Doctor Who: 10 Characteristics Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Should Have

6. His Own Intellectual Flaw

The Doctor is always (okay well most of his tenure) famously brilliant but never flawlessly so. To illustrate using the previous three: the Ninth Doctor was unobservant, the Tenth Doctor was overconfident, and the Eleventh Doctor got child-like blinders. The presence of this chink in his mental amour gives the companion a chance to step in and help, as well as serves to humanise the Doctor. It has become an essential part of his faults. I agonised over the proper form of ignorance to apply to Capaldi's Doctor, and, while I came up with a few suitable options: too curious, too decisive, struggling with emotional boundaries, I ultimately realised that my main concern for the Twelfth Doctor is making sure whatever his flaw is, it serves to really enhance the plot. I bring up this concern in response to things like the fitness gimmick in Colin Baker era, and the way the Eleventh Doctor's winsomeness ultimately made him repeatedly the butt of a joke. His flaws should never become truly farcical. If they are treated merely as sources of comedy, they no longer serve to inform and enrich his character. His imperfection is one of the best parts of the Doctor. Like the humans he loves so much, the Doctor is someone who is still trying, still learning, and his struggles can never be an afterthought.