Sunday, April 01, 2007

Meet Smith and Jones

After a long, endless week just counting the days, hours and minutes 'till Doctor Who's new season, I finally got to see the new episode "Smith and Jones". Sadly, it wasn't that good.
First of all I have to admit that it was hard for me to say goodbye to Rose. She represented the common people. The underdog that was stuck in an uneventful life, waiting for a miracle to happen. That miracle was the Doctor. He basically saved her from her life, and showed her the everything she could become.

So now we meet Martha Jones. Freema Agyeman seems really nice, don't get me wrong, my problem on this first episode is with her character. Martha's an upper middle class medicine student. Besides the normal annoying situations most people have to deal with their families, her life seems to be running smoothly. She's smart and when the Doctor meets her and realizes that, he treats her very much as his equal. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but, putting aside the fact that the Doctor is a Timelord, 900 and something years old and has an amazing brain, well, it's kind of hard to believe at first glance. With Rose, he respected her, even loved her, but you could always tell that he was aware of his limitations as a human. On the other hand, Rose taught the Doctor how to enjoy himself, how to trust people and even how to forgive himself in a way for the destruction of the time lords. There was an knowledge exchange between the both of them. They filled the gaps. That's why the relationship was so perfect.

I know it's too soon to be certain, but by watching the first episode (episode which in theory introduces the new character as much as possible), I asked myself, what is Martha's character bringing to the relationship? They defined she's almost as smart as the Doctor. She wasn't THAT shocked to learn that he's an alien. She's not getting saved or anything, she's just hanging around with him. On the other hand, the Doctor seems quite past over Rose. He seems calmed, not the tortured soul we saw on the last Christmas episode, or even the previous seasons. He seems healed and in control of his emotions, so why the hell would he need anyone? What will Martha's role be?

So yeah, I was expecting a little bit more in this episode. Let's face it, we love watching aliens and ghosts and how the Doctor saves the day every time (except this time, when he just managed to disconnect some cables and wait 'till the Judoons send everyone back to earth..huh..), but what we really makes this TV show unique are the main characters. How the deal with problems, how the connect with each other, even though one is an powerful alien and the other a common human. We need to see how the Doctor deals with pain, and loneliness, because that is what makes it more real, and that's what makes us connect. And then we want to see that flawed alien kick everyone's butt, and save the world day after day, with the help of a primitive, yet special human companion.

I know, I'll wait and see the relationship develope. And yes, after all my annoying ranting, I can't wait to see the next Doctor Who's episode. Damn. It's going to be a long week again.

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