the Doctor gives Jack more considerationand respect than he has done for Martha...since Jack didn’t have to walk the Earth for a year, or work as a servant in 1913 for three months, or as a shop girl for however many weeks in 1969, all to support/take care of/save the Doctor each time.
(emphasis mine)
If you assume that his comment in S2 about Jack off saving the universe means that he knows Jack was alive when they left the gamestation, that alone is worse than anything he did to Martha. To be sent to die, exterminated, brought back to life, and abandoned on a burned-out satellite? Horrific.
In S3 Jack was running crying for him and he leaves, and at the end of the world he was happy to leave dead!Jack lying in the dirt. The "you're wrong" conversation in the radiation room wasn't notable just for the conversation, it was notable because before that moment, the Doctor didn't want Jack anywhere near him. Only when there was a dirty, dirty, dirty job that needed doing did the Doctor actually engage with Jack. It's Jack the engineer who helps get the spaceship working. It's Jack's vortex manipulator that gets them back to 21st century earth. It's Jack's Torchwood connections that get them info on the Archangel network. It's Jack's vortex manipulator again that gets them onto the Valiant and helps Martha as she walks the earth. Jack is the one who destroys the Paradox machine (getting killed while trying) to save the TARDIS and rewind time. What does Jack get for all of this? The Doctor disables the vortex manipulator and scolds him. Small wonder Jack takes off!
That looks to me like Martha and Jack spend pretty much all of S3 either doing the dirty work so the Doctor doesn't have to soil his hands (Jack) or doing the servant work so the Doctor doesn't have to support or tend himself (Martha). I'd say they were both shockingly, shockingly abused by the Doctor, but abused in different ways.
I admit, my response may have (actually, it has) ignored/neglected Jack's relationship with the Doctor, and I have almost no recollection of S2 since I've only seen it once, so I apologize if my comment seemed to you like I was belittling Jack in any way, which I would never do, I love him to bits. I was merely commenting on my perception of how Martha's situation in S3 played out, it seemed to me that at a certain point in time during the 3-parter finale, the Doctor considered Jack more as his "equal" whereas Martha's pushed to the sidelines again, only to step up to the plate when the Doctor's backed up to the wall, when she has proven time and again that she is more than able to play with the big boys.
The same maltreatment did happen to Jack(as you have pointed out in your 2nd paragraph), but I was focusing more on Martha since she was, in S3, the Doctor's main Companion. I hope that clarifies some stuff, I tend to use my tunnel vision when I'm talking about Martha, is all :\
That looks to me like Martha and Jack spend pretty much all of S3 either doing the dirty work so the Doctor doesn't have to soil his hands (Jack) or doing the servant work so the Doctor doesn't have to support or tend himself (Martha). I'd say they were both shockingly, shockingly abused by the Doctor, but abused in different ways.
I completely agree with you, and as much as I love the Doctor, that right there is one of the reasons why I'm feeling more and more out of touch with his character (but obviously I'm not going anywhere 'coz I love this show too much, damn this Catch-22).
the Doctor considered Jack more as his "equal" whereas Martha's pushed to the sidelines again, only to step up to the plate when the Doctor's backed up to the wall, when she has proven time and again that she is more than able to play with the big boys.
I think the Doctor acts appallingly badly to both of them all the way through. The bit about disabling Jack's vortex manipulator after it saved their lives *so many times* struck me as offensive and patronizing in the extreme. Same thing with Martha, when she walked in to say goodbye and he started off on the "right, let's get going" spiel. That's why the line about loving somebody who doesn't know you exist, and Jack's "You too, huh?" hits us so hard...it's when Martha realizes she isn't the only one who is being poorly treated, and I think that's when she is able to start (just a glimmer, but it's a start) moving on. Same for Jack, in a way.
I try to look at S3 as a character exploration of the Doctor himself, rather than S2 which was all about Ten and Rose. Martha happens to get the short end of the stick, but that's what keeps it all about Ten and not Ten/Martha. Ten in S3 is grieving, grieving badly. Not only is Martha his rebound chick, he's the girl he calls on to help him get over a bad time, but once he got into a pattern with her, he never broke that pattern. His loss. I really think he had no idea who/what kind of person was in the TARDIS with him until she actually walked out the door.
(emphasis mine)
If you assume that his comment in S2 about Jack off saving the universe means that he knows Jack was alive when they left the gamestation, that alone is worse than anything he did to Martha. To be sent to die, exterminated, brought back to life, and abandoned on a burned-out satellite? Horrific.
In S3 Jack was running crying for him and he leaves, and at the end of the world he was happy to leave dead!Jack lying in the dirt. The "you're wrong" conversation in the radiation room wasn't notable just for the conversation, it was notable because before that moment, the Doctor didn't want Jack anywhere near him. Only when there was a dirty, dirty, dirty job that needed doing did the Doctor actually engage with Jack. It's Jack the engineer who helps get the spaceship working. It's Jack's vortex manipulator that gets them back to 21st century earth. It's Jack's Torchwood connections that get them info on the Archangel network. It's Jack's vortex manipulator again that gets them onto the Valiant and helps Martha as she walks the earth. Jack is the one who destroys the Paradox machine (getting killed while trying) to save the TARDIS and rewind time. What does Jack get for all of this? The Doctor disables the vortex manipulator and scolds him. Small wonder Jack takes off!
That looks to me like Martha and Jack spend pretty much all of S3 either doing the dirty work so the Doctor doesn't have to soil his hands (Jack) or doing the servant work so the Doctor doesn't have to support or tend himself (Martha). I'd say they were both shockingly, shockingly abused by the Doctor, but abused in different ways.
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The same maltreatment did happen to Jack(as you have pointed out in your 2nd paragraph), but I was focusing more on Martha since she was, in S3, the Doctor's main Companion. I hope that clarifies some stuff, I tend to use my tunnel vision when I'm talking about Martha, is all :\
That looks to me like Martha and Jack spend pretty much all of S3 either doing the dirty work so the Doctor doesn't have to soil his hands (Jack) or doing the servant work so the Doctor doesn't have to support or tend himself (Martha). I'd say they were both shockingly, shockingly abused by the Doctor, but abused in different ways.
I completely agree with you, and as much as I love the Doctor, that right there is one of the reasons why I'm feeling more and more out of touch with his character (but obviously I'm not going anywhere 'coz I love this show too much, damn this Catch-22).
Reply
I think the Doctor acts appallingly badly to both of them all the way through. The bit about disabling Jack's vortex manipulator after it saved their lives *so many times* struck me as offensive and patronizing in the extreme. Same thing with Martha, when she walked in to say goodbye and he started off on the "right, let's get going" spiel. That's why the line about loving somebody who doesn't know you exist, and Jack's "You too, huh?" hits us so hard...it's when Martha realizes she isn't the only one who is being poorly treated, and I think that's when she is able to start (just a glimmer, but it's a start) moving on. Same for Jack, in a way.
I try to look at S3 as a character exploration of the Doctor himself, rather than S2 which was all about Ten and Rose. Martha happens to get the short end of the stick, but that's what keeps it all about Ten and not Ten/Martha. Ten in S3 is grieving, grieving badly. Not only is Martha his rebound chick, he's the girl he calls on to help him get over a bad time, but once he got into a pattern with her, he never broke that pattern. His loss. I really think he had no idea who/what kind of person was in the TARDIS with him until she actually walked out the door.
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