Why I like Anne Chaplet
"The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve," often abbreviated to "the Massacre," is an exceptionally dark story, set around an exceptionally dark period of human history. It's also an exceptionally odd story, and is perhaps the one that would benefit most from being found. That is to say, things like "Marco Polo" you can tell are excellent even without the footage. "The Massacre" is a lot more difficult and complex (and therefore quite divisive) featuring some possible time travel shenanigans, some fairly inexplicable Identical Stranger shenanigans, and - strikingly - no female companion. Heck, it only barely has the Doctor in it. And just as Sam steps in to fill the empty companion role in "the Faceless Ones," here it is Anne Chaplet who appears and takes on the treble role of plot hook, partner in crime, and potential love interest for Steven. She is the human face of History, the consequences of non-interference. One has to wonder if Steven had persuaded the Doctor to intervene on Anne's behalf, would it be her face, rather than Caecelius's, that he would now be wearing? But I am perhaps getting ahead of myself.
Anne enters our story at a dead run, pursued by the Cardinal's guards. She had been a servant to the Cardinal, but fled for her life because she happened to overhear more than she was supposed to: specifically, a plot to massacre the Hugenot population of Paris and beyond. Even from the beginning, Anne's story is a very personal one; she's able to put together the pieces because the conspirators mention Vassey, the site of an earlier massacre in which her own father was killed. And she therefore has a much better idea of what's coming than even the time travelers from the future, who are almost entirely out of their depths. But not so Anne. She figures out the implications of a few snatches of overheard conversation, she immediately escapes into the arms of allies and, moreover, the relevant people to warn, she warns them succinctly and adequately - and then is Steven's partner in crime for the rest of the episode. Anne is the central piece that drives the whole plot, not just a person in history but very much of that History as well.
Steven is, as I've mentioned, very much on his own in this story. All of his potential co-stars died rather dramatically last story, and the Doctor swans off after some apothecarial curiosity. So it's Steven who has to throw himself in there, eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double, and end up kissing complete strangers as it were. And that last part is happily supplied by first Nicholas (another Hugenot) and later Anne - each of whom he incidentally ends up spending the night with. And I do ship it. Nicholas is a topic for another day, but Steven and Anne make an excellent duo, and they quite think so as well. Anne notes Steven's kindness on multiple occasions, and Steven for his part softens noticeably, even through the audio, whenever Anne is about. She risks recapture (and even stays out after curfew (oh my) to help him in his fruitless quest to find the Doctor, and he is protective of her to the point of campaigning to bring her along through Time and Space - and even leaves the Doctor over the fact that they don't. I mean, he comes back again, but that's also technically over Anne. Think about it though - Steven's main motivation over the course of "the Massacre" is to find the Doctor so as not to be stranded in a strange year and country. When he thinks the Doctor has been killed he is as much distraught over being stranded as he is over the death of a friend. But 1968 London is also a strange year and country - and Steven accepts it if not happily at least readily, or anywhere else the TARDIS happens to land next - rather than remain on with the Doctor. It seems like a complete 180 for him - and it's because of Anne, and the Doctor's decision to leave her behind to be slaughtered with the rest of her people.
At this point I'd like to be slightly fair to the Doctor, and point out that he didn't quite leave her behind to be slaughtered. He told her in no uncertain terms to get the heck out of Dodge Paris. But at this point in his development he is unwilling to take a more direct hand. Which is a crying shame because Anne would have been great companion material. I understand the show's unwillingness to try another historical companion after Katarina had really not worked out for them, but I can just imagine Anne and Steven as a slightly earlier Jamie and Zoe. Ah well.
And speaking of new companions, that brings us ultimately to the Inexplicable Miss Dorothea Chaplet, who traipses blithely into our story at its darkest moment. Dodo is understood to be Anne's descendant, and evidence that she ultimately survived the titular massacre. More than that, many have theorized that she is Anne and Steven's descendant. They did have the opportunity, camping out in the abandoned apothecary shop, and by all that we can see the inclination as well. And it would explain why she and Anne have the same last name, when for this era you would expect Dodo's french ancestor to have the name of Anne's husband, if she had one. That is, if we don't believe that Dodo is some sort of Eldritch Abomination who happened to hear the Doctor and Steven mention the name Chaplet and used it to gain entry to the TARDIS for purposes of her own. Either of these is equally plausible, to be honest. But whether biologically or merely in spirit, Anne lives on through Dodo, who also notices what she's not supposed to, investigates where she does not belong, and gets her messages across even when no one is listening.
Anne enters our story at a dead run, pursued by the Cardinal's guards. She had been a servant to the Cardinal, but fled for her life because she happened to overhear more than she was supposed to: specifically, a plot to massacre the Hugenot population of Paris and beyond. Even from the beginning, Anne's story is a very personal one; she's able to put together the pieces because the conspirators mention Vassey, the site of an earlier massacre in which her own father was killed. And she therefore has a much better idea of what's coming than even the time travelers from the future, who are almost entirely out of their depths. But not so Anne. She figures out the implications of a few snatches of overheard conversation, she immediately escapes into the arms of allies and, moreover, the relevant people to warn, she warns them succinctly and adequately - and then is Steven's partner in crime for the rest of the episode. Anne is the central piece that drives the whole plot, not just a person in history but very much of that History as well.
Steven is, as I've mentioned, very much on his own in this story. All of his potential co-stars died rather dramatically last story, and the Doctor swans off after some apothecarial curiosity. So it's Steven who has to throw himself in there, eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double, and end up kissing complete strangers as it were. And that last part is happily supplied by first Nicholas (another Hugenot) and later Anne - each of whom he incidentally ends up spending the night with. And I do ship it. Nicholas is a topic for another day, but Steven and Anne make an excellent duo, and they quite think so as well. Anne notes Steven's kindness on multiple occasions, and Steven for his part softens noticeably, even through the audio, whenever Anne is about. She risks recapture (and even stays out after curfew (oh my) to help him in his fruitless quest to find the Doctor, and he is protective of her to the point of campaigning to bring her along through Time and Space - and even leaves the Doctor over the fact that they don't. I mean, he comes back again, but that's also technically over Anne. Think about it though - Steven's main motivation over the course of "the Massacre" is to find the Doctor so as not to be stranded in a strange year and country. When he thinks the Doctor has been killed he is as much distraught over being stranded as he is over the death of a friend. But 1968 London is also a strange year and country - and Steven accepts it if not happily at least readily, or anywhere else the TARDIS happens to land next - rather than remain on with the Doctor. It seems like a complete 180 for him - and it's because of Anne, and the Doctor's decision to leave her behind to be slaughtered with the rest of her people.
At this point I'd like to be slightly fair to the Doctor, and point out that he didn't quite leave her behind to be slaughtered. He told her in no uncertain terms to get the heck out of Dodge Paris. But at this point in his development he is unwilling to take a more direct hand. Which is a crying shame because Anne would have been great companion material. I understand the show's unwillingness to try another historical companion after Katarina had really not worked out for them, but I can just imagine Anne and Steven as a slightly earlier Jamie and Zoe. Ah well.
And speaking of new companions, that brings us ultimately to the Inexplicable Miss Dorothea Chaplet, who traipses blithely into our story at its darkest moment. Dodo is understood to be Anne's descendant, and evidence that she ultimately survived the titular massacre. More than that, many have theorized that she is Anne and Steven's descendant. They did have the opportunity, camping out in the abandoned apothecary shop, and by all that we can see the inclination as well. And it would explain why she and Anne have the same last name, when for this era you would expect Dodo's french ancestor to have the name of Anne's husband, if she had one. That is, if we don't believe that Dodo is some sort of Eldritch Abomination who happened to hear the Doctor and Steven mention the name Chaplet and used it to gain entry to the TARDIS for purposes of her own. Either of these is equally plausible, to be honest. But whether biologically or merely in spirit, Anne lives on through Dodo, who also notices what she's not supposed to, investigates where she does not belong, and gets her messages across even when no one is listening.