Last week, Russell T Davies was able to provide us with a somewhat chilling episode set in Wales, which also gave us Millie Gibson’s best performance yet as Ruby. “73 Yards” was very much a Doctor-lite episode, and while I’m a fan of those when they’re good, I don’t want too many in a season as we start to actually lose out on screen time from The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), which I don’t want as I love Nctui’s Doctor and want to consume as much of it as I can. That being said, it feels like we just got another Doctor-Lite episode back to back, well, partially. The Doctor does appear in this episode alongside Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), but their appearances are strange, and all the focus is on the main character of this episode, Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke).
This episode of Doctor Who is titled “Dot and Bubble” and it’s set in the world of Finetime where everyone is happy and harmonious but out of nowhere, an awful terror begins preying on the citizens. Will the Doctor and Ruby be able to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late?
It’s in the title, there’s only one way to describe this episode and it’s, the Black Mirrorfication of Doctor Who. Last week’s episode also felt like this but it was more subtle. “Dot and Bubble” throws it in your face as it shows you the type of world the civilians of Finetime are living in. They’re all glued to these devices called Dots they pull a hologram called a bubble which showcases everyone, you can talk to your friends on it, meet new people and it even directs you where to walk. What Russell T Davies loves to do with his Doctor Who episodes is send a message and he does it once again, he depicts a world that’s not too far from our own. Everyone wearing a device on their head, not be aware of their surroundings it happened earlier this year when people were wearing Apple Vision Pro devices to restaurants and breaking glassware that was clearly in eyesight but too stupid to notice because they were fixed on what was on their screen.
This is where our lead comes in, Lindy Pepper-Bean. Just like everyone else in this world, she can’t live without this device, she’s never in control of her own life and relies on the Dot to help with everything. You’d expect someone to know if they need to go urinate but not Lindy Pepper-Bean or the residents of Finetime, she has a contact called Dr Pee who tells her when she needs to go. It gives us a look at Gen Z and Alpha who tend to follow trends in society instead of thinking for themselves. Once monsters are threatening the citizens, situations have to change for people who only know how to live in one way. The Doctor and Ruby only appear in the episode to help out Lindy Pepper-Bean and get her out of the city to where it’s safe but that proves as a difficult task as Lindy can’t walk without Dot pointing with directional arrows to assist and it’s impossible to see the monsters while the bubble is activated.
This all makes for quite an interesting concept that makes fun of the current generation of kids, teens and young adults who are obsessed by their screens, and social status among their peers and are incapable of working a 9-5 job. The only problem is that without the monsters, it doesn’t feel like a Doctor Who episode and feels like something completely different from another show. The monsters also become irrelevant once you discover the true hidden theme behind the entire episode.
This episode is a jarring one to watch as you’re just stuck with this character, Lindy Pepper-Bean who is as stupid as her name sounds. For the first time, I wanted The Doctor to just not help her out or at least help out another civilian who was deserving of it, as she makes attempts to turn away The Doctor anytime he attempted to help. While the character might’ve been one of the most annoying characters we’ve gotten in a long time, Callie Cooke performed exceptionally well, providing an array of emotions that Lindy goes through. It’s quite an ironic episode as we started the season with babies who have aged brains and now we have a civilisation of people aged from 17-27 who act like complete babies who are incapable of walking or working.
“Dot and Bubble” is a social commentary on the behaviour of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, incorporating this into a Doctor Who episode is an interesting way to go about it but unfortunately it seems like there could’ve been a better way to handle it or at least make the scenario more interesting, maybe by having The Doctor more involved in the episode, hands-on, instead of just being on a call with her the entire episode. The last 15 minutes of the episode are its strongest moments and not only does Murray Gold provide his best score for this scene but Ncuti also gives another defining moment that tells us exactly the type of character The Doctor is and why we all love him.
Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 5 “Dot and Bubble” releases May 24 on BBC IPlayer and BBC One in the UK and on Disney+ internationally.
