Doctor Who:
The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield volume 4
Ruler of the
Universe: Asking for a Friend
written by
James Goss
I do like a
good psychiatrist's couch story. One of my favourite Spider-Man
stories ever is that Ultimate Spider-Man
issue with Aunt May going to therapy. Genuinely, one of the best
stories in that entire run. Anyway, this time its David Warner's
Doctor (aka President of the Universe) on the couch.
This
is also one of those box set stories that does the mini-episodes
thing to give you an idea of the status quo before, presumably,
blowing it all to hell. Its not quite as good as having the actual
room to craft a status quo but its probably as good as the box set
format is ever going to give us. BF no longer have the freedom
(whether by choice or commercial reality) to spend season after
season crafting a setting like the Braxiatel Collection so here we
are with the Doctor's therapy sessions interspersed with
mini-adventures as he holds passive-aggressive press conferences,
gets drunk with Benny and foils robot invasions.
Now those
ones, those are the fun ones, the ones that feel like the Doctor and
Benny having adventures like the old days. There are other ones, of
course, darker ones that get to the heart of what the last story
began to hint at: the slow erosion of the Doctor's character under
the pressures of ruling a dying universe. He's in a position where he
has to deal with dictators diplomatically instead of just toppling
them and letting others deal with the consequences. As the Doctor
says himself he's never been one for consequences or sequels but
that's all he has to think about as president.
Speaking of
which, I liked (and this is MAJOR SPOILERS TERRITORY) that as the
story goes along the therapist seems more and more sinister but that
gets turned entirely on its head. In fact the therapist even has a
chance to reinforce some actual (albeit brief) insight into how this
should go if the Doctor were actually serious about the whole therapy
thing: he can't cheat. He uses the TARDIS to go to his sessions out
of order, to try to skip to the end and his therapist calls him on
it.
Speaking of
consequences, we get a small glimpse of whatever passed for the Time
War in the Warner continuity, one that proves even more terminal to
the Time Lords than the television one. Walking through the ruins of
Gallifrey we get perhaps the best glimpse into this Doctor's
psychology we've had to date as he yells to the heavens the one thing
he's wanted to say to the Time Lords since “the Great War” broke
out:
“I TOLD
YOU SO!”
Its a bleak
story, all told. There's hope in there and wins for the Doctor but at
the end it the impression that he's lost his way, always a running
theme of the Unbound stories, is stronger than its ever been. He
seems less to mourn the Time Lords than resent their absence because
of how it puts responsibility on him. He interferes in a woman's life
without her consent as a “nice gesture” and utterly destroys her
sense of self.
Ultimately
the therapy storyline calls out a lot of problems with this Doctor
(and the Doctor as a larger entity, Warner has never been a better
stand-in for “Benny's” Doctor than he is here) and even some of
the issues Benny has been wrestling with. Halfway through a box set
isn't the time for answers and I hope some of this gets addressed as
we hurtle towards The End.
Next
Episode: Ruler of the Universe: Truant
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