Doctor Who: Dot and Bubble Review

Looking back at this season of Doctor Who so far, what strikes me most is how completely different each episode feels from the last. This show has always benefitted from a “go anywhere, do anything” philosophy, but this is the first season in quite a long time where each episode goes for a strikingly different style of storytelling.

Space Babies was a more straightforward adventure, Boom was a contained episode that thrived on its limitations, 73 Yards was a creeping Doctorless mystery, and now Dot and Bubble gives us a new protagonist to follow with the Doctor and Ruby guiding them through a horrific scenario.

Lindy is a unique protagonist in this story as she’s inherently unlikable. She’s a rich trust fund kid who’s addicted to social media and has no idea of the real world – like all of the secondary cast. That said, I slowly grew to like her as she bumbles around like Bambi on ice. I came to find her endearing in an almost condescending way, which she surprisingly calls out mid-way through the episode.

Examining the core mystery through her eyes was the perfect way to present it, and while it may be disappointing that this is the second episode in a row where the Doctor is sidelined (although not as heavily as last week), this concept simply wouldn’t work if he wasn’t limited in his ability to intervene.

Her slow awakening to the horrific nature of the world around her is great to watch, and you can even squeeze in some commentary on social media addiction blinding people to the world around them while you’re at it. It leads to brilliant tension as she avoids the slug monsters around her, and you’re rewarded for paying attention to the little details, as more and more “Offline” screens appear in the background of Lindy’s Bubble while talking to the Doctor, implying yet more people being eaten as she escapes.

The episode knows how to keep you guessing too, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who assumed that this lovely-seeming Ricky September fellow actually had sinister intentions, or was somehow wrapped up in the secrets of Finetime, yet it turns out to be a complete red herring. What’s more, the episode seems to know we’ll make that assumption and keeps leaning into it, only to pull a whopper of a sucker punch when it’s actually our lovable Lindy who betrays him.

This is yet another example of how brilliantly the episode plays with our expectations, as we start out not liking Lindy, grow to enjoy her charms, and eventually flip right back around on her as she makes the selfish choice and gets her idol killed. It’s perfectly paced throughout and sets up for a twist that hit me so unbelievably hard the first time I watched this episode, and elevated it from an enjoyable adventure to a top-tier one.

I’m ashamed to say that it didn’t occur to me that the entire secondary cast was painfully white. Nor did I pick up on any of Lindy’s micro-aggressions towards the Doctor throughout, so it completely knocked me for a loop when every single resident of Finetime refused his help because of their racist beliefs.

It’s one of the most genius twists I’ve ever seen, as not only does it switch your perspective on Lindy and her friends, but the setup throughout the entire episode is completely recontextualized. Adding in the context that their homeworld is wiped out, you realize that what initially seemed like a place for trust fund kids to lead a happy sheltered life, – paid for by mummy and daddy – was actually glorified eugenics, where the richest and “purest” young people were sent to survive a world-ending tragedy.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking, but what hammers it home is the Doctor’s response to it. It’s so deeply painful to watch him swallow his anger and tell them that they can believe whatever they want to believe, he just wants to save their lives. We know that he could do it as easily as snapping his fingers, yet they still reject him. They sail off into certain death just because their rescuer is black.

This is Ncuti Gatwa’s best acting moment of the season so far, as the Doctor has this incredible breakdown at being completely powerless to help through the sheer ignorance of the people he’s trying to save. The frustrated laughter and the way he flails his limbs like he doesn’t know what to do with himself sell it to perfection and leave a lasting impression. Once again, pay attention to the background, as while Ruby’s not the focus of this scene, her disbelief and slow descent into tears at the situation is just as brilliant a performance as Ncuti’s.

Here, not knowing how long was left on the episode, I expected the Doctor to do what he always does – to do what almost every episode of this show has done for the past 60 years – turn around, say no, and find a way to save them anyway. Once again our expectations are subverted, as the Doctor can do nothing but turn away as the credits roll.

It’s a decision that I think will be controversial, but it’s the kind of bold move that I can’t help but applaud. Maybe in other shows this wouldn’t hit as hard, but this is Doctor Who, where the good guys always win and there’s always a happy ending. This ending absolutely floored me in the most incredible way. For an episode that Russell T Davies said he initially dreamt up in 2010, the way it presents social media and the way it can cause mass brainwashing of extremist beliefs is crushingly relevant.

With this being the third episode in a row I’m giving full marks, and just three more episodes to go, I’m starting to come around on the argument that this might be the greatest season of Doctor Who ever produced. Davies is pushing the show into stories it's never tried to tell before, and while I know there are naysayers in the crowd, every single one is hitting me harder than the last.

Score: 10/10