'Doctor Who' Does Regency Romance Right with"Rogue"

Somewhat unintentionally, this season of Doctor Who has somehow managed to spin itself into the most timely thing on television. The Ruby-centric "73 Yards," whose primary villain was an aggressive nationalist and xenophobic politician with his hand on the nuclear trigger, arrived just as real-life Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election. (Showrunner Russell T. Davies knew this was an election year, but the episode debuting 48 hours after Sunak called the election was still Chef's Kiss.) Now the Bridgerton-esque "Rogue" arrives smack in the middle of the hiatus of the popular Netflix series' third season and features a fairly ground-breaking same-sex romance for the Doctor just in time for Pride Month.

Though "Rogue" is only the sixth episode of Davies' second tenure, it's another shining example of the ambitious nature of this incarnation of the long-running sci-fi series. Continually pushing boundaries about what the show is supposed to be and do, it abandons the subtext of previous iterations for a more straightforward and emotionally affecting queer love story (that also happens to feature some owl-like villains who enjoy cosplaying their favorite Earth-based television programs using the bodies of real-life humans).

Coming on the heels of "Dot and Bubble," which saw the Doctor forced to confront the limits of his ability to save those he encounters — either from certain death or their own bigotry, "Rogue" is a complete tonal swerve into a softer, more traditionally entertaining time travel romp. A trip to the past undertaken seemingly solely because Ruby herself is a Bridgerton fan, the fancy frocks, glowing setting, and the much smaller stakes of scandal and gossip are a balm after multiple episodes that wrestle with everything from faith and loneliness to racism and hate.