On Christmas night, I have to admit to falling in love. No, not with a real woman (I'm visiting family, there wasn't much chance of me meeting someone here) but with the most awesome side character in Doctor Who's recent memory. Played by Faye Marsay, Shona McCullough proved to be the most memorable character of the Christmas special, beating out the appearance of the son of a former Doctor, and possibly even outshining Santa Claus himself. Early reviews told us to expect great things from this Fresh Meat actress, early articles speculated that she might be the next companion before reports and the plot of the episode confirmed that Clara was coming back for season 9, and Dan Butler over at What Culture already put together a list of 10 reasons why Shona should be a companion. While the episode ended up with Clara rejoining the Doctor, while Shona simply awoke to her horror movie/Christmas movie marathon in her messy apartment (which somehow made me love her even more), that doesn't eliminate the possibility of Shona coming back someday. Need I remind you:
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| DOCTOR: Well, you could always DONNA: What? DOCTOR: Come with me DONNA: No. DOCTOR: Okay. DONNA: I can't. DOCTOR: No, that's fine. DONNA: No, but really. Everything we did today. Do you live your life like that? DOCTOR: Not all the time. DONNA: I think you do. And I couldn't. |
Donna first showed up in a Christmas special, like Shona, and later returned to become a full time companion, despite turning down the position the first time it was offered to her. Also, lest we forget:
Jenna-Louise Coleman's gap between her first appearance as one of the Claras and her second was probably a lot more intentional than the reappearance of Donna as a full time companion a year later, but it shows that Doctor Who is perfectly okay with leaving a character behind only to pick them up again later.
My crush on Shona was because of so many things. First, she danced into our hearts in a wonderfully, quirky, ridiculous dance that Faye Marsay, on her own Twitter account, referred to as "The Shona Shuffle." However, as a Google search for that phrase turns up a drag queen named "Shona Shuffles," some people are calling it "The Shona Shake" or simply "The Shona."
Then, despite not being an actual scientist, as the Doctor figured out early, she proved herself to be inquisitive enough to be one. Her interrogation of Santa was rational and unrelenting, continuing to question everything around her, but not fully discounting the possibility of Santa being real.
And that she woke up in the midst of a filthy apartment with a good day of proper media binging ahead of her made her just my kind of girl! I'd gladly cuddle up for a quiet Christmas with Shona and watch some horror movies. Screw Dave. Dave doesn't deserve to be forgiven. Do you remember what Dave did to you Shona? C'mon. Give Trevor a call.
That got weird for a second, there.
But my point is, there's no good reason to go searching for a new companion at the end of season 9, which looks likely to be Clara's exiting point. The next companion is already here, waiting for the Doctor to come whisk her away. She has little difficulty dealing with the 12th Doctor's particular brand of crass rudeness, she is smart, quirky, funny, and clearly someone who is a lot of fun.
When it's time for Clara to go, I think it's time for Shona to step on board the TARDIS.
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