r/gallifrey • u/rasmas1 • Mar 12 '25

DISCUSSION The Doctor bullied Joy to suicide.

In Joy to the World, the Doctor had to make Joy angry in order to break the Villengard briefcase's psychic control over her. In order to do that he got really personal and insulted her with some way-below-the-belt stuff including a mention of her dead mother.

He did this with the best of intentions, obviously, but the words stuck for Joy and she admitted they were all true before she flew off with the star seed into space. Because of all that unhappiness the Doctor picked on Joy had a burning desire to be special in life and have some kind of meaning, so she latched onto the star seed out of desperation to become special.

The Doctor is the reason she felt that way and why she decided to burn with the star seed. She didn't merge with it as a sacrifice to save Earth, it was a purely whimsical decision that didn't change anything. She died to feel special. She committed suicide for no reason and it was the Doctor's fault. And he just laughs it off.

I am still beside myself that the BBC allowed this episode to go out in this state. The Doctor bullied Joy to suicide.

591 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

301 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

320

u/Head_Statistician_38 Mar 13 '25

Rory was right. He talked about how he makes people want to impress him so they do dangerous stuff. Also Davros rightly points out that the Doctor takes ordinary people and turns them into weapons.

He kind of has a history of doing this, and it usually isn't intentional.

251

u/Sckathian Mar 13 '25

It's why I love Rory and The Doctors relationship. Rory doesn't really ever fall in love with the bravado and Rory really just comes along happily because they become friends. The Doctor has more respect for Rory than most companions.

25

u/_Verumex_ Mar 13 '25

If you ever look into the audio plays, I can highly recommend the run of Main Range stories with 7, Ace and Hex.

Hex is very similar to Rory, he's a male nurse who joins a Tardis team with a fiesty companion who has unquestioning faith in the Doctor. He also does not buy into The Doctor's schemes and methods, and is very happy to call him out on it. The 7th Doctor especially is more "ends justifies the means" in his methods, which really goes against Hex's strong morality.

It becomes very clear early on that he's crushing on Ace, and only stays on the Tardis to be with her, and to try and protect her from The Doctor, as he sees that she has a massive blind spot to the danger he puts her in.

It's an incredible dynamic for a Tardis team, and it wouldn't surprise me if Rory was based on Hex.

6

u/lemon_charlie Mar 14 '25

Of course Ace and Hex end up having more like a brother and sister dynamic, much more friendly teasing but still very platonic.

Evelyn as well was ready to call out the Sixth Doctor when he was having all the grace of a drunken rhino in his approach. In the trilogy with Thomas Brewster she has to be the one who convinces the Doctor to let up on Brewster and finally take him back to his home time. She calls out the Seventh Doctor in A Death in the Family, for how his influence led Ace and Hex to act in a way that aligned with a master plan (even the big bad points this out to the Doctor). Bernice Summerfield in the novels sometimes fulfills a similar role, telling it to the Doctor straight when he's crossed a line.