@nick @thane15
“The denouement of the Impossible Girl arc was one of the most frustrating things SM has done, so far as I’m concern. Nothing was that clear, but the inference (as I saw it) was that the Intelligence interfered across his time line – to kill him in the most painful way – but Clara acted to reverse this, by showing the Doctor a different path. The inference being No Clara no Doctor. In fact I felt entering the time line was more of a plot device to discover the War Doctor then anything else.”
The Doctor was infected by the GI. It gave his time stream a nasty red rash. Clara was the vaccine (or to use a more precise medical metaphor, the serum). She assumed that she was sacrificing herself. The Doctor had other ideas.
The key to being concise is to focus on what the story is about.
For me the “how”, the details, are crucial.
And there’s you problem, in a nutshell.
In fiction the “why” is the only question that really matters. Everything else is window dressing and the less time wasted in tedious exposition the better, because down that road is flatulent explanation of exactly how River got out of Stormcage every time she fancied a date.
Who cares? She just did. It’s what she did next, and why, that is important.
“Why didn’t all the Doctor’s before Matt notice her ?”
Who cares? They just didn’t. They were probably busy saving Earth, or the Ark, or not exterminating the Daleks.
How did Clara get in and out of the time stream?
Who cares? The Doctor McGuyvered something. It’s why she jumped in and why he rescued her that matters.
And if you still don’t get the leaf, then watch Clara’s speech – because it explains everything with great clarity and focus.
It’s on Youtube.
You have a PhD.
Try using it.
