So! The Daleks two parter. 'Daleks In Manhattan' an 'Evolution of the Daleks.' Once again, the Doctor takes Martha on another journey as a treat/make up for something/to say thanks/say sorry. Instead of the constriction of the low levels of New New York, Martha gets the 'Real New York'. Old Earth New York. Only it's New York from the 1930s Great Depression. The Doctor takes Martha from the slums to...the Great Depression. The jokes really write themselves here.
We get two examples of the Doctor giving Martha her dues, or asking for her intellect, but both are played off for laughs or are a bit wasted e.g. Martha getting the date to where the Tardis has travelled completely accurate, prompting the Doctor to respond "you're getting good at this" only for him to find out Martha just picked up a newspaper. (Still a clever thing to do). And in the tunnels, when he asked Martha for her medical opinion on the dalek brain - only for Martha to respond that she knows it's not human. Stating the obvious but she's not wrong!
Anyway, we get the first of two moments that address Martha's obvious growing affection for the Doctor - it's clearly more than a crush now, something I think was obvious in the way Martha looked at him when he talked about Gallifrey. Tallulah assumes they are together, because it's obvious that Martha is nuts about him, and Martha points out her feelings are not obvious to the Doctor. (Tallulah and Sally Sparrow are the only blonde women Martha is not negatively compared to this season.)
This is something that is prompted throughout the whole series, that the Doctor is blissfully unaware of her affections. 1913 however, puts this in a much odder, and trickier position honestly. But we'll get there when we get there. And a lot of the Doctor's cool treatment of Martha is attributed to him not knowing about her feelings, but he shouldn't need to know that just to be decent to her. The Doctor doesn't need to love her back. Just at least be nice. And I'm sure the lines are blurred between 'he's an alien' and how self aware he actually is regarding his treatment of her.
Tallulah's response to this is that Martha has to live in hope for that's what she does with Lazslo. And I'm pretty sure Martha does just this. I made another post about how Martha hopes one day the Doctor will return her feelings, she hopes for more with him because after every 'rejection' he always leave the door open. Take this two parter right now. The Doctor said only one trip but this is her third. And more literally, Martha is still wearing the same outfit. The poor girl can't ask to go home and change or have a damn shower probably because she doesn't want the Doctor to change his mind again. The Doctor can change from the brown suit in 'The Shakespeare Code' and 'Gridlock' to Blue in 1930s New York but Martha is stuck in her leather and jeans. The idea of the Doctor and Martha walking back to the Tardis in New New York, and the Doctor delcaring to take her on another trip, only to tell her to wait a second, and to waltz out in a fresh suit is making me scream with laughter. Now that I think, is an example of a unaware alien.
Onwards, we do see a bit of a repeat of 'Gridlock' - Martha gets kidnapped again, but this time not at the fault of the Doctor, but because she sees something suspicious. It's through this she gets aquainted with the Daleks and they scan her and affirm she has superior intelligence. The Doctor then uses this again to push her to ask for clarity from the Daleks. The second half draws on Martha's intelligence even more. This is the first of many nods to Martha definitely being the smartest companion the Tenth Doctor travelled with.
When the Daleks attack and the Doctor tries to sacrifice himself and ends up handing himself over, he gives her the physic paper before thanking her. Martha deduces that he wants her to work her way up, so she's smart, she questions Frank, the other person who was near the Daleks workshop, and realises the main plan has to be on the Empire State Building, the trio travel back into the building, aided by Martha getting the paper to say they are "two engineers and an architect." Perfect
Martha shows her smarts even further by then deducing the Daleks plans have to be hidden within the new rennovations. We literally see her laying out the plans on the floor, putting them side by side to find the major difference. Martha is clever, she's sharp, and it's a shame that the Doctor doesn't see her do this, but we can deduce that he knows she capable of doing something, which is why he gives her the physic paper.
Before this continues however, we get another conversation with Tallulah in regards to love, only Tallulah is a lot less optimistic now because of the state Lazslo has been reduced to. Martha's admission of how the Doctor's dismissal of her makes her feel is very honest and it's crazy to see how succinct and straight to the point Martha is, how clearly she sees the Doctor. It's very frustrating how people roll their eyes at this scene, because they think her having feelings for him is annoying but Martha's admission is heartbreaking and insightful, because she tells the audience what the Doctor's doing, or what it feels like he's doing. She says she knows after Rose, he has been by himself. She knows he is lonely. The same thing she transparently tells John Smith. But she then says - "he's not seeing me. he's just remembering." The Doctor is projecting memories onto Martha, not treating her as her own person. The Doctor is not treating her as a companion because he doesn't want to. Forget the whole ' the Doctor just wants a friend' thing. It is clearly not what he wants from this relationship. It's what he needs but not what he wants so dead that narrative now please. He wants someone to fill the silence, but it's purely selfish. He's not wrong for not wanting to be alone, mourning the loss of Rose. But he is wrong for essentially using Martha. Because she is a person. With her own feelings. She doesn't deserve to be treated as a window into something else. And we see the result of this in '42', the result of Martha internalising these feelings he has towards her and her own feelings of being inferior, a novice.
Tallulah changes the subject to Lazslo and Martha confidently says he could get him away from the Daleks. She doesn't whine, just tries to reassure her even if it doesn't completely work, forgetting her feelings, as it's nothing compared to the girl who got her lover turned into half a pig.
Martha is then reunited with Doctor who swoops her into a hug. Then something happens. The Daleks take the elevator and he drops her, runs to the doors. This isn't the issue. It's what he says to her afterwards. "Never waste time on a hug!" Why this was necessary to say I will never know. It's a great example of the dynamic though. Big hug = reprimand. And an unfair and insensitive one. It's sad to see how Martha will literally latch onto crumbs of affection from him, and how these moments of genuine niceties are almost always followed with something negative. It's similarly to the previous story. "You've got me...I don't think so. Sorry." Only this time, he doesn't even say sorry.
We get another moment of brilliance with Martha combined with her human nature, kind and compassionate, as she uses Dalekanium to defeat the pig people but then immediately is devastated that she just took lives. She's a training Doctor after all, she's meant to save lives, not take them. They may be the 'enemy' but she still has compassion and guilt. Don't think she's a wuss though, because later in the theatre, when the Doctor orders her away she immediately snaps back with a defiant "well I'm not going" and "what are you then, some kind of Dalek?" She's quick with it and it's a pity we don't see a longer reaction from the Doctor on this, because obviously to him, it's a very loaded statement.
Fast forward to the end, when Martha chooses to respond with optimism, the Doctor responds with pessism. "Just proves it I suppose. There's someone for everyone."
The Doctor's response to this is a murmured..."maybe." Martha doesn't take this personally though, and if she does, she squashes her feelings down to make room to be a balm for the Doctor's, as she responds to this by saying she was sorry that the Daleks got away, swiftly changing the subject....
Next up: The Lazarus Experiment...
