"I don't care what you think. You can say whatever you want. You can think absolutely anything. I will do anything... if you just allow me to save your lives!"
IN THIS ONE... A planet where people are blinded by social media is invaded.
REVIEW: I'm really having a lot of difficulty with how the season is structured, as here we get our second Doctor-Lite episode in a row, in a season that only has 8 episodes total! He's in it more than in 73 Yards, but he and Ruby are basically on screens for most of it, and the protagonist is a terrible Black Mirror character who we're meant to hate, which certainly impairs our enjoyment. Dot and Bubble is, in fact, the reverse of "Love & Monsters", in that it has a powerful ending, but is nearly unwatchable for most of its runtime. Lindy is certainly no Elton or Sally Sparrow. Instead, we're asked to invest in an uncurious, rude racist obsessed with trivial things and who talks like an Instagram comments section. There's a moment where she has to stop using her bubble, and you think she might be enlightened by the experience, but no such luck. She only becomes (or is revealed to be) worse. Same for her whole society. And the Doctor may be upset he can't save them, but we re most definitely not.
The Black Mirror of it all is that this society of only young people is plugged into social media to its own detriment (which is kind of a nasty ageist commentary by the writer). These "pretty" twentysomethings have their eyes fixed on their "phones", barely work, live in an echo chamber, vote against their own interests, have no empathy, and can't do anything (including walking) without the help of their devices. It's a bit of a tangle of different social media problems, not all of which can or should be levied at a specific population, and includes being lied to by A.I. Russell T Davies attacks social media behavior with as big a brush as possible, before finally revealing (though it's apparent before then, and perhaps a little too blunt at the end) that the satire most attacks wealthy white privilege (though they at least have no problem with LGBTQ+ people and believe in consent), with the people of Finetime actively espousing racist attitudes towards the Doctor, to the point that they go to their deaths in the wilderness rather than be in the same room/ship with him. Ncuti Gatwa is amazing in this moment, making the Doctor rage against the universe that these people would be so dumb and self-sabotaging, and some will say his powerful performance is what makes the episode. That performance (and Millie Gibson's) are fine before that - figuring out the mystery and using the Doctor Who playbook of inspiring NPCs to courage and valor, but in the latter case, it fails.
Note that Lindy Pepper-Bean (and I am SO OVER RTD's dumb character-naming scheme) was already a crass a-hole before that ending. The big "oof" is when she realizes the Doctor is the same person who tried to contact her earlier in the day and just thought they "looked the same". So it's really hard to stay with her as a POV character. She's not just annoying, she's actively repulsive. When she meets pop idol Ricky September, a Doctorish Renaissance man with the "right coloring", who knows to disconnect from the network, reads books, and has come to the same conclusions as the Doctor on his own, there seems to be a glimmer of hope for her. Her first hug, etc. Can she be saved? But no, she lets him be killed (one of the most violent deaths I've seen on Doctor Who) and lies about it later. Disgusting. The slugs (modernized Tractators?) have nothing on these slimes. And that's just it. No matter how good Gatwa is in the episode, no matter how shocking that ending is, we have to wait 40 tortuous minutes in the company of this CREATURE. Pretty unbearable.
THEORIES: I've been promising this for a while, so let's do it. Susan Twist. She's been appearing in every episode since the start of the season, and as soon as people noticed (episode 2 or 3), Davies was out there saying it's just because they liked the actress so much and not to pay it any mind. Yeah, I remember the Ninth Doctor saying Bad Wolf was just a coincident in "Boom Town" too. First off, I've OFTEN said on here that he is not to be trusted and that anything he says in interviews is suspect and not canon. He's said some doozies lately (the stuff about all the Doctors being out there as bi-generations, for example), and the Susan Twist thing is an obvious lie. Ruby DID recognize her face in 73 Yards and here both she and the Doctor recognize her. In a couple episodes, we'll learn the truth - that she is being seeded across time, wherever the TARDIS goes, as an avatar of Sutekh. In this case, "mummy" is already dead and it's the Dot A.I. lying to Lindy. Nevertheless, this is the only instance where we know of a Sutekh avatar having a CHILD. No doubt, these creatures are inserted into the timeline where they can appear as an older woman in the TARDIS' time frame, retroactively being made part of history where the TARDIS lands. In this case, she's the protagonist's mother, so I have to ask: Does Susan Twist REPLACE someone in the timeline, or is she entirely new. And regardless, is Lindy the only person they can contact and get through - read: gravitate toward - because she's linked to the TARDIS in this way? And is it all for nought exactly because her origins are evil?
Quick note also that the Doctor uses the term "antigrav" rather than "antimav", which I should hope is the universe trying to fix itself, but is doubtless a mistake.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - The ending hits hard, but the main character is so wretched, the episode comes across as deeply annoying. The Medium is a fair rating, but personally, this one's so frustrating, it's personally a Low.
Comments
It's awful and awkward and plays out it's conceit (mindfully) to it's very last scene. It's the kind of discursive power and commitment Chibnall struggled so hard to implement during his 1st season.
As an aside, I believe the shooting schedule was so mixed up for this season that Ncuti Gatwa's first day on set included the final scene of this episode. In which he is very good; setting the bar quite high for the rest of his tenure.
And if we are being entirely honest here, a white showrunner doesn't have the latitude to play fast and loose with the subject matter presented within, redemptive paths (likeability) could have easily been interpreted as apologist rhetoric subsequently, there's a reason there's a big flashing neon sign installed at journey's end. Behind the camera though, the hegemony continues...
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I get the feeling that although the Disney/BBC discussions were ongoing, that with the U.S. writers/actors strike looming large, Disney were ultra keen to get the proposed series into production as soon as humanly practicable. In the best of all possible worlds you wouldn't start shooting an important, establishing series with your lead presently located elsewhere.