"...and it wasn't me."

"Human Nature," the most recent episode of Dr. Who, seems to be pretty pivotal to me. As much as I've enjoyed this season, it has seemed rather flat for the last couple of episodes. Martha (Freema Agyeman) has been in a holding pattern, there but not really vital. Agyeman is a tremendously appealing actress, and "The Lazarus Experiment" introduced an interesting arc-ish element (who is Mr. Saxon and why does he approach Martha's family?), but Martha still seemed a bit fuzzy, out of focus.

"Human Nature" fixes that. It snaps her into our vision clear and sharp. Martha has always looked at the Doctor with an adoration that wasn't present in Rose. Rose loved the Doctor but she didn't looooooooooove him. Alan Sepinwall has some astute observations about this development, and I don't want to tread too closely to what he says, but I think that it's both a brilliant stratagem and a good use of Agyeman's gifts. Her gaze can linger on the Doctor and melt in a way that Billie Piper's never could (and I thought Piper was great). Rose needed the doctor to rescue her from her dead-end life and reveled in the exhiliration of adventure; Martha needs him to claim her heart and hopes that her gameness will someday make him see that. When she whispered her forlorn declaration in the Tardis, I wanted to reach through the screen and wrap her up in a big hug. Agyeman makes Martha vulnerable in places where Rose was not.

The next episode, "Family of Blood," is supposed to be even better. Curse you, Labor Day, for making me wait two weeks!

Update: A viewer at Television Without Pity complained that Martha (in the viewer's eyes) has "no chemistry with the Doctor, romantic or otherwise." For some reason that stuck in my craw, but I think it digested last night.

Martha is not only in love with the Doctor, but it's the cruelest sort of love: unrequited. There will be no chemistry because he simply does not feel that way about her (at least not yet). It's a one-sided relationship. If that's intentional, it wouldn't be out of character for Russell T. Davies.