Doctor Who Season 2 Trailer Introduces A New Companion: The Nurse
It's a good day to be a Whovian. The trailer for season 2 of "Doctor Who" (or season 15, if you're still counting this as part of the 2005 "NuWho" revival) has just dropped, and it promises a lot of excitement, adventure, and some very sharp outfits for the Doctor to try out.
The trailer also introduces the newest companion, played by Varada Sethu of "Andor" fame. Although Sethu's character will be reportedly named Belinda Chandra in this season, she introduces herself here as "the Nurse." It seems to be her cheeky way of making fun of the Doctor's vague, somewhat self-important name for himself, but it also hints at what her job is before she joins the TARDIS.
It appears that Sethu will not be playing Mundy, the soldier she played in last season's "Boom." Given the trailer's brief shoutout to Mundy, however, it seems like the two characters will definitely be connected. The trailer also promises the return of previous companion Ruby (Millie Gibson), as well as Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson), Ruby's mysterious neighbor. There will also be skeleton dinosaurs, a giant alien spider, and a whole lot of end-of-the-world mishaps. In other words, "Doctor Who" is back!
Doctor Who season 2 will have a lot to prove
The sharp, confident trailer is good to see, given that some Whovians weren't all that pleased with how the previous season ended. The resolution to the first season's big mystery – that Ruby's ominous-looking mother was just some random Earth woman — didn't land for a lot of viewers. It also felt a little awkward for the show to be saying goodbye to Ruby so soon. Why would finding her birth mother mean Ruby has to stop traveling with the Doctor? As many fans have asked, couldn't the Doctor just skip forward a month or two, to when Ruby and her mom have had enough time to catch up?
Season 1's finale also drew flak for biting off more than it can chew. The stakes got so absurdly high that viewers couldn't take them seriously, and then the Doctor ended up solving the situation with relative ease. Was it quite as bad as the 2005 revival's season 3 finale where the Doctor defeated the Master through the power of prayer? Maybe not, but it sure wasn't the best note for returning showrunner Russell T. Davies to end on for his first season back.
Most frustrating of all for a lot of fans was the lack of answers around Mrs. Flood. It seemed like the season was building up to some big reveal with her, but by the end of the finale fans still had more questions than answers. The fact that Mrs. Flood is still around for season 2 — and still having mischievous fun, it seems — is a promising sign. There's no guarantee Mrs. Flood's deal will be explained in a satisfying way, but it's good to know that at least RTD hasn't forgotten about her.