The idea that his whole new body is a clue from himself that his companion isn’t who she appears to be.

She doesn’t need to be a Time Lord/Lady either. She could be the Great Intelligence. Clara might have died on Trenzalore, when she jumped into the Doctor’s Grave and The GI could have taken her form when the Doctor went to save her, as it was shown to be able to do with Doctor Simian.

Incidentally, Clara (despite Moffat’s wibbly-wobbly explanation) should not exist in her present form since the Doctor’s death was erased from time.

So the questions I’m asking are:

Is Missy really that important?

And

Are the things that don’t make sense about Clara not meant to make sense?

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