Rosa

"History can be delicate."

Writers: Malorie Blackman & Chris Chibnall
Format: TV
Broadcast: 21st October 2018
Series: 11.03

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955. The Doctor and her friends find themselves in the Deep South of America. As they encounter seamstress by the name of Rosa Parks, they begin to wonder whether someone is attempting to change history...

Verdict

Rosa was a simp sublime episode! This really does rank as an all time classic and I needn't have rewatched when it came to judging the story again. I knew from the get go that it was going to receive a perfect rating and it was just a magnificent adventure to watch unfold. The message this story sends and what it is able to teach younger fans is just so powerful. It does so much in just fifty minutes and I remember the reaction it had on broadcast. It was a touching episode and I really did get all of the feels once more. It's an incredibly moving episode and not all of that comes from Rosa Parks herself. She's played beautifully, but it is also the setting of 1955 Montgomery, Alabama that does so much for the episode. The United States of America will be familiar to so many of the younger viewers so showing them this element of its history is crucial to education. That was done so well with Ryan and Yaz as companions and the moment they were shown to not to fit into that society was incredible. Ryan getting slapped for doing a good deed was just superb stuff in promoting the educational message that permeated throughout the episode. Of course, this is Doctor Who and there had to be some sort of threat or issue and that came in the form of Krasko. I really enjoyed him as villain and he features just enough to be a threat whilst not taking the focus off of Rosa Parks and what would happen on that fateful bus ride home. He had a neural inhibitor from his time in Stormcage which meant that he couldn't exact physical violence or kill anyone. So he was resorting to other methods in the form of sabotage and interference. He'd told the bus driver that the rota had changed and he had a day off and then he'd put up leaflets saying that all bus services had been suspended which meant that Rosa's bus wouldn't be so full that she would have to give up her seat. Ryan once again getting bluntly told where to go when telling the would be bus riders that services were resuming was another reminder of the racism that was a huge part of the society the TARDIS had landed in. I liked how Yaz was seen as mixed race and humorously referred to as Mexican and that meant they weren't always sure which side she sat on. When the fateful bus journey was due, Ryan having to go to the back of the bus and the coloured entrance was more powerful depictions of the issues at hand. When the moment came, the Doctor realising that they had to become a part of history and stay on the bus was an incredible moment and Graham's reactions showed just how important the event was. He didn't want a part of it because it was so horrific but he knew he couldn't change it. The good it would do was monumental and it would start a domino effect. Krasko being dealt with by Ryan and sent back to the distant past was good and was an apt place for him after his efforts to take history off the right course. Moving away from the themes of the episode, I really loved the concept of the Doctor and her companions just defending history. That was lovely. Jodie Whittaker was absolutely magnificent once again and I think I might just be loving her even more as the Thirteenth Doctor on the rewatch. She's mesmerising. Overall, a simply incredible episode!

Rating: 10/10