Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Huge Questions After It Takes You Away
6. Is The Doctor Heart(s)less?
The Doctor isn’t in the mood to waste time breaking the humans in gently. She is given an almost godlike emotional superiority over them making her more alien than we’ve seen so far this series. It’s interesting, for example, that the Doctor herself isn’t given a fake companion from the past in the mirror universe. She makes out that she is a friend of the entire universe and that she therefore does not have a significant other. Perhaps that’s why Susan, or River, or Rose are not used to trap her.
It fits in with the no returning characters requirement of the new series, but it does give the impression that that Doctor is detached, even heartless. She doesn’t mince her words in telling Erik to get over his grief. Graham is treated with much more care, but there is still a sense that while she understands the nature of his grief, she does not fully identify with it.
On the other hand, the Doctor isn’t sitting back this time or walking away. She steps in to save Erik probably for Hanne’s sake, without any sign that she expects to escape from the mirror universe. She is willing to sacrifice her own freedom to save a stranger.