S11.E03: Rosa

[Meredith Quill]

Airdate: 10.21.2018

Episode Synopsis:

Montgomery, Alabama. 1955. The Doctor and her friends find themselves in the Deep South of America. As they encounter a seamstress by the name of Rosa Parks, they begin to wonder whether someone is attempting to change history.

[Occasional Hope]

Well, we don’t know where the villain with the Spike chip went.  I bet we see him again some time.

[Triskan]

Yeah I guess we'll see him again.

So... first impressions, still hot so it's what it's worth.

Overall really enjoyed the episode, the character dynamics, the tone and mostly the weight of it all... so it's a win for me.

I'd nitpick over the music during the final scene, would have preferred something more sober, but music's always subjective. And still, the baddies are definitly not the forte of the series so far for me, found Handsome-Ex-Convict kinda bland and one-dimensional.

I hope we'll get more high sci-fi concepts and antagonists as the series unfolds, cause so far that's what I miss.

But otherwise, I really liked the episode. Truly. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Triskan

[HauntedBathroom]

Hmm, they finally remembered to give the companions character in this episode. I can see very little of Chibnall's style in this, I wonder how much he wrote of the episode that has 'award winning' written all over it.

[Occasional Hope]

The more heavy handed bits?

[Kite]

Oh my. What an episode. I teared up during the final confrontational scene, and I'm not usually that emotional about shows. 

I'm sure I can nitpick later, but OMG Doctor Who pulled off this big risk, and props to this old show for moving forward.

"Stormcage" OMFG well played show. And also for showing that racism is not going to be just magically erased by The Future like a lot of sci fi does.

We got a little more about the companions, even Yaz. But we're going to get a romance... okay I suppose...

The Doctor was even more badass, which is giving me so much life.

EDIT: okay I remember Stormcage was a prison River Song was in (right?), but it sounded a heck of a lot like Stormfront, and so many of those actively Nazi types are ex-cons too.

Edited October 21, 2018 by Kite

[owenthurman]

Loved it. It will probably rank among the all-time best, imo.

The lead writer on this ep was Malorie Blackman, an author of children's books. I just ordered her novel Noughts & Crosses.

Edited October 22, 2018 by owenthurman

[Rhetorica]

I'm off by a week in my viewing because I wait for my son to come home and watch it with me.  He was skeptical but loved the first two episodes.  He saw 10 and 11 in this doctor and is on board.  I'm even more excited to watch it now.  

[NeenerNeener]

Damn, this gave me a case of the feels. I expect Krasko to show up again this season. And was that Chris Noth in the previews for next week?

[jcin617]

I’m taking a guess that the time traveler meant “humans” when he said “your kind” to Ryan though the show was implying the meaning to the situation at hand.

[tessaray]

I thought it was brilliantly done - and I was very skeptical they could do the subject justice before watching it. 

[meatball77]

I loved this.  I don't know that I've been that moved by a history episode since the doctor took Van Gogh to see his work.  They did well.  I didn't feel like I was being preached at.  I was worried they were going to have the doctor create the moment, to take it away from Rosa but they didn't and I thought them having to sit and be there while the moment happened was a nice touch and they didn't make it about them at all.

Edited October 22, 2018 by meatball77

[WatchrTina]

I'm not gonna lie. -- I didn't enjoy this one because I was too anxious the whole time.  I knew that, in the end, Team Doctor would win and history would be preserved (and Rosa would be arrested) but I could not help but feel genuinely worried about Ryan the whole time.  I guess that means it was good . . . it got to me.  But it also meant I enjoyed it less.

So . . . was Rosa Parks really married to a white man?  If so, that's news to me.  I'm also aware that Rosa was specifically chosen to refuse to give up her seat that day.  Her protest was part of a well-orchestrated plan and she was specifically chosen be the one to kick it off -- due to her ability to be calm and cool in the face of racism (which we saw depicted when she defused the situation with Ryan and white man who hit him).  That Rosa's protest was planned was hinted at by the meeting that Ryan stumbled into and I guess nothing they showed contradicted that.  But if you didn't know the story you might get the idea that Rosa's protest was a spontaneous thing when in fact it was planned (she was enormously brave to agree to be the one to do it.)  Knowing that, I had a hard time with the whole thing about repairing the Doctor's coat and then rushing her out the door to catch that particular bus.  What was the point of asking her to do that repair?  Was it just so Yaz and The Doctor had a reason to be on the same bus?  Questions like this are the downside of setting an episode within real, known history.

For me, one of the most touching moments was Graham's dismay at having to stay on the bus -- at having to be one of the white people that Rosa was told to give up her seat to.  That was poignant.

Add me to the list of people who think we'll see that bad guy again. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by WatchrTina

[Chaos Theory]

This episode had the potential to go all kinds of wrong but it worked in large part because of who the characters are.  I think the saddest part was watching The Doctor NOT help someone.   

Because of course they were a part of the story......

Edited October 22, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[cardigirl]

Someone last week was worried this episode would feel like a Timeless episode, and I think it did. I did like parts of it. I was hoping we were going to recognize the guy from the storm cage’s name, and was disappointed that he wasn’t a link back to previous Doctor Who history. 

I liked that Graham and Ryan brought Grace back into the narrative. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by cardigirl

[bugsmum]

Oh, I loved it.  Loved pretty much everything about Ryan in this episode and think the actor did a great job showing us a young black man from 21st century England dropped into 1955 Alabama.  Loved Ryan and Graham speaking of Grace, and what this experience would have meant to her. Loved Yaz not knowing where on the bus she could sit.  (Where she would have sat on the bus is the question Bugschild, who is neither white nor African American, asked when she was small and first learning about Rosa Parks.). Loved the Doctor and companions realizing they had to stay on the bus.  Loved the companions realization that they were actually witnessing the world changing.  

[Kite]

31 minutes ago, jcin617 said:

I’m taking a guess that the time traveler meant “humans” when he said “your kind” to Ryan though the show was implying the meaning to the situation at hand.

No, he was a human alright, from the 79th century. And a racist one.

If he'd been an alien out to get humans, his knowledge of and intention to mess with a small but pivotal aspect of human history to stop triggering the civil rights movement to give Black people & other non-white people more power on into (his) future, would have made no sense.

Edited October 22, 2018 by Kite

[benteen]

Really enjoyed this episode.  It utilized all the characters very well (with Yas having more to do) and the story was strong.

Edited October 22, 2018 by benteen

[owenthurman]

5 minutes ago, Kite said:

he was a human alright, from the 79th century. And a racist one.

 

It's an intense commentary to project a future where race will remain problematic for thousands of years.

Edited October 22, 2018 by owenthurman

[angora]

Really liked it.  I appreciated some of the details that aren't always highlighted when this event is taught in schools, like Black people having to board in front to pay, get out and enter again in the back, and sometimes have the buses drive off on them before they can re-board.  Similarly, I liked Yas pointing out that Parks being "tired" was in reference to tired of injustice, not just physically tired from work, and I'm really glad they showed it as it went down, with Parks sitting in the "colored" section but told to get up because the "white" section was full; I feel like too many people think she sat in the "white" section. 

I find it unbelievable that, at minimum, Ryan and Yas weren't more on their guard immediately, although I suppose you could be wary of 1950s-American racism and still have a kneejerk reaction like trying to return a stranger's dropped glove (I also got a little worried whenever the plan involved Ryan and/or Yas going off on their own - this seems like it would've been a good adventure to institute a buddy system!)  Still, they adjusted quickly; it was heartbreaking to see them hiding in the bathroom, and then behind the bins, while the Doctor and Graham were "allowed" to be in the motel.  (Side note:  I really enjoyed the Doctor's interactions with that cop, telling him she doesn't know anyone by "that description" and insisting that she wasn't "harboring anyone who doesn't have a right to be here.")

Good that they addressed racism in the past (obviously,) the present (Ryan and Yas talking about their experiences,) AND the future (Krasko thinking this is when everything "went wrong.")

More references to Grace!  I liked that, and it was really fitting here.  I especially loved Ryan's little sad-joking moment when he said that, if Grace were there, "she'd start a riot."

[Eolivet]

I wanted to like this so badly, and I thought the writing was the snappiest of the post-Moffat era, but this felt like such a ripoff of Timeless. On that show, the idiosyncrasies about history worked, because the main character is a historian. But do people really know who drove the bus Rosa Parks sat in? I just did not buy that these characters would have that information at their fingertips -- the Doctor might, but that was so convenient, it took me out of the story.

And because I found their investment in Rosa Parks forced, I couldn't really embrace the episode. It'd be one thing if they were like "oh yeah, I've sort of heard of her," and they gradually get more invested, the more they learn about her, but that they all started off with "yes, she's amazing, I worship her" felt really contrived to me. Plus, the shadowy racist figure who wants to alter history (a.k.a. Rittenhouse, the main Timeless villains)? I realize there are no original ideas under the sun, but that felt so similar to Timeless, it just irritated me.

Granted, I am one of maybe five Timeless viewers. But still.

Edited October 22, 2018 by Eolivet

[SailorGirl]

36 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

For me, one of the most touching moments was Graham's dismay at having to stay on the bus -- at having to be one of the white people that Rosa was told to give up her seat to.  That was poignant.

 

So much this! He (and all of them) played it so well -- knowing they had to sit there and let it happen because, well, history, but struggling with the injustice of it all. 

I will also say, given the current climate in the United States, it was a wonderful reminder that times DO change -- when Yaz and Ryan were talking and she made the comment about how 50 years later a black president gets elected. It actually gave me a small moment of comfort in what has been horrible discomfort since November 2016.  

Agree with the poster who said this was the most well done episode with a historical figure since Vincent and the Doctor. That is one of my favorite episodes ever. This one gets added to that list. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by SailorGirl

[driver18]

15 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

I wanted to like this so badly, and I thought the writing was the snappiest of the post-Moffat era, but this felt like such a ripoff of Timeless. On that show, the idiosyncrasies about history worked, because the main character is a historian. But do people really know who drove the bus Rosa Parks sat in? I just did not buy that these characters would have that information at their fingertips -- the Doctor might, but that was so convenient, it took me out of the story.

And because I found their investment in Rosa Parks forced, I couldn't really embrace the episode. It'd be one thing if they were like "oh yeah, I've sort of heard of her," and they gradually get more invested, the more they learn about her, but that they all started off with "yes, she's amazing, I worship her" felt really contrived to me. Plus, the shadowy racist figure who wants to alter history (a.k.a. Rittenhouse, the main Timeless villains)? I realize there are no original ideas under the sun, but that felt so similar to Timeless, it just irritated me.

Granted, I am one of maybe five Timeless viewers. But still.

They actually addressed that. Ryan wasn't really sure of the history with her, just that she was a famous black lady involved with a bus somehow. It was Yaz who knew more about her, but she only knew about her because their schools were named after famous people of history and their class was named after Rosa Parks. That was specifically why Yaz knew. And based off of everything that we know about Nan (Grace), it makes absolutely sense that she would totally look up to someone like Rosa Parks and know the history of this very famous incident in her life, this particular moment that changed history... and since she married a bus driver, that she would have mentioned it more than once to that particular man. So it was explained why they knew the bit of information that they did.

[UNOSEZ]

I don't have much more to add.. Loved the episode.. Which I was pleasantly surprised by... Loved graham explaining modern cell phones and naming himself Steve jobs... Ryan and Yaz outside by the trashbin... Was uplifting and terribly sad all at the same time.. Kudos to the team on this one

[Chaos Theory]

Most if not all time travel shows get involved in major history at one point of another.  Quantum Leap did it alot.  I remember the show even had Sam “leap” into the body of Lee Harvey Oswald.  Doctor Who has gone back in time to Pompeii on volcano day.   There are probably more but it’s late and I am tired.  Anyway I thought it was a really good episode that ever with a really great moment.  

Edited October 22, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[Starchild]

Ryan's a good kid but not the brightest spark in the engine. Knowing that the bad guy is trying to mess with history, why would you send him further back, rather than forward? He's just going to get an even better chance to make a huge change to the timeline.

[Kite]

3 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Ryan's a good kid but not the brightest spark in the engine. Knowing that the bad guy is trying to mess with history, why would you send him further back, rather than forward? He's just going to get an even better chance to make a huge change to the timeline.

IMO, further back there wasn't much going on that would empower Black people, this was the beginning. He can go back to a time with even less technology, and even more retrogressive views, where he belongs. I wouldn't call Ryan stupid for this.

[TexasGal]

1 hour ago, WatchrTina said:

So . . . was Rosa Parks really married to a white man?  If so, that's news to me.  I'm also aware that Rosa was specifically chosen to refuse to give up her seat that day.  Her protest was part of a well-orchestrated plan and she was specifically chosen be the one to kick it off -- due to her ability to be calm and cool in the face of racism (which we saw depicted when she defused the situation with Ryan and white man who hit him).  That Rosa's protest was planned was hinted at by the meeting that Ryan stumbled into and I guess nothing they showed contradicted that.  But if you didn't know the story you might get the idea that Rosa's protest was a spontaneous thing when in fact it was planned (she was enormously brave to agree to be the one to do it.)  Knowing that, I had a hard time with the whole thing about repairing the Doctor's coat and then rushing her out the door to catch that particular bus.  What was the point of asking her to do that repair?  Was it just so Yaz and The Doctor had a reason to be on the same bus?  Questions like this are the downside of setting an episode within real, known history.

Knowing this as part of the actual backstory threw me out of this story a bit as well.  It really wasn’t at all spontaneous. And, I get them wanting to protect history but I don’t think it really would have mattered if it were a different bus driver. I mean, the guy who got a trip to Vegas seemed to be less of an a-hole but he still would have enforced the rule, I’m sure.  \nitpick

Ok, I lied. Her husband was not white.  I assume the actor was just fair skinned while still of African descent but, again - nitpick.

I still teared up in the end.

1 hour ago, NeenerNeener said:

Damn, this gave me a case of the feels. I expect Krasko to show up again this season. And was that Chris Noth in the previews for next week?

I think so!  I love him.

[Enigma X]

In six minutes I will be able to watch, but Rosa's husband was a very fair-skinned black man I believe. Not sure if that was what they were going for here.

[theschnauzers]

I doubt they would have messed up the detail of Mr. Parks' skin color. There have been light or very light color blacks in the US dating back to per-revolutionary times. Up until the civil rights movement’s successes primarily in the 1960s, very light skin color blacks would be known to move to new cities and pass as if they were white. (There was an episode of Cold Case {"Libertyville"} on this very plot device which had Johnathon Schaech playing a character passing as white.)

Edited October 22, 2018 by theschnauzers
typos

[The Companion]

1 hour ago, meatball77 said:

I loved this.  I don't know that I've been that moved by a history episode since the doctor took Van Gogh to see his work.  They did well.  I didn't feel like I was being preached at.  I was worried they were going to have the doctor create the moment, to take it away from Rosa but they didn't and I thought them having to sit and be there while the moment happened was a nice touch and they didn't make it about them at all.

I agree. They did a good job of not making it about our group. They were giving her the opportunity but it was clearly Rosa who was making the decision.

1 hour ago, WatchrTina said:

I'm not gonna lie. -- I didn't enjoy this one because I was too anxious the whole time.  I knew that, in the end, Team Doctor would win and history would be preserved (and Rosa would be arrested) but I could not help but feel genuinely worried about Ryan the whole time.  I guess that means it was good . . . it got to me.  But it also meant I enjoyed it less.

So . . . was Rosa Parks really married to a white man?  If so, that's news to me.  I'm also aware that Rosa was specifically chosen to refuse to give up her seat that day.  Her protest was part of a well-orchestrated plan and she was specifically chosen be the one to kick it off -- due to her ability to be calm and cool in the face of racism (which we saw depicted when she defused the situation with Ryan and white man who hit him).  That Rosa's protest was planned was hinted at by the meeting that Ryan stumbled into and I guess nothing they showed contradicted that.  But if you didn't know the story you might get the idea that Rosa's protest was a spontaneous thing when in fact it was planned (she was enormously brave to agree to be the one to do it.)  Knowing that, I had a hard time with the whole thing about repairing the Doctor's coat and then rushing her out the door to catch that particular bus.  What was the point of asking her to do that repair?  Was it just so Yaz and The Doctor had a reason to be on the same bus?  Questions like this are the downside of setting an episode within real, known history.

For me, one of the most touching moments was Graham's dismay at having to stay on the bus -- at having to be one of the white people that Rosa was told to give up her seat to.  That was poignant.

Add me to the list of people who think we'll see that bad guy again. 

I thought the coat was an excuse to make sure Rosa wasn't waylaid by our bad guy in some way. I really appreciated (can't really say enjoyed) that the show didn't shy away from the reality of the time period. Ryan and Yaz weren't hidden away in the TARDIS. They didn't find a workaround. The characters had to face a really difficult reality. I did love Ryan's starstruck discussion with Rosa Parks and Dr. King.

 

I really liked this. I usually prefer running around spaceships, and I wasn't sure they would tell this story in a nuanced way, but I thought it was lovely. The actress playing Rosa had a great balance of steely determination and grace. The accents were awful, but otherwise it was a compelling and well-done episode and the emotional payoff at the end was great. 

Loved the discussion of Nan. Loved the ability to laugh and appreciate her with the riot line. 

There were a lot of great lines for JW, and three episodes in I think she feels like she has been the Doctor much longer. I continue to appreciate how this iteration of the Doctor is intentional about the use of her Companions. Yaz, who is a police officer, makes a timeline and guards Rosa Parks. Graham uses his ability to blend with the bus drivers. Ryan's got to follow Rosa Parks (probably the most inconspicuous choice) leading to some really great scenes. I am enjoying the character development. 

My only nitpicky thing is that the Doctor made it clear she disliked the weapon subsequently used but said nothing about it when it was employed. I suppose the Weeping Angel gun was the best bet, but stlll.

Oh and I loved the better look at the TARDIS. It looks so cool.

[Ms Lark]

Interesting article about Rosa Parks written by her niece: https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a16022001/rosa-parks-was-my-aunt/

She did not like that bus driver and would usually let his bus go by without getting on.

[LiveenLetLive]

I must admit that I felt ashamed because this is American history, sigh, still loving Jodie. I found the episode quite moving.

26 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

In six minutes I will be able to watch, but Rosa's husband was a very fair-skinned black man I believe. Not sure if that was what they were going for here.

I just looked up photos of Parks and her husband, Raymond Parks was quite dark skinned actually.

[Lantern7]

I'm looking forward to spiders next week. I don't think I could deal with stuff like "Rosa" every week. It's powerful, but it took longer for me to watch because of the subject.

Still liking the dynamic of the cast. Still liking the current Doctor, as she deals with that one guy uniquely. Speaking of which . . . so he was a racist from the future? That's all? Okay, he had future tech, and he had to work around not being able to hurt anyone (pretty effective deterrent), but . . . Future Racist? Also, how could be be so certain that things would not have happened if he did his job? I can just imagine the Doctor: "The event exposed brought tensions to the forefront. If that doesn't happen, it probably still would have happened in some way. But we cannot . . . WILL NOT . . . take that chance."

Apologies for the lack of further commentary. I just feel like a putz commenting about it.

@Eolivet . .  .I was thinking Timeless as well, but the Doctor is a damn professional. Those guys? Rufus would've replaced Rosa that night, because the gang let everything go to hell.

Edited October 22, 2018 by Lantern7

[Starchild]

I would think the Doctor would have a special aversion to spiders. Seeing as how they killed him once, and all.

[Enigma X]

7 minutes ago, LiveenLetLive said:

I must admit that I felt ashamed because this is American history, sigh, still loving Jodie. I found the episode quite moving.

I just looked up photos of Parks and her husband, Raymond Parks was quite dark skinned actually.

Something I should have did before posting. Thanks for the clarification.

[QuantumMechanic]

Huh. I never knew there was an episode of Quantum Leap where Sam jumped into an eccentric British woman in Montgomery, AL in 1955.

Not nearly as good as other QL episodes on similar subjects. Though at least it wasn’t as anvilicious as ST:TOS’s “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”.

 

Still liking Jodie and Graham, though.

Edited October 22, 2018 by QuantumMechanic
had to give Graham some love

[Unusual Suspect]

I kinda like the pettiness and yet craftiness of the villain. Also some solid character moments, and not the Very Special Episode I was worried this would be.

[Leia1021]

If I wanted to watch Quantum Leap, I'd go look for re-runs.  This is not Dr. Who to me.  Didn't like it at all.  

[QuantumMechanic]

13 minutes ago, Leia1021 said:

If I wanted to watch Quantum Leap, I'd go look for re-runs.  This is not Dr. Who to me.  Didn't like it at all.  

Yup.  It was nice to see them not sugarcoat how bad things were then, and the bus scene was powerful, but as you say, that was an slightly odd episode of Quantum Leap rather than Doctor Who

[Enigma X]

I really liked the episode but was a bit confused on what the guy had against Rosa Parks  and if he was even human at all.

[QuantumMechanic]

1 minute ago, Enigma X said:

I really liked the episode but was a bit confused on what the guy had against Rosa Parks  and if he was even human at all.

He was some random racist from the future trying to do an inverse "kill Hitler as a baby" to change the timeline.

[Enigma X]

Just now, QuantumMechanic said:

He was some random racist from the future trying to do an inverse "kill Hitler as a baby" to change the timeline.

So a racist human from the future. Got it.

[QuantumMechanic]

2 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

So a racist human from the future. Got it.

Presumably human, yes. Though we don't know that for sure.

[Enigma X]

1 minute ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Presumably human, yes. Though we don't know that for sure.

Geez! I hope it was a human and not some non-Earthling hating black people. (Which is the source of my original confusion.)

[Kite]

4 hours ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Yup.  It was nice to see them not sugarcoat how bad things were then, and the bus scene was powerful, but as you say, that was an slightly odd episode of Quantum Leap rather than Doctor Who

I've never seen Quantum Leap but Doctor Who has been a time-travelling show since the 60s with all sorts of very different takes on time travel. They've dealt with "not changing history" or "preserving history" in lots of ways before, though not quite like this, where the Doctor DOESN'T get to be a Big Damn Hero. (Or tries to NOT just stand quietly by, such as with the devastating Waters of Mars.)

EDIT: I just remembered a story from the 60s like this where the Doctor and his team have to race to stop a time traveller from messing with a crucial point in history, and wreck his dimensional control to boot. (Are there any others like that?) There was a lot more bombs & fighting & heroics & such though, this was a much quieter episode.

This is a nitpick or a DW/Torchwood nerdy continuity question, but I feel like if Time Nazi knew what a TARDIS was, he'd know what a Time Lord was? But did people throughout time know what happened to them given the Time War did weird things to time (at least some races did?), and has that been undone with the weird Gallifrey is sorta back thing? (I've kind of blanked on a lot of the Moffat era.) If he did know what they were, he may have pegged they're pretty knowledgeable and not asked the "who are you?" (Still, great moment.)

Edited October 22, 2018 by Kite

[hnygrl]

This was admittedly hard to watch. I had to keep turning away...I recorded it so I can re-watch if I need to.

I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the deep south, right when this stuff was going on. The first half brought back too many memories. I was having emotional flashbacks, one after the other, till I had to turn away till that part was over. The looks, the slap, soon as I saw that handkerchief fall I knew it was gonna be bad. Do you know? Men have been KILLED for doing what he did? That was too much for me. And the looks at the restaurant. Damn. Couldn't take it. Although "we don't serve coloreds here" "good, cause I don't eat 'em" Good for you kid!

Not a fan...but well...I lived it. Boy, girl, being said to 70, 80 year old men and women...I didn't like it.  Never got called ma'am or sir. Only BOY or GIRL. Let me stop. I'm still 'het up' from that one. 

It was good, but too dark.

Bit of history for my British friends: 

It was actually Claudette Colvin, aged 15, who got arrested and kicked off the bus, but she was both too young and too belligerent to be the 'mother of a movement' so the NAACP chose their secretary, one Rosa Parks, to go out and catch that bus again, sit in the white section on purpose, and pray she got arrested. She was older, more mature, and calmer overall than a hotheaded kid. This was a well-planned, well-executed endeavor. It wasn't just a tired lady who didn't want to move, this was planned. It was Claudette Colvin who should've gotten all those accolades, she's the real mother of the movement.

Didn't 'get' the future racist thing. I would've liked to see him fleshed out more, why was he there, what was he trying to accomplish in the future, where (and when) was he from, stuff like that. He was there, he was British, then he was gone. Uh....huh? What? Wha-happened? What a waste of a villain.

So far, 3 episodes in, the villains for this season have been boringly, shockingly weak.

[justmehere]

Timeless comparisons already made.

What I liked:

--Ryan in the meeting with Rosa Parks and Dr. King, awestruck -- as you would be -- but also, using their whole names every time he addressed them because they're famous to him.

--In the big moment: the Doctor's face, controlling herself, letting it happen. The emotional moment with the arrest did get me.

So, it was driving me crazy, watching the villain, because he looked so familiar. Looked him up: Josh Bowman from Revenge (Daniel Grayson), and the short-lived Time After Time series, where he played Jack the Ripper.

Edited October 22, 2018 by justmehere
punctuation

[LiveenLetLive]

33 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

I really liked the episode but was a bit confused on what the guy had against Rosa Parks  and if he was even human at all.

I am assuming he was a psychopath who was also a racist of some sort, I am hoping we see more of him and get more of his story.

[jcin617]

3 hours ago, Kite said:

No, he was a human alright, from the 79th century. And a racist one.

If he'd been an alien out to get humans, his knowledge of and intention to mess with a small but pivotal aspect of human history to stop triggering the civil rights movement to give Black people & other non-white people more power on into (his) future, would have made no sense.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of him tracing civil rights movements throughout human history back to that point.    E.g. from a future where humans had to stand up for themselves.

But yes maybe he was just a future racist.   It’s just odd to have made him from 5800 years in the future when humans will be scattered to the stars and probably aren’t going to look anything like they do now.   

Edited October 22, 2018 by jcin617