Doctor Who: Rosa

Doctor: 'I did not warm to him.'

It was with some trepidation that I approached tonight's episode. With a few notable exceptions, historical episodes rarely portray their famous subjects favourably, and with Rosa Parks the focus, the likelihood of getting it wrong seemed all too probable. Putting the Doctor at the centre of a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement could've been disastrous. But was it?

Surprisingly, no. The stage was set for all manner of traditional Who shenanigans, yet the Doctor didn't influence Rosa's most profound thoughts, Rosa didn't knowingly meet an alien, or go for a trip in the TARDIS, or marry the Doctor. In truth, the writers showed considerable restraint, and the episode was all the better for it. Sure, it suffered from the usual Chibnallisms (more on those later), but at least they got the heart of the story right. They didn't sully it with weak jokes. They didn't take away Rosa's agency. They even managed to keep the alien element on the periphery as the all too human drama played out.

Which may sound like faint praise—congratulating them for taking real people seriously, and not fucking everything up with jokes—but it was important they got that part right. They also got the casting right: Vinette Robinson was an absolute triumph. Despite knowing her from The A Word, Sherlock, Black Mirror, and even Doctor Who (she played Abi Learner in the rather underwhelming '42'), I didn't recognise her at all. Which is testament to how convincing she was as Rosa. The way she looked, the way she spoke, the way she utterly inhabited the role, really was the highlight of the episode for me.

The ending was also a blinder. The effective use of silence as Rosa said no, followed by Andra Day's 'Rise Up' as she was taken away while the Doctor and Co. looked on helplessly, were both poignant and sympathetically executed. Even Graham's realisation that to preserve history they had to become part of it, was moving and well acted. His horror at being one of the pivotal three on the bus, after two lacklustre weeks of personal development, really made his character come alive for me. One of the joys of the historical episode is seeing modern day characters interact with famous faces as they engage in their most notable acts, and they mostly succeeded in getting that across.

Less successful was the plotting: which is sadly becoming a recurring theme. The episode was written by Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall, so it's hard to really say who wrote what. I'm tempted to say that Blackman wrote the bulk of the Rosa stuff, and Chibnall wrote the rest, but the reality is probably that Blackman wrote it all, and Chibnall heavily rewrote it. That said, a lot of the foundational plotting bore the unmistakable hallmarks of Chibnall's flimsy set-up. Who was the villain?: well, he was a racist from the future. How did the Doctor manage to bag Elias Griffin Jr. tickets to see Sinatra?: well, Elvis just so happened to give him the Doctor's mobile phone. No explanation of why or how, these things just needed to happen to move the story forward, so they did.

This sort of contrived hand-waving pisses me off no end. Yes, they gave reasons why things happened: but were those reason satisfying? Was Krasko an even vaguely interesting character? With some fleshing out, he perhaps could've been. Instead they chose to turn him into some toothpick-nibbling cliche, with little motivation beyond wanting to keep Ryan's 'kind' from getting ideas above their station. He was nothing more than an underdeveloped placeholder, created to derail Rosa's historic moment. As a sidenote: the funniest thing I read on Twitter after this episode aired was: 'I'm angry that the villain was so good looking.' So either only ugly people can be criminals, or the tweeter was conflicted about fancying a monster.

A lot has been said recently about the show returning to its roots and educating children through its jaunts through actual history. Which although a noble brief, comes at the risk of making the dialogue generic and exposition heavy. Despite everyone being inexplicably knowledgeable about Rosa's history, there was still a liberal amount of encyclopedia-laden dialogue thrown in to educate the viewer. At one point, Ryan even had to forget some of the stuff he knew—blaming the pesky 'bus thing' for his confusion—just so the rest of the cast could fill him (and by extension, us) in on the details. Which is a clumsy way of getting information across. Show don't tell! Sophisticated television has been doing it for decades.

I did like the way they handled dropping Yaz and Ryan into 1950s Alabama. Despite Ryan's initial instinct to be outraged, the fact that he (eventually) adapted to his situation and managed to act effectively despite his circumstances, spoke well of his character. I also enjoyed his intimate chinwag with Yaz. Whilst recognising how far modernity has come, there was also the acknowledgement that there's still a long way to go. Yes, the exchange was little preachy, but the issues arguably can't be raised enough. Whether they went far enough comparing then with now, highlighting the areas where the differences are perhaps less marked, is a question for another time. At least for young Doctor Who fans, the conversation is ongoing.

Other Thoughts:

—How did they know that James Blake would be stood at the side of the street?

—I saw a few people on Twitter claiming that Doctor Who is too lightweight a vehicle to address such complex subjects as racism, and whilst there may be some truth to that, it can certainly raise awareness, even if the heavy lifting is eventually done by more capable entities.

—They really need to stop telegraphing their solutions so obviously. Last week it was Chekhov's cigar, and tonight it was Chekhov's displacement device.

—Three episodes, three different style endings. Just pick something and stick with it.

—If Rosa hadn't refused to relinquish her seat on December 1st, 1955, would the civil rights movement have stalled completely? I suppose the implication is that the Montgomery Bus Incident was a fixed point in time, but it's hard to believe that had she done the same thing a day/week/month later, the result wouldn't have been the same.

Quotes:

Waitress: 'We don't serve Negroes.'
Ryan: 'Good, because I don't eat them.'

Graham: 'Pack it in. You ain't Bansky.'
Doctor: 'Or am I?'

Ryan: 'Excuse me, Doctor King. Yes, Rosa Parks? Whoa!!!'