A plateful of cookies

Ooof, things have obvious er... gotten hot enough about The Watch casting that Rhianna Pratchett had to state she’s no longer personally involved (though Narrativia is)

and my thoughts are sort of generally in line with this post, which is that while I am glad that the casting is diverse and am cheering that the actors got the parts, I am very very much looking askance at the casting director and producers for the particular choices they made for which characters. Like yay for a non-binary actor, but why not a trans woman actress? And I do sincerely hope that Sybil casting is only one half of the character’s casting and they’re keeping the time travel/alternate universes bit so that this is only a young Sibyl. (Never mind that Carcer should be a mirror of Vimes, just like Lily is that of Esme.)

Anyway, I’ll just be here, examining the questions I was asked when the BBC fan panel did surveys about the series and moaning that while I’d only mentioned Angel Coulby because I wanted to mention at least one other name, she’d actually be quite good

But what I miss most about Donna is that she was treated as an equal, a peer. Or rather, she demanded that treatment, because the series sure as hell didn’t let her forget she was just a human. She pushed and pulled at the Doctor in the best ways whilst being so utterly platonic and practical with him.

I think that’s what I mourn most for post-season 10 with Missy. 
Yes, Bill’s relationship with the Doctor was delightfully platonic, but it was still very much a student/teacher relationship and all the power imbalance it contains doesn’t facilitate Bill questioning the Doctor’s actions that much. There’s flickers of that dynamic being questioned in episodes like The Pyramid at the End of the World and Thin Ice, where Bill either directly calls the Doctor out or completely overrules him, but it wasn’t with the regularity that Donna did. Like literally there’d be a point in just about every Donna episode where she’d confront him about something: to be more kind, to save someone, to understand better.
There’s something of that confrontational relationship with Clara, but it wasn’t platonic and it constantly felt like they were trying to one up each other and prove themselves to be the best.

Which Donna didn’t. She knew what she was capable of, and while the Doctor did have to push her limits at times, it wasn’t about either of their egos.

I wanted Missy to be the friend that the Doctor needs, the peer who keeps him in check and makes him consider his actions fully, the one who declines certain adventures because they're boring or because the slime lions really are disgusting. I wanted Missy to be that companion that the Doctor could bounce off of, because they know each other, because they can work together.

And like... I wish we could've seen that half season's worth of the Doctor and Missy working alongside one another, being friends who have each others back. I kind of hope that Chibnall will see that's what the Doctor needs and will give Thirteen a solid partner, a good friend and ally, an equal. (And as I write that, I just want him to give her Missy. Just give Thirteen Missy and I'd be happy.)

Because gods, I want the Doctor to have a friend again.