Since Doctor Who’s surge of popularity in America and especially since Steven Moffat took the show there for the first time in his second year in charge, the writers have gotten more comfortable with American-set stories. And it’s opened up a lot of opportunities and spared us having to listen to fake American accents as bad as in “The Gunfighters”. Doctor Who right now also seems to be on a mission to drive away the trolls in the fandom with greater progressive attitudes and a stronger push for diversity. “Rosa” (which is one letter off from the revived series’ pilot) is certainly an encapsulation of both of those ambitions for the show. Episodes like these serve a purpose, but the message could be conveyed flimsily very easy. However in producing episodes like “Rosa”, at least Doctor Who is pissing off the right people.
In one of many attempts to gain control of the TARDIS and get back to Sheffield, the Doctor and friends wind up in Montgomery, Alabama 1955 where they meet Rosa Parks the day before her historic bus protest. But they’re not the only ones out of time, as a racist criminal from the far future has travelled back to prevent the moment from happening, and by proxy the Civil Rights Movement itself.
As far as plots go this one’s razor thin. It boils down to the heroes simply playing Marty McFly to ensure the timeline proceeds as intended. It’s one of a number of Doctor Who episodes based around keeping a historical event intact. What makes a lot of those episodes work where this one struggles however is the absence of an ethical dilemma. In “The Aztecs” Barbara’s abhorrence of human sacrifice came into conflict with the traditions of the society she’d been granted power over. In “The Fires of Pompeii”, the Doctor had to let the volcanic eruption play out and bury a prospering civilization over the objections of Donna. But in “Rosa” there’s no dilemma because what they’re fighting to preserve is something unobjectionable and no one has to compromise morals for it. Which is fine. “The Kings’ Demons” had a similar situation -but no one remembers “The Kings’ Demons”.
Consequently this episode seems to have more interest in discussing racism, segregation, the impact of Rosa Parks, and the problem with discrimination today. And it does so pretty blatantly, serving as history lesson as much as history episode. Right out the gate, Ryan and Yaz are targeted by locals, and specifically their relation to the Doctor and Graham sparks hateful reactions. Some of this is cleverly subtle, like how even when it’s not in focus the white people in the backgrounds of scenes can still be seen staring. But often it’s just the opposite. The problem in trying to showcase and address 1950s racism in a program like Doctor Who is that the message has to naturally be stifled. This show can’t honestly show the effects of racism, the sheer volume of hate, the condoned violence against African-Americans, and you’ll never ever see this show utter the n-word. Doctor Who simply cannot be that kind of a series. So instead, the episode gives us American South stereotypes and racism clichés that don’t reflect accurately its brutality, and actually diminishes the intent of the episode as a whole by characterizing the society of 1955 Montgomery as so far removed from our own.
The episode fares a little better in the conversation of racism through the impact 1950s Alabama has on Ryan and Yaz (who's misidentified as Mexican). It gets off to a bad start with Ryan seemingly forgetting about racism until being assaulted by a bigoted local and then not knowing who Rosa Parks was, which I think is very insulting. However they do have a great scene where hiding in an alley after having to escape a hotel bathroom, they talk about their own experiences with discrimination in 2018. How Ryan has to keep down his temper (“never give them the excuse” as his dad said), how he gets pulled over by police twice as often as his white friends; how Yaz had a tougher time on the road to becoming a police officer, how she was belittled and slurred by some of those she trained with. It’s typical stuff but it’s also true, and after this scene, both seem that much more uncomfortable in this time period. At another point, Ryan follows Rosa, gets caught, and takes in a meeting at her house with her husband Raymond, Fred Gray, and Martin Luther King himself. Sadly, the episode doesn’t allow us to see much of their congregation, which would have made for a more fulfilling enlightenment moment for Ryan. That being said, the actor playing King wasn’t pulling off a very convincing accent so that might have gotten too awkward. Some things in Doctor Who never change.
Vinette Robinson though is very good as Rosa Parks. She carries the weight of the figure aptly and really lets you feel her frustration and defiance. Rosa is the focus of this episode after all. and Robinson and the script really let you know that. Joshua Bowman plays an initially interesting but ultimately disappointing villain. His access to a temporal gun and a vortex manipulator (just like Captain Jack had!) makes him compelling for a while. He also recognizes what the TARDIS is and thus would seem to have an understanding of The Doctor and Time Lords. He could have been a regeneration of the Meddling Monk -his objectives here certainly fall in line with the Monks’ interest in disrupting history. And that device in his head that keeps him from killing people is not a bad creative touch either. But his reveal as just a Richard Spenser of the future, a genocidal ex-con who wants to stop Rosa’s act to prevent Civil Rights from happening is pretty weak, and once he’s set in motion his roadblocks (such as getting bus driver James Blake off duty when the incident is supposed to happen), he’s not useful to the story anymore and is swiftly dealt with by Ryan. That temporal gun he uses is an interesting device, and the means with which it foils him here could suggest a potential return. But I hope not. Even as believable as his thin personality is in todays’ world (hell he’s probably under-vilified), he and his single focussed villainy can’t be good for the show in long form.
The Doctor gets some action and good confrontation scenes with this villain, but apart from that and just orchestrating the plan to ensure Rosa goes through with her protest, she doesn’t get a lot to do in this episode. Nor does Graham really. In a way it’s not surprising, in a story based around racism, that the white characters wouldn’t have as much conflict. But I do wish there was some way to get Graham more personally invested. He defends Ryan as his grandson at one point, which shocks a bigot, but doesn’t provoke much more. He was married to a black woman, Grace posthumously is brought up once again (and by coincidence, referenced Rosa Parks in their very first meeting). There could have been a way for the episode to comment on interracial relationships in this time, either through Graham and Grace or Rosa and Raymond even. But I do like Graham’s anxiety at having to be involved in the event, in having to be on the bus as one of the white people necessary for Rosa to be ordered to give up her seat. I also liked him and the Doctor having to pretend to be a couple, partly just because I could tell Whittaker and Walsh enjoyed that.
Of course the gang sets everything right and history proceeds as it’s supposed to, though the moment doesn’t feel entirely powerful. It’s presented mostly through montage and there’s a slight disconnect with Rosa. “Rise Up” by Andra Day plays underneath the scene (and over the end credits), and it’s a good song that would be fitting a Hidden Figures-like biopic. But not an episode of Doctor Who, and not in a way that overtakes the important scene which should be about our characters and the audience witnessing history. From this it transitions quickly to the TARDIS and the Doctor reiterating the importance of what Rosa Parks did, for the audience more than her companions, while showing the footage of Rosa receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and it more or less ends there.
“Rosa” was clearly meant to be a giant tribute to Rosa Parks, and it does teach and emphasize how vital the role her protest played in the Civil Rights Movement. But it’s also an episode that bit off more than it could chew, being blunt and broad in its treatment of racism to the point of losing some of the effectiveness of its message. It tries to juggle the significance of Rosa Parks with 1950s racism and comment on the persistence of discrimination today, the latter especially being less explored as a result of the former two. Which is a shame because that’s a very important topic, especially with characters like Ryan and Yaz in our main cast. This could have been addressed over the villain, who this episode didn’t really need -it could just as easily have been some Back to the Future-style mishap caused by one of the protagonists unknowingly threatening Rosa’s stand. This episode was written by Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman, a popular British childrens’ writer whose work often deals with themes of race. I see and admire what she was trying to do with this episode, but it doesn’t quite come across in the finished product, certainly not with the strength and impressionability it needs. It retells an important story about an incredibly iconic figure, just not in a particularly potent way.
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