***The folowing contains spoilers for "Rogue"***

<br/ >On tonight’s all new episode of Doctor Who, “Rogue,” the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) travel to a Regency ball in 1813 in Bath where they encounter shape shifting bird-like aliens called Chuldurs who are killing guests at the party to take over their identities. While investigating, the Doctor discovers a bounty hunter who calls himself Rogue (Jonathan Groff), who thinks that the Doctor is one of them.

To me, this episode felt like a classic Doctor Who episode – finally! With the past two weeks being Doctor-lite, it was a great relief to get more of Gatwa. Surprisingly, however, we got less of his partnership with Ruby in this one, but it’s not to the detriment of the episode. The two still get plenty of scenes together later in the episode, and when they split up, it gives Ruby a chance to explore on her own. It’s is fun to watch her delight entering a Bridgerton-esque fantasy world and interacting with those of the era, her anachronisms making her stand out.

Meanwhile, the Doctor goes off to investigate on his own when he follows the sonar interference and runs into Rogue. Their banter really works as they seem evenly matched in wit. I absolutely loved the silly side of the Doctor in the scene with him continuing to turn on Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” in Rogue’s ship and lip syncing and moving to the beat. I was a little surprised to see a flirty Doctor, but I didn’t mind it; it was a cute scene, especially when he gets flustered that his psychic papers say “You’re hot.”

The atmosphere of the episode is beautiful with the elaborate sets and costumes, and even the string quartet version of Billy Eilish’s “Bad Guy” made it seem just like they stepped onto the Bridgerton set. The prosthetics of the Chuldurs were excellent as well and very realistic (as much as a human-bird hybrid can be realistic, but I digress).

The script was also terrific. There were tons of great lines, and I loved the idea that the aliens just liked fancy dress and wanted to essentially cosplay. It was unexpected.

I also loved the reveal of Ruby pretending to have been taken over, and I also appreciated the new tech with the psychic earrings that have battle mode. It’s very reminiscent of The Matrix in my opinion, but it makes sense for the Doctor to have something like that, and it’s a way that he can even help protect his companions. As long as it’s not overused in the future (who knows if we will ever see it again) it’s a cool gadget.

I was sad to see Rogue be taken away with the Chuldurs at the end, although his sacrifice made him all the more appealing to the Doctor. I really could see him becoming a companion; Gatwa and Groff have great chemistry, but I feel like this might not be the last we see of him.