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liz011 submitted

Okay, so I agree with many of the things you said in your post, but I feel that it is worth pointing out that Martha was found to have high intelligence.

And I have to disagree on the whole he-should-have-fallen-for-Martha thing (though not to say he should have fallen for Nurse Redford necessarily).  I just got really frustrated with all of Martha’s obvious pining this season.  Like, she couldn’t have a conversation with any woman anywhere (or anywhen) without being all “Sometimes I think he likes me but then I’m not sure” when he told her from the beginning it was a just friends deal.

That said, I do like Martha as a character, especially when she shows up in Torchwood.  I just think she didn’t really work as a companion, partly because of the annoying pining and partly because she and the Doctor didn’t really function as a team.  By that I mean that she didn’t really bring anything new to the table, since her strengths are the same as his but he has hundreds of years of experience on her.  When they were together she sort of took a back seat, and ALL of her power moments were solo (which obviously should happen sometimes, but it bothers me that EVERY TIME they are working together she’s not really doing anything important).

I completely agree with the whole pining thing, and I know that when I say the following, it probably comes because I went for Martha because a) strong, intelligent WoC, and I mean…well. But I mean, then you could fault Rose for it in a way too cos she was in this weird, half way, nothing concrete relationship with Mickey and that was weird too. Like for a real long time, she just kept Mickey hanging. I hated watching that. And at the end of the season, I am going to give Martha the benefit that not only was she honest with him at the end, but she also took a deep breath and walked away. That takes strength, and for me I guess, that was the reason why I forgave her pining. If she hadn’t taken her own agency in this situation, I would have been much more aggravated with her too. 

I would disagree with you on their strengths being the same, and that being bad. Rose learned everything from the Doctor whereas Martha knew shit like science and medicine, and I think that’s immensely helpful, because that meant that when Martha needed to, she improvised a little more…better? faster? (I  don’t know how to express this, but well.) I get the points about her having more solo moments rather than having a lot of team moments, but in her defense, she didn’t have as much time to grow into the team as Rose had, (and both ladies followed orders a lot).

Him falling for Nurse instead of her and me rankling about it. I agree, I stretched that point, it was just…I just…I have no defense for that one. I guess I just ship them both =P.

Happy Time Travelling =)