Chronological Doctor Who Watchthrough #12:
Rogue (1813)
Absolutely brilliant episode. With how much I’ve been thinking about The Reality War and how bad it is I almost forgot this era has some genuinely really good episodes. Ncuti Gatwa and Jonathan Groff’s chemistry is off the charts, I am actually obsessed with them. The pair completely steal the show with their insane flirting. From their first meeting, to them both accusing each other of murder until Rogue pulls a gun on the Doctor, to the ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ gag, to Rogue’s reaction to the TARDIS interior, to their dance and eventual kiss, it all makes for such incredible fun viewing.
On top of this, the chuldur are delightful. We have never (that I can think of anyway) seen bird-creatures in Doctor Who before and their designs are amazing. On top of that, shapeshifters are very much a classic of sci-fi and particularly Doctor Who, but such a good one, and having them as cosplayers as is such a fun new dimension to add - though as a friend of mine loves to point out, what they do would be more accurately described as larping given they actually pretend to be the characters they dress up as. This isn’t actually an important issue of course, just a nitpick.
While I’m nitpicking, I’ll also mention that after the first viewing it reads as a bit contrived at the climax that all the chuldur conveniently gather together exactly within the triform. Probably my biggest nitpick is the odd morality of it being said by the Doctor that it’s wrong to kill the chuldur but it’s ok to send them to a barren dimension where they’ll live the rest of their lives in misery with absolutely no chance of escape. That does not sit right with me.
However make no mistake, these are just nitpicks and at the end of the day I still love this episode. The final scene where the Doctor realises he’s trapped Ruby, and then Rogue sacrifices himself to save her, is beautiful and tragic. I really really hope we see Rogue again (more than just a brief cameo) but I worry it won’t be the same alongside a different Doctor.
And finally, we see Richard E Grant’s face in the list of Doctors? That is so random but fun nonetheless. Not much more to say on that to be honest.