Skip to main content

Doctor Who: Rosa Review


The thing everyone's going to talk about with Rosa is its politics. Doctor Who has always implied political messages, but it's never made them such an explicit and integral part of an episode. Fortunately, Rosa picks a political message we can all get behind (I hope). The Doctor and friends find themselves in 1955 Alabama, the day before Rosa Parks essentially kick-started the Civil Rights Movement. It's a difficult setting for such a diverse cast to be in and the episode doesn't shy away from that fact. Historical racism has been tackled before, particularly with Martha in the Human Nature/The Family of Blood story. However, it's never felt as horrific as it does here. Especially in contrast to the previous series, which attempted diverse representation without delving too deep into actual issues of prejudice, the horrors of racism are depicted with shocking efficacy. 

Naturally, the issue of racism drives this episode's character development. Yas and Ryan are the focus, as they find themselves victims of an explicit and unashamedly racist society. Even if you didn't care about these characters, the scenes when they're forced out of a diner or hiding from a racist cop are tense and difficult watches. Considering how much we've grown to care about them over the past two episodes, these moments are even more upsetting. There's also a particularly thoughtful moment of dialogue when Yas and Ryan connect these incidents to their experiences with the more insidious and implicit racism of today. It's easily the episode’s most challenging moment, provoking us to consider how far we've come and how far we've still got to go. Graham, as the grandfather of Ryan, is challenged as an ally. He finds himself with a particularly difficult dilemma at the end of the episode, when he feels like he's sacrificing his values for the greater good.

Amidst all of this, it could've been easy for the episode to forget to be Doctor Who. Fortunately, it doesn't. Rosa is Thirteen's first historical episode, a familiar concept for Doctor Who fans, but writers Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall have ensured it feels fresh. Blackman and Chibnall have taken us to a notably recent period of history, arguably making the episode feel more relevant, which the plot takes full advantage of. Rather than changing the past, the Doctor and friends are trying to keep it the same. The tension is heightened by the relative modernity of the setting, as we can more easily picture the impact it would have on our present. There's also the frequent humour that never undermines the harsh portrayals of racism, but provides an alternative attitude that proves how much better it is when we get along. Particularly lovely moments include a gag about the Doctor being Banksy and Ryan's reactions to interacting with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.

Unfortunately, I did notice a couple of missteps. Maybe because the rest of the episode is of such a high standard, the flaws stand out a bit more. I've been raving about Segun Akinola's score and for the most part, it's still solid. However, during Rosa Parks’ moments of defiance, there's an oddly on the nose choice of music. In particular, a disappointingly cheesy pop song means the already inspirational moment Parks refuses to give up her seat can't speak for itself. The antagonist, who appears to be some sort of time traveling Tommy Robinson, is also more of a plot device than a character. However, I do think that's sort of the point. The real villain isn't just one bloke doing naughty things, but the evil, bigoted racism that Rosa Parks stands up against. If anything, it's one of the scariest Doctor Who villains in a long time.

Sadly, even though its message should be a universal one, this episode is probably still going to be divisive. However, I think that only bolsters how successful and necessary it is. Rosa is an impressively daring episode that isn't afraid to tackle difficult, relevant issues whilst still maintaining everything we love about Doctor Who.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hail, Caesar! Review - Genius Behind the Madness

On an entirely surface level, Hail, Caesar! is a really silly film. The sets are bright and colourful, the characters are bombastic and larger than life and the plot is completely insane and all over the place. If you take a closer look, however, it's much more intelligent than it initially comes off as. Yes, the sets are bright, but their attention to detail is so fantastically minute, you're totally convinced that this is the 50's. The fake film sets are also just as convincing and the films themselves could easily pass off as authentic, if it wasn't for the 21st Century actors populating them. They are obviously slightly exaggerated, for the sake of satire, which probably resonates more with those familiar with retro cinema than regular filmgoers. It's also shot brilliantly by cinematographer Roger Deakins (who was recently Oscar nominated for his work on Sicario ), who manages to make the film feel like something that's not only set in the 50's, bu...

Is Avengers: Age of Ultron Any Good?

Avengers Assemble! Again! Avengers: Age of Ultron - Film Review by Nathan Brooks And they say English Weather's bad. Back in the summer of 2012, a little film came out called Avengers Assemble. It wasn't much. It's only the biggest superhero film of all time and it only made $1.518 billion. Everybody loved it, I loved it and clearly moviegoers did as well.  Due to its massive success, obviously a sequel was going to be made. In this case, that sequel is Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with all the hype it's received, is it actually any good? Story The story in this film is definitely not for first time Marvel viewers, you really need to see most, if not all, of the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films. It is packed full of references to earlier films and understanding a lot of elements of the story will require you to have seen the others. But is the story any good? I thinks so. The main story centres around the fact that Tony Stark, or Iron Man, has ...

The Complicated Entitlement of Arthur Fleck

Joker’s (Probably) Accidental Identity Politics The discourse around Joker , the Joaquin Phoenix-starring origin story of the infamous Batman villain, has been exhausting. Beginning before most people had even seen the film, battle lines were immediately drawn between those decrying its allegedly alt-right sympathies and edgy gamers convinced this was going to be the greatest film of all time. Now that it’s actually in cinemas and I’ve seen it, it’s a lot more complicated than that, even if it isn’t on purpose. To get it out of the way, Joker is a fantastically constructed film. Whilst it’s certainly derivative of other prestige pictures (Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and King of Comedy have been regularly brought up) that doesn’t stop it from being spectacular and gripping in its own right. At the centre of it all is Phoenix, who’s performance is genuinely astonishing. The gruesome physicality he brings to the role is mesmerising, exemplified during the surreal dance sequences i...