DOCTOR WHO
ROSA
Written By Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall
Directed By Mark Tonderai
When it was announced that the third episode of this year's series of Doctor Who was going to feature the story of Rosa Parks, I'm sure a lot of people were quite skeptical and didn't really know what to think of this. After all, there are so many ways in which this episode could go horribly, horribly wrong. More so than any other historical figure that the Doctor has met over the shows fifty five -year history.
In tackling with events and subjects such as these, there are two major pitfalls. First, the history needs to be handled with appropriate respect and reverence, and Parks not robbed of her agency. It's all too easy to imagine a story written with the best of intentions which culminates in the Doctor having a heart to heart with Rosa which inspires her to take a stand, and to do so would rob Parks' actions of their meaning. The second pitfall is that it needs to do all of that whilst still working as a Doctor Who story.
Fortunately, I'm pleased to say that "Rosa" does justice to the events that took place on that evening in 1955, where Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus, henceforth leading on to all the great things that she does later in her life. So that's all good. 'Phew,' we can all take a sigh of relief at that.
Moving onto what I thought, there are lots of people coming out and saying "Oh yes, I loved it" "Ten out of ten", I didn't love it, but I did enjoy it none the less. I try not to compare other Doctor Who episodes to each other very much because of the fact that Doctor Who is such a diverse programme in terms of the stories it tells and that every story is so different to the last one in every way. But, if I was to compare 'Rosa' to 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' or 'The Ghost Monument'. I'd say it was more difficult for me to watch as a viewer because the subject matter is heavy, the pace is slower than usual, presumably to allow the real nastiness and horror of the setting to sink in, and it sorely lacks in sci-fi elements.
I didn't like the villain in it very much. I felt that all that was unnecessary. You could have simply done away with having a villain in it at all, and focussed on doing a purely stand-alone historical story. Which is what I thought we were going to get initially, I thought we'd be going back to the old historicals of the 1960's with William Hartnell. But sadly, we didn't get that. The bad guy in it, whose name escapes me, his role wasn't really relevant. So the episodes gets marked down on points for that.
Another thing I'd say marks the episode down for me is the fact that it turns out that the Doctor and her friends end up becoming a big part in making history happen with Rosa refusing to give up her seat. Now, that's all well and good, but I just think we've had enough of that through the show in the Doctor trying to put things right but in doing so makes it happen. It's become a bit of a cliche.
Despite all the doom and gloom of it all, there are some nice comedy bits in it, with the Doctor claiming to be Banksy, and Ryan called Martin Luthor King and Rosa Parks by their first name being two examples. All four of the main cast were good. I even liked the hint of a romance between Ryan and Yas.
I didn't love "Rosa" or think it's an amazing episode. But I did enjoy it none the less. I think it's credible to educate audiences who don't know much about the turmoils in that part in history and to show what life was like for black people in the 1950's. It's not the first time Doctor Who has dealt with racism. It's one of the things that Doctor Who is able to do really well. It has the ability to educate the audience as well as entertain. I think 'Rosa' stands up well as being a powerful piece of drama, and one which I'm sure that's going to have people are going to talk about for a very long time.
I'm going to give it a 7/10!
Next weeks looks creepy. Perfect for Halloween!
Please bring back the Metebelis Spiders!
