Doctor Who- Rogue review

 

You can’t enjoy every episode though there is always someone wiling to stand up and say it’s the best. So `Rogue` isn’t one of my favourites this year but not for the reasons you may think. I just found it rather lacking in anything special despite one already much discussed scene. Admittedly the bar for the show over the years is set high but not every episode can be a classic and this one left me unmoved.

 

The Doctor and Ruby are already undercover in 1813 at a country ball where its all very Bridgerton. Not all the guests are who they seem though. Amongst them are aliens who enjoy a form of cosplay except instead of a costume they take someone’s actual body leaving the real person a husk. Notwithstanding whether an alien race would use the word cosplay this is a horrific idea. However, it is given somewhat lightweight treatment illustrating how Doctor Who has changed over the years. You can easily imagine the scenario being used back in the classic series except the main focus would be on the aliens and the horror of what they are up to. There is some of that still, especially when they fully manifest in their real avian appearance, yet the narrative is really more interested in other things.

Specifically the presence- also undercover- of a bounty hunter called Rogue with whom the Doctor has more than a rapport as they size each other up. Rogue is played by American actor Jonathan Groff as a less frantic Captain Jack though clearly drawn from similar inspiration. If John Barrowman was not on the cancelled list at the moment Jack could easily fit this role. Groff plays it laidback and charming. For all the build up to the character he ends up less independent than Ruby, waiting to see what the Doctor will do. He hardly seems like a bounty hunter, she on the other hand takes the initiative towards the end.

At the heart of it all is something of a brief romance between the Doctor and Rogue, a plot that will no doubt have some frothing and others rapturous. Both actors commit and have good on -screen chemistry but the script doesn’t really sell it enough to make it as heartfelt as it is supposed to be. I suppose the closest antecedent is `Girl in the Fireplace` though this episode lacks the subtler touches of that one. 

What this episode does confirm is the overt sexuality of this Doctor which is really new for the show. Previous incarnations in the modern era have been coy about potential romances and even the one between the Doctor and Rose was slow burned through two thirteen episode seasons to the point where even at the end the Doctor could not bring himself to say it. This was very English of course but this Doctor is now flirting openly with pretty much everyone. It’s a new thing and it does give Ncuti Gatwa something unique. However there is a risk it might become irritating after a while and I think there has to be a time and place. Yes in an episode like this it’s fine but I can see if it intrudes on finales or more serious episodes it will start to grate.

There’s more mystery of course in the appearance of an unfamiliar face when the Doctor is being scanned in what is surely a homage to those Eighties flashback sequences. It appears to be Richard E Grant which was a surprise as he only did the radio play so maybe that makes it canonical. That being said I found the episode rather one note without any special visual individuality to it- Rogue’s ship looks like many others, the aliens really would have fitted in the classic series. They reminded me of the aliens in `The Twin Dilemma` and nobody wants to be reminded of that. The period stuff looks good but lacks depth when it comes to the characters. It’s a narrative that despite some possible destinations seems to struggle to make up its time though at least that gives us a less frenetic episode than usual. Even the reveal at the end about Ruby not having been taken over was something that anyone who has ever watched the series will have got long before it came plus its the same thing as at the end of `Wild Blue Yonder`. And if you’re going to have an overly emotional Doctor- and there’s no reason why not- at least don’t repeat the same thing every episode. Even Susan Twist gets more variety!