Why I like Mickey
Mickey Smith is in some ways the Harry Sullivan of the post-2005 series of Doctor Who. He's a regular guy, a nice guy, who spends his entire run on the show being verbally abused by the Doctor when he's not being ignored completely. And yet he gets through it without being horribly melted, and remains basically a nice guy in spite of all.
Mickey is introduced nominally as Rose's boyfriend, but this seems to be true only in the loosest possible sense. Rose clearly has very little investment in him, and they're never portrayed as being terribly close - he's just kind of there, as he's always been just kind of there. Mickey is eminently forgettable and inevitably forgotten - Rose forgets he's been replaced by a plastic duplicate and might be dead in the space of about five minutes, after having totally failed to notice said replacement over the course of an entire dinner. This is not intended as an indictment against Rose - all it means is that she loves running more than she loves Mickey, which, well, she really really loves running. It's just one more of the trials of being Mickey. Nobody pays him any mind, not even his supposed girlfriend.
Mickey is one of those characters where there's a real disconnect between how the characters, the show, and to great extent the audience perceive him and how he is in fact portrayed. The Doctor calls him "Mickey the Idiot" almost exclusively (or "Rickey" when he's feeling particularly snarky), and "Father's Day" has Jackie characterize him as "clingy" - but these epithets don't actually reflect reality at all. He's certainly not clingy, for one thing - he makes no effort to stop Rose leaving and has no delusions that they are a couple after her return. And a frightened child with the wherewithal to actually run from the monsters rather than be devoured by them has every right to cling.
Mickey is also not an idiot, nor does he ever actually act like one or do anything idiotic. Quite the contrary - he's stunningly good at figuring certain types of things out, and refreshingly practical. He does as good a job at discovering an alien incursion as a top notch investigative reporter with 30-odd years of his experience on him, for instance. He picks up on other people's hints and coded messages, like the whole "you don't have to be an idiot" bit in "Age of Steel." He hacks into government websites and manages to get his hands on nuclear launch codes, which he is both willing and able to use if necessary. When confronted with problems, Mickey finds solutions, whether they're in the form of doing extensive research on the Doctor (and actually finding significant substantive material, like his UNIT connection) or knowing when, where, and how to lay his hands on a Big Yellow Truck. And he figures out just how toxic the situation in the TARDIS is for him much faster than, say, Martha does - it takes him all of one episode to start looking for a way out. Mickey sees things like they are, and does what he needs to do.
Perhaps the most admirable thing about Mickey is that he never really holds anything against ...anyone. Despite all the crap he goes through, he is always there for the others when they need him. He spends a year under suspicion of murder, and not only says nothing, but also bears absolutely no ill will to Rose over it. Or, for that matter, her mother, who was the one making the accusations in the first place. Jackie just sort of apologizes and they're cool. He continues to support and be there for Rose whenever she happens to turn up, and in whatever way she needs at the time. Even when he decides to leave, it's much more about finding his own path, rather than any vindictiveness against the others.
Mickey's story is more internally focused than really anyone else's. He goes through a series of epiphanies and moments of self discovery, possibly because he's left alone so much. I really love the plotline with his grandmother, which he has never talked about because he has never been asked. There is stuff going on with him that doesn't revolve around the Doctor and the main plotlines and such, and that is kind of rare and wonderful to see. He's the hero of a different story, and now and again we get to see parts of that story. And he's one character who really becomes better than he was. He finds his confidence and his purpose, and it's not as a companion. He has the opportunity to make up for his past mistakes, and both the opportunity and the mistakes are his alone, and he does it. He finds what's important to him and he goes for it, after having been the supporting character in other people's stories for too long.
I tend to take issue with the whole "tin dog" thing, simply because Mickey's role on the show is absolutely nothing like K-9's. The Doctor loves that dog more than he loves most people, and treats him with respect and consideration. And also K-9 really hates being called tin. But it is an apt metaphor for Mickey discovering that he needs to become the hero of his own story, and Mickey is all about discovering new things about himself. His internal wheels are always turning, but he almost never voices these changes. Mickey is constantly thinking - he is one of the most thoughtful characters on the entire show, and what he arrives at is always a surprise. But he's always good to the people around him, even when they're not good to him.
And for the record, I don't ship Martha and Mickey at all. The only thing the two of them have in common is that they're both fine folks the Doctor treated like crap. Given that Mickey's whole story arc is about finding value and worth outside the immediate sphere of the Doctor, pairing them in this way just seems to be really missing the point. And I'd rather ship Martha with her fiance anyway. But whether I ship it or not has nothing to do with how much I like each of the characters, since they are both utterly lovely people.
Mickey is introduced nominally as Rose's boyfriend, but this seems to be true only in the loosest possible sense. Rose clearly has very little investment in him, and they're never portrayed as being terribly close - he's just kind of there, as he's always been just kind of there. Mickey is eminently forgettable and inevitably forgotten - Rose forgets he's been replaced by a plastic duplicate and might be dead in the space of about five minutes, after having totally failed to notice said replacement over the course of an entire dinner. This is not intended as an indictment against Rose - all it means is that she loves running more than she loves Mickey, which, well, she really really loves running. It's just one more of the trials of being Mickey. Nobody pays him any mind, not even his supposed girlfriend.
Mickey is one of those characters where there's a real disconnect between how the characters, the show, and to great extent the audience perceive him and how he is in fact portrayed. The Doctor calls him "Mickey the Idiot" almost exclusively (or "Rickey" when he's feeling particularly snarky), and "Father's Day" has Jackie characterize him as "clingy" - but these epithets don't actually reflect reality at all. He's certainly not clingy, for one thing - he makes no effort to stop Rose leaving and has no delusions that they are a couple after her return. And a frightened child with the wherewithal to actually run from the monsters rather than be devoured by them has every right to cling.
Mickey is also not an idiot, nor does he ever actually act like one or do anything idiotic. Quite the contrary - he's stunningly good at figuring certain types of things out, and refreshingly practical. He does as good a job at discovering an alien incursion as a top notch investigative reporter with 30-odd years of his experience on him, for instance. He picks up on other people's hints and coded messages, like the whole "you don't have to be an idiot" bit in "Age of Steel." He hacks into government websites and manages to get his hands on nuclear launch codes, which he is both willing and able to use if necessary. When confronted with problems, Mickey finds solutions, whether they're in the form of doing extensive research on the Doctor (and actually finding significant substantive material, like his UNIT connection) or knowing when, where, and how to lay his hands on a Big Yellow Truck. And he figures out just how toxic the situation in the TARDIS is for him much faster than, say, Martha does - it takes him all of one episode to start looking for a way out. Mickey sees things like they are, and does what he needs to do.
Perhaps the most admirable thing about Mickey is that he never really holds anything against ...anyone. Despite all the crap he goes through, he is always there for the others when they need him. He spends a year under suspicion of murder, and not only says nothing, but also bears absolutely no ill will to Rose over it. Or, for that matter, her mother, who was the one making the accusations in the first place. Jackie just sort of apologizes and they're cool. He continues to support and be there for Rose whenever she happens to turn up, and in whatever way she needs at the time. Even when he decides to leave, it's much more about finding his own path, rather than any vindictiveness against the others.
Mickey's story is more internally focused than really anyone else's. He goes through a series of epiphanies and moments of self discovery, possibly because he's left alone so much. I really love the plotline with his grandmother, which he has never talked about because he has never been asked. There is stuff going on with him that doesn't revolve around the Doctor and the main plotlines and such, and that is kind of rare and wonderful to see. He's the hero of a different story, and now and again we get to see parts of that story. And he's one character who really becomes better than he was. He finds his confidence and his purpose, and it's not as a companion. He has the opportunity to make up for his past mistakes, and both the opportunity and the mistakes are his alone, and he does it. He finds what's important to him and he goes for it, after having been the supporting character in other people's stories for too long.
I tend to take issue with the whole "tin dog" thing, simply because Mickey's role on the show is absolutely nothing like K-9's. The Doctor loves that dog more than he loves most people, and treats him with respect and consideration. And also K-9 really hates being called tin. But it is an apt metaphor for Mickey discovering that he needs to become the hero of his own story, and Mickey is all about discovering new things about himself. His internal wheels are always turning, but he almost never voices these changes. Mickey is constantly thinking - he is one of the most thoughtful characters on the entire show, and what he arrives at is always a surprise. But he's always good to the people around him, even when they're not good to him.
And for the record, I don't ship Martha and Mickey at all. The only thing the two of them have in common is that they're both fine folks the Doctor treated like crap. Given that Mickey's whole story arc is about finding value and worth outside the immediate sphere of the Doctor, pairing them in this way just seems to be really missing the point. And I'd rather ship Martha with her fiance anyway. But whether I ship it or not has nothing to do with how much I like each of the characters, since they are both utterly lovely people.