Doctor Who – Dot and Bubble Review

“What would happen if Doctor Who tried its hand at a Black Mirror episode,” seems like it could have easily been the pitch for “Dot and Bubble,” this week’s Who installment that certainly seemed to pull from the Black Mirror universe in its basic structure – including that gut-punch of a final sequence. And while this one did get a bit dark (giant bug aliens eating people whole because AI got angry is a pretty bleak commentary on our current world, and that’s before diving into the white supremacy/racist under and overtones within the episode), it still had just enough soft edges (we don’t see the copious amounts of blood that absolutely would have been present during those attacks – and the little we do see isn’t red) to qualify as a Who outing and not something from a darker realm of television. But, boy, was this a strange one in the grand scheme of things.

First up, kudos to Callie Cooke for her sensational turn as Lindy Pepper-Bean. Much like Carey Mulligan in the Who all-timer “Blink,” Cooke was asked to do the heavy lifting in the episode almost entirely without Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor or Millie Gibson’s Ruby alongside her. Acting with mostly CGI is hard. Doing so while carrying an episode of television as a guest star? That’s incredibly hard. But Cooke pulled if off masterfully, making it clear how terrifying of a situation she was in – and how completely inept she and her fellow citizens were when faced with such a coordinated attack while unable to rely on their technological crutch. Cooke needed to build up enough empathy and trust in Lindy for her final act turn to really hit home and she absolutely completed that assignment. I found myself rooting for her to make it through the complex maze and escape. And even when Lindy traded her life for Ricky September’s, I was able to brush it off – I absolutely understand a desire to survive overriding the need to work together. But I cannot believe I missed that the episode was setting us up for the reveal of the racial purity of the settlement.

Looking back, this was a masterful set-up (even if the final confrontation felt a tad too short – we get the reveal, the reaction from The Doctor and Ruby, and then we’re asked to simply sit with that emotion, which allowed for that uncomfortable feeling of collusion with the racist characters to linger beyond the episode but also didn’t allow us to really see The Doctor and Ruby unpack their own emotions surrounding the situation, which I would have liked to see) that only reveals itself when you look back at the episode once you’ve watched it. All of Lindy’s “friends” are white. Everyone she encounters within the Bubble is white. But being white myself, I never once read that as anything but normal. And when she blocks The Doctor, that was just her being a spoiled brat. I didn’t think much of her agreeing to chat with Ruby despite not knowing her. After all, The Doctor came on a bit strong, why wouldn’t she trust the more tactful Ruby? And when she mentioned that The Doctor would be “punished” for his incursion, even after he’d already taken time to help her out and save her life? That was odd, but again, he hacked a closed system. Maybe that was what it was all about. But nope, it was all because Lindy and her “friends” are racist assholes. Oof.

But it wasn’t just that shocking ending that worked as a commentary on our current world, it was the entire episode. The ever-increasing reliance on AI and modern technology as a crutch instead of actively researching, writing, learning (anyone with a child going through school these days absolutely understands the lure of AI as a shortcut for creating original thoughts and ideas). The isolation of individuals as fewer in-person interactions occur and much more socialization takes place online. After all, why bother going out to a friend’s house to hang out and play a video game when you can just stay home and play online together? Saves you a trip and you never need to leave the safety of your own cocoon. And while it wasn’t particularly well-developed in the episode, there were hints that the people populating this particular locale on the planet had been selected as some sort of reality TV experiment watched by those on their home planet as entertainment. So, yet another commentary on the modern drive for fame and value being derived as a result of views, followers, and faux-friends. With the sinister undertones leading to the reveal that these folks aren’t just over-reliant on technology – no, they also believe non-white individuals to be below them.

Now, does it all connect? No, there’s way too much happening here to delve deep enough for all of it to truly make a real impact on the viewer. But Russell T. Davies does make sure that each of these threads is noticeable, even if the depth to make them sing isn’t necessarily there. Much like the Steven Moffat episode a few weeks back, there’s so much here that there’s no way to truly give each beat the depth it needs – or the follow-up that the racist revelation requires (perhaps it will be touched on further down the line, but on a series that is mostly episodic in nature, I would be surprised to see the series fail dip its toe back into this particular pond, especially when it already has the Ruby Mystery Box to solve*).

*Speaking of the Mystery Box, this week saw Ruby and The Doctor finally putting together that the mystery woman who keeps appearing seems to be shadowing them. Hopefully most folks had also put this together over the recent weeks – had Disney+ not been sending out a list of Do Not Reveals to critics highlighting her appearances each week, I’m not sure I would have made that leap on my own. But, one assumes she has some key link to Ruby’s mysterious past.

So, is “Dot and Bubble” successful as an episode? Yes, it is. Overstuffed? Sure. But the emotional beats work well – thanks largely to Cooke’s performance as Lindy, since if we don’t connect with her, the episode falls apart at the seams – and the final reveal is truly chilling in a way I wasn’t expecting. It’s always intriguing to see an episode of Doctor Who where the story is ceded to a guest star and The Doctor and their companion take a back seat. Following Lindy on her journey to escape from near certain death was one such story, one that had me locked in throughout the tale until the bitter end.