Throughout his adventures through space and time, The Doctor has had a variety of people from across the galaxy aboard the TARDIS. Of course, there have been humans, but Whovians have seen the Time Lord welcome a number of races, genders, species, and even some of his greatest enemies aboard his spaceship. There was even that one time that Santa Claus came aboard the iconic vehicle to learn that it’s bigger on the inside. But for the long-running sci-fi series’ second season on Disney+, Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor has added another nurse to the rotation and she’s not taking any of his crap.
This epic season begins with an introduction to Belinda Chandra, an overworked nurse who does her best to stay afloat personally and professionally. This new companion is played by Jurassic World: Dominion and Star Wars: Andor star Varada Sethu, who previously played 51st century Anglican marine Mundy Flynn elsewhere in the Whoniverse. And this time around, her character meets The Doctor after she gets kidnapped by intergalactic robots in search of their queen.
However, roles are a bit reversed in this dynamic as we find The Doctor learning a thing or two from Belinda. Of course, The Doctor is used to being the most clever being in the room. The audience is constantly learning things like compassion, empathy, and hope from them. But through Belinda, The Doctor gets a refresher in consent (which is both sexy and mandatory). Through statements like “I don’t need you to fight my battles” and “I am not one of your adventures,” Belinda firmly establishes that she is just as capable of being cool under pressure as The Doctor is. Just like Gatwa says in our interview with the two stars, “The level of crisis that Belinda has to deal with every day is huge, so there's an equality between them.”
As interesting as it will be to see Belinda and The Doctor’s relationship develop over the course of this season as he tries to get her home to Earth, I’m very excited about the various foes they’ll be facing. For this first episode, there was a moment where it seemed like the Cybermen might make an appearance. Although, they operate with no emotion and all logic. Without giving too much away, the antagonists in “The Robot Revolution” are motivated by reasons that are diametrically opposed to the mechanical menaces. While the Fifteenth Doctor has avoided some classic Who villains so far, hopefully Russell T. Davies brings back more than just David Tennant and Catherine Tate from his acclaimed run on the series that started when it was revived back in 2005.
Overall, this was a great start to Gatwa’s second season at the helm of the TARDIS. Sethu’s Belinda is a great addition to the canon of the seminal show. She doesn’t seem entranced by the impending journey that they’re about to embark on. It seems like Belinda just wants to get back to the hospital and get on with her life. But as she says in the episode, “There’s always a doctor standing back while the nurses do the hard work.” No matter what they encounter on their route, it seems like The Doctor and The Nurse will be able to handle it, so it will be exciting to find out if that’s the case or not.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
Ben F. Silverio is a pop culture enthusiast from Philadelphia, PA who loves storytelling in all forms. In his decade-plus career, he has used his skills all over the internet as a journalist, critic, editor, and social media ninja to craft over 4,000 news articles and editorials for outlets including /Film, ScienceFiction.com, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, and GeekAnything.com. In addition to film and television, Ben is a fan of professional wrestling, superhero comic books, and being an advocate for representation in media.
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