One of the Who-iest episodes in ages. The essence of Doctor Who is a show for kids, teaching them about history. This episode embodies it in its very heart. And they find the perfect balance between addressing race relations then and in the present through dialog between the two PoC companions. The white protagonists are not the heroes, but need to acknowledge that they can't change Rosas life. That's the sensitivity Moffat never had. This season is going to be glorious!
An intense episode . . . keeping me at the edge of my seat.
Probably the best episode than the previous two in the term of writing; how the writers handled the darkest part of history really well, and used the Inciting Incident (A man try to change a tiny detail from the most important history) as an element that kept me glued to the screen.
Another clunky boring episode, it's like timeless but bad. Generic villain of the week that had to be a quasi white suprematist because of course he did. Didn't feel menacing at any point other than when he attempted to choke the Doctor. He had no clear goal or meaning and apparently, when he got out of jail, the first thing he thought of was "hmm let me go to the 1950s and disrupt the civil rights movement". They keep cranking the edge up this time with a companion getting slapped too followed by a very intense stare down™. I think the most jarring part of this episode it that we're supposed to pretend no one cares about The Doctor running around with a colorful t-shirt and an overcoat.
A lot of people were worried the female doctor was gonna kill the show but what I'm here to say is that you should had been worried about the writing this whole time. This season has had some severe pacing issues up to this point. This episode took like a half hour to even get running and by that time I had lost interest. That generic music at the end? gimme a break. I really don't know if people are being coaxed into rating it highly but this didn't feel like an exemplary episode by any means. Chib can definitely write drama but not Doctor Who, every episode feels less and less like it.
One of the best episodes Doctor Who has ever done, if not THE best.
loved this episode. the details were great. did anyone notice the bus was 'almost' the same as the original? even the ad on the side matched.
Doctor Who meets Timeless! Epic episode
Really emotional episode and the writing and acting were great. I enjoyed every second of this. I hope we'll find out more about Krasko and why he wanted to change the history.
One of the best episodes, I'm a sucker for these stories, it always breaks my heart
I had shivers throughout the entirety of the last part where they tried to make sure that everyone was on the bus and Rosa Parks was asked to stand This was an incredible episode, absolutely brilliant. Bold and careful in a way I honestly didn't expect Doctor Who to be. When I saw that this episode was going to be about Rosa Parks, I as others was worried of how they would treat it, and yet it surpassed any expectations.
I live in US and with current climate this was a very touchy topic to approach, and yet they did it beautifully. God I'm just so impressed.
this could have gone so, so, so wrong, but it went so, so, so right
possibly the bravest episode the show has ever done, THIS is what doctor who is all about
this was a great episode, the writing style is controlled and clean and in choosing a small battle showed real depth. the doctor on the other hand shows little control or emotional depth, sure the words have meaning but the way they are acted isn't. she always seems to play "high status" even when upset and shouts her words wide eyed. I have hope she will get more suited to the role. comparatively the companions are stronger characters with more emotional depth and I liked hearing their stories.
Really enjoyed the episode and one of the best time travel episodes I've seen from Doctor Who. Just fell short of the Charles Dickens episodes a few years ago but still a very powerful episode. It reminded me of Timeless and Time After Time but I do love that it gave the Civil Rights Movement primetime. Although it got a few things wrong with history it really did serve its purpose in delivering such a strong and emotive episode.
It was also lovely watching an episode without any aliens! Maybe I'm on my own here but I always find the episodes that go back in history so much more interesting.
This was a great episode. I must say I am not enamored by the new Doctor Who though, I have nothing against her being female, I was excited by that, but I find her performances feel very forced and not at all natural, almost like she is trying too hard. I am hoping that she will grow into the role. That said this episode was so well written and acted. And the supporting cast is amazing.
When I heard Doctor Who was doing an episode about Rosa Parks, my first reaction was 'huh?". One, because I didn't expect a British show to tackle such a crucial piece of the American history. And two, because I was afraid that they wouldn't do it justice. It's such a delicate subject matter and they really needed to find the perfect balance for it not to be a complete failure.
And find the perfect balance they did.
I mean, I'm a white girl living in Poland, so far be it from me to claim to be an expert when it comes to the Civil Rights Movement. I'm absolutely not. But I thought this episode was amazing. The actress who played Rosa did a phenomenal job. And I'm pretty sure I held my breath for like 5 minutes at the end there. The moment the Doctor realized that they had to stay on the bus and watch, unable to help because they needed to keep history intact... It was devastating. But Rosa's choice felt absolutely triumphant. I love that we got to see her receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And what a lovely ending with the asteroid.
Jodie really nailed it once again, especially the more intense moments. I loved both her conversations with the other time traveler (whose name I didn't catch because my ears suck and there are no subtitles yet). I can't be the only one who saw a bit of Twelve shining through. The editing, with the quick cuts between the two characters and the (sometimes extreme) close-ups, made those scenes feel very dynamic and intimate. I also adore her facial expressions. Her face does all kinds of crazy things and it's so completely Doctor-ish. When Graham put his arm around her shoulders at the motel and she scrunched up her nose in disgust... I am head over heels in love with this woman.
"- You ain't Banksy!
- Or am I?"
I can't believe I stan this absolute nerd.
All three companions played a big role, which I'm very happy about. We saw a bit more development from Yaz - a lot of people complained that she didn't bring as much to the table as Graham or Ryan in the previous two episodes. I think she really shone here. I also love that Ryan just vaporized the antagonist without hesitation. Good stuff. And I'm glad they haven't magically forgotten about Grace and she still gets mentioned a bunch. It is a very fresh tragedy, after all.
This was hands down the best episode of the season so far and it's probably gonna be remembered as one of the most iconic stories of the entire show. I hope we can keep this up. It looks like next week the Doctor is finally gonna get her gang home and they're gonna be fighting some good old-fashioned space spiders. Which means a ton of dumb fun. Hey, I'm not complaining. We need episodes like that too. But "Rosa" was excellent on all fronts and I'm definitely gonna have to watch it again.
Thank you Doctor Who for showing what a horrible place the United States was and still is today.
I started watching, fearing the worst, especially concerning racism it's hard for the writers to find a balance between ignoring the past (doing to little) and doing too much.
This was exact right, although a bit dark considering the white supremist came from our far future - so somehow racism seems to survive the second colonial age... (According to several episodes we will have colonised planets by the time he is from).Also: brutal ending, being forced to take part in a needed cruel act. As a german I can only imagine how hard it'd be having to do nothing as some of our histories worst acts play out right in front of me when it'd be as easy as stepping off a bus
I loved the episode! Back then times were so horrible.
And the Rosa Parks asteroid is real ;)
Wow, that is such a powerful episode. Very much how I imagine the original Classic Who to have worked, with recognisable historical figures & events & important messages.
The issue of racism is dealt with seriously all throughout the episode. The episode is mostly about the topic of racism, rather than a sci-fi story. I don't exactly mind, as it's interesting, and in the classic doctor who show they used to have episodes set in the past with no sci-fi elements except traveling back there.
With the racist atmosphere of the era, it makes even a single racist police officer seem scary to the viewer against our heroes.
There's never been an episode like this, and it's really interesting. We also get to know the characters a lot more personally.
There's very real danger to the non-white companions in this episode.
The racist villain from the far future doesn't make any sense. Probably written by someone fearful of the future, of future humanity, rather than hopeful, which i don't agree with and i don't think is realistic. Especially not with the ridiculous far future time period of the 72nd century.
The racist's plan doesn't really make sense either. Rosa Parks was only one part of the civil rights movement, it wouldn't have stopped if she never did what she did.
And with the ridiculous far future time period of the 72nd century, there will have been hundreds, thousands more political and social issues that will make the civil rights movement of the 1960s only be a small moment of learned history, that most if not everybody of that time period won't even remember they'd have learned, or if they do have the knowledge embedded (like in a shared matrix or cybernetic memory) then it won't be a prominent learned memory. That's just how it is with the immense amount of time we're talking about and how history and knowledge works in the future, so the villain's plan in this episode doesn't really make any sense. It's part of the poltical message of the episode, which unfortunately as it's nonsensical it undercuts the episode itself somewhat.
Loved Ryan meeting MLK and Rosa Parks.
Got emotional at the end.
And the episode doesn't denigrate or put hate on the white heroes either, even though i think every other white person is treated as racist. Still, the white heroes like Graham and the doctor are treated fairly and rightfully as allies, they aren't chucked in as racist just because they're white, and they're not disrespected by the non-white characters for being white, but rather the societal backdrop is critiqued. I thought this was handled quite well, and you see Graham and the doctor try to be allies and be humble and understanding towards Yaz and Ryan, while not overdoing it. And we see the understandable struggles with Yaz and Ryan in this era against the racism, but we also see the maturity of Rosa Parks in this more conservative era juxtaposed against Ryan's modern day casual behavior and informality. We see how in this era that Rosa was raised in, she wants to keep the respectful, polite attitude, while wanting to be treated equally, fairly, with white people. And it's all really interesting and we see more characterization and learning between all the characters.
Even though the time travelling racist was rubbish, the rest of the episode is still quite good, with the topic of racism dealt with in a mature and serious fashion, and with our heroes manouvering to make sure Rosa still does her momentous action.
Doctor Who meets Timeless! They should actually do a crossover.
sad that they went with the mythicalized version of the story instead of actual history. The fact that Rosa Parks was a publicity stunt organized by naacp shouldn't detract from the event itself. But than again the complicated truth would not have fit in a single episode
Such an amazing, heartwarming episode! Nice job going there, and making it amazing. This stands up there, for me, with the van gogh episode. The show made me feel .. feelings again. It's nice to have that.
This has been done before, and much better, many many times.
Shout by C.BlockedParent2018-10-21T18:45:31Z
This might just be the best episode in a long time? Very good, very in depth, amazing pacing, and oh boy they didn't take prisoners. Love it.