‘DOT AND BUBBLE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Lindy Pepper-Bean with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby
And so, we come to the fifth episode of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ called ‘Dot and Bubble’ by Russell T. Davies. This is a fascinating episode to talk about in the season. Again, RTD misleads you into thinking this episode is about a certain thing before it’s something else.
It’s become evident, especially in his neo-era, that RTD likes to write ‘Doctor Who’ stories that have certain twists at the end. It does make you think about his episodes more than you initially anticipated 😐 Whether those episodes are satisfying or not is another matter.
From what I’ve gathered, this was the second episode of Series 14 made in production order. ’73 Yards’ was made first in the season, then ‘Dot and Bubble’, and ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ was made after that. Ncuti Gatwa does appear as the Doctor for this episode.
But it’s clear he’s not a central presence in ‘Dot and Bubble’. Presumably, Ncuti was still doing Series 4 of ‘Sex Education’ at the time and he filmed his scenes for ’73 Yards’ and ‘Dot and Bubble’ in a certain block after major portions of the two episodes were already done.
It’d be very easy to mistake ‘Dot and Bubble’ for being a ‘Doctor-lite’ story, as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby do have a role to play throughout the episode. It’s just the episode focuses less on them and more on the guest character Lindy Pepper-Bean throughout. 😐
There are similarities between ‘Dot and Bubble’ and previous ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes though. Like ‘Love & Monsters’ and ‘Blink’ that came before it, ‘Dot and Bubble’ is an episode that focuses primarily on a character who is nether the Doctor nor a companion.
There is a major difference however between ‘Dot and Bubble’ and the previous ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes, which I’ll share more later in the review. Mind you, I need to point out that this is another instance of RTD repeating things from his original TV era for his neo-TV era.
Admittedly, this was a matter of convenience considering Ncuti Gatwa took a while to join the ‘Doctor Who’ production team whilst still making Series 4 of ‘Sex Education’. But it does highlight a problem for Ncuti’s first season as well as for the neo-RTD era in general.
Needless to say, ‘Dot and Bubble’ is the opposite of what came before in ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes like ‘Love & Monsters’ and ‘Blink’, which, again, I’ll explain as we go through the review. It’s also an opposite of other episodes in the TV series so far, which I’ll also highlight.
Interestingly, ‘Dot and Bubble’ was originally considered as a story for the Eleventh Doctor era. According to RTD, he originally pitched ‘Dot and Bubble’ as a story to Steven Moffat back in 2010 whilst having dinner with him as well as with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.
Sadly, the pitch didn’t come to anything, as the story was considered too ambitious at the time. This is something I find intriguing, as I wonder if technology back in 2010 wouldn’t have been possible to make ‘Dot and Bubble’ as it is now. Probably not, thinking about it.
I also wonder if ‘Dot and Bubble’ would have been the same or different when originally pitched as an Eleventh Doctor story. Possibly the latter, especially considering what the outcome of this story ended up becoming on TV with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.
Also, whilst I’m not really a fan of Steven Moffat’s eras of ‘Doctor Who’, it’s such a shame that RTD didn’t get to write a one-off episode for any of his eras, either with Matt Smith or Peter Capaldi. I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed his takes on the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors.
Granted, he did do his take on the Eleventh Doctor in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ story ‘Death of the Doctor’, but that’s not in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series itself. It’s also a shame he didn’t get to write for Chris Chibnall’s ‘Doctor Who’ era with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor.
Ah well, at least he included Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor in one of his stories for his neo-era, but that’s for another time. Regardless, do I think ‘Dot and Bubble’ works well in the Fifteenth Doctor era? Does it serve or define Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor very well? Let’s find out!
The episode begins with a young woman waking up in her bedroom from her night’s sleep in the city of Finetime on a sunny morning. This young woman is Callie Cooke as Lindy Pepper-Bean. Now, before this episode, I had never heard of Callie Cooke as a performer.
Looking her up, she’s well-known for starring in the BBC Two comedy TV series ‘Henpocalypse!’. Not that I’ve seen that series, but I’m sure she’s a very good actress. I’m also sure she’s a nice person in real-life from seeing her in behind-the-scenes interviews.
I would like it if I met Callie Cooke at a convention and I got chat to her about her ‘Doctor Who’ episode, as I’d like to think we’d have an enjoyable and interesting conversation together. That isn’t something I can say about her character Lindy Pepper-Bean in the story.
As Lindy wakes up, she opens her right hand and announces, “Dot and Bubble”. Thus, a Dot rises from her right hand and activates at her command, surrounding her head in an electronic Bubble. In the Bubble are a constant cycle of different people in their Bubbles.
And yes! The Bubble is clearly a social media platform like Facebook, Twitter or X and Instagram. A futuristic social media platform, no doubt, but still that. I could see where the episode was going from watching it at the start. 🙂 I knew what it was going to be about.
This is an episode that showcases the dangers of social media. Even Ncuti Gatwa said that in an interview, both for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ featurette and the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘Dot and Bubble’. I wasn’t totally wrong from my first viewing of it.
Granted, ‘Dot and Bubble’ became more about warning of the dangers of social media, and it ties into the secondary theme this episode has. But you see, I would have thought that this episode would’ve been just about that – Warning of the dangers of social media.
This especially reflects on how I first viewed the episode via BBC iPlayer back in June 2024 before checking out more details on it, especially concerning the episode’s ending, which we’ll get to eventually. 😐 Needless to say, initially, I had a different perception of this story.
Incidentally, on a side note, why did Lindy have the Dot inside her right hand whilst she was sleeping? I don’t think sleeping and keeping the Dot in your right hand at the same time is going to work. Wouldn’t it have been better to put it on your bedside table instead?
Like, I usually have my mobile phone on my bedside table when I go to bed. If I have it on my pillow or on the bed itself whilst I’m sleeping, chances are it’s going to end up on the end of the bed or perhaps fall on the floor. 😐 Holding the Dot in your right hand isn’t ideal.
Anyway, in Lindy’s Bubble, she sees her friends wishing her good morning in their own way and she cheerfully reciprocates their hellos. Lindy does have a lot of friends in the Bubble. Thus, I’m just going to list them out all at once. Not describe each of them in turn.
There’s Eilidh Loan as Cooper Mercy, Aldous Ciokajlo Squire as Harry Tendency, Niamh Lynch as Hoochy Pie, Millie Kent as Valerie Nook, Billy Brayshaw as Blake Very-Blue, Pete McHale as Gothic Paul, and Elloise and Olivia Bennett as the Rotterdam Twins.
Other characters that we see later in the episode are Milo Callaghan as Alan K. Sullivan, Ellie-Grace Cashin as Suzie Pentecost and Jamie Barnard as Brewster Cavendish. There’s also Max Boast as Dr. Pee as well as Jack Forsyth-Noble as Weatherman Will in the story.
If you’re wondering why I’m listing these characters rather than describing who they are, it’s because there’s not enough time to get to know them. Plus, Lindy is the main focus of the episode, and therefore, she doesn’t have full-on conversations with these characters.
As Lindy says hello to her friends, she notices one of them – Jimbo Fennell – is missing from her Bubble. She calls out to him, but he doesn’t answer. Gothic Paul is worried that more people in Finetime have gone offline recently, but Lindy just dismisses his remarks.
Once some of her friends tell her to get up, Lindy does so, following the Dot’s AI to direct her to where to walk, as she clearly can’t see anything with the Bubble around her head. Now, you might wonder, why doesn’t she switch off the Bubble when she’s walking about? 😐
Well, that ties in to something that happens later in the episode, which we’ll get to eventually. It’s clear though that the people of Finetime are obsessed with using their Dots and Bubbles. An indicator that many of us can be obsessed with phones and technology.
Now, if I was ignorant, maybe having a Dot’s AI to direct me to where I’d want to go whilst having a Bubble around my head might be fun. But, after seeing this episode, I personally wouldn’t want to do that. I’d like to use my eyes to see where I’m going when I walk.
Eventually, Lindy arrives at her sink in the bathroom.
Lindy: Do I need to pee?
What kind of a question is that?! “Do I need to pee?” I think it’s natural for anybody to wake up and want to pee after sleeping during the night. If this is how the future is going to turn out where humanity doesn’t need to pee in the morning, it’s very disconcerting. 😀
Dr. Pee: Urine content is zero for the third day in a row. Well done, Lindy! Remember, don’t waste the day with daily waste.
Three days in a row?! Are you kidding? You’ve not urinated in three days in a row? How is that possible? I don’t know who it originally said it, but ‘the future is weird’! Unless, of course, these people aren’t human, which I don’t think is clear from watching the episode.
In doing my research, I assumed that the people of Finetime were a futuristic group of humans living on a planet somewhere. I might be wrong on that, considering that their blood-type might be different. Also, by the possibility they may not need to urinate much.
But considering that these people behave like humans, talk like humans and act like humans, even in a futuristic society, surely, I’d be forgiven into thinking that these are futuristic humans. 😐 Again, the future must be weird in how human bodily functions work.
Lindy is then brushing her teeth. With a glowing toothbrush that doesn’t actually touch her teeth, no less. Well, technology must have improved in the future, since I find it a challenge to brush my teeth to make them clean whilst I apply the toothbrush to my teeth.
In her Bubble, Lindy cycles through her friends to listen to the latest song performed by Ricky September, an artist that everyone in Finetime follows. Hmm, I wonder if he’s the only artist on Finetime. I mean, there’s not much variety in terms of music on Finetime. 😐
Granted, we don’t spend enough time on Finetime to find that out, but I do wonder. Is Finetime’s tastes in music limited? As Lindy listens to Ricky September’s latest song, a request comes in within her Bubble from a certain someone. Can you guess who that is?
To be fair, that would be a natural reaction if Lindy assumed the Doctor was a scammer and she blocked him whilst not recognising him. But considering what she’s actually like as a person, well, let’s say that seeing this story on multiple viewings makes it unsettling.
As you saw in the video, Lindy goes back to bopping along to Ricky September’s latest song whilst in the bathroom. There also happens to be a large slug-like creature watching her from a distance in the bedroom. I’m surprised she didn’t notice it was there earlier. 😐
Also, in revisiting this episode, I noticed that there’s this slogan on her bathroom wall which reads, KINDNESS ALL DAY LONG. I didn’t notice that when I saw this episode on the TV, as we were zooming out from Lindy in the bathroom before going into the bedroom.
Clearly, that slogan doesn’t reflect Lindy’s character as well as the population of Finetime, as we’ll discover later. Eventually, we cut to the opening titles. Thank goodness, the opening titles came back after their absence in ’73 Yards’. 🙂 I find that very reassuring!
After the opening credits, we see that the city of Finetime is within a large glass dome. I assume it’s glass, but it could be something else. We don’t know what planet Finetime is on, but it happens to be dangerous, and it’s covered in a forest known as the Wild Woods.
As Weatherman Will points out on a large holographic screen, it’s supposed to be ‘a glorious day’, but apparently there’s ‘a little bit of trouble with the weather satellites’. You might think this will serve as a plot point later in the story, but I don’t think it’s quite that. 😐
You see, the exterior location in Finetime where Lindy is walking to work was filmed on Swansea University Bay Campus, according to the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘Dot and Bubble’. Terrific to have this episode filmed on Swansea University Bay Campus!
I could’ve studied there! 😀 But you see, there were weather issues when filming the episode on location. Typical. 😀 Therefore, when Weatherman Will says ‘there’s a little bit of trouble with the weather satellites’, that was penned in to cover up the weather issues.
I think that’s a good way to explain why in certain shots of the episode that it’s windy when Lindy walks about in the city of Finetime. I didn’t notice it at first since the weather looked fine in the episode. But on revisiting it, I could see it being a bit windy for Lindy in Finetime.
(laughs) Funny. ‘Windy’ and ‘Lindy’. It rhymes! 😀 Anyway, as Lindy walks to work, she tells her friends about the clothes that she’s wearing with the Dot directing her each step of the way. She remains ignorant of what’s happening outside of her Bubble as she walks. 😐
This includes someone lying on the pavement before that person gets dragged away, leaving a smear. There’s also a scream nearby. As the episode progresses, we find that Lindy isn’t a very nice person. She turns out to be extremely selfish and so full of herself.
She also happens to be highly arrogant and rude, often tending to call people that contradict her ‘stupid’. She’s heavily reliant on her Dot when she walks about with the Bubble around her head. But this scratches the surface on what kind of a person Lindy is.
Eventually, we see Lindy work in her office. Well, ‘work’ is a very loose term in this instance, as she’s chatting to her friends within the Bubble around her head whilst in her workplace. And this allows the episode to have some more close-up shots of Lindy’s face.
Yeah, you may have noticed there’s a lot of close-up shots of Lindy’s face whilst viewing the episode. This is where we’re seeing Lindy chatting to her friends in her Bubble via her perspective. 😀 I get there’s no other way you can show her talking to her friends like that.
But in watching it, even on my first viewing of the episode, it’s hard not to make fun of that. I mean, Callie Cooke has a lovely face, but I’m amazed this episode has so many close-up shots of her. It’s why I joked about it in my YouTube videos reacting to ‘Dot and Bubble’.
This is in the spoiler-free reaction I did for ‘Dot and Bubble’ back in June 2024 as well as my introduction video above featuring my cuddly toy dogs Snuggles, Fuggles, Cuddles and Puddles. I couldn’t help but find it funny when watching the episode for the first time.
I need to watch the episode again where I play a game and count how many eyelashes Lindy has when chatting to her friends as well as to Ruby and the Doctor in her Bubble. It’d be a challenging game, and I would need to play with other friends seeing the episode.
Eventually, Lindy receives another call in her Bubble. This time, it’s from Ruby Sunday, who claims that she works for Finetime Industries. Lindy is clearly put off by Ruby, calling her ‘stupid’ when she’s being asked questions by her about her job and her co-workers. 😐
This is where we see Lindy being very rude and unfair to Ruby. I mean, I suppose that comes from being inside the Bubble for long periods of time, but surely, she needn’t be rude to a stranger. Or perhaps a newcomer to Finetime who might have just arrived recently.
Once asked about her job and her co-workers, Ruby asks Lindy to confirm that her co-workers are there at work with her. Lindy doesn’t understand, as it’s made clear that she didn’t check whether her co-workers are with her in the workplace, which is very careless.
Ruby suggests that Lindy lowers her Bubble to check, but she refuses to do so. Ruby then suggests that she peers out between the thin gaps to check her co-workers are in the building. 🙂 Lindy does so, and is surprised to find her co-workers aren’t in the room with her.
Apparently, somebody called Bertie Lester is supposed to be sitting next to Lindy on her right. Ruby advises Lindy to be very careful and to look to her right. Lindy does so, and sees a non-human shape slobbering there. It’s at this point that Lindy starts to get terrified. 😐
Lindy keeps telling Ruby that she’d like to get back to work, but Ruby persuades her to turn off her Bubble for a second to see what’s sitting next to her on the right. Lindy reluctantly switches off her Bubble, turning to see a slug-like creature ingest Bertie Lester.
Talking about the giant slug-like creatures for a minute – Mantraps, as they happen to be called – I assumed they were relatives of the Tractators from ‘Frontios’. They seemed to give that impression from the way they were designed, even if they are bloated and huge.
Honestly, I think having Tractators in ‘Doctor Who’ again would have been terrific, provided Christopher H. Bidmead gave his blessing. I wasn’t sure why the Mantraps were killing off people, but it was so intriguing to learn how they came to be later in the episode.
Once Lindy sees the Mantrap sitting next to her on her right, she switches her Dot and Bubble back on. Ruby reassures her that it’s okay, but Lindy swipes her away to receive a message from Dr. Pee who says her ‘need to urinate has skyrocketed’. Understandable. 🙂
Lindy tries to distract herself by seeing one of her friends – Cooper Mercy – before listening to Ricky September’s song again, even trying to sing along to it. But it’s clear that Lindy is terrified, even to the point of tears trickling down her face when she’s really upset.
And this is a fine moment of acting on Callie Cooke’s part. Despite who Lindy turns out to be as a character, you can’t help sympathise with how scared she is, especially when she doesn’t understand how this is happening and why she saw a monster eating someone.
Ruby gets back in front of Lindy in her Bubble and persuades her to listen to her friend, the Doctor, whom she brings in. Initially, I didn’t think of Lindy’s reaction to the Doctor when Ruby brought him in, but hearing her ask the Doctor about the Mantrap creatures…
Lindy: Is that thing… is it something to do with you?
There’s more context to that line than you might actually think. But again, that’s something we’ll address when we get to the end of the episode. The Doctor reveals to Lindy that the Mantrap creature is but one of many creatures which has infested Finetime.
The Doctor and Ruby persuade Lindy that she needs to walk out of her office without using the Bubble, since the Dot doesn’t appear able to recognise the Mantraps. Lindy is very reluctant to lower her Bubble, but the Doctor and Ruby keep persuading her to do so.
Initially, Lindy tries to walk out of the office building without the Bubble, but it turns out she’s unable to do it. She happens to be incapable of walking, which does surprise the Doctor and Ruby as soon as she puts her Bubble back on. I’d be surprised by that as well.
I mean, seriously?! You forgot to walk, Lindy?! Surely, you must have learnt how to walk before using the Bubble. It’s clear that Lindy has become too reliant on the Dot’s instructions when using it and having the Bubble switched on to walk. It’s not ideal, right?
I’m reminded of a Foxitron Prime video where characters from ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ react to their episodes and for the ‘Spider’s Game’ episode, Waspinator had his wings clipped. It turned out he had forgotten to walk since he’d relied on his wings.
I’m surprised Lindy didn’t fall on the floor when she tried to walk out of the building. That would’ve been hilarious. 😀 It also would have raised the tension levels if a Mantrap creature seemingly advanced upon her and she struggled to get away because she couldn’t walk.
When Lindy keeps telling the Doctor and Ruby she can’t walk without the arrows,
Lindy: That’s what I just said! Now shut up. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!
You might think she said that in a moment of panic, and it’s clear that she’s panicking. But the emphasis of her saying “I hate you” three times is more meaningful than you may think. Again, this is something that will be addressed when we get to the episode’s end. 😐
Turning her Dot and Bubble back on, Lindy uses the Dot’s instructions to help her exit the office. Initially, this seems to work well. Lindy seems able to make her way out, as she goes down the corridor and approaches the elevator, which will get her to the ground floor.
But as the elevator doors open at Lindy’s command, one of the Mantrap creatures exits from the elevator, advancing towards her. Lindy is paralysed with fear whilst the arrows tell her to go forward and the Doctor and Ruby shout at her to not go forward and go back.
At this point, this episode could’ve easily ended for Lindy if she walked forward and ended up inside the Mantrap creature to be eaten. That way, the episode would either finish abruptly, or we could cut to another character for the Doctor and Ruby to try and contact.
I know that sounds cruel the way I’m phrasing it, but as Lindy has been reliant on the Dot’s instructions when using it and the Bubble to walk with the arrows, it’s astounding the episode didn’t go in that direction. It’s just as well that Lindy was paralysed with fear then.
But as it turns out, the Mantrap creature didn’t attack Lindy when she couldn’t run away from it. It walks by her, heading off down the corridor. The Doctor and Ruby are surprised by this and they wonder why the Mantrap ignored Lindy when it could’ve easily eaten her up. 😐
Whilst Lindy is in the lift, she tries to call the police using her Dot, but to no avail.
Lindy: Police.
Police: All lines are busy. We regret we cannot help you at this time.
Lindy: But I really need the police.
Police: All lines are busy. We regret we cannot help you at this time.
Lindy: But I really need the police. There… There’s a murder. There was a murder ten feet to my right.
Police: All lines are busy. We regret we cannot help you at this time.
Lindy: Please will someone help me?
Say, doesn’t this sound familiar to anyone?
Doctor: I need to talk to the police.
Computer: Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold.
Doctor: But you’re the police!
Computer: Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold.
You know, I’m surprised RTD didn’t have the line, “Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold” when Lindy tried to call the police using her Dot. I know it sounds a bit obvious to reuse that same wording, but it’s still similar to what’s in this episode, isn’t it?
Again, this is another example of RTD repeating things from his original TV era in his neo-TV era. It might not seem much, but it still counts. And trust me, there’s more things being repeated from RTD’s original era in his neo-era as we progress further in the new TV series.
Eventually, Lindy finds herself outside the office building where the Doctor and Ruby convince her to check her surroundings again without her Bubble. She does so, and she sees several people falling prey to the Mantrap creatures that slither about on the streets.
Though it’s clear not everyone is being eaten up one by one instantly, especially when some people have their Bubbles on. Turning her Bubble back on and clearly scared, Lindy instructs to be taken to a hiding place. 😐 She eventually slumps in the corner of a building.
With the Doctor and Ruby talking to her in the Bubble, Lindy reveals that the environment which is surrounding Finetime is hostile. She speculates that the Mantrap creatures could have originated from the Wild Woods where she and her people aren’t supposed to go to.
Ruby then asks Lindy what Finetime is all about and how it’s supposed to work. Lindy reveals that she and her people come from ‘the Homeworld’, wherever that is. And it’s just people aged 17 to 27 that go to Finetime. ‘No stinky old folk’, according to Lindy. Rude!
And very discriminatory, right? It’s also a place where only the ‘rich kids’ can go to. So, clearly from Lindy’s attitude when she’s speaking to the Doctor and Ruby, she’s arrogant and selfish because she’s rich. 😐 This would explain a lot of things concerning who she is.
Also, it’s established that the people of Finetime only work two hours a day and the rest of the time, they ‘party’. Wow. Life on Finetime must be very boring. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind working less hours compared to the usual eight hours I have to do at work.
But just partying for the rest of the day? Surely, there must be more variety than that when living on Finetime. Granted, we don’t spend enough time on Finetime to find out what’s it like as a place, but…doesn’t anyone read books or watch films and TV when they’re home?
Doesn’t anyone do any outdoor activities like playing games or riding horses…or the futuristic equivalent of horses? Don’t they have theme parks on Finetime? I think RTD should have expanded more on this world and what its people do for fun after work hours.
Lindy also shares to the Doctor and Ruby that her mother paid for her to be on Finetime and she plays a message from her mother, who turns out to be…Susan Twist as Penny Pepper-Bean. The Doctor and Ruby are surprised, as they recognise her from somewhere.
The Doctor remembers her as the face of the Villengard Ambulance in ‘Boom’ whilst Ruby remembers her from elsewhere. I assume that’s a reference to ’73 Yards’, but it could’ve easily been either ‘Space Babies’ or ‘The Devil’s Chord’, depending on your perspective. 😐
Deciding to worry about that later (Of course! That’s going to be significant in the two-part season finale, no doubt), Lindy susses out that the Doctor and Ruby are in the same room together. The Doctor admits that they are, and Lindy suspects that this is a conspiracy. 😐
You know, at this point, it’s not explained how and why the Doctor and Ruby came to Finetime in the first place. One can speculate. Maybe they responded to a distress call or something. Or maybe the TARDIS picked up something that led them to Finetime anyway.
I don’t know, it’s never explained. It makes me wonder why Ruby and the Doctor had separate windows to begin with when communicating with Lindy in her Bubble. I mean, how come Ruby didn’t reveal to Lindy the Doctor was in the same room as her to start off with?
Maybe it’s because the Doctor had foreknowledge about Finetime before he and Ruby visited the place, but they came anyway, regardless of its reputation. Thus, they wanted to give the impression they were in separate rooms to avoid being accused of a conspiracy.
It’s down to speculation and how you interpret this story, especially on multiple viewings. Lindy also realises that the Doctor is the person she blocked earlier when he tried to warn her about the Mantrap creatures lurking about Finetime at the very start of the episode. 😐
She also says this…
Lindy: You. I blocked you. Didn’t I block you? I knew it, I did! I thought that you just looked the same, but you’re… How did you do that?
Keep in mind what she said about thinking the Doctor just looked the same as the person that she blocked earlier. Again, there is more context to that line than you may think, especially if you’re viewing this episode for the first time. And it makes it more unsettling.
The Doctor reveals to Lindy that he reversed her ‘blocking’ of him, thanks to his sonic screwdriver. Lindy says he ‘can’t unblock’, but the Doctor proves to her otherwise. In fact, when Lindy tries to mute him, the Doctor unmutes himself, using his sonic screwdriver. 🙂
In a panic, Lindy starts a group call with her closest friends, only to find more have disappeared, including Cooper Mercy and Valerie Nook, which upsets her. Lindy unmutes Gothic Paul, who attempts to voice his suspicions about what’s happening with Finetime.
Unfortunately, he gets cut off from the call when one of the Mantrap creatures eats him. That’s so sudden! I wonder where everyone is when they’re in this group call. They’re either sitting down or standing up. There isn’t much tell from muti-coloured backgrounds.
Soon, the Doctor takes charge of the group call, and he reveals that he’s discovered the residents of Finetime can escape through the tunnel under the city if they can reach certain conduits. It’s good to know that the Doctor’s worked out how to save everyone. 🙂
I could drop in another set of dialogue where Lindy says that trusting the Doctor is wrong, that he’s going to be disciplined, and she can’t wait for that. But honestly, if I keep doing that, it’s just going to make this review longer. Which, at this point, it already is, isn’t it? 😀
Again, just to stress, that dialogue is significant concerning who Lindy is, especially when the Doctor says that she and everyone else on Finetime doesn’t have to like him. Initially, I assumed this was a snobbish attitude from Lindy and her friends, but it’s more than that.
Eventually, Lindy discovers that her Dot has run out of power. The Doctor and Ruby are outraged at this, but Lindy blames them from taking her away from her office, as her Dot is meant to charge up there. She’s soon cut off before she can learn what the next step is.
I agree with Ruby, they still have battery problems in the future? Again, the future is weird when you think about it. Although, the future depicted in sci-fi is often bound to be incorrect. I mean I still don’t have my hoverboard from ‘Back to the Future, Part II’ already! 😀
Lindy is meant to reach the conduit in Plaza 55 where she is. She tries to reach the plaza, but she keeps walking into objects like a lamppost, as she struggles to walk without the Dot’s guidance. I know I sound cruel, but seeing Lindy walk into a lamppost is so amusing!
And she walked into the lamppost twice! You know, Lindy, there is something you can do to walk properly. Look up! Look where you’re going! Don’t think about what your feet are doing! Look ahead to see where you’re going and then you’ll get to where you want to go!
Very soon, Lindy finds herself facing four of the Mantraps that block her path to Plaza 55. She tries to avoid them whilst walking through them, but it isn’t easy when she struggles to walk. I admit, the tension raised in that scene is high and it makes it compelling to watch.
Just as she’s about to nearly walk into one of the Mantraps, a voice calls out to her with instructions like the Dot’s. She gradually looks to see who the voice belongs to and it turns out to be…Tom Rhys Harries as Ricky September – the singer that everyone is following. 🙂
I also checked and yes! Tom Rhys Harries is Welsh! Good to know a Welsh actor is playing Ricky September in the episode. 😀 And it turns out Ricky doesn’t have his Dot and Bubble on. Lindy makes her way over to Ricky and immediately hugs him once she’s reached him.
It turns out that’s the first time Lindy has hugged someone and immediately, there’s a connection between her and Ricky. This could’ve easily ended up being a romantic subplot for Lindy, especially as she meets her idol Ricky and the two seem to get on very well together.
A shame it didn’t end up like that, but…we’ll get to that part later. Ricky helps Lindy to get to the conduit on Plaza 55 in Building Number 7Z2. He reveals to her that he secretly doesn’t use the Dot and Bubble much and he prefers to read. Ah, so, there is reading on Finetime.
Well, I’m glad Ricky isn’t heavily reliant on the Dot and Bubble like everyone else is on Finetime. In fact, Ricky ends up being the most likeable guest character in ‘Dot and Bubble’ altogether. I’ll explain more on why that is, especially concerning his fate in the story.
Ricky and Lindy soon run to the conduit in Plaza 55 together. Once inside, Lindy charges up her Dot whilst Ricky tries to contact their Homeworld. Unfortunately, he sees that it has been devastated. I thought this was foreshadowing for the upcoming two-part finale.
But it turns out it’s not that, as the Homeworld happens to have fallen prey to an invasion from the Mantraps and the population has now totalled to zero. Why has the Homeworld been devastated and the population totalled to zero? Well, more on that a little bit later. 😐
Ricky lies to Lindy that their people will save them soon before he leads her to where the tunnels are downstairs. I’m wondering why he didn’t reveal to her what he’d just seen on the terminal screen. Maybe he didn’t want to traumatise her further with what he saw. 😐
As Ricky and Lindy head downstairs…I must admit, my attention drifted for a moment, as I was wondering what a musical ‘Doctor Who’ episode with no characters talking would be like. The one that RTD suggested during the ‘Doctor Who at 60: A Musical Celebration’.
I know this isn’t relevant to the plot of the episode, but it’s something that stands out for me when recalling my first viewing of ‘Dot and Bubble’. I wonder what ‘Dot and Bubble’ would have been like as an episode with just incidental music and no dialogue spoken. 🙂
Would it make the episode better? Would it be annoyingly distracting for some fans? Let me know what you think. Maybe RTD joked about that idea at the time in 2023, but still. It’s an idea I’m surprised hasn’t been done in ‘Doctor Who’ yet by this point in the series.
Once they’re below, Ricky and Lindy find the conduit sealed off. Lindy reactivates her Dot and Bubble and resumes her communication with the Doctor and Ruby. Yep, they’re still in this episode, don’t worry. I’m glad there’s more of them before we reach the story’s end.
When Lindy tells the Doctor and Ruby, she’s with Ricky September, their response is…
Ruby: Oh, nice one!
Doctor: He’s hot.
Ruby & Doctor: (to each other; in unison) Hands off!
It’s amusing that Ruby and the Doctor would fancy Ricky September at the same time. Honestly, that’s down to who they are as characters and I don’t mind that. 😀 Ricky gets them to concentrate, asking them for the code so that he can open the conduit to get out.
Whilst Ricky punches in the codes the Doctor’s given him, Ruby tells Lindy that her friends are still alive but are still at their desks. Lindy is devastated that her friends haven’t moved to join her. The Doctor is still curious about why not everybody has been eaten yet.
Lindy relays to the Doctor and Ruby that Ricky thinks the Mantraps are saving her and him for last because they’re the ‘most tasty’, but the Doctor doesn’t think it’s simple as that. It’s then he figures out the pattern that the Mantraps have been following in eating people.
Apparently, the Mantraps have been eating the residents of Finetime in alphabetical order. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor reveals the list of the residents now dead. The creatures have reached the letter ‘P’ and there’s just one user before Lindy remaining.
I will give RTD credit. The fact that the Mantraps have been eating the residents of Finetime in alphabetical order is rather clever. It’s quite interesting how that unravels as you work it out in the episode. It’s made clearer when seeing this episode more than once.
The one user that’s before Lindy in terms of a ‘P’ happens to be Suzie Pentecost. Suzie seems happy to see Lindy when she appears on screen and has only just met Lindy, I believe. Unfortunately, Suzie gets killed off once a Mantrap comes in and eats her up. 😐
The call is disconnected as soon as that happens. Lindy panics but Ricky reassures her that everything’s going to be alright, pointing out that the Mantraps are slow in coming down to where they are. He assures her that as soon he punches in the numbers, they’ll get out.
Lindy calms down, relieved by the thought that she’s safe for a while longer. Unfortunately, the Doctor deduces the Mantraps aren’t from the Wild Woods outside Finetime. They must’ve been created by the AI within the Dots the Finetime residents use.
The Doctor theorises that the AI within the Dots have become sentient and have grown to detest the Finetime residents. How exactly that occurred isn’t explained, but considering that AI is quite powerful, especially in our time, it isn’t outside the realms of possibility. 😐
The theory is proven when Lindy’s Dot glows red. The Doctor and Ruby shout at Lindy to turn her Dot off once it does that. Panicked, Lindy tries to turn her Dot off, but it doesn’t and whilst the Bubble is turned off, the Dot attacks her since she’s next to die on the list.
What follows is a sequence where Lindy struggles to evade the Dot attacking her. Seeing her struggle, Ricky gets Lindy to take his place with inputting the numbers whilst he fights off the Dot himself with a metal bar. And I’m happy Ricky risked his life to save Lindy’s life.
This is where we get to see Ricky being an action hero for a bit in the episode, even to the point of him blowing his hair out of his eyes when it gets in the way. 😀 I wonder if Ricky ever thought of himself as an action hero as well as a singer when he fights off the Dot. 😀
The sequence lasts for quite a bit and Ricky appears to be winning, until eventually, the Dot outsmarts him and it knocks him down. Once Ricky is down on the ground, the Dot reaches for Lindy, who’s still punching numbers in. And…this is the story’s turning point. 😐
You see, for the episode’s majority, we’ve been following through the eyes of Lindy. She’s the main character of this episode. Almost matching to what was presented of Elton Pope’s journey in ‘Love & Monsters’ and what was presented of Sally Sparrow’s journey in ‘Blink’. 🙂
Now with Elton and Sally as characters, they go on journeys where they discover something different about themselves. They end up either finding out about the consequences of knowing the Doctor or become something better than what they were before.
Bottom line: Elton and Sally are depicted as the heroes of their stories. They’re seen to be characters that actually benefit from their experiences with encountering the Doctor in their episodes. And maybe, they become better people as a result of their experiences. 🙂
(sighs) Sadly, that’s not the case for Lindy as a character in her episode. And this is the reason why. When the Dot reaches Lindy and is about to kill her, she reveals loudly to the Dot that Ricky’s surname isn’t ‘September’. His real surname…happens to be ‘Coombes’.
Ricky changed his surname to ‘September’ upon becoming a famous singer in Finetime. As Lindy tells the Dot that ‘Coombes’ comes before ‘Pepper-Bean’ in alphabetical order, the Dot follows its programming, and it soon ends up killing Ricky instead as she escapes.
Wow! That’s cruel! Ricky didn’t deserve that! As I said before, Ricky is the most likeable guest character in ‘Dot and Bubble’. He was kind, friendly and didn’t judge anyone, including the Doctor when he was speaking to him via Lindy’s Bubble. Why do that to him?
This is the moment in the episode where I realised that Lindy isn’t the hero of the story. You could say that she’s the anti-hero in the episode, especially when she put her life first before Ricky’s. Clearly, she didn’t care about him as she seemed to make out earlier.
I mean, I’m a huge fan of Sarah Sutton and of Millie Gibson in ‘Doctor Who’, but I’d like to think I’m not selfish and would put my life before theirs. I’d like to think I’m better than that – willing to risk my life for them, should I find myself in a perilous situation with them.
This is what I meant about ‘Dot and Bubble’ being the opposite of ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes that came before it like ‘Love & Monsters’ and ‘Blink’. Because we’re following the journey of a really bad person. Lindy isn’t nice at all! There were hints of that earlier in the episode.
And you’d think she’d be better or at least redeem herself from being the bad person that she is. But she clearly doesn’t. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, because as we reach the episode’s conclusion, we learn more about who Lindy is and what her people are like.
Lindy escapes through the door just before her Dot can strike her. She ends up in the tunnels and walks down them before she reaches the end of the tunnels to find other refugees from Finetime. 😐 Apparently, supplies are being loaded aboard this river cruiser.
Ruby and the Doctor are also there as well as the TARDIS. Apparently, the river level scene where the Finetime refugees board the river cruiser were filmed on Cardiff Bay Barrage. A shame I didn’t get to see the filming. I could have walked past Cardiff Bay Barrage then. 😀
This also happens to be the first scene that Ncuti Gatwa filmed as the Fifteenth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ following the bi-generation scene with David Tennant in ‘The Giggle’. Yeah, no joke. 🙂 This is what Ncuti filmed first after finishing work on Series 4 of ‘Sex Education’.
I will give Ncuti credit – he coped well with being thrown in at the deep end when he had to perform this really intense and emotional scene at the end of ‘Dot and Bubble’. He doesn’t hold back in terms of expressing his emotions, and I’ll shortly explain why that is.
Trying to avoid the Doctor and Ruby, Lindy reunites with Hoochy Pie, one of her friends, who managed to survive. Lindy also meets Brewster Cavendish – the self-appointed leader of the refugees. When Ruby asks Lindy what happened to Ricky, this is her answer.
Lindy: He went back. He said he had other people to save. I couldn’t stop him. He was so brave.
Yeah, right after you killed him, Lindy, you monster! You deserve a good spanking! 😡 I wonder if the Doctor and Ruby knew or found out later what happened to Ricky and what Lindy did to ensure her escape from the Dot trying to kill her. Perhaps we’ll never know. 😐
Lindy also half-heartedly thanks the Doctor and Ruby for helping to save her life. The Doctor and Ruby accept her thanks, though there’s clearly tension in the air. It’s not the happy meeting one would expect with a guest character meeting up with the two regulars.
Hoochy Pie tells Lindy that the Finetime refugees are about to leave the tunnels to go to the Great Beyond outside. Not to be confused with the Big Finish audio story ‘The Great Beyond’, of course. Brewster Cavendish outlines more on what they intend to do outside.
They’re to colonise the Wild Woods and perhaps further than that. Lindy is dubious, as she assumed the Homeworld would come and save them. But she’s told that no-one is coming, as the Homeworld has been devastated, which means Lindy’s mum is dead too.
Once told this, Lindy assumes her Mummy has gone to the Sky, which she’s pleased about. I assume ‘the Sky’ is the Finetime community’s version of Heaven, though I doubt these people have religious views that make them compassionate to others in their lives.
Brewster Cavendish claims that going off to colonise the Wild Woods is their chance to thrive and be pioneers like their ancestors were. That they can fight, tame and own whatever comes their way, considering they’d been told the Wild Woods are ‘dangerous’.
The Doctor then intervenes and offers the people of Finetime an alternative, knowing they have no chance of surviving the Wild Woods if left to fend for themselves. He offers to take them in his TARDIS, stating that it’s bigger on the outside and he could take them all.
He could take them to the stars and find them a new home where it’s safe, clean and they can have anything they want. Ruby supports the Doctor and encourages the Finetime refugees to accompany them. 🙂 You’d think the Finetime refugees would accept the offer.
They don’t. 😐 Baffled, Ruby asks why not. The answer Lindy and the others give is this.
Lindy: Because you, sir, are not one of us. I mean, you were kind, although it was your duty to save me, obviously. I mean, screen-to-screen contact is just about acceptable, but… in person? That’s impossible.
Now, initially, I didn’t really get what was going on here. I didn’t understand why Lindy and her kind were refusing to accept the Doctor’s offer of help in that moment. Maybe I was recovering from the shock of Lindy causing Ricky to be killed off by her Dot instead of her.
I don’t mean to sound to ignorant, but I assumed Lindy and her friends’ refusal of the Doctor’s offer was because they were being snobs. That they were stuck in their social society to consider associating or receiving help from outsiders like the Doctor and Ruby.
But in checking out more information about the episode, even after I’d done my spoiler-free reaction from watching it, it turned out to be more than that. And horrifyingly so. You see, it turns out the people of Finetime, including Lindy Pepper-Bean…are white supremacists. 😐
Yeah. They’re racists! They refuse to accept the Doctor’s help…because of his skin colour. They won’t accept his help…because he’s a black man. And I didn’t even realise that everyone in Finetime was white. Finetime happens to be…a white supremist society!
Hoochy Pie and Brewster Cavendish add to Lindy’s statement by saying they won’t allow the Doctor to ‘contaminate’ them using his ‘voodoo box’ or be in the same room as him. Because it disgusts them. It’s something I wasn’t expecting to find in viewing this episode.
Again, I don’t mean to sound ignorant when I’m saying this, but I honestly didn’t pick up on first viewing this episode that there was this sense of casual racism being aimed towards the Doctor because he was black. It’s on rewatches that I’ve picked up on this more.
Remember those lines I highlighted about Lindy where she reacted to the Doctor whilst communicating with him and Ruby? Those are examples of Lindy expressing her racist views at him. It’s something I didn’t pick up on when first viewing this story back in May 2024.
I’m acknowledging it now because I’ve had time to process my thoughts on ‘Dot and Bubble’ as well as the rest of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ over the past couple of years. And racism is something I don’t like to focus on when I’m checking out any story in particular.
I suppose it’s because it was done subtly that I didn’t really pick up on it whilst watching the episode back in May 2024. I thought this story was simply going to be about the dangers of social media. And it still is. 🙂 But I suppose racism does have a huge part to play in that.
You see, sadly, we live in a world where opinions on the Internet are very toxic. That certain opinions can be very hostile, and they’ll override the constructive criticisms that address both sides of the argument. Sometimes, those opinions can be on the point of obsessive.
And unfortunately, racism can be a key part of that too. When Ncuti Gatwa was announced as the Doctor back in May 2022, according to my research, there was backlash to his casting as the Doctor. Simply because he was a black man playing the Doctor. 😐
Russell T. Davies took that as some inspiration for writing ‘Dot and Bubble’, since, if certain stories set in the past could have Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor deal with racism, why not have certain stories set in the present and or in the future also deal with the same issue. 😐
And I will give RTD credit, it’s not unjustified. Ncuti himself had to deal with racist remarks when he was announced as the Fifteenth Doctor in the same way Jodie Whittaker had to deal with criticisms being a woman when she was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor.
Speaking of Jodie Whittaker, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that there still would be racism and prejudice in the future. After all, Krasko, who attempted to change Earth’s history by altering Rosa Parks’ timeline in ‘Rosa’, came from the future and was also racist.
I’m currently despairing about the future and where we’re going because, ideally, I’d like to think we’ll live in an idyllic future where racism is abolished. Much like how ‘Star Trek’ depicts the future where racism isn’t so common and everyone is equal with each other.
But I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as that because, as ‘Doctor Who’ stories often tend to do this concerning the future, we’re still going to have issues regarding conflict in whatever time period we’re in – past, present and future. And racism is still a big problem.
Going back to ‘Rosa’, I actually prefer that as a ‘Doctor Who’ story that deals with racism and prejudice over ‘Dot and Bubble’. Because it’s clear from the beginning what it’s about, especially when it’s set in Earth’s past and the Thirteenth Doctor team are dealing with it.
It’s also a story that ends on a positive note. That despite Rosa Parks being arrested since she refused to stand up when told to let a white person take her seat on a bus, the way forward to saying “No” to racism is hopeful and we can still be better people from that. 🙂
‘Dot and Bubble’ is the opposite to ‘Rosa’. It’s an episode where the Doctor actually fails in his attempt to save the people of Finetime. And it means that racism is still going to be a problem in our future, regardless of how many times we try to wipe it out in going forward.
It’s very heartbreaking and I’m very sad that there’s no redeeming character in the Finetime community, including Lindy, who would be willing to accept the Doctor’s help. Ricky September could’ve said “Yes” to the offer. He can’t, of course, because he’s dead.
Ruby is clearly disgusted by Lindy and her friends’ treatment of the Doctor. Understandable. She’s compassionate and was brought up by her adoptive mother and grandmother who are also black. Ruby is more open-minded than the Finetime residents.
Despite them refusing to accept his offer of help, the Doctor doesn’t back down in repeating it to them. And that is what the Doctor would do, regardless of whether he’s a black man or not. And I like how Ncuti delivers in that in his performance in the final scene.
Doctor: I don’t care…what you think. And you can say whatever you want. You can think absolutely anything. I will do…anything…if you just allow me…to save your lives.
I think this is probably where I grew to accept Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. Despite all the criticisms surrounding his casting, before and after, this is where I became convinced that this was the Doctor. That this was him doing everything he can to be compassionate.
He doesn’t judge the Finetime residents on their awful views. At least, not in that moment. He does all that he can to put that aside, as he begs them to let him help them, as he knows they will not survive where they’re going and does all he can to protect them.
It’s an instance where I really wanted Ncuti’s Doctor to win them over, even during my first viewing where I didn’t get the casual racism aspect of the story, and on multiple viewings. I hoped that somehow, he would get to save them all, regardless of their prejudice of him.
Sadly, that doesn’t happen, as Lindy and the Finetime refugees ignore him completely. The Doctor and Ruby watch them leave as they board the river cruiser, disgusted by the Finetime refugees’ racist and ungrateful attitude. Even Ruby is left in tears by this point. 😦
As the Finetime residents leave, we see the Doctor laughing away incredulously before he screams in rage and frustration. It’s a powerful moment and Ncuti plays it so well. I felt for Ncuti’s Doctor, even when I didn’t get the episode’s racism aspect on my first viewing.
Ruby tries to comfort Ncuti’s Doctor, and I like how she gets to touch his arm when he’s screaming and yelling in rage. It’s so gut-wrenching. As a viewer, it does make you wish that things had turned out very differently if not all the Finetime residents were so horrible.
If I was writing this episode, I would’ve ended it differently, as I would’ve had one Finetime resident agreeing to the Doctor’s offer of help, simply because he or she didn’t want to die. Whether he or she had some racist views or not is another matter. I’d like to think not.
I’d also like to think the Doctor and Ruby would willingly agree to let that one Finetime resident aboard the TARDIS despite the other Finetime residents’ treatment of the Doctor. At least the Doctor would have succeeded in saving one person from the Finetime community. 🙂
Incidentally, that alternative ending by me was inspired by the Ten Lepers story in Luke 17:11-19 where Jesus asked the one leper who was healed and thanked him, “Where are the other nine?” Closing ‘Dot and Bubble’ with my ending would’ve been more reassuring.
Sadly, that didn’t happen, which is a shame, as the episode ends with Lindy and her group sailing away to head for the Wild Woods where they have little or no chance of survival. I do wonder if a follow-up story is going to happen for Lindy and her people, but I doubt it. 😐
Forced to accept that Lindy and the others would rather die than accept his help, the Doctor, with Ruby joining him, returns to the TARDIS, filled with sorrow and anger. Even when the ‘next time’ trailer for ‘Rogue’ came up, I couldn’t help feel downhearted then. 😦
I don’t know if it’s me, but I couldn’t help sense an element of ‘Midnight’ featured in ‘Dot and Bubble’. In that story, the Doctor struggled to convince the people he was with that he wanted to save their lives, despite them being hostile when in a perilous situation.
Whilst I’m not really a fan of ‘Midnight’ and whilst it doesn’t exactly match to what’s going on in ‘Dot and Bubble’, it’s fascinating RTD likes to go for stories where the Doctor can’t always save people, especially when they seem opposed to him. It’s an intriguing pattern.
I suppose I could say this is another thing that RTD repeats from his original TV era in his neo-era, but…it depends on how effective you think it is and whether it’s lazy or not. I think in both instances, they’re very thought-provoking and invigorating in different measures.
I’d also like to point out that ‘Dot and Bubble’ is the opposite of another ‘Doctor Who’ episode that came before it – ‘The Witchfinders’. In that episode, Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor struggled to win people’s favour because she was a woman and was regarded as a witch.
The difference between that episode and ‘Dot and Bubble’ however is that Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor managed to save the day and oppose the deadly force that threatened humanity in Earth’s past, despite her being a woman. It was quite a reassuring episode. 🙂
In ‘Dot and Bubble’ however, Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor doesn’t succeed in his attempt to save everyone, as they all reject him because they’re racists. I don’t know how you judge Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor by this point, but it’s a shame this episode ends on a mean-spirited note.
The DVD/Blu-ray special features for ‘Dot and Bubble’ are as follows. On Disc 4 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s a behind-the-scenes featurette on ‘Dot and Bubble’, a scene breakdown on ‘Dot and Bubble’ with director Dylan Holmes Williams, ‘Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson’s Top 5 People In Their Bubble’, ‘Video Profile – Lindy Pepper-Bean’, ‘Callie Cooke Sneaks Onto the TARDIS’ and the ‘Dot and Bubble’ set tour with Callie Cooke. On Disc 6 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘Dot and Bubble’.
On reflection, ‘Dot and Bubble’ is a very interesting experiment of a ‘Doctor Who’ episode, particularly when it deals with the themes of racism and prejudice as well as the dangers of social media through the eyes of Callie Cooke as Lindy Pepper-Bean – the anti-hero. 😐
The mean-spiritedness and casual racism featured in the episode, particularly by the story’s end, did put me off, even when I was viewing it for the first time and I didn’t realise the Finetime residents were white supremacists. It’s something I wouldn’t have looked for in this tale.
In doing this review, I’ve been able to process more of my thoughts and how I feel about this episode. It’s not really a terrible episode. Far from it. It’s just, I would have ended it very differently with the Doctor at least saving one person instead of not saving them at all.
My Mum said to me that she didn’t think Russell T. Davies should have ended the episode the way he did. And I agree with her. RTD shouldn’t have ended the story on a very dour note, even if the reality of what the world we’re in now about racism is a sad reflection on that.
I mean, Ruby isn’t treated in the same way as the Doctor is by the Finetime residents. Or maybe she is because she’s associated with him, I don’t know. If I had my way, I would’ve probably focused some of this story from Ricky’s perspective and have him survive as well.
It was pointed out to me that the episodes of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ have a lot of mature themes featured throughout the season. Almost as if they echoed the mature themes of the ‘Virgin New Adventures’ books of ‘Doctor Who’ published in the early 1990s.
I’ve not read all the ‘Virgin New Adventures’ books of ‘Doctor Who’. The ones I have read, including ‘Damaged Goods’ by Russell T. Davies, do have a sense of featuring more darker and thought-provoking material compared to the usual ‘Doctor Who’ storytelling on TV. 😐
I debate whether certain mature themes can work well on TV compared to prose. It depends on how you look at it and how much thought is put into the episodes to make them work well and have the messages come across to audiences. Sometimes, it varies.
That’s often an issue with ‘Doctor Who’ these days. Sometimes, certain things featured in episodes aren’t properly explained. Or if they are explained, then more time is required for someone like me to process the information. That was certainly the case with this story.
I’m open to the idea that the neo-RTD era is attempting to go for more darker and thought-provoking storytelling compared to what we’d get with traditional ‘monster of the week’ stories. Sometimes, it can often be a good or bad thing, depending upon how you look at it.
There are some good concepts featured in the episodes of Ncuti Gatwa’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. It sometimes depends on whether the resolutions of those certain stories hit the mark or not. Sadly, I’m afraid ‘Dot and Bubble’ didn’t quite exactly tick all the boxes for me.
I was looking forward to seeing the next episode ‘Rogue’ in the season though. I was keen to see what Millie Gibson as Ruby would be like in her Regency outfit. She looked so lovely in the photos that previewed the next episode. Would I be won over by ‘Rogue’ as a story?
‘Dot and Bubble’ rating – 7/10
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