 |
| The Doctor meets - and flirts shamelessly with - a time traveling bounty hunter (Jonathan Groff). |
1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 44 minutes. Written by: Kate Herron, Briony Redmond. Directed by: Ben Chessell. Produced by: Chris May.
THE PLOT:
The Doctor takes Ruby to 1813 so that they can attend a lavish ball at the Duchess of Pemberton (Indira Varma)'s estate. Ruby enthuses about essentially being in a real-life episode of the TV show Bridgerton, and the pair are having a grand time with the fancy dress and the dances.
Then the Doctor notices the handsome Rogue (Jonathan Groff), standing on a high balcony and surveying the party. Rogue is a bounty hunter from the distant future, and he has mistaken the Doctor for his prey - a Chuldur, an alien shapeshifter. Chuldur adopt the forms of the people they kill - not for any real purpose, but just to enjoy "the dance, the drama, the emotion... It's cosplay!"
The Doctor convinces Rogue of his true identity, and the two agree to work together to trap the alien. But there's more than one Chuldur at this party, and the time travelers quickly find themselves on the run. Meanwhile, the head Chuldur sets its sights on its next victim: Ruby!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: He spends most of the episode flirting with Rogue. This is mostly entertaining, their playful banter leading to a handful of amusing moments. A highlight comes when Rogue, still thinking the Doctor is the shapeshifter, traps him in a force field. It's deadlocked (*drink*), so the sonic screwdriver can't deactivate it... and so he shifts to what he can do, including activating the ship's sound system and dancing in place to Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head. Later, comic misunderstandings cleared up, he and Rogue talk about loss. Rogue lost his partner; the Doctor has lost "everybody."
Ruby: This is very much the Doctor/Rogue show, but she still gets some decent moments. She bonds with bookish young Emily (Camilla Aiko), who is distraught after being used and then rejected by caddish Lord Barton (Paul Forman). Ruby's protectiveness toward Emily and disdain for Barton inadvertently draws the attention of the Chuldur, because Ruby "seems so different."
Rogue: The episode's title character is a handsome, morally ambiguous American who works as an intergalactic, time traveling bounty hunter. His technology is advanced enough to deadlock the Doctor's sonic, and he's quick with both quips and flirtation. Meaning, yes, Rogue is exactly one Barrowman away from being Capt. Jack Harkness. Actor Jonathan Groff helps to counter the familiar characterization by playing it straight. Where Barrowman was happy to lean into a bit of ham and reflect anything emotional with a shield of glibness, Groff deadpans one-liners while showing hints of emotional vulnerability. The character still feels like a Jack stand-in, though, which I think blunted my response to the episode.
THOUGHTS:
Rogue provides a bit of light relief after the string of heavy episodes that preceded it. There are a couple of emotional beats near the end, including one that wants me to feel a lot more than I actually do. For the most part, though, this is a fun adventure that feels like a bit of silliness before the season-ending two-parter.
The script toys around with the notion of cosplay. Early in the episode, a Chuldur who's disguised as a strait-laced lord is taunted by a cad. After some back-and-forth, the Chuldur declares of the cad: "You gamble, have affairs, you're an absolute snake. Meanwhile, I'm all noble and serious... I'd rather be you." The Chuldur proceeds to make good on that, claiming first the cad's life and then his identity - simply because playing him will be a lot more fun.
That's all the Chuldur are there for: Fun. They're at the ball to soak up the atmosphere: "The dance, the drama, the emotion!" This is pretty much the exact same reason that the Doctor and Ruby are there. Ruby spends her first scene giggling about this being like a real-life Bridgerton episode, and she's quick to pass herself off as "Lady Ruby Sunday of the Notting Hill Estates." The Doctor even feels the need to remind her not to do anything to accidentally change history.
The real focus of the episode is not on the monster, but on the interactions between the Doctor and Rogue. Most of this is entertaining. Like most single episode romances, it moves too quickly, but writers Kate Herron and Briony Redmond are careful not to push things past internal credibility. The Doctor and Rogue have fun together and are interested in getting to know each other better, and there's a spark that could lead to something more - but their interactions ultimately amount to a very good (if unconventional) first date.
The episode tries to take a more serious turn near the end - and that's the part that ends up not working for me. When Ruby is put in jeopardy, the Doctor responds with a dark anger that is well-played by Gatwa... but I don't feel it the way I sometimes did with the 11th and 12th Doctors, because these villains don't feel worthy of this response. The Chuldur work when played for laughs, but they don't convey menace. I never believe that Ruby is actually in danger, and so the climactic standoff falls just a bit flat.
The same is true of the ending. The Doctor may be affected by events, but I'm left at a distance. One of Doctor Who's strengths is its ability turn on a dime between silly and serious. But this episode doesn't quite pull that off, at least not for me. As a result, I'm left with a disconnect, unable to make myself feel any of what the episode clearly wants me to.
OVERALL:
Rogue is at its best when it sticks to being lightweight fun. The first two thirds are played as a light period monster piece, and both the bits with the Childur and the flirting between the Doctor and Rogue are enormously enjoyable. But when it tries to shift to something more seriously emotional, I just don't end up feeling it.
It's still a decent entertainment. This is one occasion, though, in which I wish the writers had just stuck to lighthearted fun and left attempts at heavy drama to other episodes.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Previous Story: Dot and Bubble
Next Story: The Legend of Ruby Sunday
Review Index
To receive new review updates, follow me:
On Twitter:
On Threads:
No comments:
Post a Comment