By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
In a stately home in Bath in 1813, a ball is taking place; a ball where not everyone is what they seem and plans are afoot to cosplay the world to death.
Deadly cosplayers were done brilliantly in Supernatural and here we have an alien race called the Chuldur who literally take other forms to experience everything there is. Birdlike in appearance they are indeed a worthy foe much in the same vein as the Family of Blood. By stealing the appearances of others, they intend to go all the way to the top and start world wars just for the fun of it.
This episode is very much fun with the Bridgerton references and interpersonal dramas of love and status and a future of destitution because they don’t marry for love but status. The Doctor and Ruby are loving it and the introduction of psychic earrings are fun additions that become vital to the plot. Also the return of the psychic paper is very welcome.
But the Chuldur are very much a sideshow because this episode is much more focused on the Doctor and his relationship with intergalactic hunter known only as Rogue. I do wish they could have added in a Boba Fett reference though; Disney is involved after all.
Initially the psychic earrings tip them off to something not of this time and the sonic screwdriver leads the Doctor to Rogue. It’s a nice touch to see the Doctor’s observation skills in full flow as he remarks that the balcony is the perfect place to see all the exits and the room. So begins a playful cat and mouse between the two as Rogue believes the Doctor is the Chuldur he is after. Rogue brings the Doctor to his ship while he dismisses the Tardis as a shed. Of course his reaction when entering the Tardis is typical which the Doctor revels in. Both the Chuldur and the Doctor are shapeshifters so Rogue traps him to send him to an incinerator. Rogue is a Kylie Minogue fan which the Doctor loves to embarass him with as well as calling out Rogue named himself after a Dungeons and Dragons species.
The psychic paper says they are hot which flusters the Doctor but a bond develops between them. It isn’t until all of the Doctor’s past faces appear that Rogue is suitably impressed and more so than when he boards the Tardis. But the Doctor changes the trap to send the Chuldur to an empty dimension rather than kill them. The Doctor sees himself in Rogue as they have both lost people. Companions come, companion fall.
I don’t think the Doctor’s life has ever been put in such a beautiful way before as Rogue describes his own. “We travelled together, we had fun, you know. Then a day came along and at the end of that day I lost them.”
“I lost everyone.”
This loss prompts the Doctor to offer Rogue a place aboard the Tardis. We even get a shade of the first Doctor when he turns his nose up at the use of the word Doc.
But the talking point is of course when the Doctor and Rogue kiss. The dance and marriage proposal is there to fool the Chuldur into chasing them into the trap so i’m not really going to explore that. I am reminded of the Star Trek the Next Generation episode the Host where Beverly Crusher tells Odan the symbiote, that perhaps human love has not evolved to let us see beyond the body. Immediately people are going to cry out the Doctor is not gay and is destroying the character due to more woke business. Yes the modern era has seen him more sexual emotionally yet still keeping the line drawn to not being sexual physically. There was a huge opportunity wasted in not exploring the Doctor when he became the 13th Doctor. What does that mean when he beomes a woman? Given the Yaz in love with the Doctor storyline, you could interpret it as no matter what form the Doctor takes he is still attracted to females yet never acts on it. That’s sloppy but typical of he Chibnall era.
So here if you look at the scene it is actually Rogue that instigates the kiss with the Doctor rather than the other way about. I know there will be woke outcry over it but look at it in perspective. As a species will we evolve to be omnisexual just like Jack Harkness? With Ruby about to die, the Doctor’s early conversation about loss hits home. Just like the ninth Doctor fighting the Slitheen in Downing Street. he could save the world and lose Rose. Here, to save the Earth he has to jettison Ruby and the Chuldur to an empty dimension. There is no way he can let his friend die and would find another way that could end up with the Chuldur being triumphant.
He promised to keep her safe and cannot do it until Rogue steps in. The theme here could be simply viewed as every other person that gave their lives after meeting the Doctor just like Harriet Jones as Davros revealed in Journey’s End. The Doctor inspires people even bounty hunters to follow a better way and when in an impossible position Rogue does what the Doctor cannot do. He saves Ruby and the day while sending himself to literal Hell. Yes it could also be seen as one love sacrificing itself to save another but it is a multilayered thing.
So is our perception of this behind the times? If we do evolve to an omnisexual place then this would seem very normal and not a big deal at all. But with the Bridgerton background, it fits right in with the scandal to end all scandals of two men dancing and proposing marriage stirs things up.
As Sarah Jane Smith once said, “Pain and loss they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it’s a world or a relationship, everything has its time and everything ends.” Pain and loss is part and parcel of travelling with the Doctor bu there is also hope. There is a chance Rogue can be found one day but for now the Doctor must dwell on what could have been and slips the ring Rogue offered him in the fake proposal on to his finger lest he forget.
Not that Ruby is forgotten in all this as she hold her own against the social expectations of the upper class which always sounds like Up Their Ass with their regal morals and view of the world. Her almost death and subsequent pretence to be a Chuldur are not down to whatever power lies within her but her own wits and cunning especially when you have a pair of earrings that can turn you into a kick ass hero. Part of me though is aware of the short run of episodes and keeping the Doctor and Ruby apart does not let them get to the intimate levels as seen with Sarah Jane, Martha, Tegan or Jo Grant. They can hug all they want but those moments are missing.
Why we have such a short run is beyond me because next week is the penultimate episode of the season when we learn what is going on with Ruby and what lies within the vaults of UNIT hidden from even the Doctor.
So Rogue was a nice character development episode that put cosplayers in a whole new light.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 