New Doctor Who Season 1 First Impressions: Episode 6 (Rogue)

Heated drama between men.

 So far with the first season of the New Doctor Who (or Series 14 if you wanna be like that) there has been this renewed freshness to the proceedings. Some of it has been re-introducing old concepts to the new folks jumping on board, like Space Babies was. Much more of it introducing new ideas and concepts to the show, as 73 Yards was. Thus far, however, we have had no returning villains or anything like that. The closest recoccuring element has been Kate, and I guess Mel is back next week as well. It reminds me a lot of the 13th Doctor's first season, and I will forever stand behind the idea of having all-new shit in that season (until Resolution anyway) being a good one. The writing was less good that season, but at least there was that freshness. We've seen what happens when that quality of writing gets paired with the opening of the continuity floodgates, and it's bad. Rogue, on the other hand, is quite good. It's fresh but familiar, and it paves the way forward for a new vision of Doctor Who.

That vision is, of course, being homosexual as hell. Let's get that out of the way. Doctor Who and Rogue's romance in this story is a wonderful thing, and the way it twists and turns before becoming this intimate expression of feelings and passions is a thing of beauty. It also mirrors the whole Bridgerton aesthetic that the episode is going for, and that's not even the only weird mirroring of Bridgerton that's happening here. Doctor Who and Rogue flirt a bunch, they almost kiss, and then they do kiss. Unambiguous good. There have been people who decry this on the Internet, and I'm not even talking about the bigots here, they decry this era for existing and aren't relevant to the discussion beyond reiterating "fuck them". No, there are folks who don't like this because Doctor Who is supposed to be an aromantic being, because that's just been how the character has been up to now. I reject that line of thinking, but I have to be careful here. 

If you identify with the Doctor as an aromantic being for personal reasons tied to your own identity and feelings on romance, and are feeling let down by the Doctor being the kind of guy who smooches Jonathan Groff now, I sympathize with you there, even if I don't understand or agree that this turn of the plot is bad. What I'm decrying is the type of logic that insists upon this nameless because that's just the way things are. That type of thinking leads you to Thasmin, where the issue was raised and then rejected because of a conservative lack of imagination. I saw a particular post from a Thassie, or whatever they call themselves, deriding this episode's "30 minute Grindr hookup" in favor of Thasmin's supposed "3 season slow burn emotionally unavailable lesbian love story". Holy shit the coping levels are off the charts. I think a Thasmin might melt if they saw a sapphic anime like Symphogear or Lycoris Recoil, let alone something infinitely more lesbian. Jesus Christ.

Oh yeah, and the whole Bridgerton mirroring thing isn't just dealt with by Doctor Who and Rogue having torrid period drama between men, but with the entire notion of the Chuldur aliens being literal Bridgerton LARPers playing a deadly game with human life. Even Ruby gets in on the performative nature, pretending to have gotten got offscreen in order to stop their evil scheme. Most savvy viewers will cotton on to the twist (though I will admit I forgot the Chekov's Gun about the earrings and thus had a grin on my face when I realized, and not just because I also realized the revelation was set to an orchestral cover of fucking POKER FACE) but the show goes to great lengths to try and sell it. It's a neat little bit of devotion. This episode's a lot of fun. It has certain elements and style that echo past RTD eras, as Rogue is kind of like Captain Jack but not played by a guy who likes to whip his cock out for funsies. Still, there's enough freshness here that leave you really impressed by the affair. Doctor Who kisses a man, and is then vulnerable enough about his feelings to let Ruby give him a hug after he loses the man. Fuck emotionally unavailable. Gimme this Doctor Who, and lots more of him.