...and he's wonderful."

Dr. Who kicked my ass last Friday night. "Family of Blood" was the second half of a two-parter, and the last twenty minutes really put the viewer through the emotional wringer. Ross Ruediger has a lovely wrap-up here, so I won't go into too much detail, except to say that I know, I just know that Freema Agyeman will break my heart before the season is over.

I would say that "Family of Blood" is worthy of mention for another reason. All action/adventure shows and movies rise and fall on the strength of the antagonist. The Family was a fine opponent for the Doctor on a conceptual level, but Harry Lloyd's performance as Baines/Son of Mine was outstanding. It was full of immensely silly mannerisms and tics and was all the scarier for that. Baines has a high old time camping it up, but the performance isn't funny. It's scary as hell. Lauren Wilson was also super-spooky as Lucy Cartwright/Daugher of Mine.

I did have an interesting experience over the weekend. My local PBS station has begun running the Eccleston/Piper Who episodes and BBC America has started season 2, the Tennant/Piper eps. I know that many British fans and not a few Americans have gone to great lengths to disparage Martha Jones (and often Agyeman as well) in comparison to Rose Tyler/Billie Piper. Watching three different episodes from three different seasons made me think that maybe nostalgia has already set in.

When season 1 premiered, Who fans were ecstatic just to have him back. That the series was so good was gravy. Immense good will accrued to Billie Piper, who did a fine job, but in no way was her acting superior to Agyeman's. The biggest difference that I can detect is that Piper does a lot of acting with her lips and Agyeman does a lot with her eyes.

In short, any frustration with Martha Jones should be directed at the conception of the character, not at Freema Agyeman's interpretation of same. As "Human Nature/Family of Blood" made clear, Martha's arc is the story of a woman who falls in love with a man who will not love her in return, and who must get over that while still being in close proximity to him. That's not an easy story to tell, nor is it always easy to watch (too close to home for most of us, I'd wager). Still, the last three episodes seem to have turned a corner in Martha's life, and her reaction to the Doctor's hug at the end of "Family of Blood" seemed to me to be a tremendously subtle acknowledgement on her part that she knows it.