Doctor Who: Tennant’s Second Season, AKA The Season of Martha

Well, I have finally finished the second season of Doctor Who. I was distracted by other shows, including The Great British Baking Show, The Daily Show, The Nightly Show (so sad this one is canceled), and The Night Of. The reason I was distracted is because this season of Doctor Who is a bit uneven. It’s so uneven that I had a hard time getting through the season again.

For example, The Lazarus Experiment is just awful. The plot is fine, but the monster is just ridiculous. Plus,  Professor Lazarus is actually more likeable as a monster instead of as a scientist. It was almost painful to watch.

Then, there’s Blink, which is absolutely awesome. The Doctor and Martha are hardly in this one, but that hardly matters because the cast and the story is just so, so good. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a set of ancillary characters as much I like Sally Sparrow and Billy Shipton.

Overall, though, this season is much better than Tennant’s first season, and what’s best is that we see Martha grow as a character. I’ve never really bought the Martha-Is-In-Love with the Doctor bit that the character is based on, so I’m quite glad that she moves past all that silliness by the end of the season.  It’s almost like the writers tried to re-invent Rose, but that doesn’t work for a number of reasons. Most importantly, Rose was living a somewhat humdrum life, working in a shop, watching tele with Mickey, and bickering with her Mum. So, her falling in love with the Doctor and the adventurous life he offered her makes sense. Martha, though, had a lovely family and an impressive career and future, so this idea that she’d want to run away from all that, just to play second fiddle to a woman she’s never met, isn’t believable.