#but the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon are the same dynamic

[oldtvandcomics]

I love that very specific character dynamic where they are just... glued together. Is it platonic?? Is it romantic?? Queerplatonic?? A secret fourth thing?? Who even knows, it doesn't even matter, but you literally cannot have one without the other.

[galacticlamps]

Jamie complaining about the Doctor being a hack because he hasn't tried to bleed the Laird, the Doctor doing his little astrology shtick just for his benefit, Jamie instantly becoming serious again and telling Ben to hush and pay attention, the fact that the Doctor says "Of course I do" when Ben asks if he believes it, and in doing so aligning himself with Jamie rather than dismissing his concerns, even though Ben's right about it being a dangerous practice - I love all of it so much!

The fact that Jamie's opinion matters to the Doctor - not even because he's special at this point, because he isn't, really - is such an important detail for me, because if you're going to sell the character of the Doctor as truly alien and advanced far beyond 1960's Earth, then he really shouldn't treat the characters in historicals as primitive and uninformed - at least, not unless he treats the contemporary companions that way too. But of course there have been times over the last 60 years where that characterization has fallen short (Four's treatment of Leela, anyone?) so I still count it as a victory whenever the Doctor goes out of his way to meet characters the audience might dismiss as superstitious and uneducated on their own level with seriousness and respect, even if that kind of thing should really be a given for a time traveler like him.

And of course, Jamie's kept on his toes again, revising his opinion of the Doctor in every other line and proving himself an invested and adaptable party - he definitely gets future companion points for being both willing to call the Doctor out when he feels he hasn't done enough and capable of respecting his conclusions once he has been heard too, but I can also see why poor level-headed Ben might've been wondering why his friend's so interested in impressing this random Highlander.

Also! I never noticed the Doctor was manacled in the telesnap where he's using the telescope until now, and the rest of the telesnaps don't give many clear shots of people's hands, but I guess we should assume everyone in the cell was in chains this whole scene? Which certainly adds something to the Doctor's insistence upon tackling it all as a comedy, and again makes me wish we had the episode intact