"I'm feeling alive all over again, as deep as the scar that's under my skin, like being in love, she says, for the first time."

Now that series four of Doctor Who has begun and we've gotten to see Donna's first journey to somewhere else with the Doctor, it's interesting to note the contrasts between the three main companions so far in the new series. They've all had different journeys to different places, gained different insights from their journeys, and have learned different things about the guy they're traveling with.

Rose's first trip in the TARDIS took her to the end of earth. She saw her planet burn into nothing, and know that she was the only earth-born true human left. This journey wasn't just pointlessly depressing, though; the Doctor had a purpose in taking her there: he couldn't adequately tell her what he had just experienced, but he could show her. Her natural traits of empathy took her still further, and at the end of the episode, she takes the Doctor's hand and lets him know that he isn't alone. Their relationship, then, is based on mutual understanding. Rose isn't going to make uninformed comments about his past and his loneliness, because she's seen it and understands.

Then they're all happy, and then Doomsday happens and tears everyone's heart to tiny pieces and then mashes them with a trencher for a little while. And then Martha comes along.

Martha ends up on the moon, she has an adventure saving the hospital with this cute guy who snogs her and just happens to be an alien. She gets some ideas that he's fun and everything is hunky-dory. But it isn't. She doesn't know he's broken and hurting and he thinks he'll never see his best friend again. She doesn't know he's lost a lot of concepts of what's right and how to be kind even if it might hinder you from saving the world. She takes a trip with him, back in time to meet Shakespeare.

Now, when I first saw 'The Shakespeare Code' I did draw up some contrasts between Rose and Martha. Rose chooses to have an adventure in the unknown future; Martha wants to see a known past. Rose leaves her mother and Mickey behind; Martha micromanages her family before she leaves. Rose is kind of drifting in life, without advanced education or a career; Martha has the ambition to make it all the way through medical school, and knows exactly what she's doing.

Frankly, I thought after that, I'd mostly relate to Martha. I mean, yes, I would totally want to see the past instead of a piecemeal peep at the future. I am ambitious and hold onto things I know. And, like Martha, I've done the whole thing with being infatuated with a good friend who took me on adventures but never seemed to be interested in more. But that's over. But perhaps that's exactly why I didn't relate to Martha more than I did; she was too much of an unflattering mirror.

So the Doctor takes Martha on a fun little adventure for her first trip. He probably thinks this is alright; he hasn't signed on for a full-time companion again, just giving a girl who helped him a little treat is all. And she gets the impression that this is his life, and that he hasn't just lost someone who meant so much to him. She isn't allowed a parallel experience, and so she doesn't understand. She keeps going after him and being infatuated and making bitchy comments about Rose- while we may see she's about as appropriate as a golddigger at a funeral, she can't see that.

And now we come to Donna. After the Doctor has lost SO many things- not just Gallifrey and Rose, at this point, but the only other Timelord, his latest companion, as well as a girl named Astrid who was depending on him, he is pretty fucked up. He's having trouble making decisions, because no matter what he does it turns out badly and he has more guilt on his shoulders. So he takes Donna back, accidentally really (though I think the TARDIS might have taken an active role in this,) to Pompeii, and she has to see what it's like to choose between bad and worse, what it's like to see terrible things happening and not being able to stop them. And when faced with this, she chooses to stand by him and shoulder his burdens; her hands over his on the lever is the same action as Rose taking his hand and saying it was time for chips. Donna can see and understand what the Doctor is going through, and yet she can still encourage him to be kind and help people when his position in the universe gets to be a bit much for him.

I think Donna's going to be good for the Doctor, and help him to heal and again the man that Rose loves. I don't want Rose to see him as he was last season, or even now. Because while she would understand his situation, having gone through many of the same things, his behavior and attitude towards everything isn't something that the Rose I know would tolerate. I look forward to seeing them both healthy and whole and together. At least that's what I hope, and might go threaten RTD to make sure happens....