This Doctor is here to save the universe, even the bits that dont deserve him.
Warning: contains plot spoilers for Dot and Bubble.
Thats what you do, explained Ruby in the series 14 opener, you save everyone.
As hero manifestos go, it couldnt have been clearer.
And then… it instantly stopped being true.
Over the course of the next four episodes, the Doctor didnt save a soul.
In The Devils Chord, John Lennon and Paul McCartney struck the chord that banished Maestro.
In Boom, the AI version of dead Vater infected the ambulance system and saved Rubys life.
This time though, his heroism is back in force, and the failure is all on them.
Theyre white supremacists living in a segregated colony with security tweaks that keep people of colour out.
Fair play, sentient AI, you might think.
Go right ahead, giant slug-creatures, and eat your fill.
Its really no loss.
Except, to the Doctor, who aims higher than us, it is.
Because thats what this version of the Doctor aspires to be.
Not vindictive or petty, never cruel or… you know the rest.
However often Finetimes Lindy Pepper-Bean brattily protests that shes not a child, thats exactly what she is.
Theyre dreadful, but to quote some guy, they know not what they do.
So the Doctor turns the other cheek and pleads to help them, even through their ignorant jibes.
Its his Jesus moment, andNcuti Gatwaplays it like the huge talent he is.
Its objectively awful for the Fifteenth Doctor that joyful, loving man to be subjected to this idiotic cruelty.
But he cried, and he pleaded, and he screamed in frustration.
He did all that not because racism should be met with charitable forbearance, lets be clear.
Even the snot monsters.
Even the ones who the rest of us would be quite happy to feed to space slugs.
Doctor Whoseries 14 continues with Rogue on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and Disney+.
