Martha is the Most Underrated Companion

Martha is My Companion

Martha is the most underrated companion in the new Doctor Who series. She IS my companion. Name a bad Martha episode. I’ll wait.

Everyone loves Rose.  Donna helped the Doctor remember who he was. Amy and Rory are everyone’s favorite couple.  Bill made us understand the 12th Doctor.  Clara became an issue with the change of Doctors but her first season was great.

Martha’s only sin is that she wasn’t Rose.

The Episodes

Let’s look at her season.

Smith and Jones: This is where we realize she isn’t Rose. Her falling for the Doctor was a betrayal to many fans, but come on David Tennant is dreamy.  His Doctor is everything: manly, sensitive, and smart. The episode is strong and has a great premise.  Moreover, she does have great chemistry with Tennant.

The Shakespeare Code:  The big bad in this episode is a great premise even if I find it falls short. I like the idea of the villains, but the only thing I remember about this episode is the Harry Potter joke.  This episode was done better with Matt Smith with the Van Gogh episode.

Gridlock: I loved this episode.  The idea of people living their lives in gridlock is inspired.  Plus, this episode is filled with great single serving characters.

Daleks in NYC Arc:  These might be the weakest Martha episodes, but it isn’t awful.  The idea of a Dalek evolving is something that could have been better handled, but it was good enough. Plus, we get to see a young Andrew Garfield.

The Lazarus Experiment:  This episode gets the lowest ranking on IMDb of Martha’s, but I think it is better than that.  The special effects are not very special, but we do start to understand Martha’s motivations more, and it provides an excellent setup for the finale.

42:  42 might be my favorite Doctor ship in a bottle episode.  He and Martha are stuck in a ship, and they only have 42 minutes to save the day.  It is a taut 42 minutes.

Human Nature and Family of Blood:  If you take this as one episode, and you should, it should be ranked number one or two for David Tennant’s turn as the Doctor. 

Martha, stuck with the knowledge that Doctor may be the happiest he has ever been by not being the doctor and having to remind him of who he is, maybe the hardest thing any companion has had to do.  The end when he struggles with the decision is always devastating to watch.

I genuinely believe this arc could only work with Martha.  With Rose, it would have been easy to become the Doctor again.  Donna would have slapped him till he remembered who he was. 

Martha and his relationship with her made this such a great arc.  She wasn’t his rebound relationship, being human was.  Plus, the big bad in this arc is still one of the best yet in the series.  The action was fantastic, and it reminded us how alone the doctor indeed is.

Blink:  If the above arc was number two, then this is number one.  Martha and the Doctor are not in the episode a lot, but this is the classic David Tennant episode, and it came while Martha was the companion.

The Master Returns Arc:  These episodes have everything: Jack Harkness, vampires, a fugitive doctor and his companions, and two great actors playing the role of the Master.  Plus, Martha saves the day.  She is the companion that walked the earth for the Doctor and the world.
Plus, all the episodes she was in the next season were strong particularly The Doctor’s Daughter.

Martha is the Most Underrated Doctor Who Companion

If you haven’t watched these episodes in a while, revisit them. Freema Agyeman doesn’t hit a wrong note with her acting choices.  The writers made her into NotRose, not her. She magnificently played the cards she was dealt. 

I know when ranking the companions, Martha is the most underrated companion and the most under ranked one. Being on the bottom of this list doesn’t mean she’s terrible.

I’ll say it.  The Tenth Doctor is my Doctor, and Martha Jones is my companion.