to be human
Jun. 3rd, 2007 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violaceaWe watched both "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" tonight. Short reaction: this story is up there with "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" as the best stories the new series has told thus far.
Wow. With the characterization ... wow. For one, I feel like I finally really know who Martha is. It's in her eyes, the way she runs the show while the Doctor is going, how she barely flinches at being stuck in a place where her gender and race make her inferior, how she blends into the time without giving up the power and intelligence where it matters most. This is not a story you could have told with Rose; or, it would have been a much different story. I don't think Rose, as a character, would have ever come off as believable. I'm reminded of "The Unquiet Dead", Rose interacting with Gwyneth, and also of her interactions with Queen Victoria and company. Rose had just found out how intelligent and powerful she could be; she wouldn't have had the strength to give that up, even for the Doctor's well-being. Martha came to us knowing she was intelligent and powerful. She's a caretaker by choice, by profession ... she knows where the line is, the one that only needs to be crossed in case of emergency.
And then, the difference between John Smith the Human and the Doctor ... he has to compartmentalize John, the Doctor does, because thinking about what he could have been would hurt too much. Yet, the bit of love is still there, asking Joan to come with them; he knows she's important, and that she hits him in a place he would probably prefer didn't exist, but he doesn't quite get the difference between who he really is and who he was for those months. John got it, but the Doctor doesn't. He's not human, he doesn't see things the way we do. And that might be Martha's tragedy, but she's smart, and probably knows that already. She's made the same choice that John Smith made. Neither one of them gets love, but they both know that something out there means more than the love of one person to another.
Martha, I think, probably has a more fatalistic view of romantic love, thanks to the supremely fucked-up relationship between her parents. I wish we'd get a little more of who Martha was before she climbed on board the TARDIS, but until I'm contradicted, my personal canon for Martha Jones includes a bitter monologue by her mother, reiterated once a year, every year, on the day that would have been her wedding anniversary - the only day her mother ever gets drunk - that talks about how Martha and Tish have to always look after herself first, because never will a man get that a woman's power isn't a threat to him. That falling in love is a supreme folly, and if they're smart they'll never do it. Martha's been good at following her mother's advice up until now, but the minute she really figured out that the Doctor was so unbelievable, she finally understood why perfectly intelligent women throw everything away. And that's why her mother is so scared, is so willing to believe the worst of the Doctor. Tish, Tish will always fall in and out of love and lust and infatuation at the drop of a hat, but Martha's like her, and she's terrified that Martha will repeat all of her mistakes.
I didn't intend to make my review all about Martha, honest, but I started and couldn't stop. :) There really aren't words to describe how awesome this story was. I think this story is going to define the season, when it's all said and done.
Interesting read - the BBC has a description of how the original novel Human Nature - a Seventh Doctor story - was adapted into this two-parter. The entire original ebook is also up on the BBC's site. I can't wait to read it, see how it plays out in words!
Wow. With the characterization ... wow. For one, I feel like I finally really know who Martha is. It's in her eyes, the way she runs the show while the Doctor is going, how she barely flinches at being stuck in a place where her gender and race make her inferior, how she blends into the time without giving up the power and intelligence where it matters most. This is not a story you could have told with Rose; or, it would have been a much different story. I don't think Rose, as a character, would have ever come off as believable. I'm reminded of "The Unquiet Dead", Rose interacting with Gwyneth, and also of her interactions with Queen Victoria and company. Rose had just found out how intelligent and powerful she could be; she wouldn't have had the strength to give that up, even for the Doctor's well-being. Martha came to us knowing she was intelligent and powerful. She's a caretaker by choice, by profession ... she knows where the line is, the one that only needs to be crossed in case of emergency.
And then, the difference between John Smith the Human and the Doctor ... he has to compartmentalize John, the Doctor does, because thinking about what he could have been would hurt too much. Yet, the bit of love is still there, asking Joan to come with them; he knows she's important, and that she hits him in a place he would probably prefer didn't exist, but he doesn't quite get the difference between who he really is and who he was for those months. John got it, but the Doctor doesn't. He's not human, he doesn't see things the way we do. And that might be Martha's tragedy, but she's smart, and probably knows that already. She's made the same choice that John Smith made. Neither one of them gets love, but they both know that something out there means more than the love of one person to another.
Martha, I think, probably has a more fatalistic view of romantic love, thanks to the supremely fucked-up relationship between her parents. I wish we'd get a little more of who Martha was before she climbed on board the TARDIS, but until I'm contradicted, my personal canon for Martha Jones includes a bitter monologue by her mother, reiterated once a year, every year, on the day that would have been her wedding anniversary - the only day her mother ever gets drunk - that talks about how Martha and Tish have to always look after herself first, because never will a man get that a woman's power isn't a threat to him. That falling in love is a supreme folly, and if they're smart they'll never do it. Martha's been good at following her mother's advice up until now, but the minute she really figured out that the Doctor was so unbelievable, she finally understood why perfectly intelligent women throw everything away. And that's why her mother is so scared, is so willing to believe the worst of the Doctor. Tish, Tish will always fall in and out of love and lust and infatuation at the drop of a hat, but Martha's like her, and she's terrified that Martha will repeat all of her mistakes.
I didn't intend to make my review all about Martha, honest, but I started and couldn't stop. :) There really aren't words to describe how awesome this story was. I think this story is going to define the season, when it's all said and done.
Interesting read - the BBC has a description of how the original novel Human Nature - a Seventh Doctor story - was adapted into this two-parter. The entire original ebook is also up on the BBC's site. I can't wait to read it, see how it plays out in words!
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Date: 2007-06-04 10:17 am (UTC)(need to get me some Doctor icons...)
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Date: 2007-06-05 02:50 am (UTC)