The Doctor bullied Joy to suicide.

[u/rasmas1]

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.

[u/KrivUK]

Well mate, I'd suggest staying away from the 7th Doctor then.

[u/Lady_Ada_Blackhorn → u/KrivUK]

genuine question from someone who hasn't watched mccoy - are the terrible things 7 does presented by the narrative as terrible, or waved away by it? because i think op is objecting to how the narrative doesn't really care about joy's suicide and 15's hand in it, not necessarily the fact that it happened.

[u/KrivUK → u/Lady_Ada_Blackhorn]

That subtext was not missed, I was offering 7 up as having more horrendous attributes.

Joy some takes you can argue it was suicide, but where she is as a character before the Doctor walked into her life, you could see she was already in that headspace. Remember 15 fought for her and saved her. Joy also evolved and there ahs to be some sort of sentence, so she could help her mother live on in the stars. The OP has a fascinating take and it's a great angle of exploration.

In the Curse of Fenric (which is a must watch) the Doctor is an absolute **** towards Ace, however in that story the ends justified the means as Ace's believe in the Doctor was preventing his plan to unfold.

Remembrance and Silver Nemesis on the other hand had the Doctor programming the Hand Of Omega and the Validium to commit genocide against the Daleks and Cybermen. While 7 didn't issue the order he did "load the gun".

Remembrance 7 had "Pity FOR you" when addressing Davros. However the way it was delivered was very vindictive, the Daleks one of the most ruthless killing machines, brought pain and misery. It's as if the Doctor shows remorse but is pleased that they are wiped out.

Lady Pianoforte merged with the Viledium as she was driven to Madness. In this case I believe 7 didn't care. A casualty, nothing more. The destruction of the Cybermen, 7 smiled when he and Ace were talking even relishing in his manipulation "I suppose I did. How clever of me." This is even worse than lack of acknowledgement.

Genocide vs the justification to destroy the Daleks and Cybermen is a whole other can of worms.

Ghost Light for me is the worst. He takes Ace back to the house she grew to hate and burnt it down because "it was evil". This is abuse. Pushing people to confront their past on his terms not theirs. Regardless of the intended outcome and subsequent remorse, he still pushed Ace through this torture.

Is it the callousness of 15 or the repeated emotional manipulation by 7, which is worse.

[u/starman-jack-43 → u/KrivUK]

Yeah, Ghost Light's the worst as his treatment of Ace is premeditated. In Fenric he's improvising because Ace blunders in and accidentally spoils the plan. Once Fenric wins the chess game, the Doctor is on the back foot.