Making my own separate post to discuss the Sarah Jane and Rose issue (it’s the same as the reblog):
When people use Rose’s interactions to drag her through the mud, it’s unfair for a number of reasons. Chiefly because jealousy is an incredibly natural and human emotion. Especially in regard to your love interest.
But people also forget that Rose was NOT the one to start this feud. It was Sarah Jane. Here’s how the dialogue started immediately after the Doctor introduces them.
Sarah Jane: Hi. Nice to meet you.
You can tell you're getting older, your assistants are getting younger.
Rose: I'm not his assistant!
Rose: Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school
Sarah Jane: Well obviously they used them in biology, or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?
Only AFTER all of this does Rose start being snarky with Sarah Jane!!
(I italicized exactly what was italicized in the script)
From there, Rose does go into defense mode. It's jealousy, but she was also very much the one who was insulted.
Besides the fact that it was Sarah Jane that started it, Rose genuinely had NO context whatsoever for who she was and why it would be a good thing for the Doctor to see her again. She isn't going to be happy for the Doctor to get her back because at the beginning all she knows of Sarah Jane is that she's a woman who is insulting her and downgrading what she means to the man she's in love with by calling her his assistant.
I think for Doctor Who fans, it FEELS so ridiculous that Rose would ever have conflict with Sarah Jane because we know how she is and how cool she is. Rose didn't know any of that. She couldn't have.
Now, I think it's easy just to say "well neither woman should've been written like this anyway, it takes away from their characters”.
In actuality. It makes them both more HUMAN and more realistic. Yes, both of these women are at their core adult women who have so much more to them than jealousies. But jealousy is very much an extremely natural emotion that everyone is prone to from time to time. Sarah Jane feels replaced because the Doctor left her behind and now has someone new to travel with. That's natural. Rose is in love with the Doctor and never really cognitively processed the fact that his age means he has had lots of other people in his life.
People do naturally get jealous over their love interests and besides this being another woman from the Doctor's past she starts out actively attacking Rose. Is there much more to her character? Of course! But a glimpse of her succumbing to realistic natural feelings is a GOOD thing.
I think the biggest reason this whole thing is a win at the end of the day is that both Rose and Sarah Jane came around to supporting each other very quickly. With Rose even being the one to encourage the Doctor to invite Sarah Jane back onto the TARDIS. It makes the girls girl behavior stand out much more than if they just got along right away.
Jealousy is a VALID emotion. The trouble comes when people let it fester to the point of becoming more and more vindictive and controlling over time. That’s not what happens with either Rose or Sarah Jane. They both work through it. It’s actually an incredibly healthy example of how people can work through jealous feelings in a healthy way.
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