Talk:The Tourist (short story)

Which incarnation?
I’d like to dispute the claim that the incarnation of the Doctor featured in this story is the Fugitive Doctor played by Jo Martin.

The POV character lives in Ruth’s apartment, which still contains all her possessions, including pictures of her and Lee. He takes particular notice of her smile, and comments that it’s a smile that tells you everything will be okay.

"But the photos were different. A man. A woman. Smiling. Always smiling! Well… him trying to smile and her knowing how to better than anyone George had ever known. It was a smile that let you know everything would be OK"

A few pages later he encounters a strange woman at a pet shelter, who he finds familiar but doesn’t immediately recognise. The woman is dressed in blue, is characterised almost exactly like the Thirteenth Doctor, and when she mentions the TARDIS, the POV character suspects that it’s a club all the cool young people go to. So none of this feels particularly reminiscent of Ruth to me.

"Pulling away, George sucked at the blood newly released from the back of his hand when he noticed a woman a few feet away, leaning in to his moment with Mittens. He found himself surprisingly defensive about it. ‘Excuse me, ma’am, were you wanting to look at this cat?’ The woman frowned. ‘Nah. She’s all yours. TARDIS is no place for a kitty. She’d get all over the place. Upside down, more often than not. Imagine the litter tray issues!’"

"‘Have we met before?’ he asked. She seemed to take this question very seriously. ‘It’s perfectly possible,’ she said. ‘I tend to get about. But I left Gloucester a long time ago. Or not that long ago actually. Depends how you look at it.’"

Then, he finally seems to recognise the woman when she smiles. It’s the smile specifically that makes him realise who the woman is, and I doubt he’d forget the face that’s all over his apartment.

"The woman smiled and, right then, George knew exactly who she was and that everything would be OK."

Of course it’s still by no means cut and dry and there’s a great degree of ambiguity here, but I do feel that this is more obviously the Thirteenth Doctor than the Fugitive Doctor. SarahJaneFan ☎  00:38, 27 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I think the comment about leaving Gloucester make it obvious that this was supposed to be the Fugitive Doctor, as well as the man recognising the Doctor as the smiling Ruth Clayton that he had noticed earlier. RadMatter ☎  01:43, 27 May 2021 (UTC)