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Rosa - Review

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Now, full disclaimer, I am not a person of colour. I cannot, and do not, speak for anyone who is, and encourage everyone to go and search out reviews from people of colour who are much more qualified to talk about issues surrounding race than me. (I’ve not been able to find any myself despite vigorous Googling, so if you know of any then please comment the links below!)

I was more than a little apprehensive going into the latest instalment of Doctor Who this week. The topic of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights movement was one that if done well, could potentially be amazing, but the slightest mistake would be devastating. The first good sign was the writing team behind the episode. Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses was one of my favourite series growing up, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to tackle Rosa’s Doctor Who story. Still, I was worried that something just wouldn’t be right (after all, as many a fan of JK Rowling will know, writing a book series and writing for screen are two very different things).

From the word go, the episode doesn’t shy away from showing how bad life really was for people of colour in 1950’s Alabama. From Rosa, to Ryan, to Yas we see the struggles that people of colour lived with, although I’m a little confused as to why the Doctor would have thought taking Ryan and Yas out into 1950’s Montgomery was a good idea in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, having them go along was definitely the right thing to do (it would have troubled me more for her to just leave them in the TARDIS whilst she went off to save the day) but with all her experience I would have expected a little warning from her about what they might face and then have it be left up to them, whether they went with her or not. I certainly don’t know why they ended up in that cafe after they had experienced the racism of the period first hand. It’s not as if the white only signs were at all subtle.

One criticism that many people have had of the series so far is the overuse of the sonic in order to figure things out. Whilst the sonic was used a fair bit at the start of this episode (establishing that Rosa had traces of Artron energy; finding the bus warehouse; revealing the cloaked suitcase; scanning Krasko; hiding the writing on the wall in the motel) I personally don’t feel as if the device is being overused, or has become a crutch. Yes, the Doctor uses it occasionally to find things out, but she doesn’t ONLY use the sonic, she uses her brain as well. The sonic didn’t tell her to scan Rosa, she figured out that Rosa was important, and then used the sonic to confirm her hunch. Similarly, with the cloaked suitcase, she knew it was there, the sonic just enabled her to uncloak it so that we knew it was there too. I’ve also heard criticisms about the overly dramatic flourish that Jodie always does when she uses the sonic, but I said in my review last week and I stick by it this week, I love that flourish. You might not, and that’s fine, but I love it.

One of the criticisms I do have of this episode (and there really aren’t a lot, I loved this episode), is that I feel like we needed to see more of Rosa. Considering she was the titular character for the episode, we really didn’t get much of an insight into her life and motivations, instead focusing on how the Doctor and friends were going to stop the space racist from the future from changing history. I kind of get why the writing team may have been hesitant to delve too far into Rosa’s personal story, but I do feel as if you’re going to do a Doctor Who episode about Rosa Parks, it really needs to be ABOUT Rosa Parks.

Another thing I noticed, is that they seem to have introduced some chemistry between Ryan and Yas. Now I have nothing against romance, but just no, don’t put Ryan and Yas together. For once I would like a season without the romance. It’s not necessary to the show, and quite frankly - we have a man and a woman of similar age, therefore romance - is just lazy writing.

In my opinion, it was a very brave topic for them to tackle and I think they did an excellent job. Malorie Blackman ended up being the perfect choice to pen this powerful story and I think the success of the episode was definitely down to her input. With two companions of colour, and the first female Doctor, I also think it was also the perfect time to tackle the story, and I don’t believe that the episode would have worked at all, with a different Doctor, or different companions. This was definitely my favourite episode of the season so far.


Highlights
The TARDIS still just taking the Doctor where she needs to go, and not where she wants to go.
“I don’t recognise anyone by that description”.
Steve Jobs.
The fact that they showed Graham and Ryan continuing to grieve for Grace.
The little nod the extras give each other when Yas sits down in the white seats (although I was slightly concerned that she was going to change history herself).
Ryan continuously addressing MLK and Rosa by name.

Questions
Was Krasko a rogue time agent? If not, how/where did he get a vortex manipulator?
Was there something that premeditated Krasko’s hatred? Or was he just racist?
What exactly did he do that put him in Stormcage?
Where exactly did Ryan send Krasko?

What did you think of this weeks episode? What questions were you left with as the credits rolled? Let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to share this review with all your Whovian friends!

- E.S
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