The latest episode of Doctor Who gave this reviewer the ick
It’s Bath time, for Doctor Who, specifically Bath in 1813 as The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) introduces Ruby (Millie Gibson) to Society at a ball thrown by the Duchess of Pemberton (Indira Varma), a lady of minor nobility and major interest in scandal and gossip. But there’s Rogue element at play in all the Regency revelry, and The Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of things.
In classic Doctor Who style, Rogue drops us in media res, straight into an adventure where we get an inkling that things aren’t what they might seem before our heroes do. The discovery that something not-of-this-world is afoot is neatly handled with a delightful conceit that not only explains away Ruby’s improbable grasp of formal dancing but serves to alert The Doctor to some extra-terrestrial shenanigans going on and leading him directly to the eponymous character at the heart of this week’s episode, the enigmatic bounty hunter Rogue (Jonathan Groff – no stranger to the period of the drama thanks to his role as George III in Hamilton).
From the first scene, we are plunged into a world of opulent costumes and intricate societal rules and conventions. The visuals are immediately intoxicating, with the production design capturing every furbelow and folderol of the period. Intrigued by the Bounty Hunter – in more ways than one – The Doctor’s inquisitive nature leaves Ruby to her own devices for much of the episode, allowing her to gleefully indulge in and indict the various social and gender inequities of the period and seemingly carelessly dropping anachronistic linguistics without a thought for the mavity of what she might be doing.
The turning of The Doctor’s head is quite understandable. Jonathan Groff bestrides the scene, effortlessly stealing the limelight and instantly commanding attention, his every grin and quip laden with charm and playful lascivity. The chemistry between Rogue and the Doctor is instantaneous, their interactions crackling with an electric mix of humour and heartfelt moments and it’s a wry reflection on their cognitive blind spots that they both mistake their mutual interest as suspicion for the murders which are occurring rather than for something more amorous. The witty repartee between them is the very epitome of a Regency Quadrille, each step precise and coordinated, the arch formality barely concealing the sensually charged subtext. This is an episode which has zero qualms about unequivocally answering the question of whether The Doctor Dances. Rogue’s characterisation superficially bears comparison with the series’ previous rogue-in-chief Captain Jack Harkness but Groff brings a nobility to the role that’s world’s away from the sleazy predation of John Barrowman’s performance.
Ncuti Gatwa’s portrayal of the Doctor continues to captivate, his performance a masterclass in balancing whimsy with emotional depth and Groff’s Rogue provides a fascinating foil for the character, his presence bringing out a tender side of the Doctor, unearthing layers of vulnerability and past sorrow in a way that recalls River Song more than the unrepentantly horny Captain Jack. This isn’t one-note thirst, it’s played as real romance, which makes complete sense for an alien character for whom gender is explicitly fluid and their sexuality canonically flexible. Davies has never been a subscriber to the more aromantic interpretation of the character which dominated its classic years, with the 10th Doctor notably a serial romantic and even the 9th Doctor not above tipping Captain Jack a knowing wink now and again. For those who found themselves scandalised by The Doctor’s behaviour, the writing is cunning enough that everything that might be found objectionable can easily be interpreted as a clever ruse, a distraction tactic to keep the bad guys off guard long enough for the heroes to save the day of for Rogue to distract the Doctor long enough to steal the trigger mechanism. It’s a wilfully blind interpretation, for sure, but a valid one if needed.
Where Rogue feels a little weaker is in its actual villains, which are classic Davies-era one-shot throwaways. Their menace is fleeting, their impact dulled by a lack of depth and memorability as they serve their purpose within the episode without ever threatening to rise to the challenge of becoming iconic adversaries in the vast rogues’ gallery of Doctor Who. Their escalation from a little local difficulty to potentially world-ending threat feels rushed and unearned in the context of the episode and for all its exquisite period trappings, the moral dilemma that forms the climax of Rogue is rudely mechanical in its obviousness and while its resolution teases a potential future encounter, it’s not the plot but Gatwa’s emotional performance that really sells the Doctor’s apparent brushing-off of the evening’s events while articulating the pain of a timeless being experiencing yet another loss. It’s also perhaps the episode that feels most disconnected from the rest of the series. There’s no snow, no reflection on Ruby’s mysterious origin and only a glimpse of Susan Twist as a portrait on the wall of the ballroom, but maybe that’s for the best given that next week plunges us straight into a two-part season finale which has come around far too soon for my liking.
So where, you might ask, did Rogue give me “the ick”? It’s in its overly eager embrace of the Bridgerton aesthetic as a setting for the episode’s action. The original mission of Doctor Who involved educating and informing its audience through its historical adventures and while it’s been many a year since the series had the courage to do a pure historical (over forty years, in fact) there’s something tawdry and a little bit desperate about a storied television icon like Doctor Who pandering so cravenly to a pop culture footnote like Netflix’s Bridgerton (and I say that as a fan of Shonda Rhimes’ anachronistic romantic fantasy). Episode writers Kate Herron and Briony Redman haven’t just made a few clever nods to the series in the Regency romp, they’ve lifted the setting and tropes wholesale. For a veteran show like Doctor Who it’s got big (and unbecoming) “Hello Fellow Kids” energy, an energy the series has little need of.
