The third Doctor and the brigadier’s relationship while the Doctor is in exile is such a fantastic inversion of the Doctor-companion dynamic. Like they’re friends and have a mutual professional respect for each other, but then there’s the unspoken reality that the Doctor is completely dependent on the brig for his status/ability to live on earth unmolested. Multiple government officials try to dig up who the doctor is and find he has zero identification and the brig always stops them by taking personal responsibility for him.
It’s utterly compelling then when they have different goals or approaches to a problem. The doctor frequently visibly holds himself back from going completely off on the Brigadier when he disagrees because the Doctor knows if he alienates him he’s completely fucking screwed. And the writing manages to do this without the brig coming off like a threat or an antagonist. More that he and the doctor disagree on priorities and end up being minor obstacles to each other despite both wanting the best possible outcome. The tension is amazing and so much better than modern!UNIT where everyone seems to fall at the doctor’s feet begging for deliverance like he’s jesus christ
a bottom-tier autistic experience is being told throughout your entire childhood that you are just an overthinker when it comes to social situations and later finding out that your friends did, in fact, hate being around you and tried to communicate that through weird little hints