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There is a moment in The Lord of the Rings Frodo told Gandalf that he wished he would not have to go through such ordeals. Gandalf responds: "Do the same for all those who live such moments. But it is not up to them to decide. This is a quote that inspired me a lot throughout my life, especially in our recent political climate. And I'm certainly not the only one to inspire sci-fi and fantasy characters. Images of Princess Leia dotted the women's march and quotes from former doctors serve as mission statements to fight injustice. There is something in the increased context of gender narrative that seems to make these heroes particularly easy to connect. The episode of tonight's Doctor Who Shoot the nifty trick of offering an exalted genre story in which the ultimate act of heroism is the actual act of a real person. "Rosa" is a milestone celebration of a woman who could not choose her time, but who, like all of us, could decide what to do with the time she had spent.
I am not sure Doctor Who I have never had as much trouble as in "Rosa". I was incredibly nervous before this episode because it could fail in many ways. One might think that Rosa Parks was an old woman too tired to leave her seat. He could inject zany alien hijinks in a moment of politically changed history. Or, even worse, it could deprive Rosa of her role in real life by presenting the Doctor as a kind of inspiring influence on her actions. But writers Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall are incredibly intelligent as to how they structure the episode. "Rosa" does not speak about the doctor and his companions who are changing the story, it's about keeping the timeline so that Rosa's heroism can change the world.
When Doctor Who first debuted in 1963, barely eight years after Parks' actual event, it was explicitly designed as an educational program, and "Rosa" revisits these educational roots in a major way. In addition to transmitting tons of information about Parks' life (even the prologue of this episode is based on a real event), "Rosa" also informs her audience of the realities of racism at the time of American history. The episode does not write in the background to describe the fanaticism of Ryan and Yaz when the TARDIS ignores the Doctor's attempts to send them back to Sheffield and land them in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. In fact, Ryan is literally hit in the face when he tries to make a glove fall to a white couple. When we meet Rosa Parks for the first time, she mentions Emmett Till's recent lynching as an example of the degree of violence that black teenagers may experience simply for talking to white women. Even this scene has several levels of meaning: Parks' real life cited Till's death as an inspiration for why she decided not to leave her seat.
"Rosa" also avoids making the other mistake it would have been easy to commit for this episode, namely to present racism as something of the past that we can congratulate ourselves on overcoming. Forced to hide behind a dumpster in an alley while a police officer searches their "Whites" motel room, Ryan and Yaz discuss the racism they still face in England in the 21st century. Yaz says people call him a terrorist or shout him insults, while Ryan notes that he is more often arrested by the police than his white friends. The scene directly addresses the complex question of how to evaluate our path while recognizing the time we have left to go. As Yaz optimistic says, "They do not win, these people. I can now be a policeman because people like Rosa Parks fought for me. For us. And in 53 years, their president will be a black president. Who knows where they will be 50 years after that. "
This is the moment when the episode gives the impression that it makes sense, what it does almost every time that Rosa is on the screen. Vinette Robinson projects gravitas, dignity and a spirit of quiet perseverance while ensuring that Rosa feels like a real person and not as an impending historical figure. Because the episode wants to avoid being too involved in the plot of the journey in time, "Rosa" does not present his main character as much as I would have liked. But Rosa makes sweet scenes with Ryan and Yaz that humanize her and allow Robinson to project warmth and humor in addition to the dignity she shows elsewhere.
"Rosa" struggles a little each time she moves away from Rosa's story. The episode had to spend more or less time with Krasko, who spends a lot of time on the screen but never really mixes with a character. "Rosa" also spends too much time on the logistics of how the doctor and his companions cancel every step of Krasko's plan. I would have rather spent with Ryan at a meeting between Rosa, her husband, Raymond Parks, and her lawyer, Fred Gray and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (It would also have been a good time to acknowledge that sit – In the buses had been planned and attempted several times before the arrest of Parks was strategically chosen as a point of support around which to anchor the Montgomery Boycott of the buses.) Overall, however, these are relatively few complaints about an episode that has more reason than harm.
"Rosa" hit me really It was emotionally difficult in my first show, and when I started, I realized that what I am most reacting to is simply the power of Parks' action itself. Doctor Who has long been a show about celebrating the strength of ordinary people, but this usually comes from a great monologue from the Doctor. The fact that the doctor, Ryan, Yaz and Graham silenced the witnesses of Rosa's protest act shifted the purpose of the episode so that his act could defend itself, which the makes it all the more powerful. One of the most complex elements of the episode is the moment Graham realizes that he has to become the white man for which Rosa refuses to give up his seat. "I do not want to be part of it," he says. "We must, I'm sorry, do not help him," says the doctor. It sounds like a very complex metaphor of privilege and alliance, an analysis that I am still analyzing.
I first wondered if placing Rosa's protest and arrest on Andra Day's "Rise Up" has over-golden the lily, but after reviewing the scene several times, I think it was an excellent choice. The song itself is perhaps a stimulating anthem, but it becomes complex when it contrasts with the darker faces of Rosa and the TARDIS team, who know that this is only the first step of a long and long battle. "Rosa" does not say that it is easy to resist prejudices or that historical changes occur quickly. As the doctor explained, Rosa's life was still difficult, even after she won the desegregation of the buses. She may have received the most honorable honors when Bill Clinton awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, but as Ryan notes, "It took so long – all his life." Yet in describing this was given, Doctor Who rightly makes Rosa Parks a hero as inspiring as any fictional character imaginable. This episode seems to be a true statement of intent for this new era of Doctor Who, and that could not be more timely.
Observations lost
- The episode ends with the doctor and his companions visiting an asteroid named after Rosa Parks, who really exists.
- I liked the runner who said the doctor was Banksy, as well as the idea that the doctor had lent a cell phone to Elvis Presley, who had then loaned him to Frank Sinatra.
- Vinette Robinson had previously appeared in Doctor Who episode "42", written by Chris Chibnall.
- Krasko spent his time in Stormcage, where River Song is also a prisoner (frequent escapee). Like River, he also has a Vortex manipulator. I do not really know what to do with these parallels.
- The doctor has a new shirt this week! I wonder if she will wear a colored shirt for future stories and another for past stories, as the tenth doctor did with her suit and the eleventh doctor did it with her bow tie.
- Ryan and Graham spend a lot of time remembering Grace and how much she would have liked to meet her civil rights heroes.
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