DISCLAIMER: This recap of Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 5, “Dot and Bubble,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Finetime is anything but fine.
Russell T Davies pens another banger with “Dot and Bubble,” Doctor Who‘s twisted take on Black Mirror. It’s a narrative about privilege, white supremacy and racism. How privileged people refuse to lend a hand to those suffering around them. Hell, they usually keep their backs turned to all that. You could also say it’s about our over-reliance on technology and social media and how those will be our downfall.
Lindy Pepper-Bean is not the heroine I thought she might be. She’s wholly despicable, repugnant and definitely not worth rooting for. The final moments are a perfect showcase for Ncuti Gatwa. Good Time Lord, does he deliver a powerhouse performance, and he barely utters a word. Fifteen is easily in my top three favorite doctors.
“Dot and Bubble” offers a great lesson for the Doctor, who learns he can’t save everyone. It’s a testament to the writing and Gatwa’s impactful work that we truly see how good our Gallifreyan really is here.
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Dot (and Bubble)
We open with Lindy (Callie Cooke) accessing her “Dot,” which brings up a “Bubble” full of her friends. She resides in Finetime, a seemingly utopian world where nobody pees and everyone is super complimentary. Lindy gets out of bed, following the instructions the Bubble gives her. It tells her how to walk and where.
While Lindy brushes her teeth, the Doctor (Gatwa) suddenly appears as an “unsolicited request.” He offers an urgent warning, claiming monsters are coming for her. She ignores him, instead opting to watch a video of dreamy singer Ricky September (Tom Rhys Harries).
Missing in Finetime
Later, Lindy heads to work, chatting with her pals along the way. Here in Finetime, people only work two hours a day (lucky). Lindy’s friend Gothic Paul (Pete MacHale) reveals people have been going missing in Finetime. Unfortunately, Lindy and the others don’t listen to him. While preparing for the workday, Lindy meets Ruby (Millie Gibson), who pretends to do a “systems check” on behalf of Finetime Enterprises. She asks Lindy questions about her work and personal life. Lindy insults her the whole time, calling her stupid. Ick.
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Lindy’s job is to “clean up substack information and deliver it back to the Homeworld.” Only young folks between 17 and 27 are allowed to live in Finetime. So … they’re racist and ageist. Anyway, Ruby asks Lindy about her coworkers and where they sit. She urges Lindy to close the Bubble and look for them. Lindy doesn’t close it, but she peers through the gaps between the icons of her friends that said coworkers are MIA. A massive creature consumes one of them in front of her.
Lindy panics, but the tears really flow when a monster eats one of her pals in the Bubble. She starts singing the lyrics to “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” to calm herself down. Finally, the Doctor reappears. He instructs Lindy to switch off the Bubble and walk out before a monster eats her alive. The Bubble keeps her distracted, so she might walk into the mouth of one of those things.
Running Into Danger
She does this; however, she only walks a few steps before resorting to the Bubble again. Lindy admits she can’t walk without the Bubble; she doesn’t know how. Then, the Doctor and Ruby tell her to walk to the nearest elevator. She does, but there’s the tentacled creature within. Thankfully, it doesn’t consume her, though.
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The Doctor wonders what’s “different” about Lindy. Why are these monsters ignoring her? Once outside, the Doctor persuades her to lower the Bubble so they can get a full view of the streets of Finetime. Without the Bubble, Lindy sees a creature eating one girl through an apartment window. Another young woman walks past a monster on the street. She doesn’t see it because of her Bubble.
Next, Lindy surmises the creatures are from the Wild Woods. A massive woodland area surrounds Finetime, but its denizens can’t access it. Lindy also explains who can live in Finetime — only the young and rich (and white, but she omits that part). She states that her mummy paid for it all. That’s when we meet Lindy’s mom, Penny Pepper-Bean (Susan Twist). The Doctor and Ruby recognize her as the face of the Ambulance on Kastarion 3. Ruby states she’s seen Penny somewhere else. I love that they’re catching on to the Susan Twist twistiness of it all. I think she’ll play into Ruby’s identity arc.
A Warning
Lindy realizes Ruby and the Doctor are in the same room. She looks disgusted. Babes, your racism is showing. After that, Lindy, having seen the monstrous light, attempts to warn her friends about the people-eating tentacled creatures. Of course, they pay her no mind.
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After watching another person get consumed in the Bubble, the Doctor utilizes his sonic screwdriver to key everyone into the conversation. The Doctor tells them about an underground river. Conduits—vertical tunnels—run through the city. He sends them all the locations of said conduits. Our titular Time Lord urges them to get to a conduit. Once there, he’ll send the codes to unlock them.
Suddenly, Lindy realizes her Bubble is about to die. It needs charging. The Doctor informs her that her conduit has an access point in Plaza 55. Well, inside a specific building, but Lindy’s Bubble shuts off before she hears the full number.
Ricky Saves the Day
Later, Lindy struggles to navigate Finetime without the Bubble. Mostly, she can’t walk. Then, she stumbles upon two monsters. Thankfully, none other than Ricky September saves her. She embraces him, realizing no one has ever hugged her before. He tells Lindy he tried to warn everyone, but his videos kept getting deleted. Ricky confirms what we’ve suspected — that the creatures are being selective with their food.
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Then, Ricky takes Lindy to Plaza 55. Inside, Lindy charges her Bubble while Ricky contacts the Homeworld. He discovers that the monsters wiped out Homeworld. Population: zero. He looks aghast. However, he lies to Lindy, withholding this information from her.
Next, Ricky and Lindy arrive at the conduit, which is on the lowest level of the building. She tells the Doctor and Ruby that she’s with Ricky, and they adorably fight over him. The Doctor explains pulse codes to Ricky, stating that he’ll need to type in a new combination of numbers every five seconds — lots of different codes to unlock the mono-sealed door. Listen, Doc, Ricky’s studied pulse codes. He knows how they work. Okay, I’m shipping the Doctor/Ricky. (Dicky? Roctor?)
Killing in Alphabetical Order
While Ricky works on the pulse codes, the Doctor comes to a startling realization. The creatures are eating the citizens of Finetime in alphabetical order by surname. Unfortunately, Lindy is next. Lindy panics, but Ricky reassures her that he’ll get her safely out of there in 30 more number combinations.
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The Doctor states that since the monsters are consuming their victims alphabetically, they didn’t come from the outside. Someone or something created them. He believes the Dot can detect the creatures. It wants all the Finetime denizens, all the Dot users, to walk right into them. The Doctor urges Lindy to dispose of her Dot. It’s probably already achieved sentience.
Sure enough, the Dot turns angry and red, honing in on Lindy. It chases her with every intent of killing her. Ricky September saves the day again, smacking the Dot with a pipe. He urges Lindy to continue with the pulse codes until the door unlocks. Lindy finally unlocks said door. Still contending with the Dot, Ricky orders her to go through and not worry about him.
Lindy’s Betrayal
The Dot smacks Ricky on the head, almost knocking him unconscious. It zeroes in on Lindy, who’s next on the target list. However, she saves herself by stating that Ricky’s real last name isn’t September. It’s Coombes, and he changed it to September when he reached 50,000 followers. Having verified this information, the Dot turns around and swiftly kills Ricky. Oh, Lindy. You are the worst kind of person. Poor Ricky.
Later, Lindy arrives at the river, where the TARDIS sits. The Doctor and Ruby help the survivors prepare for departure. Lindy reunites with a few of her buddies. Suspecting something is amiss, the Doctor and Ruby ask about Ricky. She lies, refusing to admit she condemned him to death.
Lindy’s friends claim they’re departing on a boat, heading for “The Great Beyond,” the world outside Finetime. They tell her that the Homeworld isn’t going to save them. In fact, her mother has gone “to the sky.” Lindy considers her lucky. Girl, Susan Twist can’t save you now.
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An Offer Rejected
The Doctor offers his TARDIS, stating he can fit them inside and then some. He can take them to a safe planet, away from all this. Lindy and her pals sneer at him. They aren’t even trying to hide their racism now. Although, it’s pretty evident from the get-go, from Lindy ignoring him to calling him stupid and freaking out when he was in the same room with Ruby.
So, they reject the Doctor’s offer. They’re too busy being bigots. The Doctor tries in vain to persuade them to board the TARDIS. He insists they’ll all die if they take that boat. Lindy and the others depart on it anyway. After a moment of understandable rage, realizing he can’t save those who don’t wish to be saved — or those who hate him — the Doctor heads inside the TARDIS and leaves Finetime.
Oof. That was tough to watch.
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