Okay. Well, this one I really didn’t like. Which seems to be a bit at odds with the general consensus of this story. And I think that it simply boils down to the fact that I’m just not a good person, nowhere in the Doctor’s league. Within the first five minutes of the episode, both my wife and I were ready for lead character Lindy Pepper-Bean to meet her fate in as ugly and final a way possible, so unlikable did we find her. Which is really the whole point–but at least for us, Russell T. Davies never quite got us on side with her struggle to survive and to emerge from the bubble in which she’d lived her life. And so, as she grew progressively worse throughout the episode, we genuinely were rooting for her to be consumed by slugs.
If last week’s episode was a Twilight Zone, then this week’s was certainly a Black Mirror, albeit one that was perhaps a bit more family-friendly than the output that show routinely fields. And for all that, the one thing that made if DOCTOR WHO throughout is the design of those slug-creatures, which were one of the goofier monsters we’ve seen even though they must have cost a fortune in CGI work.
And I know that this episode, like the last one, was a bit of a necessity to cover for Ncuti Gatwa’s absence as he completed filming on SEX EDUCATION. But I do wonder if running the two Doctor-light episodes back to back was a good idea. I expect that I would have enjoyed this episode better after next week’s, which appears to be a more typical Doctor and Ruby historical adventure. We’re five episodes into this new season, and I can’t say that I really even understand this new Doctor, how he behaves, how he reacts to typical DOCTOR WHO situations. The one quality that seems to be making itself apparent is one that he shares with Jodie Whitaker’s incarnation: he doesn’t seem to be very effective in positively impacting on the storylines. I keep hoping that this is just luck-of-the-draw in the manner in which the episodes have been laid out, but after this many episodes, it’s hard to deny that Gatwa’s Doctor doesn’t seem to do much or accomplish much. And I want him to.
This was clearly, obviously, an episode with a message, and Davies was far from subtle in getting it across. But accordingly, that message felt just a little bit thin and simplistic. I think that we all understand that the world has grown smaller and more insular for people over the past five years or so, between the Pandemic and the expansion of Social Media, to say nothing of the breakdowns of the social conventions that used to make certain behaviors abhorrent but which now don’t seem to care about them at all–assuming that they’re done by the people in your tribe.
I found the turn at the very end, when the escaping Finetimers choose to venture out into a hostile world that they are utterly ill-equipped to deal with rather than be helped by the dark-skinned Doctor to be pretty brutal, which made it effective. And I’m sure that I felt it more sharply than my dark-skinned friends and associates, all of whom have had to daily deal with similar institutionalized racism. It was certainly set up all throughout the episode, but as a statement on race in DOCTOR WHO, it felt a little bit blunt. But maybe it had to be. And if nothing else, it allowed for Gatwa to be present for the climax of the episode, and to emote hard at the situation. He was quite good here. Poor Millie Gibson, on the other hand, seemed wasted after last week’s tour de force.
But the episode failed for me, in that for al the effort put forward, I never got on board with the journey that Lindy Pepper-Bean was forced to take, and consequently that betrayal by her and her peer-group seemed inevitable rather than a shocking turn. And I was fine with that. Sure, the Doctor is broken up, but I’m delighted at the thought of these spoiled, selfish, ill-equipped racist children starving to death or being killed by the elements or the wildlife on their planet. That seemed like the best ending possible to me. So, clearly, I am not the stuff that the Doctor is made of.
The episode was so unfortunate, in fact, that my wife and I had to immediately watch the new Jim Henson documentary on Disney+ immediately thereafter in order to wash the taste away.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
It was a return to serious storytelling with a slight veneer of silliness rather than the all out assault on logic of the first two. The story got a clear resolution too unlike last week. The murderess getting away with it went well with it never going where expected as well.
And Doctor? Jus drop the twits anonymous care packages and survival gear now and then.
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“The Doctor vs. Social Media” message was indeed obvious but I still found Lindy’s travails in the village suspenseful despite her unlikable personality and the betrayal took me by surprise. (As did the Doctor’s encounter with racism. Quite a difference from when the Tenth Doctor waved off Martha’s reservations about POC traveling through the past.)
I do hope the next episode delves a bit deeper into what makes the current Doctor tick. Even though there’s always a bit of mystery surrounding the character, I felt I had a better handle on Jodie’s Doctor five episodes in than Ncuti’s incarnation, despite his obvious acting chops.
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This one wasn’t as good as the good parts of 73 Yards but didn’t disappoint me as much either. Though I have too much of a flinch reaction to the “kids get off your cell-phones/videogames/TV” to get into it much.
However bringing up racism raised the obvious (to me, anyway) question of the Doctor’s perspective, given that he’s only recently become POC-presenting — he doesn’t have the lived black experience of Ruby’s mum, for instance. Not that it affects the racism of the colonists but it still nags at me.
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I’ve seen the bits about the FineTimers being racist online and it flew right past me. There had been zero hint of it before that moment (and there were plenty of opportunities) I just thought the group were idiots and were rejecting the Doctor AND Ruby because they were outsiders.
Also, kudos Callie Cooke for an amazing performance. She managed actual shades to a character that was so unlikable. Her performance unfortunately highlighted Millie Gibson’s limited acting range. Yes, she’s hot and telegenic but Callie is proof you can have that and acting talent. I’ve been calling Ruby ‘Knockoff Clara’ but coined ‘New Who Peri’ when thinking of the character earlier. Is Gibson really that popular in England?
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Having finished rewatching Peri’s run recently, I think Gibson’s better but the comparison isn’t inappropriate. So is Clara but she’s so much my physical type (dark hair, pale skin) she gets a free pass.
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Knockoff Clara isn’t meant to disparage the great character of Clara played by the amazingly talented Jenna Coleman. It’s pointing out that she’s a MacGuffin, a plot device to drive a series long mystery. Clara brought more to the series than the mystery and Jenna was delivering emotion and subtext Moffat and the writers weren’t writing. Gibson delivers smiles and perkiness but nothing beyond that.
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“Dot and Bubble” was emotionally riveting but the scaffolding of the story falls apart. It reminded me of “Kill the Moon” in that respect. The central themes and dilemma are fascinating and provocative. You’re not bored watching the episode. The denouement is powerful. But…it is difficult to divorce the emotional satisfaction from the inconsistencies or implausiblility. For example –
Why the heck did the Dots need the slugs to kill the natives (both Homeplanet and Finetime)? If the dots can bullet into a skull, they don’t need the slugs.
Maybe the Dots have created the slugs as an extinction mechanism that will continue long after the Dots run out of energy? Maybe the Dots enjoy watching the misery?
Or maybe the slugs are an evolutionary form of the aliens that is kept in hiatus by the Dots? And the Dots have allowed the aliens to change into slugs as a poetic judgement that reveals the rapacious nature of the species?
Unfortunately, the rationale for the slugs is never revealed. I wasn’t satisfied with the answer because it just raised more questions. “Dot and Bubble” is superior to another weak social commentary “Orphan 55” because it takes the time to develop the culture and characters of the Finetimers. But it falls apart, like “Orphan 55”, because we know the Doctor should be able to give us answers or a different resolution.
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I am not a long-time DR WHO fan. I have maybe seen a couple full episodes over the years, and bits of half a dozen more. I have listened to quite a few 10th Doctor audiobooks, because my son loves the monsters (and Tennant reads some of the stories). I started watching this season because I absolutely LOVE Ncuti Gatwa from seeing him on SEX EDUCATION. And I read Tom’s thoughts about each episode because I know Tom’s a smart guy, with a sharp instinct about storytelling.
Me: I really liked this episode. Yes, Lindy wasn’t very likable— but I thought that was going to be her journey. We’d see her rise to the occasion, come out of her (almost literal/social media) cocoon and grow into someone we rooted for. So I gave her the benefit of the doubt. CONSTANTLY. Which I’m sure is exactly what Davies wanted me to do.
Because that was my mindset, and because she seemed to be taking stumbling steps in that direction, I was shocked by her betrayal of Ricky September later on. And gut-punched by the ending.
I immediately wondered which Davies had in mind first: the social media stuff, or the ending. I vote for him having the ending, then working back from there, because the story is really an expansion of the end of SPACE BABIES— it’s all about the Doctor trying to save the monster(s). And failing. I think the social media stuff was a wonderful diversion— it instantly resonates with the viewer, we all know what the message is, we all know where it’s going, we instantly FOCUS on it. I was all “Yeah! They can be pioneers! Start over! Just like their ancestors!” because that’s how these stories *usually* end. But it’s really just an extremely clever distraction.
And then the gut-punch. The REAL reason for the story.
Davies played fair. There were plenty of Red Flags— which I instantly minimized (while Tom, obviously, didn’t) in order to hold onto some small bit of hope for our “hero” Lindy. I think that’s human nature, and I think it’s inherent in storytelling— we expect, we WANT, the main character to be the hero. And, of course, a classic way to make your audience root for someone who isn’t a great person is to put them up against something that’s WORSE. Like the bug-monsters— which weren’t exactly worse, but were certainly an immediate threat.
No, I liked this episode quite a bit. Yes, it might have been better if Davies had found some way to make Lindy more likable— it certainly would have won Tom over!— but that could’ve undermined the whole “THEY are the real monsters!” part of the story, which is essential to the ending.
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Agreed on all points.
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I think most viewers seem to have had a similar reaction to yours, Karl. So in this instance, I’m the outlier.
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I Think Millie Gibson would be perfect choice as Princess Adora / She-Ra In a live action She-Ra series
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I Think Millie Gibson would be good choice as Black Canary/Dinah Laurel Lance In James Gunn Reboot DCEU
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