Wasn't Susie South Asian?

I've just looked her up, and she is indeed half Indian. This came as a surprise to me. At least that's one character! Yeah, I'd forgotten there was a guest star doctor in another episode.

also, it's extremely hard to find Middle Easterns who aren't playing terrorists or dead bodies in Western TV.

That is absolutely true. Even the wonderful Sayid from Lost has some pretty stereotypical aspects to his character.

There is an incredible lack of South Asian representation in Doctor Who/Torchwood, though. I can't think of a single Indian/Pakistani/Bangledeshi character in the Whoverse

Rani Chandra, the 'tween female lead on "The Sarah Jane Adventures," and her family.

Pair them up before we have to go back to marrying off white girls to black men!

Isn't "we have to" a bit of a stretch? No one paired Donna up with black men other than RTD and his folks unless there's meta that I'm missing.

I think it's a similar reason to why we saw Jack paired up with a familiar face and not a new one--meta indulgence to RTD's departure.

Even the wonderful Sayid from Lost has some pretty stereotypical aspects to his character.

That's an understatement. Once you get past the colour-blind casting that put an Indian guy in an Iraqi role, even.

Isn't "we have to" a bit of a stretch? No one paired Donna up with black men other than RTD and his folks unless there's meta that I'm missing.

I agree with ita. In a lot of ways, it feels like they were paired up not because of their race, but because they were the ones who ended up kind-of action-hero-ish. Of course, we're all reading into a tiny blip of a story that may or may not ever get told, and in a lot of ways, it's terribly unfair to a franchise that's been remarkably progressive with both non-heterosexual characters and characters of color.

Divorced from the gravity of the unexplored repercussions of CoE, I'm squeefully glad we got to see Captain Jack! I miss him, broken bastard that he is.

Of course, we're all reading into a tiny blip of a story that may or may not ever get told, and in a lot of ways, it's terribly unfair to a franchise that's been remarkably progressive with both non-heterosexual characters and characters of color.

This may well be true. I suppose I have higher expectations of them because they've done so well in the past, which may mean I'm seeing issues where there are none.

ETA:

I'm squeefully glad we got to see Captain Jack!

Oh yeah, that was so great! And what a great setting for him that bar was.

There were a couple of South Asian-looking members of the Silver Cloak (I'm trolling for Tennant desktop pics).

This may well be true. I suppose I have higher expectations of them because they've done so well in the past, which may mean I'm seeing issues where there are none.

If you'll forgive me saying, I think this may be the case. If nothing else, the two of them have a HUGE shared experience, through the Doctor and their travels (never mind helping save the world), that essentially makes them part of a small set of people each other can probably relate to. Never mind the aforementioned action-ish types both have evolved into, and the likewise aformentioned hotness.

If nothing else, it's a story I'd love to see told at some point, although I doubt it will be.

Oh yeah, that was so great! And what a great setting for him that bar was.

I really dug on the Star Wars cantina of lost Dr. Who aliens. And while I agree (a bit) about the CoE reprecussions, it was hardly the time or place. The Doctor wasn't really about recriminations at that moment. He was about saying goodbye, and admitting that there are people he loved.

And that's really been the hallmark of this Doctor: the capacity to love. Which is why I so dearly loved the open admission that Donna was his best friend, and the callback to "Human Nature" and "Family of Blood."

I thought Chipo Chung from "Turn Left" (and "Utopia" under pounds of prosthetics) might be Southeast Asian, but it turns out she's from Tanzania.

My only qualm about pairing up Martha and Mickey is wondering what the hell happened to that doctor she was engaged to.

Yeah, I don't object to Mickey and Martha per se, but what about her awesome boyfriend?

For me, End of Time was a huge mess, plotwise, but successfully hit most of my emotional buttons. I think my favorite moment was seeing Jessica Stevenson as the great-granddaughter of Joan.