"Rosa" by Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall, directed by Mark Tonderai. Spoilers after the cut.
I mean, this probably isn't what was meant to strike me particularly about the episode, but it's the fact that the buses weren't just segregated - black passengers had to get on at the front to pay, then get off again, walk to the back door and get on that way, which all takes time - and that's at every stop. Which may seem like a flippant take on the episode's message, but I take public transport all the time and everybody's only on that bus because they've got somewhere else to be, and doesn't want to be on it longer than they have to. "This bus will wait here a short time to help regulate the service" is invariably met with groans, and that's usually just once per journey. I guess what I'm saying is, their racism has to be pretty ingrained and petty if all those white people were happy to spend years getting home a few minutes later than they needed to just so they could watch black people go through one more little daily humiliation.
In a wider way, "Rosa" is a bit heavy-handed but largely successful in dealing with a more serious subject matter, and there's a suitably dignified turn by Vinette Robinson - it's been a bit of a theme this year of Robinson playing iconic women from history, and at least in Rosa Parks it's one who's better-remembered. A bit of brutal topicality in the choice of villain as well, with Josh Bowman's Krasko essentially a futuristic neo-Nazi; can't argue with the desire to show kids this is who they shouldn't grow up to be. He's dispatched a bit too easily but who knows, maybe he'll show up again seeking Reveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenge!
Jodie Whittaker's not yet stamped an identity on her Doctor but it's only her third episode, there's plenty of time, for now the main Doctorish trait she's nailed is just barging through everywhere as if she belongs there. Mandip Gill continues to make an underwritten character likeable, while Tosin Cole's Ryan gets a bit more development - the scene of him with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King was one of the standouts of the episode, and the way it put icons in a banal setting reminded me of The Mountaintop (particularly because of the inclusion of MLK, of course.) The actual plotting felt a bit clumsy (what with everyone giving Rosa inspirational speeches all the time, there was little sense of this being just another day like every other when she finally had enough) but overall a well-made attempt at going to some genuinely difficult places for a family show.
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