thank you for this it’s really good

abossycontrolfreak:

I’ve been seeing a lot of political-based explorations and critiques of that episode, which are obviously very important and necessary. However, that’s meant the character-based analysis has slipped to the side a bit. It’s also probably due to the fact that no-one seems to be 100% certain on Bill’s character yet, but I figured I’d start off a discussion by throwing some of my ideas out there and seeing if anyone else has been thinking the same thing.

– Bill’s very open with her emotions, not just with feeling them, but with showing them. Definitely a lot of that is from Pearl Mackie’s incredible face, but I know Bill’s character was informed by Pearl’s acting strengths, so I think that’s a pretty credible thread. And that kind of makes Bill vs Cybermen both an obvious and powerful match up. Of course, I only really like this if Bill wins in the end, but if definitely looks like she hasn’t lost all her emotions yet, so she’s winning that fight.

– Another note of Bill’s character is that she seems to resign herself to the fact that shitty things happen to her. She doesn’t like it, and she’ll argue a bit, but she doesn’t seem to expect that to make a huge difference? It’s really sad, and it’s been something I’ve really been wanting to see Bill triumph over, see her say “no I don’t deserve this and I’m not going to take it”. She’s been getting better at that throughout the series – insisting on her way to the Doctor as she gets more comfortable, but we haven’t yet seen a direct mirror of the threatened mind wipe from the Pilot. A Cybermen emotions wipe though, that is a thematic repeat, which gives Bill a huge opportunity to show her growth and evolution during this series.

Both of these are very much based on Bill not just surviving but also defeating the Cybermen on a very personal level, resisting and escaping conversion, and saving herself. But given that the thematic threads of this series seem to be very much pointed towards that ending, I’m 99% sure that’s where it’s headed.

I have absolutely no clue how it’s going to happen practically, but thematically I just can’t see another option.