This week’s Doctor Who, the last before the season finale two-parter, was an absolute carnival of drama, Easter Eggs, romance, and comedy. So, I’m trying something a little different from the normal and laying out a charcuterie of thoughts on “Rogue,” the Bridgerton-inspired episode.
Spoilers Ahead. Your weekly bit of trivia in case you want to leave, but don’t like to feel as if you’ve wasted the click involves the late William Russell. The actor passed away at 99 this past week. He was still playing the First Doctor’s first companion, Ian Chesterton, up to 2022 and holds the Guinness World Record for the longest gap playing the same character on television. Russell also kept up work in the Whoniverse though the Big Finish audio plays. Check out one of my favorites, “The Sleeping City.”
Okay, here we go.
10. The Shalka Doctor
When The Doctor is captured by Rogue and reveals his Time Lord heritage, past incarnations surround him. If you were confused, why Richard E. Grant’s face appeared, it’s because Grant played The Doctor in an animated film called Scream of the Shalka. At once point BBC was going to bring the show back as a series of animated specials. and Shalka was a proof of concept. It was nice to see him acknowledged. Now, do The Nth Doctor, you cowards!
9. Loki
Kate Herron, who co-wrote the episode with Briony Redman, was a director and executive producer on Loki. They’re the only new writers this season, and they knocked it out of the park. I hope to see them again.
8. Cosplay
Once again, the show’s villains are focused around intangibles. Here, the Chuldur are obsessed with LARP. They call it cosplay, but it more closely resembles goths I’ve known who got way too into Vampire: The Masquerade. Combined with the overarching themes of games, music, and other archetypal concepts personified by villains, I maintain that the Big Bad of the season will involve Lovecraftian deities from the universe.
7. The Kiss
Yes, it was a big deal. Yes, the LGBT community is going to gush about it. No, we don’t care if you think it was shoving The Doctor’s queerness in your faces or pushing an agenda or whatever sad, wet washcloth people whinge about. We cheered when he kissed River Song, too. If you can’t clap for such a lovely kiss, that’s on you, vanilla bean.
6. The Shadow of Captain Jack
I would bet fingers off my left hand that this started out as a return of Captain Jack Harkness story. It would honestly make the Doctor’s instant attraction to Rogue make more sense. Rogue is a dashing, queer bounty hunter with a tragic past, an American accent, and an invisible ship who makes a joke about the screwdriver, putting up shelves and sacrifices himself to save the world. That’s a beat-for-beat retelling of “The Doctor Dances.” Jack’s portrayer, John Barrowman, is persona non grata on the show after accusations he would expose himself to cast members, which would explain why they created a new version that reads like Jack with the serial number filed off.
5. The Clothes
The Doctor’s regency outfit has definite hints of the Third Doctor’s swishing formal wear. Reportedly, that is Ncuti Gatwa’s favorite Doctor, at least when it comes to fashion. It’s been a very long time since we had a Doctor with some fashion sense, so this is a welcome change.
4. The Chuldur
Anyone who has seen two people fight over who gets to wear a specific cosplay at a convention will instantly recognize the petty brilliance of the Chuldur. It’s fun to have petty villains again. One of the best things about the Jodie Whittaker era was how, in her first season, the bad guys were sort extraordinarily mediocre. They had grandiose abilities and very small-minded motivations. That’s an evil we see every day, and I appreciate when The Doctor kicks it in the nuts.
3. Ruby
This is probably Ruby’s best performance yet under the full Doctor/Companion paradigm. There’s no greater mystery, no magical abilities. It’s just Ruby with her wits and kindness, moving the plot forward. Millie Gibson plays it so well, and she reminds me a great deal of Sam Jones from the Eighth Doctor novels. I just hope there is something left of her after her existence as a plot device resolves.
2. The Music
One of my favorite Easter Eggs this season was Rogue and The Doctor flirting to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” Minogue was a one-off companion in the original Tennant era. Plus, all the string quartet versions of “Bad Guy” and “Pokerface” ruled. Then they had to ruin it with “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” the Danni Minogue of classical string quartet pieces.
Actually, now that I think of it, Kylie Minogue’s adventure, “Voyage of the Damned,” was also about rich people at a fancy party getting picked off.
1. The Doctor
The Doctor is about to snap. His “I’m alright now” act is getting pretty thin only seven episodes in. In “Rogue, we see him get ready to go medieval on the Chuldur, try to sass his way back to normal, and end up crying on Ruby’s shoulder. I don’t know how this season ends, but The Doctor’s long life is catching up to him, no matter how hard he’s tried to leave it behind with his predecessor.
Bonus: Paul McGann
There have been rumors that Disney wants an Eighth Doctor series spinoff. I’m guessing that one of the next two episodes will set that up. Just saying it now so I can yell “I told you so” if it happens.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
