Doctor Who Series 11 First Impressions: Episode 3 (Rosa)

This was always going to be a difficult one to write. I knew that ever since I found out that Doctor Who was doing a Rosa Parks episode. The masculine-presenting white person from Newfoundland with an obscure blog writing about Doctor Who's brush with American civil rights and racism? I am way out of my depth. Part of me just wants to throw up my hands, say "I thought it was good TV" and then just link to a bunch of articles written by people of color on the episode. God help me, though, we're going to try and say something about this episode. Just... take my opinion with a grain of salt, okay? And if I get anything wrong, do let me know and call me out. Okay. So, we are sort of still playing in that weird Hartnell tribute mode because what we have here is almost a historical. Of course, being new Doctor Who, it's a celebrity historical with a famous person from history. It's also not a pure historical story as there's a villain with sci-fi tech in Alabama. That being said, this episode has some of the most uncomfortable tense atmosphere I've sat through in Doctor Who... and it's because of the racism. I made a big deal out of how hostile planet Desolation was in last week's episode, but that was a jolly romp compared to this. Doctor Who's Alabama 1955 is dangerous, raw, and cruel in a way we haven't seen before. Because of all the goddamned racism. With two people of color on the TARDIS team, this is absolutely the worst place to be. Ryan gets the worst of it, given that he's black, but Yas gets her fair share as well. They have some moving interactions with each other in the episode, and it's lovely to see them stick together and try to be supportive of one another in such a hostile environment.


Let's talk about that villain, and his scheme. Kresko, the meddling greaser shitlord who's actively here to fuck with established history. No, not even fuck with. Gently nudge. Fiddling with things here and there to try and stop the circumstances which led to Rosa Parks sitting in that seat and refusing to get up. Why? Because he's a racist from the 79th century who wants to set back civil rights and put black people in their place (his words, not mine). I have been thinking about this literally since the episode finished and it's still a jumble. My immediate comparison point is Lord Sutcliffe from Thin Ice. That was a story which raised the idea of Bill being worried that history would be unkind to her, it not doing so, and then Lord Sutcliffe being a sudden shock of unkind racism 30 minutes in. He was also trying to murder people to get his own way, and it was satisfying to see his rage as he was denied what he wanted and then died a poor man's death under the frozen Thames. Kresko, for all his meddling and literal plotting to wipe out civil rights, is a remarkably chill racist. Compare him to the white-hot indignation that the white people of Montgomery display in the episode against black people, and he's just sort of casual about it. It's chilling, and also a little depressing. Yes, we get our acknowledgement from Yas and Ryan that while racism isn't as bad in their time as it is in 1955, it's still pretty fucking bad. The show would have been disingenuous if it tried to claim otherwise... but it's morbidly depressing that they canonize 79th century racism. To such a degree that a man would literally go back in time to set black civil rights back by 6000 years. We can do better in 8018. Hell, we can do better in 2018. Should Kresko have had a privileged freakout along the lines of Sutcliffe, and have his plans and plots more definitively stopped? I don't know. All I know is what was on screen. The detached casual racist gets blasted back into the distant past. Good. Butterfly effect that shit, fucko.


So, does it work? It worked for me, but again... I am not the person to be asking. It's an episode which was deeply uncomfortable and emotional to watch, but that very well could be due to the whole privilege thing. I'm glad they told the story they did, but... god, I don't even know how to end this one. I really don't. I liked it, but I'm the last person for whom liking it should be taken as any meaningful endorsement. Go look at what people who don't have the level of comfy privilege I do thought of it. The shocking oppressive atmosphere of racism was just uncomfortable for me. For a person of color, I can only begin to imagine how traumatic, moving, and relatable it might have been. For someone marginalized, I can't fathom what this one means... be it the episode's strengths or its missteps. I'll end by giving you two varying takes. The first, a Twitter thread from Black TARDIS livetweeting the episode. The second, Elizabeth Sandifer's review. That'll do for this week, I think. That will do just fine. Until I have to podcast this thing, anyway. Oh god.


Next week: You're the blessed, we're the spiders from Mars.