What do Ryan, Yaz, and Graham actually know about the Doctor?
They know she’s an alien, Ryan knows she has two hearts and maybe shared that with Graham and Yaz.
Graham knows she changed bodies, I don’t if he shared that bit.
The Doctor also mentioned that she was ‘rebooting and reformatting’.
They know the Doctor owns the TARDIS and it travels through time and space.
They know she’s really smart and doesn’t like weapons.
They know she likes to talk a lot.
Besides that I don’t think they know a lot about her so thinking she’s a half-robot might not be far off a question!
Also, this group is by far the chillest group so far, they’ve made no demands on the Doctor nor really questioned anything about her. They haven’t even asked, ‘Doctor? Doctor who/what?’ thing!
I do wonder if her coming across as a sweet, socially awkward, lonely young Northern woman is shaping their feelings about her. Like, let’s not be too hard on the lass: she’s having a rough time, yeah?
If it was the 12th Doctor would they have been more angry with the Doctor about the accidental kidnapping/etc? I really, really think so. But with 13, it would be like kicking a puppy.
If she acted exactly like 12 in his first season and looked the same and had the same gender they’d be super pissed at her from the word “go” too though. It’s not merely a matter of her apparent age and her gender, it’s a combination of factors. But I think gender and apparent age play into it strongly.
I do wonder sometimes about the penny waiting to drop: that Graham sees her as being, sure, an alien with weird stuff going on and body changes and stuff but… she’s a young lass and probably categorized in his mind as one of the kids along with Ryan and Yaz. Someone to give a lot of leeway to because they’re doing their best, still figuring things out.
Which she is? She’s both like them and just figuring herself out and very much not like them. She has a ton of things in common with Graham he doesn’t see yet.
Exploring how they react as they get to know her beyond the literal surface will be very interesting. ESPECIALLY if she’s intentionally hiding parts of herself out of fear of rejection.
I’m sure age and gender play a not insignificant part but Thirteen on the whole has come across as a very earnest, very odd but delightful puppy? I mean, she’s apologised a number of times, thanked them for bearing with her… she seems genuinely concerned about their well-being, and she genuinely seems like she’s trying her best?
Which makes asking not-polite not-relevant-to-any-immediate-danger questions really awkward? I would get as far as “Oh uh, so what alien species are you? Time Lord? Oh uh cool cool.”
I’m not British so I’m not sure how polite real British folk are about these things but I’d guess a lot?
I am really excited for all the unexplored drama of them discovering more (darker, tragic) sides to the Doctor but it’s really gonna take something to spark that conversation – and I really do like the idea of Thirteen deliberately being on her best behaviour with her new friends because she wants to be that better version of herself (even if it’s not completely honest to herself).
The fact they go through the entire first episode not even knowing her name, and being told it off-screen, is important on a meta level and easily overlooked.
There’s none of the stereotypical companion/Doctor dynamic. This is basically the opposite of “sometimes, I think you need someone to stop
you”. If anyone is anyone else’s moral compass, it’s the Doctor who tells her companions what she believes is right or wrong. I think the Doctor has been called out once and that was not by any of her three companions but by the medic on Tsuranga. I cannot imagine any other New Who companion reacting to “you’ve accidentally kidnapped us and now we’re all going to die” with that level of chill.
I’ve never seen this in terms of drama that’s yet to follow though! That’s an exciting thought!
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