It begins as a fun bubbly episode, with the generally vapid conversations belying the fact that something darker is going on in Finetime. It starts small, with some people offline who normally wouldn't be, but the main character of this episode, Lindy Pepper-Bean, doesn't seem to believe that there's a problem. She is completely dependent on her Dot and Bubble, choosing to spend her entire time inside it instead of looking at anything beyond. And so when the Doctor messages her inside her Bubble, she blocks him, since he's an unsolicited request. But when Ruby breaks in, posing as a systems check and asking her questions about the people around her, Lindy finally starts to realize that there's danger -- especially when she sees her coworker being eaten by a giant slug-like creature (called a Mantrap behind-the-scenes, according to the accompanying documentary series Doctor Who Unleashed).
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| Lindy and company watch Gothic Paul get eaten by a Mantrap. ("Dot and Bubble") ©BBC |
Ricky in some ways is presented as the opposite of Lindy. Although he's a major popstar among all the rich kids in Finetime (it's only for people aged 17-27 who can afford to go), he spends most of his day without his Dot, choosing to read or explore. This curiosity about the world he's living in sets him apart from everyone else, not needing to be glued to his Bubble to enjoy life, and you can't help but notice the message regarding smartphone use. (There's also a part of me that wonders, looking at how attractive everyone in Finetime is made up to be, if there's also a critique about the kinds of actors cast in ostensibly dystopian environments in movies and television being raised here, given how put together everyone looks -- particularly Ricky, with a calculatedly messy hairstyle.) Ricky is shown to be brave, smart, and kind, so it's perhaps inevitable that he would end up dead thanks to Lindy's selfishness -- there's no place for someone like Ricky in this world. In fact, we learn that the whole place is like Lindy, shallow and self-centered, and that the Dots have apparently created the Mantraps to eliminate the population because they've become fed up with the lot of them. As a commentary on smartphone use and the way social media frequently encourages shallowness, it's perhaps a bit on-the-nose, but there are worse sins to commit.
Except.
It turns out that in many ways the broad commentary on smartphones and social media has been disguising something much more subtle going on. The last scene is a masterful reveal that makes you question everything about yourself as it reveals the real point of the episode: Finetime is populated by racists, who would rather risk their lives in an unknown wilderness that they are woefully unprepared for rather than accept help from a Black person. Some people had a very strong negative reaction to this at the time, possibly because for many of them it felt like it came out of nowhere, a twist ending that wasn't justified. And yet this is where the genius of this episode lies, because in retrospect all the signs are there: the way everyone in Finetime is white; the behaviour of Lindy toward the Doctor in a way that isn't how she treats Ruby; Lindy's comment to her friend group that "I know this is wrong, and when this is over, he is going to be so disciplined. I can't wait. But...just give him a shot, okay?" followed up with "I think he's not as stupid as he looks"; her disgust at the Doctor and Ruby being in the same room; and, perhaps most damningly, when she comments, "Didn't I block you? I knew it, I did. I thought that you just looked the same" (emphasis mine). This is lurking in the background of the entire episode, daring you to notice, not a twist so much as it is just a reveal. I think it's worth quoting Russell T Davies in full, from the aforementioned episode of Doctor Who Unleashed, because it really gets to the heart of this:
It'll be interesting to see the response to this episode. I think the main response to this episode is going to be about that ending. What we can't tell is how many people will have worked that out before the ending, because they've seen white person after white person after white person, and television these days is very diverse. I wonder, will you be 10 minutes into it, will you be 15, will you be 20 before you start to think everyone in this community is white. And if you don't think that, why didn't you? So that's going to be interesting. I hope it's one of those pieces of television you'll see and always remember. From the moment we cast Ncuti, everyone said to me, "Oh my God, what's it going to be like when he goes into the past?" Because a Black Doctor is going to face such racism. You sit there going, what about now? Why do you think racism is only in the past, when you look at what's happening to the world?For myself, I did notice a number of those things, such as that everyone is white, but I explained it away for other reasons: the Doctor and Ruby aren't from Finetime and that's why they're being brushed off, Lindy's just upset, breaking into someone's Bubble is extremely taboo, that sort of thing. I have to be honest and say that racism didn't occur to me as an explanation. But clearly it should have, and maybe that says something about me and about society and how all-too-often we condemn overt racism but excuse more subtle forms as being about something else.
So if the episode had ultimately been just about social media, etc., that would be fine but perhaps not the most exciting thing in the world. But it's the ending that really elevates this episode, where the survivors get to be explicitly racist, with comments such as "You, sir, are not one of us. I mean, you were kind, although it was your duty to save me, obviously" and "If you'll turn away, ladies, before you're contaminated". And the incredible, most Doctorish thing is that the Doctor decides he doesn't care: "I don't care what you think. And you can say whatever you want. You can think absolutely anything. I will do anything if you just allow me to save your lives." But obviously, they don't trust him and think he's inferior, so he walks away, leading to an absolutely astonishing performance from Ncuti Gatwa, where he starts to laugh, bending over, before screaming out his rage, spittle flying, because he doesn't want to believe people would behave like that. (It's even more impressive a moment when you learn that was basically Gatwa's first day on set.)
So "Dot and Bubble" is a decent story that is really elevated by its ending, making you question everything you've seen up to that point and why you reacted the way you did. That alone makes this episode worth watching and rewatching. The smartphone stuff is kind of fun, but the real trick is how Davies has been skilfully weaving the real theme throughout the whole episode, wondering when you'd notice. I wouldn't want the whole show to be like this, but I'm glad this episode exists. Well done all around.
(Oh right, Susan Twist. This time she's Lindy's mum, and it seems even the Doctor has started to notice that she keeps popping up...)