Clara Oswald Was Robbed | Doctor Who Video Essay

[@derekvanlehn5012]

“Do you think I cared for you so little that you betraying me makes a difference” is one of my favorite quotes of anything all time. Clara and twelves relationship is so very special to me

[@looseleafellie]

I LOVE that quote so much! For someone who claims to be so callous, Twelve is really just a big softie

[@Guerreropowerr]

def the best Doctor Companion duo imo

[@dickottel]

Doc was too wholesome here, no hurt ego, just "I still love you", I couldn't do that 😶

[@TheZintastic]

I see that scene ALWAYS used against Clara... but like... To me that scene just makes sense. Yeah, she goes to EXTREME length trying to Force the Doctor to do as she wants, but I'd honestly argue it's not that weird she just didn't ask 12 for help. 12 being SERIOUSLY different from 11, far more manipulative and acting more cold and grumpy... Yeah, no **** she doesn't ask him to help her, but rather tries to force him into helping, I'D DO that too in her shoes... >_> ..Plus it gives us that sweet moment, can't hate the scene for that either. (One of the favorite 12/Clara moments FOR SURE!) And I honestly feel that once she hears 12 say that line, THAT is when she finally fully starts to trust 12. The moment she finally truly sees that the Doctor is still there, just with different face and acting a tad bit different.

[@alyzu4755]

I think that line sums up the Doctor perfectly. 🥰

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

3:10 I wish we could’ve kept Victorian Clara not just because of her charm and wit but because it would also the the first time in modern Doctor Who to have a companion from the past! We’d had companions from future eras but not yet from the past.

[@looseleafellie]

Even then, the future companions (like Captain Jack) are more guest characters than regular characters. I would love a regular companion who isn’t from the modern day!

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

@@looseleafellie absolutely! I had an idea for an original Doctor incarnation (let’s say for fun that it’s Sixteen), another female one like Thirteen but not white, maybe Asian (we didn’t yet have an Asian Doctor) and two regular companions, one from the 19th century and one from another planet a few thousand years or so in the future, long enough that for this companion our present is what Ancient Rome is to us.

[@looseleafellie]

@@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o now I’m dreaming of having Shelley Conn as the Doctor with Jessie Mei Li playing a futuristic space hacker and Nicholas Galitzine playing a footman from the 1830s who’s just very confused all the time

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

@@looseleafellie I don't know Nicholas Galitzine but Shelley Conn (Gen V) and Jessie Mei Li (Shadow and bones) I do know. And I adore Jessie! As for the past companion, I was thinking more of a 19th century feminist, like a suffraget or perhaps a social democrat. That could be an interesting companion as the past companion sees our society as one seemingly impossible to 19th centurystandards and so outdated to the future companion.

[@looseleafellie]

@@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o that would also be super cool! I mainly said Galitzine because he has really good comedic timing (he was really funny in the movie Bottoms), but I love the idea of having a 19th century feminist in the mix

[@pettytyrant2720]

Something I think you missed - Clara's purpose in exisiting in series 7 and her arc. Moffat was faced with a near impossible task - to write the 50th anniversary. He knew it was coming up at the end of series 7. From the BBC he also knew that their charts said 90% of the modern audience had never seen classic Who beyond youtube clips. And on the otherhand he had classic Who fans ready to slay him if the 50th did not pay suitable respect and include classic Who. How to square the circle? The solution was Clara. Clara is the bridge in series 7 between classic era Who and modern, she falls more into the classic Who compaion role than modern, her story directly introduces the viewer as part of her mystery to classic Who and to earlier versions of the Doctor. The success of the 50th anniversary was in no small part down to how prepared for it the audience were by the manner in which Moffat deployed Clara in series 7 to lay that ground work. All the bits of classic people would need to know for the story of the 50th to work the audience were prepped for by Clara's Impossible Girl story. In that respect she worked perfectly in series 7 for what was intended and needed. Once the 50th and its immediate followup, 11's regeneration was done and over with, Moffat could get down to giving Clara the proper depth she needed (and he knew Jenna Coleman deserved) to become more than a necessary plot device and a true character.

[@storageheater]

I always felt like the Impossible Girl resolution was too much of a finale, with all of its impact being implied in the past, and no ripples forward into the future. This left me feeling like Clara had served a huge purpose and now was suddenly at a loose end - which is fine, not everyone has to have such a weighty purpose, but it was jarring to me. But putting her in the context of Moffat's Classic Who Primer Character is really interesting because that definitely pins down why I felt there's such a split, and maybe explains why so many people were unable to really latch back on to the more "real" Clara arc. I definitely forget how much of Clara's storyline just doesn't happen until the Impossible Girl is resolved. Maybe I just needed the Impossible Girl to properly die so I could have a new first impression.

[@pettytyrant2720]

​@@storageheater I think it was necessary, but the disassociation you describe I think was amplified by Moffat having to change plans at the last minute, when the bigwigs at the BBC got cold feet of a non-contemporary companion and insisted they ditch Victorian Clara for a modern version - this is the reason why her home life is so ill-defined, and why the two children are shoehorned into it, Gaiman's script was one of many already written for Victorian Clara and featured the two children she was nanny to, they couldn't rewrite everything so they kept the children in modern Clara era too, just with a rather vague excuse for her looking after them that is never gone into again, nor is her relationship with the members of the family she lives with ever really part of the story, other than when they needed the kids for Gaimans Nightmare in Silver episode. Had it still been Victorian Clara, with her already established home background and dual life as barmaid and nanny, it would have been less apparent I think Clara was a necessary narrative device ahead of a character. The interest of her Victorian life to viewers, and being already familar with it from the xmas episode, would have masked it more. As soon as Moffat could he ditched that entire background and gave her a much better suited modern situation as a teacher at Coal Hill (for which there is one excuse, we did see when 11 was looking into her past that she had graduated from some form of higher education, university, or teaching) and Moffat could finally flesh out the bullet point personality he had put together for this new Clara, her tendency to compartmentalise her life, her need to be in control of situations which are all present prior to series 8, but just sort of pencilled in, like placeholders behind the more prominant mystery around her, till that and the 50th can be resolved and she is done fulfilling her dual role of standard companion and bridge between eras of the show for new viewers. The other thing of note is how short the Impossible Girl narrative is, it begins with modern Clara in Bells of St John and its over 6 episodes later as we go into the 50th Trilogy of Name of, Day of and Night of the Doctor. Given she still has 2 series ahead on the show I am not sure she really does get any less character or development than say Martha got in half a series of episodes. But Clara has the benefit of 2 years with 12 still to deepen and delve into her character, and Moffat does that more so than any other companion probably, just as he delves more into who the Doctor is more than any other Doctor era before.

[@ashleysherlock5705]

@@pettytyrant2720 These are such well thought-out and well researched comments. This is what good media criticism should be - digging deeper into the creators' process to understand why things are the way they are and what real-life circumstances influenced the production.

[@dominicschaeffer909]

Times Clahra should have left- 1) When the 12th Doctor appears and she hates him. 2) When Danny dies. 3) When Missy had her inside a Dalek shell-wham back to Souflee Girl. Full circle. Instead we get TARDIS Girls Gone Wild: Adventures of Lady Me. And actually Clahra has Lady Me drop her off to a year before the Coronation of Elizabeth R and she smothers the princess in her sleep and takes her place to rule Britannia.

[@looseleafellie]

@@pettytyrant2720 That’s actually a great point that Clara served as a bridge between Classic Who and modern Who! I didn’t think of that. I still don’t think that totally excuses her lack of character development in series 7, but it does give me more understanding of why Moffat needed something like the Impossible Girl.

[@ashleynunnally5262]

Yeah, I totally agree with Victorian Clara being way more interesting than modern Clara in series 7. I remember being so sad when they introduced the Clara that would actually be the main companion. It took me a while to warm back up to her, but ultimately, I ended up liking her when she became more than just a love interest for the doctor.

[@looseleafellie]

Yes!! Victorian Clara was so much more than a love interest right from the start, so it would be much better if modern Clara got the same treatment

[@kyledawson871]

I loved Oswin too. I think she had the most potential as a stand-alone character. She felt like a female Captain Jack Harkness. There are times when I wish Oswin was the main Clara and she was a breakout character like him.

[@marocat4749]

Also dalek clara.

[@corneliahanimann2173]

I agree with this, and the reason for that is probably because I think Moffat is better at writing mysteries than he is at resolving them in a season long plot. He writes brilliant single episode stories, like when he wrote oswin. I really felt conflicted about liking Clara after I had already been so invested in Oswin.

[@daubar_the_OT]

I remember when she was at a convention in Miami when I was younger, I had my more brave friend ask during the question portion “Do you think Clara could have been the first companion to turn on the Doctor?” She chewed on it and her response was along the lines of “I was actually given two options- and it is clear which one I chose.” I always wondered what could have been- and a companion that turned evil BECAUSE of the doctor would have made for an incredible arc of growth for both characters.

[@siddhanthravi7923]

I saw something online (idk who or where but on Twitter) about Clara's death in "Face the Raven" was that she died with her hands spread out, similar to how the Doctor regenerates. No matter how bad she wanted to be like the Doctor, she wasn't. It's not that she wanted to regenerate, but her codepency with the Doctor is so ingrained in her it was part of her final(-ish) moment. Clara might honestly be my favorite companion because of how "flawed" she is in this regard. She wanted to be more than she actually was and that was her eventual downfall.

[@NichtcrawlerX]

That consistency in her character I like. Both the Christmas special death and the Face the Raven death have that, Moffat just kept undoing it for some reason.

[@dommoore6180]

I kind of hate the idea that wanting to be like the doctor = wanting to be "more than she really is" for so many fans. The doctor isn't a god. Clara and every other companion are not lesser than the doctor just based on being a different species and not living for as long. All that crap just robs the companions completely and makes the doctor totally obnoxious and overly special (which is totally opposed to the doctors writing in the original series).

[@HOTD108_]

Except that subtext kind of goes out the window when at the end of Hell Bent Clara gets to fly off in her own TARDIS while being effectively immortal since she doesn't have to return to her time of death until she wants to, as "Me" points out. Not only is her death undone, but she's actively rewarded for trying to be like the Doctor by her literally getting to travel through time and space for basically eternity. It's so poorly thought out.

[@siddhanthravi7923]

@@dommoore6180​​⁠​⁠I sorta agree, but in “Face the Raven,” Clara says “Why? Why shouldn't I be so reckless? You're reckless all the bloody time. Why can't I be like you?” she explicitly wishes to be like him because that’s just how their relationship worked. thats what the hybrid was and what made it so dangerous. saying i like the toxic codependency arc doesn’t mean i want them to be codependent. it’s just good writing imo 🤷‍♂️

[@CatDrew-u7b]

People hate Clara? I had no idea. I loved her. Think she's one of the best companions of all time.

[@sinom]

People absolutely despised her. Still in the fandom today you'll hear people call DW series 7 - 9 "Clara Who" to call it trash at least once a day.

[@CatDrew-u7b]

@@sinom This is why I generally avoid getting involved in fandoms. Other people just spoil it for me. Better to enjoy it by yourself.

[@beldin2987]

Haha .. that was also my reaction when i heared the first time about it. I also absolutely loved her and for me the series only went down after she was killed, which was the worst moment at all for me.

[@tylerboothman4496]

I'm sorry, but do you live under a rock?

[@kaci8220]

I hate her. She acted like she was invincible and constantly put herself in dangerous situations, not to be brave but because she knew the doctor would save her 🙄 and at the end, I guess she was right 😂

[@EliaAliceRaven]

I fell in love with Clara pretty much the second we meet her as Oswin, especially the line "is there a word for 'total screaming genius' that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy ?" that, with its incredible delivery, instantly had me going "..... this is going to be Bad for me, isn't it ?" (Spoiler alert : yes it was, and I didn't even know HOW MUCH yet.) The fact that she appears for the first time while the Ponds (aka my least favorite companions, just like Eleven is my least favorite Doctor -- unpopular opinions, I know, but...) are still there and the only thing I'm waiting for at this point is FOR THEM TO FINALLY FUCKING LEAVE, also made her stand out to me that much more. And then, Victorian Clara happened. And I started to understand just HOW down bad I was going to be. (I'm pretty sure she immediately skyrocketed to her current position as my third favorite character of all time right then and there, watching The Snowmen.) While I agree that S7B Clara didn't have much going for her in terms of storylines, just her personality was enough to have me OBSESSED with her already. She's the exact embodiment of my type of character : headstrong, sassy, daring... But still, nothing could have prepared me for what she'd become with Twelve. They became my favorite TV dynamic of all time SO FAST, it genuinely took me by surprise the moment it hit me that this had happened. Especially in series 9. They're the literal definition of what my aroace ass likes to scream from the rooftops (INTENSE DOESN'T HAVE TO EQUAL ROMANCE), and it's still wild to me that it's been portrayed in such an incredible way where I expected it the least. (I don't think I'm ever getting over it, actually.) Tl;dr : Clara Oswald is basically the love of my life... and what about it ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@looseleafellie]

@@EliaAliceRaven I’m so glad to hear Clara resonated with you! I also love her dynamic with Twelve.

[@ebimoagbeotu1567]

While Clara isn't a companion I compare for, I totally felt the same with you at the Ponds. I was so annoyed they got two bloody seasons while my favourite companion, Donna only got one :( which she technically shares with Martha and Rose a bit.

[@jabberw0cky13]

I don't think I truly was able to appreciate or like Clara until she was a companion to the 12th doctor. The way they clash, yet gained a new care about each other so much to the point of codependence, is an interesting dynamic and having them paralleled to one another was truly the best route to take Clara's character. Its flawed, it's messy, but it felt so real and genuine and when that deep caring shone through it was convincing and great.

[@Kolya-chu]

I know Oswin was just a flirty bisexual to some. But Coleman brought so much pathos to the latter parts of Asylum and 7b. From beginning to end, Clara is Literally Me fr. When she gets misty eyed, so do I, and when she smiles I smile. Clara and Twelve is my favorite love story.

[@ishathakor]

honestly, several of the nuwho companions have grown to be doctor-like or doctor-adjacent before. rose's hubris got to her too. martha's year of travelling the earth put her in a doctor-esque role. donna LITERALLY absorbed his brain. amy was literally central to the plot for seasons 5 and 6, plus she's river's mother. by the time clara came around "companion tries to be like the doctor" was practically a staple of the show. she was just the one for whom it was the central conceit of her arc, and not just a side effect of travelling with the doctor.

[@intergalactic92]

And she’s the only one who gets explicitly rewarded for it.

[@_somerandomguyontheinternet_]

The best description for Clara and 12’s relationship is “platonic soulmates.” It’s not quite romantic, but it’s not quite not.

[@kenthomas505]

I will readily admit that I am a fan of Clara as a Companion. I even like her character in Series 7B, and all the other iterations of her. She just worked for me personally. I can see why other fans dislike her, though the vitriol that some spew at her is a bit much, and I think unwarrented. They think she became too important and started to overshadow the Doctor. Those that liked other Companions more instead thought that she became the most important Comanion of all time and they couldn't stand that. I think certainly she was one of the most influential. But her importance goes far beyond that. The love and interconnected relationship that she shares with the Doctor ultimately leads to her hubris, and to her own downfall. She pays the price in Face the Raven, and without her loss we would never have had the materpiece that was Heaven Sent. Some fans also think Clara stayed on for too long and should have left the show earlier, and that her ulimate departure unravelled everything that entailed her death. I don't see it that way. She may get more adventures on her own off screen, but in the end she still has to return to Trap Street and die. I admire the platonic love that the Doctor and Clara have for one another. There will be never be another Doctor/Companion duo like them again in my opionion. She is certainly the Impossible Girl: impossible for some to like, impossible for others to hate. I'm firmly of the later category. Long live the Impossible Girl!

[@looseleafellie]

@@kenthomas505 thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m on board with a lot of what you said. Even though she stayed on for a long time, I’m not sure we would have gotten all that interesting character work if she’d left early

[@philadelphiawhovian5641]

totally agree with you! i liked her in 7b and onward. with me, (and i admit that this is my own perspective, and i totally respect Ellie Blackwood's opinion. i just disagree on some things) i liked her with 11, and liked her with 12. i've never been very singular about what relationships are and always felt like it made sense that her relationship with 11 was different than her relationship with 12. both made sense to me, because those were two different iterations of the same timelord. also, i liked that we had more focus on her with 11, and less focus on the family/friends dynamic, because sometimes, i like it when doctor who focuses a lot on the 'doctor/companion' duo, rather than the companion's social life. also, i was not annoyed with the doctor calling her bossy, because she calls herself that, and she makes fun of him too sometimes. with friendship, you can make fun of each other, in that manner, and still get along well. i'm not a big stickler for strict guidelines on friendship dynamics, because friendships are not all the same. i also liked that she and 11 got along well, which is why they didn't argue as much, because, like Martha, Clara was the transitional companion. however, by having 11 and Clara get along/not argue much, shows how the show learned from that previous situation. 11's older, and knows how to handle a companion who might like him, and their getting along, shows how11 will not make Clara feel like the rebound companion, showing growth on his part. unpopular opinion: i never liked how 10 treated Martha and how be brought in the whole 'you'll never be on the same level as my previous companion thing', and sometimes was mean to her, and was uncharacteristic of the doctor. i liked that the show didn't go back in that direction, because if Clara was immediately argumentative, it wouldn't have worked well with the theme during Moffat's era of 'moving on... you mourn, then you live' concept. also, lack of argument does not always signify lack of depth to me. it just means that two people can sometimes naturally click. and this led gracefully to 12's time. i've seen companions be plot devices before, so i was not that peeved about it, especially since it was one of the better thought-out times. and going back to the idea of Moffat returning back to the classic who concept of doctor/companion, it does make sense with 11, because his 11 was a very good blend of 'New Who Doctor' and 'Classic who Doctor'. with clara lacking a personality in season 7b, i can't really agree there, because it highlights the idea that we women have a personality 'if we follow criteria of what a personality is'... according to what scale? what are the guidelines that define a personality to you? and if the women don't meet those 'guidelines', then the woman does not have much of a personality? what guidelines are set for women and who makes these rules? all the female companions of New Who, and many in classic who have personalities. they are just all different. but each to his own, and i understand what Ellie Blackwood feels, and respect her views. i just calmly disagree. we're all right here, so please, no one start screaming at me. if we disagree, we can be friendly about it.

[@dr.seesaw8894]

13:57 small nitpick to the point being made here but I think it'll enhance what's being said. Clara becoming the doctor is a theme that's been going on for much longer than beginning in flatline. In the very first episode of the season the doctor basically abandons Clara to thrust her into the doctor role in a trial by (literal) fire where she has to negotiate with the cyborg dude and basically turn the tables in a negotiation like the doctor. Then there's the orient express where the doctor gets Clara to lie to someone to make his plan work and again in Kill the Moon where the doctor again abandons Clara to have her make a huge decision about wether to spare earth or the big space dragon. Flatline is of course the first time it's explicitly acknowledged Clara is taking on the role of the doctor but it's by no means the first time she's thrust into a role like that

[@dwfan91-]

My thoughts on Clara have really evolved over time. For me, it’s kinda hard for me to let go of the out of show context- that being that Clara was meant to be the Modern Sarah Jane, even down to her name being a reference to that, and that she stayed on the show for just… so long. I know it’s not a real issue nowadays, but kind of like Yaz too, I just didn’t enjoy when these companions stuck around for farrr longer than they’re welcome, especially when they’re given ample opportunity to leave. With that said, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see the arc in its completed state and I have to admit… I like it! Yes, I even like 7B Clara, I think she’s nice and sweet and caring, and an interesting enough character to be a companion. Series 9 Clara in my opinion is the peak. That’s when everything they wanted to do with her worked, Jenna Coleman gives her best performance and the whole arc is just great I feel. If 7B is them having fun with the character, Series 9 is where they lock in. But series 8… like everything in that series it’s a mixed bag. You have episodes like Deep Breath and Flatline which are, in my opinion, near perfect (just in general but also for the character of Clara) but then you have a near avalanche of moments that just make her insufferable! Calling Danny Rupert, the ‘you shoot kids and cry about it afterward’ thing, the lying over the phone, like it is really hard to root for her, and I don’t even really like Danny. I mean the actor is cool, but their relationship is bland as a mf, and the whole love triangle thing flops majorly. Danny brings out the worst in Clara and just everything to do with that completely falls flat in my opinion. So yeah, lots of rambling but my Tl;Dr thoughts on Clara are: Series 7, cool. Series 9, great. Series 8, sometimes cool, sometimes terrible. This is a very interesting subject and you made an absolutely incredible analysis- I particularly liked what you said about the romance aspect of the relationship and how it _is_ that but it’s also deeper than that, 100% agree, great video

[@kalebdiaz1671]

Hey man love your videos Yeah I agree with you about series 8, unfortunately, I think what I don’t like about the Danny character is that he feels like he’s kind of there just to create obstacles for Clara and her relationship to the doctor, I thought for a while they would maybe end up traveling together on the tardis, glad that didn’t happen in retrospect because Danny kind of annoys me when it comes to him and his territorialness with the doctor and Clara, come the 50th onward, I went from liking Clara to loving her, maybe has something to do with switching her career up from nanny to teacher, but still loved her change up, and the romance between Clara and the doctor, I 100% of this day when people say that that relationship was platonic I laugh ha, I’m sorry it’s so much deeper than a platonic friendship, even in face the raven when she says “ everything about to say, I already know… don’t say it. We’ve already had enough bad timing between us” I mean, come on lol And her in last Christmas saying “ (Clara) there was one other man, but it never would’ve worked out…..(12thDr)why not?….(Clara) he was impossible” and at the end with that shot after the kiss on the cheek they are in a heart ha, love those two my favorite Doctor companion relationship by far

[@dwfan91-]

@@kalebdiaz1671 You probably don't remember, but I remember I did a poll about which Doctor was the least romantic (or words to the effect of) and the 12th Doctor won and people were calling his relationship with Clara 'grandfather/grandaughter' like are we watching the same show bru😭 Some people just be saying sh1t lol

[@kalebdiaz1671]

@@dwfan91- either that or they had some weird relationships with their granddad 😆

[@dwfan91-]

@@kalebdiaz1671 💀

[@looseleafellie]

@@dwfan91- Thanks for all the thoughts! I really vibe with a lot of what you said. I think Danny’s role in the season is interesting, because Clara treats him awfully, and somehow a lot of fans came out of this series hating DANNY (not saying that you’re blaming Danny for how Clara treated him - I’ve just seen a lot of people who seem to hate Danny when he didn’t do anything wrong). Maybe they misunderstood what was going on and thought Danny was telling Clara she can’t travel with the Doctor anymore, even though he LITERALLY said he was fine with it, idk. That said, I don’t necessarily think the way Clara treats Danny is out of character - at least, not out of character for the direction they went in series 8. Like I said in the video, I think she tries to compartmentalize her life in a way that hurts Danny. I also think she sometimes tries to joke with him in the same deprecating way she jokes with the Doctor, but because Danny is a bit more well-adjusted than the Doctor, he doesn’t let her get away with it as much. Long story short, I think it’s fine if people just don’t like Danny for whatever reason (he is a bit cringe at times), but I don’t get why some people blame him for things that were actually Clara’s fault.

[@tgabz]

My favorite Doctor is 12th and my favorite companion is Clara. I love their chemistry, Capaldi and Jenna really nailed their roles! 💜

[@amaryllis0]

I think Capaldi-era Clara is really interesting but it's so hard to get past the association of Clara with 7b, where 11 is so grossly slimy/horny about her and the whole impossible girl arc

[@dadman3992]

I can't get enough Clara, it was sad when she left but I think Hell Bent is my favourite companion sendoff. Even in this video when you played a few notes of her theme on the guitar, I thought of "you said memories become stories when we forget them, maybe some of them become songs" and my eyes got a little teary.

[@Pharaohred]

There were a few problems that ultimately took clara way down in my estimations. Season 7B was the beginning of it. She was cute, she was quirky, she was able to handle herself generally, but not so much that she didnt need the doctor. She was just generally likeable. She had fairly decent chemistry with Smith, but sadly the decision by Moffatt to make her a mystery box for the half season story arc meant that 11 never really kept her at anything but arms length, and honestly didnt really trust her until the 50th, a story that centred on the Doctor entirely, and then the christmas special that was treated mainly as 11's swan song. Season 8 rolls around and we get Clara 2.0. Its a pretty good excercise in how her and 12's relationship was going to differ, especially since its the first time in about 5 years that there wasnt a companion trying to bang the doctor. I can definately see what Moffatt was trying here, he wanted to showcase the toxicity that can emerge when becoming a companion. Usually they become heroic human parts of the doctor, there to pull him from the edge whenever he steps over the line. Clara was framed as someone who wanted to make him proud by becoming him, something he is vehemently against. Thats why she, over multiple episodes of the next two seasons, is often on her own while the Doctor is either incapacitated storywise or is handling other things. Whether its getting trapped in a miniature TARDIS where she has to keep everyone alive, or sent to the distant past while she handles ghosts and keeps everyone alive, or when the doctor is captured by daleks or whatever other plot convience keeps them seperated. When they arent seperated, its usually her doing something irresponsible like (attempting to) destroy TARDIS keys to blackmail him, or constantly chew him out for making tough decisions, or basically just bickering with him. It gets old and it gets old fast. Once capaldi takes the reigns of the character, its clear that Moffatt wanted to take the companion story in a different direction, by showing the toxic ways that knowing the doctor can affect you. The problem is nobody ever calls her out on her bullshit. He likes the character too much to ever put her in a position of fault within the narrative. It mirrors early Korra in the legend of Korra where she gets angry, runs off and does her own thing, makes things worse and then other characters apologise TO her. That's the issue here. She is the primary problem in their relationship, often trying to be him, but when she can't, she's blowing up at him instead, and there are absolutely no concequences until the very end of her journey in Face The Raven. A story that actually brings her trying to be the Doctor to its inevitable conclusion, is then followed up with a fan favourite episode of the doctor exploring his grief, and then... Is completely undone in true Moffatt fashion by bringing her back, making her effectively immortal and letting her fly off and be the doctor until she decides she's done. Her facing the concequences of being dangerously inept and reaching far beyond her ability could only have ended in one of two ways for a real narrative payoff. She either suffers a loss because of these actions and learns to temper herself and not try to be someone she isnt, or lose her own life because of her inability to learn. We got neither of these, instead she is yet again rewarded for her bad behaviour. That's the problem. Moffatt wanted to go somewhere the show hadn't been before, but was unwilling to go the the lengths it takes for such a move to work. He likes his characters too much, it's always been a flaw for him. It was an idea with genuine potential and it was squandered with half measures.

[@IreneWY]

Perfectly put

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

Well put, the one person who should have put her in her place or at least called her out... was The Doctor himself. He should have called her out on her crap and the perfect time for him to do so was when she tried and failed to blackmail him. He should have landed the TARDIS back in her time, then give a speech about how he sees that she's trying to be like him, and he doesn't like it. Because he knows what it's like to be around himself. He should then say, there's only one Clara... why can't you just be the best version of yourself? Why isn't that enough for you? And then opens the doors and says 'Go home, go to Hell, it doesn't matter, but you can't stay here anymore. You didn't just break my heart, you broke my trust. Then he turns away from her and doesn't look at her.

[@ibotmania4284]

Very well put, I’ve just finished rewatching up to Face the Raven and Moffat clearly intended to show the downsides of travelling with the Doctor through Clara in series 8/9 but she feels like such a golden child, she can do no wrong which is shown through how she receives little to no criticism. The Doctor pulls her up on her excitement at the face of danger maybe once or twice but otherwise it’s just the Doctor and his companion like normal. And despite being told Clara is like the Doctor, she never suffers any consequences bar Face the Raven. The Doctor has to live with how his decisions affect him and the other around him, Clara really doesn’t. The Doctor has been defined by his suffering and lives out every day to make sure no one suffers as he does, Clara never had that. A way this could’ve been done is if Danny’s death was a consequence of something Clara did and she had to live with that. Like Danny’s death could’ve been Clara’s ‘Time War’ kind of ya know?

[@KassidySnakeyes]

This video is the legit first time I’ve ever heard people don’t like Clara

[@suzeric1]

Clara is one of the best companions this show ever had, and the arc of her relationship with 12 was incredibly well executed, unlike anyone who had ever come before her.

[@wattsiswhat]

Now, now Sarah Jane, Jo Grant, Leela, both Romanas, Martha Jones and, of course, the Pools... all fantastic companions, Clara is good, especially with 12, however Series 8 was really bad and Clara's relationship with her boyfriend was a huge contributor to that. Sure let's blame Mr Moffatt and crew for that , but Clara was still a big reason for a bad season. And who thought about surrounding Capaldi, who portrayed the Doctor like a crazed madman, around children all the damn time?

[@HuntingViolets]

Victorian Clara saved the Doctor by getting him out of his funk so he could truly by the Doctor again. I would have loved Victorian Clara to live and stay as companion. Hell, I would have liked Oswin, the first Dalek companion. How amazing would that have been?

[@nicholasmiller2329]

I had no idea that people didn’t like her. I really liked the way they handled the 11 to 12 regeneration, with Clara staying on but having to come to terms with quite a different relationship with the new doctor. Not only was she my favorite companion, but my 14 year old self was fully in love with her. Like depending on one’s theory of romantic development, it’s possible my preferences in women was forever altered by Clara. Trippy to think about looking back on it.

[@jamesbourgeois1357]

My biggest issue with Clara was how inconsistent she was. After being the impossible girl she should have known the Doctor better than anyone else. And yet she was confused when he changed, and then felt the need to blackmail him into helping her saving Danny. She should know him BEST and felt the need to force him into helping her when in reality she would have only needed to ask.

[@looseleafellie]

@@jamesbourgeois1357 they really just pretended like the Impossible Girl arc never happened after series 8 got going 😂

[@jamesbourgeois1357]

@@looseleafellie sad truth...

[@nickm5881]

Jenna Coleman is a great actress and very easy on the eye too, and I think she played Clara brilliantly, but I also believe that the role of the companion has almost eclipsed that of The Doctor in recent years, and I think the writers need reminding who the main character is.

[@looseleafellie]

It's interesting that you say that, because New Who has always had this kind of companion-centric philosophy. From the very first episode of the reboot, the story is told through Rose's perspective, not the Doctor's. I think the story revolving around the companion as the main character was not at all something that began with Clara

[@olived9560]

Amazing video! I love Clara in s8 and 9 and you've described why perfectly. Also I loved you playing her theme on the guitar, you play guitar so well!

[@looseleafellie]

Thank you!! I’m still kind of learning the song, so I can’t even tell you how many takes it took me to get a clip I was happy with 😅

[@AzguardMike]

she should of left after the 50th. She had served her purpose narratively speaking. She got the Doctor out of his exile after Amy and Rory were touched by the Angel. The impossible girl stuff was explained. She prevented the War Doctor from genocide and saving Galifrey in a painting. But instead they dragged her out, another season which made her insufferable. When she died, my mother and sister were happy. And then we had a whole episode about grief, followed by "lol JK she has been saved by the Time Lords and is now hanging out with Me in a Tardis as a pair of immortals."

[@MrRosebeing]

I didn't dislike her. I wish she was still in it.

[@MINKIN2]

The thing I didn't like was how they kept writing her out of each of her seasons but she coming back. And then they couldn't even kill her off.

[@GrubStLodger]

I'm in the 'I don't like Clara' club. For me, it was the inconsistency of her background and personality, she seems to just flutter in the wind of plot and make no sense. I wish Peter Capaldi had two series with Bill rather than Clara.

[@looseleafellie]

@@GrubStLodger I definitely agree her writing was inconsistent between series 7 and the subsequent series - and as much as I like how her character developed over her run, I would have loved another season with Twelve and Bill

[@Fred-gu6pk]

Especially if it meant we kept Lucas as Nardol

[@RavenThom]

@@looseleafellie I'll gladly give up Bill and Nardole for one with ME and Clara and how the Dr saves her

[@HOTD108_]

Honestly my issue with Clara is that a lot of Moffat's writing with her is having characters just say that she's special because of time travel destiny stuff, rather than Clara and the Doctor actually having much of a relationship at all during her time with Smith, which of course results in a weak foundation for the Capaldi seasons to build upon, making the whole thing feel shallow and superficial. In other words, my issue with Clara is that she's all plot and no story, if that makes sense.

[@CromulentKajiggers]

It amazes me how Bill and Donna both became my fav companions despite being in the show such a short time, but I had to suffer through Clara for so long. It's a shame because I think she's a good actress having to play such a bad character

[@leeci33]

I’ve heard folks explain Clara’s arc before. But you broke it down in such a way that I may actually come around to liking her. Great video.

[@looseleafellie]

@@leeci33 thank you so much!

[@JoshRazauskas]

Ellie this was a flawless essay! I personally have never hated Clara, but the way you broke down everything here and actually articulated it in a way that people who might’ve not known the reasoning behind the character and her decision making was absolutely brilliant! This deserves to be on a release from the BBC! I want to start making essays myself soon. At the moment, I don’t have the right equipment, but I know it’s something that I would thoroughly enjoy doing and you just inspired me by setting the bar so high! As 9 would say, you were fantastic! Also, do you think that I cared for you so little that you betraying me would make a difference, will forever be one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard said anywhere! Still gives me goosebumps! For anyone that doesn’t understand how much 12 and Clara really cared for one another, they clearly were never paying attention!

[@dursty3226]

i don't even think the companion needs to be an audience surrogate. to me, the best companions are the ones that just ✨️mesh✨️ with the Doctor, like the bestest of friends who have everything in common.

[@smallbabyedwards]

I feel like I’ve really been seeing a critical reevaluation of Clara over the past few years, which is great for me (she’s been battling Donna for my my Favorite Companion spot for years). So now, I think it’s time for Danny Pink to get a similar reevaluation. Even people that like Clara hate him, and I just find that extremely unfair. I think his role in series 8 is so incredibly useful, and his absence hangs like a shadow over almost every episode in Series 9. Like, when Clara FINALLY says his name in Face the Raven, it feels like a spell has been lifted! I don’t know, I just think Danny was really interesting with Clara, and I don’t think her story makes any sense if you discount their arc together. We need to re -assess the Cyberman with a heart.

[@MagicalGirlMarina]

I think people disliked Danny because he “interrupted” the Doctor-Clara romance by being her primary romantic interest in series 8 - but for as much as I love 12 and Clara, I really adore Danny, both as a character and for the function he serves in the story. He’s like a more challenging, more tragic version of Rory - while Rory would occasionally push back on the Doctor, they did eventually develop a friendship and mutual respect for one another. Danny, on the other hand, died before he could ever reach that point with the Doctor, and in some ways, Clara as well. Like the Doctor, he deeply regrets his past, but I think he has so much more humility about himself (as evidenced by his decision to send back the boy he accidentally k*lled). I think Danny was a really fascinating and tragic character, and I agree that he deserves his roses as much as Clara is getting hers now too!

[@harrietamidala1691]

I view Clara as a character that was inconsistently written, but consistently well performed by Jenna Coleman. It’s her acting talent that salvages the character for me.

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

19:53 to be honest, any relationship with the Doctor and young companions would be creepy due to the Doctor‘s actual age. It just doesn’t seem creepy when the Doctor’s incarnation appears young.

[@kenthomas505]

true. you wouldn't think of going out with someone your grandfather's age let alone an alien who is over 2,000 years old! But the show get by that becasue the Doctor can change his face and look youthful on the outside while being very much ancient on the inside.

[@IsaacMyers1]

I don’t agree. So he’s just never to have romantic relationships with other species?

[@PlatinumAltaria]

I think there's a hard line between a companion that has a friendly rapport with the Doctor and the ones where romance is a thing. I really just don't want to see romance between a thousand year old space wizard and a 21st century girl from Earth, it doesn't do anything for me. Especially given the imbalance of knowledge, it just feels a little creepy. I really wish writers would try out a companion from a non-21st century setting. By getting away from the audience self-insert there's so many other perspectives to explore; take someone from the bronze age to 21st century London and suddenly it's a crazy sci-fi setting.

[@Jamie_E_Pritchard]

A Gallifreyan having a romantic attraction to a human is the equivalent of a human wanting to shag a monkey. Except the divide is probably even greater in the case of the former.

[@mikejackson3028]

Why some "companion" actress (or actor) has to be the FAVORITE OF ALL TIME baffles me. Or Favorite Doctor for that matter. The line given to 11 for his regeneration scene "we are all different people all throughout our lives" is one perhaps younger fans can't appreciate. You have to live a pretty long life - I'm in my 60s now - and I love the contrast of all the different Doctors going back to Tom Baker who was the first I saw - and then going back to Hartnell too before my "time" - I was born in March of 1963 so I'm 8 months older than the show itself! So the older you get you can look back and remember all the different eras of your life. Your teens or twenties form a LOT of who you will basically be - but the changes of each decade will make you vastly different over time. Keep a journal and just write about your day and 40 years later you will go back and read stories that you realize you have no recollection of and people you forgot about that were just in and out of your life in a blink! The idea that splinters of Clara might still turn up from time to time would be intriguing, but the irrational Clara haters would go berserk frankly. I switched off the Chibnall era and the RTD 2.0 is a disaster - preaching to the converted and if you don't agree 'you can go touch grass' makes me hate everything after 12's exit. Ruby Sunday is so vacuous it's astonishing. As is 15. Not coming back until they are all gone and so is RTD frankly. Nice break down, though the Clara hate makes me block people on FB when I hear it. It's just a tv show after all and it should be fun and mock scifi and storytelling tropes in general which was the core of why Doctor Who was fun in the first place. We've really forgotten that I think...

[@anjapinkau3737]

Well said! I agree with you on all major points!

[@foragidodoalcoolicosanonim1513]

my favorite quote from dr is when clara says she is hi carer an he replies "yes, she is my carer, she cares so I don't have to"

[@That0neDud-17z]

I remember having like a full conversation with you on tiktok a year ago, and your theories are still amazing!

[@looseleafellie]

@@That0neDud-17z Hello again!! Thank you so much 😄

[@j.rileyindependentproductions]

They have said that they didn't want the romantic chemistry being the reason they killed Victorian Clara... However, while I like Clara we got, in general, I think that if we'd had the Victorian Clara be more of a Captain Jack type that The Doctor has to keep her in check while flirting with men and women throughout time, it'd have been a much more interesting series. Also, shoehorning Clara into the roll of the Impossible Girl made it a forced fit. They didn't organically grow the character, she was just always used as a plot device. Then, eventually, they did the same thing to Danny Pink in attempt to give Clara something beyond being "The Impossible Girl". Though, I would have said that she didn't think of 11 as a boyfriend, but as a surrogate so that she does not have to have one. You know, like that friend you have that sort of chemistry with that everyone says you should date... Don't get me wrong, I did like the idea of "She's my carer... She cares so I don't have to" aspect with Capaldi. Your analysis of Clara and the Doctor for this season is perfection, and easily would have made, if they'd not done "The Impossible Girl" arc, Clara's "I'm The Doctor" speech all that more convincing, especially if we'd seen a fob watch reveal. Given the out-of-character (even if she'd become unhinged) writing they did for her in her final series (though I do love the Clara & Missy adventures), it would have been a much better send off for her to be "killed" by the Cybermen. Then when Capaldi regenerates, we see him regenerate into Clara. We get a time rewind (and of course key moments that would have hinted from prior episodes) and as the Cybermen leave the room we see regeneration energy and we get Clara regenerating into Whittaker.

[@DanDroidx]

For me, it's the last couple of episodes that 'spoils' the character for me. I don't hate her, I don't even really dislike her, but the last couple episodes... I know you said her punishment was her separation from The Doctor, but it doesn't *feel* like it. Also, not seeing her splinters in future episodes *kinda* makes sense, because TGI was going *back* into *The Doctor's* specific past, so that's where Clara's splinters went, as well. Even when The Doctor is in *the past*, he's not in *his past*.

[@TransDragon]

I loved Clara from the start. I love Amy, Donna and Rose too. I found the Impossible Girl storyline fascinating and I found her becoming doctor-like even more so. The fact she's bisexual is an added bonus too. I really loved Jenna's portayal of her and I felt Clara ending up immortal, with a TARDIS and Ashildr/Me was the perfect ending for her. I've never had 1 favourite companion over the others, they're all my favourites.

[@eshbena]

We come down to the basic fact that Moffat cannot write women. They are one dimensional plot enablers on the whole. He starts out writing all his women as being interesting, then dumbs them down and makes them hysterical as time goes on, see River Song. I hate his writing of women.

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

For me, the main issue was simply - I feel she overstayed. Yes, I quite liked what they ended up doing when Moffatt convinced Coleman to stay... but I was ready for her to go, and when she didn't, well - I'd had enough.

[@razakhan23465]

Victorian Clara was interesting to me. Regular Clara lost my interest very quickly, and it never recovered. But your points are very good

[@williamoarlock8634]

Like Amy Pond (a bitchier and less rich derivation of Clare Abshire), Clara (female and clothed Henry DeTamble) is a terrible character crudely derived from an already badly written character . It's really poetic justice the hack Moffat's actual adaptation of Niffenegger's dreck was a big fat flop

[@funbibakare7414]

Really good analysis you verbalised the tension and feelings I had for her as well as opened my eyes to appreciating her character even more!!!

[@philjohnson725]

Not everyone hated her, and if they did, I don't know why. I loved her in Doctor Who. Wish she stayed longer, but alas, we can't have everything we want, right?

[@fiachramacaodha1260]

Never heard anyone saying they hate Clara. One of the best Doctor Who characters ever, better than most of the Doctors.

[@little-wytch]

Excellent video! I like to come up with my own headcanon reasons for some things. Like the whole Impossible Girl bit... it's never explained how the Doctor can just leap into his own time stream and rescue Clara... so I came up with this idea in my head that since Bad Wolf wanted to save the Doctor... well, how much power did Rose/Bad Wolf have (not to mention how she held that power for so long and survived while 9 only had it for a few seconds after he took it out of her yet it caused him to regenerate?) so my idea is that Bad Wolf looked into the Time Vortex for any time the Doctor needed to be saved but found Clara already in the Doctor's time stream doing that, so Bad Wolf created a little pocket dimension in the Doctor's time stream to catch and hold Clara and be a place from which the Doctor could rescue her. I think Clara was one of the best companions and that Bad Wolf would have seen that and tried to help. We also don't know for sure that the Doctor and Clara together are the hybrid... that was just speculation by Mayor Me and the Doctor, but a hybrid typically implies 1 being, not 2. Maybe Bad Wolf was the hybrid, or the DoctorDonna, or the Metacrisis Doctor, or maybe even that Dalek (I can't remember his name) from the Cult of Skaro in Manhatten who became a Dalek/Human hybrid? To me, thinking up possible answers to the unanswered questions of Doctor Who is part of the fun of the show.

[@ClarenceOdbodyAS2]

I think you missed the most important line about 12 and Clara's relationship: as being 'like an addiction.' They are so dependent on but know they are so bad for each other. We're used to seeing companions grow and become better people through their travels with the Doctor; Clara arguably becomes worse. The toxic nature of their relationship isn't something Doctor Who had explored before and elevates Clara as one of the most interesting Doctor-Companion dynamics in the shows history.

[@looseleafellie]

@@ClarenceOdbodyAS2 yes! Clara is like an anti-Donna in that sense - instead of her transformation into Doctor-ness highlighting the best parts of herself, she actually leans into the worst parts of herself

[@Wolf359inc]

I have the same problem with Clara that I have with Amy. Both were arrogant, and both didn’t grow, as people, from their time with the Doctor. Every other long term companion, in the 60-odd year history of the show, became better individuals, due to their experiences travelling with the Doctor. Amy didn’t change at all. Clara remained a narcissist, and completely overestimated her abilities, to the point that it, effectively, got her killed. She tried to be the Doctor, but lacked their knowledge and experience to be able to pull it off. I would think that, being able to visit all of time and space - to be able to see all the wonders, horrors, and everything in between - would be such a humbling experience. Such a privilege. But, it has little to no effect on Clara and Amy. I would even go so far as to compare them to the Master. He saw so much. Yet, in his hubris, he wanted to own/ control it all, rather than be humbled by it. All in my not so humble opinion, of course… 😈 Cheers,

[@BlueBotBlues]

Great video so far, I just feel the need to drop an "I love you Danny Pink" every time he's brought up, I love you Danny Pink edit: While kill the moon is awful, Clara's breakdown at the end was brilliant

[@SchultzDorinda]

Personally, my problem with Clara is not her story arc but her personality. To me, she becomes very abusive in season 8.

[@MagicalGirlMarina]

Series 7B Clara admittedly has a special place in my heart, but I do understand the criticisms people have of her (the legitimate ones that you covered in this video, not the outright misogyny ones I sometimes see on Twitter lmao). Like most, though, I do agree that she really hit her stride alongside 12. I do see their relationship as an unspoken romance, but one with so much more depth, nuance, and toxicity than say, 10 and Rose. I saw a tweet a while back about Clara saying that if you don’t love her because she’s a bit (well, a lot) of a mess, then you probably just don’t get her character. She’s easily the messiest companion in NewWho (both within the context of the story and the behind-the-scenes of how she was written), and that is precisely why I love her. Coleman brought her to life so perfectly that even though Clara wasn’t perfectly written in 7B, I couldn’t helped but be charmed by her. Ten years on, she’s still my favorite companion - so thank you for this honest look at the positives and negatives of her character!

[@arisamelody]

the companion is supposed to be the tether to humanity that the doctor needs to keep hold on life’s importance since his life is near infinite. i didn’t like clara too much with matt smith because she was just a smart puzzle to him but with peter capaldi her character shined. the dynamic became more father daughter like which made their relationship make more sense as they both care for each other in an unconditional familial way especially with the history they already had when he was matt smith

[@shangothrax]

I thought the Hybrid was the Master who joined with the Cybermen and destroyed Gallifrey at the end of season 12....I rewatched Hell Bent recently, and I think this is the best actual explanation. It's just timey-wimey.

[@marque6732]

I've been watching Doctor Who since the early 80's, Clara is one of my favorite companions

[@librarysong8617]

Clara is my baby and I will defend her to my last breath

[@dubbingsync]

That Oswin reveal was one of the biggest heart broken moments I had during Smith’s run. Not helped by Victorian Clara also not making it. I think that’s why I didn’t want to get attached to Modern Clara (even though I did like her) so that when the last episode of that series happened I assumed she was going again. Would have made more sense if she did I think at times.

[@gerryandersonisbest]

A bit harsh on Series 7 IMO, but happy to see you recognise the quality of writing Clara received in Series 8 and 9. She's my favourite companion and her & 12 are my favourite TARDIS team, so I always go into videos like this about Clara with some trepidation and expecting to find some mindless hater who I'll have to correct in the comments. So this video was a rather pleasant surprise 😊 I'm happy to see your appreciation for her has grown over the years (which is something I've seen a lot of people say since the end of 12's era) and I appreciate your ability to recognise that Moffat wasn't trying to make her "better" than all other companions - they were just writing stories they thought were cool and compelling, and it just happened to be Clara who was companion at the time. I've never understood the mentality of people who think that - is it fans feeling insecure that their favourite is getting shown up by another character, perhaps? Quick note about a couple things: - Victorian Clara saved 11 because her death made the Latimer family cry on Xmas Day, which changed the snow to tears and this defeated the Great Intelligence (who was created from the snow) while he was in the middle of trying to freeze the Doctor to death. - 11 was certainly affected by his encounter with 10 and War in TDOTD, it certainly brought up his regret etc, but he was still prepared to do it all again (as evidenced by his joining the other two to activate the Moment). It wasn't until Clara spoke up that he was compelled to change his mind. Even if he HAD been thinking about it, she gave him the push he needed to actually go through with it. That's more important than I think you're giving credit for. - The novelisation of TUAT clarifies that the glass avatar of Bill briefly transformed into Clara while she assumed control of it to say hi to the Doctor and restore his memories of her. This isn't portrayed very well onscreen, admittedly, as Jenna had to film her bit separately and all that, but that seems to have been the intention. So that actually IS the real Clara there (or a manifestation of her, at least). I'll forgive the shameless clickbait of putting "why does everyone hate her?" in the thumbnail before admitting in the video that it's NOT everyone (claiming in the title that she "was robbed" seems like an exaggeration, too), seeing as you made some fair criticisms of some things (having all of those unacknowledged Clara Echoes IS messy, though it personally doesn't bother me) and you actually have some pretty interesting takes on some things that I'd never considered before. I never thought of KTM as a deliberate attempt by the Doctor to make Clara more like him just to sabotage her & Danny's relationship before. Sorry for all the rambling. TLDR - I enjoyed this video overall. Nice job 👍

[@looseleafellie]

@@gerryandersonisbest glad you liked it! I suspect a large part of the reason why a lot of people like myself appreciate Clara and Twelve better on a second watch is because the character development is easier to catch when you’re watching all their episodes over a short period of time, rather than over 3 years of sporadically-airing TV.

[@mudcrab3420]

My Mum had issues with Clara. Apparently she has 'Flicky Hair'. Yeah, I still really don't know what that means either.

[@jamieluvsreading]

Yessss, I'm so happy you're reacting to this!

[@VeEmCe]

First off, good video! Very fair analysis of the Clara character. For me it was her Season 7 portrayal (bland + a big step down from Amy and Rory), preferring the Victorian Clara and the fact she outstayed her welcome. Multiple times she was supposedly written out and came back. Also, fatigue with the "companion has to be the most important person in universe" trope we've had since Rose (poor Martha yet again). Bill was a breath of fresh air afterwards, and I feel like the space opened up by the lack of romance/mystery box storytelling actually provided us with more room to get to know and like her vs Clara. That said I am on board with you when it comes to the "Clara as the Doctor" storyline. That was fun to watch and felt like something new and exciting at the time. Season 9 Clara felt like a flawed, well rounded character and I loved her toxic friendship with The Doctor. Just in time for her to be killed off, she got interesting! But the memory of all those false finishes and time wasted with the "Impossible Girl" blandness still sours her overall.

[@elliesteele2027]

Might sound kinda random, but I love your accent ❤

[@BARALover96]

Like everyone says I loved the Victorian Era Clara. I still don’t know how to feel about Clara but I still in the camp that Clara should’ve died when she split herself throughout the doctor’s timeline. Then introduce a different Clara which he somehow saved from dieing(Matt smith letting himself die for her?) and this is the doctor dedicating himself trying to find a different Clara and one he could actually somehow achieved to save.

[@Guerreropowerr]

i will say if clara had come onboard at the begining of Series 7, her development would have been a lot better.

[@n_art_cissist]

I thought it was a huge miss to have Clara the companion instead of Jenny Vastra and strax as they where more fleshed out and honestly my favourites (finally some nonhumans, people from different times and cultures and even canon queer icons). It also kinda felt like because the doctor forgets in the end thanks to Clara there was no point to everything we watched, their dynamic and character development.

[@ThetaSigma-vu1sk]

They wouldn't have Vastra be a main character because of the make up. It would be insane and extremely expensive to get the actress doing make up and prosthetics hours every day for months

[@anomalysakawendy5096]

She's not my least favorite NuWho companion... but she's pretty low. In my view, Clara overstayed her welcome. I mean, really overstayed. I enjoyed Bill so much more... so I would've preferred 2 seasons with Bill instead. The Clara seasons became The Clara Show where she constantly out-Doctored The Doctor. Why even have the Doctor? Clara does it all. She just never feels like a real grounded character like Bill or Donna... but some sort of fantasy woman. There are good eps there with her. But overall she just irks & dissatisfies me.

[@djhutchison]

I was surprised when you said Clara had been around for two and a half seasons, it felt more like four to me.

[@futurestar2999]

Clara Oswald is my favorite companion by a LANDSLIDE! Before Clara, I never quite felt I had a favorite companion. I just sort of said it was Rose because everyone liked Rose. Once Oswin was introduced, I was crushed when she died. So when victorian Clara showed up, I was so excited because I knew there was something deeper there and I was excited to see her again! However, I personally think that the reason why people disliked Clara and Eleven together was because THEY were too similar. I agree that Clara could’ve been fleshed out more, but I also think a lot of her character was a young woman trying to find herself and really discover who she is as a person which sometimes leaves things to be desired in side characters. Clara being introduced while it seemed the Doctor was also attempting to process who he really was made them come off as too similar for some, but I enjoyed that similarity. When Twelve came along, Clara started as an opposite to him. She was fun and excitable where he was grouchy and rude which was such a stark contrast for some watchers that they had a hard time adjusting and that’s completely understandable. At the end of the day, I get shit on a lot for enjoying Clara as much as I do, but I understand why people have their complaints. I just wish people weren’t so quick to write her off as ‘just another pretty girl for the doctor to flirt with’ before really trying to understand who she is as a character and what all she brings to the show. I’ve spoken with some folks who believe Clara’s time on the show should’ve ended after she jumped into the Doctor’s time stream, causing that moment to be her death and then having a new companion come on board. I think that Clara was the perfect companion for the 50th because she already knew all versions of the Doctor, giving her a unique perspective that mattered to him. Regardless of if I agreed with your take or not though, it was a great video and you really did your research!🥰

[@looseleafellie]

I’m so glad you enjoyed the video!! I honestly don’t get the thinking that Clara should have died when she jumped into the time stream, because so many of her best moments came after that and we would’ve missed out!

[@raccoonja-ronja]

I like Clara as a whole, but I was really disapointed with what they did with her a couple of times. When she was first intruduced I really wanted to see a companion that isn't just a human from the 21th century. Like old Who had compainans from "current year" but they also had Time Ladies, an alien, a guy from another dimention, a robot dog and a highlander. New Who had Jack for a couple of episodes as a sort of companion and River and the rest are contemporary humans. The resolution of the whole imposible girl thing felt very fanfic-like to me with her being inserted in every important moment in the doctors life. I really liked her having a regular day job and being a part-time companion and Danny was great, but how his death was handled and everything that happened afterwards with him felt just weird to me. Same goes for Claras death. I really don't like the whole "They are dead, but not really" thing. It just feels like they wanted to kill them for shock value and then didn't know how to write the rest of the season without them, so they aren't really dead, but then they disapear at the end of the season anyways.

[@bloopyboy]

clara is one of my favourite companions for all the reasons you listed, despite her appearing in a lot of stories i don't love as much as i do in RTD1's era. i think it's notable too that jenna coleman is one of the strongest actors they've had on the show, and that she really is charismatic af. i love impossible girl era clara too because she can talk faster than matt smith (moffat has said this was the reason she was cast) and because she could be bossy. i also think between her and missy the show was putting out audience feelers for having the first female doctor and a lot of the pushback from fans is a result of that too. it's also one of the reasons why thirteen (and by extension her era) doesn't work for me, because within clara we basically saw a female doctor that works brilliantly, and i don't think thirteen works in that same way for me

[@StevieZala]

I loved Clara with the 11th Doctor. Their pairing was the closest to perfection New Who has had, in my humble opinion. Asylum is one of my favourite episodes of New Who too, you sort of suspect the ending but it's still gutting at the end, none the less. Her & the 11th Doctor bounced off each other, it was brill. But, yes, I'm old and I'm probably guilty of liking having an assistant as an assistant. Unless the assistant is another Timelord. Romana was very much the Doctor's equal, but of course she is a Timelord too. But Clara - she's clever & witty and she has sass, I think she does well for a mere human 😊. She chucks herself into the time stream to save him which I loved and yes, he did rescue her at the end. It was still great though. What I took issue with was the way her character seemed to change once she started dating that moron who had a chip on his shoulder. The way he talks the Doctor & she doesn't even stand up for him. Like, WTF Clara, you fractured yourself into time itself to save this being & now the fella you've been s**gging for 5 minutes thinks it's okay to talk to him like that?? That put me off, got to be honest. Then she did that thing with the TARDIS key - it's like they changed her personality. So, not as keen on latter Clara, I'm afraid. But, I enjoyed your video & have subscribed. It's nice to see another gal who's so knowledgeable about Doctor Who (it's normally only me boring my friends who roll their eyes)

[@firebladetenn6633]

I loved Oswin, and I loved Victorian Clara. But from the moment the main Clara Oswald came on scene to the moment she flew off in a TARDIS with her new viking immortal friend, I hated her character. I have no issue with a companion challenging the Doctor, but from the regeneration onward, she seemed to exist in the show for one reason and one reason only, and that was to complain. It got in the way of the adventure, made her seem childish, and whether you liked the storyarc, or not seemed to me to be based soully on whether you agreed with her. And...I didn't. And when the show comes down on one side that you disagree with, it kinda ruins every aspect of that story that has to do with it. But I didn't like pre-regeneration Clara either, and that is because...we were promised a character, a character they very much tried and failed to make her later. A brilliant girl who could serve as a fpil for the doctor, and who brought a dynamic to the team where she didn't just rely on him, and they actually relied on one another. Oswin and Victorian Clara were both geniuses in their own right, and watching a show about them alone would have been worth it, doctor or no. And that is not the character we got. We got a girl who never knew what was going on, whined all the time, and didn't really make an impact in the story until the writers tried to remind us she was there. In any case, Jenna Coleman is an amazing actress, and despite my feelings on the character, she stole the show on a few occasions.

[@danielafierro7]

You took the words out of my brain and ordered it correctly into words. I hated Clara with 11. I gave up on the show when she came along, but when I resumed it with 12, I fell in love with her. She was the absolute best and I love the dynamic. I agree with your Ruby criticism, that she just went with whatever the Doctor wanted. I do think, since they're trying to introduce the series to a whole new audience, it makes sense they want someone who's just going along with it though!

[@LegoJPLstudios]

Clara is probably my favorite companion but it was around the 9th season where I felt tired of the direction they kept taking her. There's at least 5 moments/episodes in seasons 8-9 where the character planned on leaving and said goodbye. Only for her to change her mind or come back the next episode. Even her eventual send off was a little frustrating.

[@michaelmaguire4147]

Two reasons, 1) her first disposable persona was the best one, so I was constantly wishing she was ozwin. And 2) I really didn't like the "weave her into his entire timeline" thing.

[@michaelmaguire4147]

I wonder if I would have taken #2 better if they had stuck to the gag, and had a new Clara every episode.

[@xujhan]

Regarding season 7 Clara, while I agree with the criticisms of the writing I think the end result works oddly well. Clara's general passiveness and lack of revealing character moments are, to me, very believable for a young person who's still trying to work out who she is. She feels in over her head, masks it with sass and flirting, and doesn't yet trust the doctor enough to really open up to him. That's very much like how I remember experiencing my first years of adulthood, and that reading flows quite naturally into the bolder character we see in seasons 8 and 9. To be clear, I don't think much of that was really intended by the writers at the time. Season 7 Clara in isolation is just a weak character. On the other hand, Clara's the one companion who truly graduated from Doctor school; I think that if she started out as the more competent season 9 character, the payoff would feel less earned. And at the end of the day, if I can retcon bad writing into something enjoyable that's good enough for me.

[@foxesofautumn]

I liked her first two versions and was disappointed the Victorian version wasn’t the companion because the modern one was… cold and smug and her characterisation flopped around all over the place depending on what the story called for. I didn’t enjoy her “I don’t really need this” affect. Constantly being reminded she didn’t really care about travelling with the Doctor made it very hard to care about her travelling with the Doctor. I enjoyed Twelve much more with Bill. In general I prefer companions who don’t think they’re too cool for it all.

[@BangtansFulcrum]

My experience with Clara is almost exactly the same as yours. I wasn’t a fan of her and Eleven, precisely because she felt more like a plot device than a character. The messiness of her relationship with Twelve (my favorite doctor!) made her so much more compelling. But Donna is still my favorite companion

[@1DROCKS12345]

i really love clara - i enjoy her season 7 episodes but her character could have been soooo much better and although she and 11 flirted, there wasn’t much substance to their relationship. 12 and clara tho their relationship is gorgeous to watch. it’s so messy and codependent and self destructive and it’s one of those situations where you can see every time they could have made another choice but also that they never would have chosen differently and so despite it not being fated, the outcome is still inevitable and i love the tragedy of that. missy summed it up “you’d go to hell if she asked - and she would.” there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for each other and they know it and they have to literally erase one of their memories in order to prevent them from seeking each other out because otherwise they never would.

[@Gada101]

I actually liked Kill the Moon. When the Doctor tells Clara its not his planet or his decision to make, I think it was a moment in flux. 11 learned time can be rewritten and I feel this is the first time 12 got to be able to let Clara make her own choice with her and Earth's timeline. This was after Flatline when she already attempted to don the mantle of The Doctor. The Doctor can see every moment in time, according to 9, so once Clara demonstrated her ability or willingness to play Doctor, Kill the Moon was his first opportunity to let her really grasp with the decisions he makes regularly. Could 12 have done it in a way that didnt make Clara feel abandoned, of course! At this point in his timeline 12 wasnt much for hugs, mincing words, and is very direct, almost mean. To expect 12 to take over for Clara and hold her hand when she demonstrated her willingness and ability to make the tough choices, is out of character for 12 at this point. I feel like 12 was more or less training her to become a force for good, even if it means sacrificing something you love, like the moon. "Sometimes the only choices you have to make are bad ones, but you still have to choose."

[@shaghayeghtehrani6285]

I loved everything about your argument and explanation. Immidiat subscribe. Looking forward to watch more of your videos.

[@looseleafellie]

Thank you so much, I'm so glad to hear that!

[@shaghayeghtehrani6285]

You're welcome and thank you again for reading, liking and replying to my comment. You just made my day.

[@magnusb9783]

These are valid reasons, but I think clara was one of the best counters to the doctor. I started watching the show in 2015 during series 9 that was my first time watching the show as a fan at least. So I was exposed to season 9/8 clara first basically. And their dynamic was so interesting and she was so witty like I fell in love with her character. I kind of watched all the season simultaneously. Going back and catching up on every season between all the new season nine episodes. I’m sure nostalgia can partly blind me looking at it from more nuanced and rational perspective . And even based on your in-depth analysis, I still think 8/9 Clara might just be my favorite companion. For just nuwho:Rose was great, but she was never my favorite. Martha’s cool, ofc, DONNA ugh incredible and love Catherine tate/David Tennant as a duo (also need river song & donna together again), Amy & Rory’s a riot (in a good way tho love Karen), Jack (idk if he counts) was part of my gay awakening as a pubescent 12 yo, Bill was also fun and way too over-hated love cyberbill. But none of them really compared to clara for me, except for maybe River song just because of how campy and iconic she is.

[@ptonpc]

For me, personally, I felt she would have worked better as 'shards' or 'echos'. How would the Doctor feel knowing that every time he meets her, he is meeting the echo of the 'real' one. Or to have her death be final, either in the Doctor's life stream or in Day of the Raven. I felt Season 7 'real' Clara was not well written, she seemed to be thrown together at the last minute. The writing did improve but I don't think it ever met the expectations Moffat had for her. As for her romance with Danny? Meh. Deep Breath was fantastic, I wish we could have had more stories like that instead Kill the Moon standard.

[@tomoxford8815]

Good video, interesting points, thanks :)

[@FreezingInfernos]

Good analysis! I'm a huge fan of Clara, especially her time in the Capaldi years as it's my personal peak Doctor Who. I disagree just a little at the critique of her not being fully formed in S7, however. Rings Of Akhaten, her very first trip, has a good chunk of time in which the Doctor wanders off and it leaves Clara to basically be Doctorish in finding a little girl in trouble and doing her best to help. To say nothing of the thing with the leaf, which is Clara bringing her own microcosmic energy and potential into the situation when the heft of the Doctor's own continuity is not enough to satiate the big planet thing. She's not the Clara of the Capaldi years yet, but there's more of what she would become simmering under the surface during her time with Matt Smith.

[@Ninjaforrver]

The thing about Clara is I didn’t care for her much when she was around, but when she was gone I ended up missing her, like a lot. No shade at Bill it just wasn’t the same. It dawned on me then that, like with the 12th Doctor, I just didn’t vibe with a majority of their stories.

[@Miscellaneous_Minx]

14:18 I never noticed this I absolutely love that It’s like they’re saying “Oooo you thought it was a joke BUT…… it is a joke haha teehee” 22:02 I think this also serves as confirmation that Clara _does_ eventually return to Gallifrey to die

[@kurtsnyder4752]

"Clara Who"?! Some thought the show should be named Clara and The Doctor because of her bit of overwhelming personality and I thought it a hoot when fighting those 2 dimensionals, the Doctor giving his wallet to her and her saying she was now The Doctor was funny af, doubly so when, just like The Doctor, she uses the 2D's tactics against them.

[@mudcrab3420]

Danny was too good for Clara. Thing we have to remember about Moffat is that he has a massive Down Boy simp who wants strong(er) women to tell him what to do. Look at his back catalogue of pre-DW stuff. I mean in Press Gang he had a literally Girl Boss as the main character. So Clara becomes stronger and stronger and more dominating because that is the sort of female characters Moffat likes to surround himself with. To me the problem with Clara is she is, like Amy, A Girl Who Is The Key To Everything. Then Moffat got his clever season end where the set up more or less pays off. And then... why is she still there? This is the problem with giving a character a story arc - once you have told the story then where are you going to go? This is why I actually respect the fact that Martha turned up, had her arc and then left (except for the cameos). With Clara they had nothing else to really do with the character so they had to invent more and more complex character developments that frankly were not deserved. Start Clara is completely different from End Clara and the journey felt forced. The main problem I feel is that Moffat overtook his ideas. I rewatched Season Five over the past few weeks and the path between Eleventh Hour and Big Bang feels earned. Okay there are some fkn awful episodes in the middle so the overall season is an... interesting experience, but everything Moffat pulls out at the end was set up at start. Then the distance between his thinking of ideas and having to deliver on them got closer and closer until it was actually difficult to work out what we were actually watching in some seasons. We had a summary of the end of Clara's arc here and I realised I actually had next to no memory. I didn't exactly know at the time what had just happened and... never cared enough to find out later. (also stunt casting of Maisie Williams - her character was stupid and poorly world built. If sticking alien bio tech into someone makes them functionally immortal then why are there not millions floating around? Why didn't the Doctor even know this was what was going to happen? Five Doctors - Immortality is a Curse. That is the core plot point. So, yeah nah.) Jenna overstayed her welcome (not meaning that in a nasty way against Jenna, but more from a story telling point of view for her character). But hanging around the writers were forces (or felt required) to keep building her as a character to the extent the show became about her rather than the Doctor. I don't hate Clara. I hate Rose for reasons I won't go into at the moment and if I had to rank would place her below Bill. I liked Bill. She was hard done by being turned into a puddle and forced to spend the rest of her life with a mentally unstable puddle she hardly knew.

[@looseleafellie]

@@mudcrab3420 appreciate all your thoughts! I agree that Danny was too good for Clara. There’s a line where she says something along the lines of “I wasn’t very good at it, but I did love you,” and I wish more people understood that even Clara herself doesn’t think she treated Danny well. Also glad to hear from another Bill fan! As much as I outlined my reasons for liking what they did with Clara in the end, I would have loved a second season with Bill and Twelve.

[@Selisu1]

I really liked Clara, but it's hard to disentangle that from Jenna Coleman. In the Asylum of the Daleks, she was so intriguing that I had to spend some time figuring it out. Jenna is quite attractive, but more than that, she is charming, possibly the most charming person I've ever encountered in cinema. So I'm going to enjoy watching her in just about anything.

[@Jamie_E_Pritchard]

I genuinely liked Clara up until the show became 'Clara Oswald and Her Idiotic Time Travelling Chauffeur'. Watch as she berates and belittles him weekly! Not the actress' fault of course, Jenna Coleman strikes me as absolutely lovely. But some of the seeds of what we are seeing in the show today germinated in that particular era.

[@TheZintastic]

Personally I was in the "Clara gang" even before she officiall became a companion to travel with the Doctor. ...But that's also partly (highly!) because she's palyed by Jenna Coleman, aka Jasmine Thomas from Emmerdale, aka one of my first TV crushes ever.. >_> Lemme make it clear that she ain't my favorite companion (that spot always belongs to Donna/Catherine Tate, I feel like) BUT I do feel people give her WAY too much crap online as she is a great companion and her character also evolves (even if to more reckless) the further she goes with Doctor and better yet Clara also affects the then current Doctor and their developement as well. ...Like ...What more could you ask from a companion? Personally I feel one problem with Clara is that she had a pretty rough spot given to her. She came after and needed to fill the boots of Amy!!! ...AND Rory! ...AND River as well... Good frigging luck trying to pull THAT off without any issues... Likewise, it also probably didn't help she had to share a Doctor with her predesessors. As in: seeing 11 with Clara for sure just "felt wrong" to many fans, I'd assume. As said, I'm in the Clara gang though. (again, partly for Jenna, but also for reasons mentioned as well) On paper she is one of the more important companions (at least NeWho wise) in both her highs and her lows moments in the show. Both in terms of having a fun adventure with the Doctor, but also in supporting them when needed and telling 'em no if needed. And then also as a ultimate testament and reminder for Doctor that if they get TOO careless with the people they choose to travel with, things may end up really bad. And she's the one to act as a surrogate audience when 11 regenerates to 12 and she needs to adjust to this new Doctor and quite a lot different one as well. And the thing is (although admittely 12 being MY Doctor probably has something to do with it...) I just love the relationship 12 and Clara have. Way more than 11 and Clara. So uhh... Summa summarum... Cheers for Clara! 🍸

[@Ninjaforrver]

The difference between Romana vs Clara and Donna besides Romana being a timelady is she isn’t trying to be the Doctor. Like sure, she takes cues from him, learning how to adapt better to various surroundings and such. However even in the Horns of Nimon, she’s still herself. I think if the writers ever try to do the “companion tries to be the Doctor but it backfires,” bit again, I hope the moral isn’t, “no one else can be him.” And more, “don’t try to be something you’re not. You can still help people like he does without becoming him.” Also more so than any other companion it feels like her and the Doctor have to work together to solve the plot of a given story. Like she’s spouting as much gobbledygook as him to figure out the plot.

[@looseleafellie]

Great observations! As much as I love the whole “companion suffers the consequences of trying to be too much like the Doctor” thing, it could be really interesting to see a companion shake themselves out of that pattern and try to move past it

[@Ninjaforrver]

@@looseleafellie thank you! The neat thing is you could still have a companion suffer some consequences for trying to emulate him too much while having them move past it. I just don’t think the consequences need to be on the level of because you tried you’re out of the show now.

[@looseleafellie]

@ I mean, they do need to write the companion out of the show eventually, but I’m sure they could come up with a less punitive reason

[@Ninjaforrver]

@ oh right not saying don’t write companions out of the show. Just I’d prefer this reason to boot them from the series to not happen as much. To use Romana as another example, her exit isn’t the greatest but she didn’t get booted/punished for acting like the Doctor. If anything she left emulating him. Left with the choice of between the stuffy bureaucracy stuck on galfirey or wandering the universe and timestream on the run helping people in need, she chose the latter.

[@mynameisdan8178]

Recently someone on Tumblr run a dw fan survey and Clara got almost the same amount of votes as the most and least favourite companion, coming second as the favorite companion and first as the least favourite