Rosa review

Synopsys: The TARDIS takes the Doctor and the gang to Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.  Why is their atron energy all over the place and what does it have to do with Rosa Parks?

Spoilers ahead.

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Wow.  Just wow.  This was an episode I was worried about.  There was so much potential for4 so much to go horribly wrong.  Yet, it got everything absolutely right.

There tends to be a problem when shows, particularly family shows, to play things down when it comes to dealing with racism.  Particularly when it’s historic racism, they will say that most are bad, but there were some good people.

This episode, however, was unflinching.  It pulled no punches.  Montgomery was not a nice place to be black in 1955.  It’s not just the “Whites Only” signs or Ryan being threatened with a lynching.  It’s a police officer saying that a victim of assault actually assaulted an upstanding citizen because of the colour of their respective skin.  It’s a bus driver saying that black people will never get to sit where they want on a bus.

It’s not just overt racism, it’s casual.

The discussion between Yaz and Ryan behind the bins was telling.  The civil rights movement did change things, but it’s not perfect yet.  Getting there?  Yes, but not yet.  The scene when they’re first on the bus, when Yaz is wondering if she’s not coloured enough to be made to sit at the back was also interesting.

This episode was also interesting in that, on a show which is all about change it’s all about inertia.  It’s about making sure things stayed as they are.  This set up the scene at the end where the main characters had to act against their nature in order for the right thing to be done.

Parks herself doesn’t lose her agency.  It’s not an episode where the Doctor has to ensure that she refuses to move.  All the Doctor does is make sure the conditions are correct for Parks to choose to do that herself.

There was humour in the episode, though.  When the Doctor winds brian up about Bansky, for example, or when Ryan says it’s OK that the restaurant doesn’t serve negros because he doesn’t eat them.  And particularly when he realises he’s just excused himself to Martin Luther King because Rosa Parks wants a word.

The villain was a bit one note, but then the villain doesn’t need to be more than that.  I’m glad that he didn’t get a big speech explaining why he’s doing what he is.  He doesn’t deserve it.  You don’t get to explain or try and justify racism.

The acting was superb.  Vinette Robinson was outstanding as Parks.  The cinematography was superb as it has been all series.  The music was good.  I didn’t even really mind the song at the end (though have to agree with one person I read who said it would have been more powerful with a recitation of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou instead).

Malorie Blackman should be proud of what she’s done.  Her first Doctor Who episode and it’s a classic.

I also have to give credit to Chris Chibnall.  I know I’ve had a go at him for the first two episodes (and I still he deserves that) but he was the one who OK’d this episode to begin with, he approved the final script.  It’s incredibly brave, especially considering all the moans about SJW’s taking over the show with identity politics because the Doctor is a woman.  He’s earned praise for this episode.

Will