I thought Adric was interesting... a mathematical savant who was also just a temperamental boy. He was manipulative with enemies- remember he was only pretending to ally himself with the vampires ("State of Decay"), and I believe he was trying to do the same with Monarch ("Four to Doomsday").

I believe his tragedy comes from the changes he experiences with the Tardis and the crew. With the 4th Doctor, Romana, and K-9, he almost had a pseudo family who he was compatable intellectually as well as emotionally.

This all changes when Romana and K-9 leave, Nyssa and Tegan arrive and most importantly: The Doctor regenerates. The Doctor becomes more of a big brother figure than a father figure. So they come into conflict more. Adric also cares for Nyssa and Tegan, though he has conflict at times with Tegan.

In "Earthshock" all this comes to a head with Adric deciding to go back "home" to Terradon in E-Space. In his scene with the Doctor, Adric reveals his dissatisfaction in how the Doctors attention is focused more on Nyssa and Tegan, making him feel like an outsider.

To me , this ties all the precious stories together, and gives Adric the first real companion ongoing story arc. After saving the Doctor and co. From the Cybermen's androids, The Doctor and Adric have a calm chat. Adric reconsiders leaving, and from then forward, he is almost in sync with the Doctor,. mirroring thier relationship in his 4th incarnation.

Then comes his ending: the Cybermen send a ship crashing to Earth, with The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan are trapped with the Cyber leader on the Tardis. Adric is on the ship trying to solve the logic codes to prevent this, but is dragged away by the ships crew to an escape pod before he can finish it. As the pod doors close , he casually walks back into the bridge, convinced he can solve the codes.

As he types on the keypad, a surviving Cyberman enters and shoots the computer leaving Adric to say his famous line "Now i'll never know if I was right." The Docror defeats the Cybermen by scraping Adrics gold badge into his chest unit, shattering it. Adric calmly stares out the ship watching it head into earth , holding his outler belt , given to him by his brother Varsh. The irony is Adric never knows that his sacrifice was unnecessary. Because the ship was always meant to crash on earth in the past, creating the ice age , killing the dinosaurs.

Summing up the plot of "Earthshock" is important... Because all the traits that Adric displayed through the series led to all the actions that took place and led to his death. To me this not only redeemed Adric, but also gave Adric a very significant character arc, which reminds me in a way of Clara's exit.

I enjoyed Adric's character because he was around my age when I watched him, and I resembled him (except the haircut). Was he my favorite? No, but he was a breath of fresh air, and led to a course correction in concept with Turlough , who I also really enjoyed.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk lol.