The Fifteenth Doctor’s first season has come to a close, and it’s safe to say that Ncuti Gatwa is finding his footing in the role. Fifteen is adventurous, charming, and affectionate, traveling the universe in search of love and joy. And yet, when the cracks start to show, his pain and fear are raw. As with every iteration of the iconic role, the Fifteenth Doctor carries traces of his former selves — but one previous Doctor is particularly similar to this latest personality.
Long, long ago, in 2005, the Ninth Doctor landed on Earth for the first time after the Time War. Tired and scarred, he was looking for friendship, and found it in nineteen-year-old Rose Tyler. Whisking her across all of time and space allowed Nine to see the universe through her eyes, to experience her wonder and excitement. Fifteen, similarly, is seeking to make joyful new memories — and learning that they don’t erase the bad ones.
The Doctor’s Trauma
Most of the New Who Doctors have been at least partially defined by how they deal with the trauma of their past and the horrible things they have seen. Ten and Thirteen both pushed it down, trying to convince themselves that ignoring it was the same as dealing with it. They avoided their trauma until they either broke (as Ten did) or pushed their loved ones away (Thirteen’s fate.) The Twelfth Doctor, on the other hand, allowed himself to be angry and hurt. He acknowledged the ways that he was broken, and tried to channel his pain to be a better person.
Both Nine and Fifteen, though, acknowledge their pain but don’t want to let it define them. The Ninth Doctor isn’t ready to deal with his trauma, and tries to live his life in spite of it. The Fifteenth believes that he already has.
Before leaving the Fourteenth Doctor to live out his days with his found family, Fifteen hugs him goodbye. He gives him permission to rest and to feel, and to stop being strong once in a while. With that one gesture, the Doctor seems to let it all go, to drop the weight he’s been carrying these past few centuries. But one embrace doesn’t process all that he’s been through or heal all the ways his past has hurt him. And deep down, the Doctor knows it.
Nine & Rose; Fifteen & Ruby
The Doctor’s choice of traveling companion(s) always gives more insight into their character. Eleven and Thirteen both wanted to be part of a family. Ten, in his final season, “just wanted a mate” and found the best of the best in Donna. Nine and Fifteen both wanted a friend, but they also needed someone to remind them of why they traveled.
The Doctor sets off in search of new adventures, putting the past away. And what better way to leave the past behind than to see the universe again for the first time? Just as Nine did with Rose, Fifteen finds a kindred spirit in Ruby and watches her experience the wonders of traveling in the TARDIS. Together they face fairytale monsters, play tricks on gods, solve mysteries, and save the day. In “Space Babies,” Ruby sees her first-ever view of the stars from a space station — and the Doctor isn’t admiring the view, but beaming over Ruby’s own delight. It mirrors Nine and Rose’s interaction in “The End of the World”: Rose looking at her solar system from outside, while the Doctor grins in satisfaction at his friend’s expression of wonder.
Ultimately, both Nine and Fifteen are desperately seeking joy. They are both trying to create happy memories in the hope that they will outweigh the bad ones. They’re both trying to outrun their demons, hoping that if they stay ahead, their past can’t creep up to haunt them again.
But of course, it does. Nine confronts a lone Dalek, a member of the race that destroyed his people, and Rose sees his pain and rage for the first time. Fifteen is cornered by Maestro, child of the Toymaker, and Ruby learns what fear looks like on the Doctor’s face. Nine shows vulnerability in “The Doctor Dances” when everyone lives. Fifteen shows it in a very different way when the title character sacrifices himself in “Rogue.” Nine learns, and Fifteen re-learns, the lesson that Eleven sums up best in “Vincent and the Doctor”:
The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice-versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant.
Where Does Fifteen Go From Here?
Christopher Eccleston had the shortest tenure of any New Who Doctor, staying for only one season in his role as Nine. Both Eccleston and showrunner Russel T. Davies have since expressed wishes that he’d stayed on longer, giving the Ninth Doctor a deeper character arc. Since Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor seems to be exploring similar themes, it’s worth examining Nine’s adventures to speculate on what the Fifteenth Doctor will do next.
In their respective journeys, both Nine and Fifteen found the beginnings of romance: Nine with Rose, Fifteen with Rogue. The Doctor’s relationship with Rose deepened the following season (though the Doctor had regenerated into a new form at that point). Possibly — hopefully — Fifteen will find his way back to Rogue next season, and their relationship will reach a more satisfying closure than Ten and Rose’s did. There’s no telling what that might look like, but the Doctor hasn’t really pursued romantic love since River Song. In his search for joy, maybe the Doctor can find love again.
Perhaps most importantly, both Fifteen and Nine experienced moments of triumph where they managed to save everyone. In “The Doctor Dances,” the Ninth Doctor prompts the nanogenes to turn everyone back into humans. In “Empire of Death,” the Fifteenth Doctor uses Sutekh to bring death to death, thus renewing life.
Just this once, everybody lives!
In “The Doctor Dances,” Nine hugged Rose and shouted these words of victory. But Fifteen knows — or at least should know — that it’s not just once. It may not be always, it may even be rare, but it happens. Sometimes, everybody lives. Sometimes, you get a happy ending. At the end of “Empire of Death,” the universe has been saved, and Ruby has found her family. But Nine didn’t stop after “The Doctor Dances”; in fact, that wasn’t even the season finale.
Similarly, Fifteen may share in Ruby’s joy over her happy ending, but it’s not quite enough. There are more happy endings for him to find, if he’s willing to keep running towards them. Yet, at the end of the season finale, the mysterious Mrs. Flood warns the audience that the Doctor’s story will only end in tragedy. What this means, we don’t yet know. But for the Doctor, endings always seem to lead to new beginnings, and the Fifteenth Doctor’s story is far from over.