Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
1. The Last of the Time Lords (3x13)
You don’t have to love Martha Jones, but you have to respect her. She accomplished so many things, even though most of the time, she was undervalued, under-appreciated, or just completely unnoticed. She never complained about why the Doctor didn’t love her or why he treated her badly. She just watched his back and took care of him, and when it came time, she left - she got out. Not because she was abandoning the Doctor, but because she needed to go. She needed to live her life, she needed to move on from the Doctor and her unrequited feelings, and she needed to help her family after the year of torture they went through. Some people say Martha Jones was being selfish, but that’s not true. If you had to choose between all of time and space with the man you are in love with, or staying home and fixing a family broken by a year that never was, wouldn’t you prefer to run away? And keep running with the Doctor - away from all that responsibility? But no, Martha stayed to helped her family and save the world over and over again. She wasn’t selfish; she was strong. It must have been incredibly hard for her to walk away from him, but she knew that she needed to. She was incredibly brave. Martha Jones, you truly are a star.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
2. Journey’s End (4x13)
The moment is easily one of my favourites ever, not just for Martha but in the whole Doctor Who series. Martha was in love with the Doctor, but when she shows up to help save the world and sees Rose, she’s just happy for them. No jealousy, no cattiness, just ‘oh my god, he found you,’ because Martha Jones is strong and so infinitely classy. After everything that she went through, after all the heartbreak, feeling like she was second-best, the year that never was - after all these things, Martha is just completely happy for him. To me, the amazingness of this scene was nothing to do with Doctor/Rose and everything to do with Martha Jones being one of the classiest and most flawless characters in Who history. It must have hurt her to see them together but she’s not jealous - she’s simply glad they found each other. Not many people are so wonderfully selfless and empathetic.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
3. The Last of the Time Lords (3x13)
Martha Jones single-handedly saves the world. She spends a year walking the globe, spreading the story of The Doctor to anyone and everyone, and she doesn’t even give herself the credit for it. She tells the people that she is just a voice for the Doctor, that they should be thinking of him, not idolizing her. But really? The Doctor is just a symbol - Martha is the only reason they were able to defeat the Master. Furthermore, not only did she save the world, but she did it alone. Always traveling and spreading the word, with no one there to help her. She must have agonized over what the Master was doing to her family, to the man she loved, to everyone she had ever known - but Martha kept going, kept doing the impossible. The Doctor might have whispered the instructions in her ear, but Martha Jones? Martha Jones did it all herself. And she is good.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
4. Human Nature (3x08)
Imagine living in our day and age and then having to spent two months in 1913. He had all of time and space to choose a place to hide and he took her to a time period where she would have been subjected to immense racism, condescension and hardship. The most amazing part? At the end, the Doctor just thanked her, and she forgave him, just like that. She forgave him, even though she had her heart broken, even though he treated her like total crap, even though she had to spend months working as a maid when she was previously studying to be a doctor; she forgave him because her caring and compassion knows no bounds. In her place, not many of us would have been able to be as classy as Martha was. In fact, in her place, I would have probably ended up slapping John Smith. ‘This is what a call a story’, indeed.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
5. Gridlock (3x03)
The Doctor prefers to silently torture himself about the Time War, which is incredibly unhealthy. Martha Jones, however, will have none of this. After he completely shuts her out about what the Face of Boe meant (“You’ve got me. Is that what he meant?” “I don’t think so. Sorry.”), Martha decides that she will not move until he tells her everything. In doing so, she gets him to open up about the Time War and even Gallifrey; this is a hugely defining moment for them. Martha could have easily just let it go or the Doctor could have just ignored her completely. But she didn’t and he didn’t, because they both knew that this is something that he needed to talk about. Instead of placating the Doctor, Martha did what she knew was best and challenged the Doctor to open himself up. There are very few companions willing to stand up to the Doctor and force him to share his feelings, but Martha does what she thinks is right, no matter how hard it is.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
6. Smith and Jones (3x1)
The most extraordinary part about this whole scene is that Martha Jones proves herself to be worthy companion in the most ridiculous of situations. They’re transported to the moon and instead of panicking like her coworker (and everyone else in the hospital), she’s logically working out that the windows aren’t airtight and there’s more going on. Even the Doctor is impressed with her (“Very good point. Brilliant, in fact!”) and when he asks her to come along, she doesn’t even hesitate. How many of us in that situation, with that level of panic in the air, would have had the intelligence to come to Martha’s conclusions or the courage to follow a stranger out onto the moon?
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
7. Family of Blood (3x09)
Martha Jones has just spent two months watching the man she loves fall in love with someone else. Instead of being annoyed or angry with both of them like most people would be, Martha Jones shows her flawlessness once again by not only empathizing with Joan, but also being willing to try to make her feel better. She knows that the Doctor doesn’t do well with emotions and she wants to make sure Joan is okay. After everything Martha has gone through in the past two months, it wouldn’t have even crossed most people’s minds to check on the ex-girlfriend of the man they’re in love with. But then again, most people don’t have the level of compassion, caring and selflessness that Martha has.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
8. Last of the Time Lords (3x13)
There are very few people who can keep the Doctor in line and even fewer for whom the Doctor will even answer the phone for. Amy and Rory had to draw his name in crop to get his attention and even River had to carve messages in sacred objects to get him to go where she wanted him. However, there have only been two people in all of Who history who could get the Doctor to answer his phone: the Brigadier and Martha Jones. Considering the former was the UNIT founder, what does this say about Martha? When Martha gives the Doctor the phone, she knows he will answer. After all, she walked the world and single-handedly saved the universe. She knows she’s strong, brave and absolutely flawless. If Martha Jones calls, you better come running.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
9. Smith and Jones (3x01)
As anyone can attest to who has spent just a little too long under water in the pool, the feeling of suffocating is terrifying. All you want to do is panic, but not Martha Jones. Not only does she keep her head straight (she’s running out of air and she still realizes that the Doctor has two hearts, so he needs double the chest compressions) but she is also completely unselfish. Instead of trying to keep the oxygen for herself, she gives her last breaths to the Doctor, in hopes that he will save them all. That sort of perspective and selflessness does not come easily. Furthermore, he hadn’t even told her the plan ahead of time, so Martha is going solely on faith in this weird alien who she just met not even half an hour before.
Top Ten: Martha Jones is Flawless
10. Evolution of the Daleks (3x05)
She’s stuck with no escape, about to be attacked by rabid pig people while the Daleks try to take over the universe (again), yet Martha Jones has an absolutely brilliant idea. While everyone else is cowering and panicking, Martha Jones is proving her intelligence and absolute quality under pressure. And the most flawless part? Afterward, she still feels guilty for killing the pig!people, even though there was no way to save them and they wouldn’t have thought twice about killing her. Not many people have that level of compassion and empathy.
