Ill be honest here, romance is not my favourite thing in television anyway. I feel that unless a romance is absolutely vital to a story then it shouldnt really be there. And if it is vital to the story then its going to be harder to sell to me anyway. But my personal bias aside, I truly do not think the Doctor should enter romantic situations with mortal humans. Im relieved that his only recent romantic relationship with River Song was an awkward one, and at least she can claim to be more of an equal to the Time Lord. While Rose Tylers plotline may have been strong enough during her time as a companion, the Doctors continued pining for her after she left, and her subsequent return, lessened the believability of it. Let me put it like this: the Doctors a thousand-year-old alien from an advanced civilisation. Its weird enough when young humans hook up with 100-year-old vampires, not that Im making any comparisons at all. In the context of the story, romance should only show up when its really needed to create empathy. Was it really necessary to show Martha and Mickey getting married? Did the sudden twist about the two deformed lovers in Hide add anything? Questions regarding whether romance is gratuitous or not should be asked more, in my opinion. And the Doctor should avoid requiting the feelings of human characters as much as possible. And on that note