Doctor Who: Yaz needs to be a big focus of season 12

For the most part, Doctor Who season 11 was a fantastic ride. But season 12 needs to address its biggest flaw, which is what to do with Yaz.

As generally satisfying as the Doctor Who season 11 finale was, it did have one big problem. And it’s something that’s been an issue off and on throughout this latest run of episodes.

What, exactly, is the show doing with companion Yasmin Khan?

While Ryan and Graham had a satisfying emotional arc this year — who didn’t tear up when Ryan finally said the word “Granddad”? — Yaz has been depressingly underwritten. Part of this makes a certain amount of sense. After all, Ryan and Graham had a preexisting relationship before they ever came on board the TARDIS, and Grace’s death gave them a deep, shared grief to process together. The fact that Yaz knew Ryan back in primary school years ago can’t compete with that. And honestly, it shouldn’t have to.

But the problem is that Doctor Who didn’t give Yaz a similar arc of her own this year. Instead, she was often left on the sidelines of other people’s stories. Occasionally, she got to do cool things – she fought the Pting in “The Tsuranga Conundrum” and got the iconic “running away from explosions” slow-mo shot in “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos”. But after 10 episodes we still don’t know much more about who Yaz is and what she wants than we did when we started.

We know that she’s smart, ambitious and kind. But season 10 never really leaned that much into her work/past as a police officer, for reasons I don’t entirely understand. We met her boisterous, messy family in “Arachnids in the U.K.” and her exploration of her grandmother’s past in “Demons of the Punjab” ranks as one of the season’s best episodes. But only “Demons” really tells us anything significant about Yaz herself.

Why is Yaz traveling with the Doctor? What is it that she’s looking for throughout time and space? Does she just want to prove to herself that saving the universe is something she could do?

Thanks to the events of season 10, Graham and Ryan have come a long way, both as individuals and a family. It’s time for Yaz to get the opportunity to have a proper story in her own right. What that looks like, exactly, I’m not sure. And since season 12 won’t drop until 2020, they’ve got some time to figure it out.

(Yes, there’s still the New Year’s special to go before then, but it’s hard to imagine that’s going to be an hour that’s especially devoted to character development, particularly if those rumors about the Daleks’ return are true.)

Maybe Doctor Who should start small. Keep the stuff that works, like Yaz’s utter devotion to the Doctor and her cute flirtation with Ryan. But around all that, tell us who she is.

What’s her favorite color? What made her want to be a policewoman? Why did such a grounded, thoughtful person decide to run away with an alien? And why is she so loyal to Thirteen? (If the answer is “she has a crush on her” like so many members of fandom insist, that’s fine. Awesome, even! But show us that!)

Allow Yaz to have some strong opinions, to make a big mistake, to do something selfish — something that allows her to sparkle on her own as a person, rather than serving as the Doctor’s sounding board whenever Thirteen needs to explain something. Yaz deserves better than serving as a fourth wheel.

Doctor Who will return for a New Year’s Day special on Jan. 1, 2019 on BBC America. Season 12 is currently slated for some time in 2020.