Martin and Gina had the kind of love that not only made viewers tune into the Fox sitcom, Martin every week during it’s five season run in the 90s, but old fans and new viewers of the show still faithfully watch the re-runs like it’s original airing. Their love was a true showcase of a young couple navigating through life as a unit. Martin and Gina have become synonymous with Clair and Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable as a positive showcase of Black love. While the Huxtables are a great example, it’s Martin and Gina that resonate then and now with young professionals, they are the couple that showed young Black viewers that it is possible to be hip, fun, professional and undoubtedly devoted to your significant other.
Gina was the self-sufficient woman who was a delightful mix of being down-to-earth and sometimes stuck-up. She was a college educated, career woman who came from a two parent home.
Martin was the street savvy, hustler type dude with the gift of gab but lacked the sophistication that growing up in the streets fails to teach.
Despite their differences (Martin often called Gina bourgeois, Gina would criticized Martin for being crass and classless) their love prevailed through numerous life challenges. Gina was the ultimate ride or die chick, she held Martin down with her level head. No matter what the circumstance, no money or no job, Martin would do anything for his, “baby.”
Even though Gina made more money than Martin she never made Martin feel less than the man in the relationship. When Detroit found out that Gina was the breadwinner in the relationship via Martin’s radio show, it was Martin’s ego that led him to do fanatical antics around the city to show that he was the “man” in the relationship. Crazy shenanigans aside, Gina let “him do him” since Martin needed to feed his ego.
When Ms. Trinidad put the moves on Martin, Gina showed up in Ms. Trinidad’s classroom with sneakers and vaseline in hand ready to throw down for her man. In "Credit Card Blues" when Martin and his friend got locked up for credit card fraud, Gina organized their best friends Tommy, Pam and Cole to quickly scramble up bail money.
In the episode, "The Break Up (Part 1)” their relationship was put to the test when Gina gives Martin, the unusual ass statute as a Valentine’s Day gift. Gina and Pam deem it “art” while Martin, Tommy and Cole see the statute as nothing but a dance partner for, “doing the butt.” After an intense fight they break up because they truly believe their opposite upbringing and lifestyles are just too different for a relationship. Two weeks and two episodes later, Martin woos Gina back and the gang is back together.
Martin and Gina did not have a perfect partnership but the love and respect for each other was prevalent. There was no infidelity in their relationship; Martin couldn’t even sleep with another woman- even someone as gorgeous as Nicole (Lark Voorhies) when she was his temporary girlfriend after Martin and Gina broke up. If jealously reared it’s ugly head, Martin or Gina would make it a point to showcases their love.
The key to Martin and Gina’s relationship was the respect for each other and both playing their roles in the relationship. Gina always let Martin be the man in the relationship no matter how unreasonable he was or how irate his actions were. Martin allowed Gina to be independent, feminine, and sexy she was the Queen of his Kingdom. There were multiple times when they could have both ended the relationship but they pressed thru showing that anything worth having is truly worth fighting for.
Young people in the Black community swear they are so “hard” but the truth is when it comes to something as real and beautiful as Black love, no one is a fighter. Maybe it’s because some men think, “girls are like buses” and certain females believe that, “niggas ain’t shit”- with these kinds of beliefs relationships never last long nor do they withstand hardships and strife. Then majority do not respect the sanction of relationships, people are so quick to step outside of their relationship and being the side chick is now considered being in a relationship. Along with the notion that men aren’t stepping up to the role of the man and certain women are acting like hoes instead of a grown woman. With these attitudes relationships within the young Black community rarely stand a chance. The problem with Black relationships today: no one wants a Martin and Gina type love.
