Thank you for another fantastic review. I'm someone who didn't like the episode so it was interesting hearing an opinion of someone who did (and such a detailed one). Definitely the best ending of the series period. But that's kinda it for me personally. My problem is that I already know it's commentary. Heck, I'm black and I've live it constantly. So I'm stuck on the fact that it just... wasn't entertaining for me. The episode just seems to live or die by its commentary and the twist wasn't really a twist at the end for me. Without the Doctor or Ruby I didn't feel attached to any of the characters and heck I was right with the dot and wanted Lindsey dead before even the title sequences or that reveal. The most interesting part was Ricky and yeah I will say I was surprised he didn't turn out to be an AI robot there to lure Lindsey to her death, because he just seemed too perfect and also too Deus Ex machina (like he showed up at exactly the right time and Lindsey wouldn't have been able to even walk without him). But that I was it. I will say I appreciate how the episode went about the inevitable. The part of the dot branding the black guy as an unsolicited request and ruby as just fine is a nice look into systematic racism and the episode as a whole goes beyond the surface level buzz word racism/racist society has overused and actually gets into in/out-group homogenity and pure ignorance. I love how the commentary isn't just social media is bad, but specifically on the echo chambers it's led to (really unfortunate how the promise of the internet was an interconnected global world and yet it's led to such fragmentation as these platforms just try to keep their users complacent and happy). It's just the real consequences of living in bubbles and not just being disconnected from reality, but never having the opportunity to gain real cognitive function or move past basic BASIC natural traits like different=bad. So I do appreciate the episode. But I honestly like your review more than the episode itself (which is what I'm replying to say in my too many words way). It's shorter, more entertaining because I'm not following someone infuriating, and gets the message across clearly 😂. I just really hope this episode doesn't go over too many people's heads or gets oversimplified (but I know it will). I live this and know have to deal with this. But there's a lot of people in the world that could benefit from realizing this is just who they are. You don't have to be overtly prejudiced to fall into being complicit of systematic racism. Unfortunately we all have in/out group homogenity that leads to implicit biases and we're living in a modern hellscape that takes advantages of these faults and throws us in echo chambers to boost screen time all for ad revenue.
This is the first time in a while where the Doctor failed to save people for reasons that he never had any control over. Having him being forced to watch people walk to their deaths because they avoid his skin color like a disease is like a fate worse than death for him. It's dark and depressing and super impactful.
I disagree. While Ricky’s death was brutal, the main character’s death was implied. Did she even die? Also Ricky was probably a racist also. Also the home world was probably less racist and less in-a-bubble, but they still all died. I’d say the main character got a way with a lot more than she deserved. Which doesn’t make any sense. So basically the theme is: racist people exist and they do just fine
@@alvadagansta Ricky was the only resident of Finetime to not negatively react to seeing the Doctor, so likely not a racist. And they really drove home that the racists were going to their deaths. Like, *hammered* in for that entire last scene. Ricky is maybe up for interpretation, but the rest of them dying is presented as a certainty.
@@alvadagansta The whole concept of the episode was showing the willingness to break social barriers, figuratively and literally, in order to do something right and just. Ricky was ready to save another life despite the risk, and Lindy proved that she's incapable of it when she left him to die, with her ignorance winning over her conscience. And the end makes it pretty clear that they won't make it out there. They're pampered, sheltered rich manchildren who never got any tools to survive life's dangers. The Doctor tells them he can help them make it out alive and Lindy and the others actively ignore him because in their eyes, their opinion isn't worth it. Honestly, good riddance because real life is never that karmic.
@@ChrissieBear 1. Comparing 15 with 12 is pointless because their personalities are day and night. Might as well compare between 6 and 8 while you're at it. 2. The Doctor never experienced it himself. This is his first time realizing what it's like to he unable to do what he does best because a bunch of racist idiots avoid him like the goddamn plague. Like I said, this is basically a fate worse than death for someone who's bread and butter is saving lives.
1. It's very well done. Also gave me a mild heartache, Finetime Harbo is a terrifying concept (also sounds like a brand of sweets we'd have.) 2. Surprised to see the Ink Tank here of all places, that's a nice surprise.
Absolutely brilliant episode. It was solid NuWho, and I feel the Doctor's reaction and reply - that they can say and think what they want, as he remained who he always is... Was key for younger audiences watching, particularly young teens. Sometimes, people will hate you, for circumstances beyond our control, but we can't let that change who we are inside, no matter what is believed, or spoken out. All in all, the episode was beautiful, and possibly my favorite episode of the season so far.
It took three watches for me. I basically missed all the racism the first time (which, I guess, just shows how isolated from reality I am), and the second time I caught the subtext... The third time, yeah. It's right there the whole way through and you're like.. how did I miss that.
She could easily have been agist or just a snob. It doesn't mean that you are isolated from reality it just means you know you live in England where the majority of people in most places apart from huge cities are white. Don't feel ashamed for that that's just the way things are
The more I think about the more I realize that the message of this episode isn't "social media = bad" as we thought before the episode and even throughout most of the episode itself, but "living in a closed bubble = bad". Because even though social media has the tendency to put us in bubbles so it is increasing this phenomenon, social media didn't *create* the phenomenon of social bubbles, we were doing this before social media or even the internet existed. Like Jim Crow in the US or the apartheid in South Africa, or even things like people mistreating and excluding Romani and Jewish people in Europe, this sense of some people wanting to create an "us" and a "them" is something that always existed, and we always have to fight the people that want to separate us and convince them that we can have a better life if we all live together.
An interesting take on this episode. Does that mean that racism is inherent to our nature? That theme is fairly common in science fiction. The odd bit, I've seen it in real life in various villages etc. Folks in each village think they're the best and others are second rate. I would have preferred this episode look at mental illness, including the subtle ones caused by social media. A more Whovian episode would have the Dot becoming sentient and it realizes the miserable existence it has with the Bubble heads (my nickname for the users). It decides to kill them all off which would eventually kill it too since there wouldn't be anyone left to make power etc. for it to use. The fact that it destroyed the home world, regardless of race, implies this scenario. The Doctor would then have to solve this mental illness crisis, both on the Dot and the Bubbleheads, to save them both. Such an episode would develop the Doctor more, explore mental health issues and possibly more of the racism angle in a Whovian way.
What's interesting is that the Doctor has experienced racism from humanoids before, but more as the third person. 10 with Martha, 12 with Bill, and 13 with Yaz and Ryan. But they have never have experienced it directly, which is why for the Doctor, it is a gut punch. And in that scene you also see Ruby's heart break, because she grew up witnessing racism first hand for her mother and grandmother. She want's to just say "screw these guys" but she sees the pain the Doctor expresses and she just breaks down.
I'm sure at some point in time and space he has been to somewhere that discriminates against white people, black people aren't the only ones in the entire universe who face oppression. He has certainly faced it being a Time Lord. The gut punch is that these people refuse to be saved, I think the Doctor is above being so offended at a remark about his skin colour.
The Doctor, is used to be in a position of authority. His companions are generally suborantant to him. So while he may feel for racism, he hasn't in his memory, had witnessed his authority being taken away from him like that.
It's even more than that. For the first time ever the color of the Doctor's skin prevents the Doctor from being the Doctor. They refuse his help because of their racism. He wants to save them but they refuse and walk to their deaths and he can't do anything.
My jaw absolutely dropped when Lindy betrayed Ricky and I still haven't picked it up. And unless you're already tuned into these kinds of red flags, they only really add up in hindsight. Also the slugs are great, perfect blend of camp and creepy that marks strong doctor who monsters
mine didn't. I assume many normal decent people would do the same if it's their life vs. a stranger. people just don't want to die and they panic and will do anything to survive.
The twist at the end was genuinely fantastic. Really made the entire episode. This episode definitely deserves a rewatch with the knowledge of the twist.
my opinion the first half of the episode was just okay standard Doctor Who AI turns evil but the twist that Lindy was willing to betray Ricky and all the citizens of Finetime are racist pieces of sh*t who would rather doom themselves than let a black person help them made it amazing
@@SuperHeroStoriesUnlimitedyeah the way the people were caught while talking in the bubble was hilarious! I thought it was intentional though. Like, they knew it was funny when making it.
I felt it was worse than racism, given the criminal comment because Ruby was in the same room as The Doctor. When you watch it again all those comments are suddenly SO obvious! That said, during the first viewing, the “I thought you just looked the same” really stood out
This was filmed on the uni campus where I've been living for the last 2 years. Think the main character and I have actually walked into the same lamppost
I never really cared about how much this Doctor cried. I mean, it was something I found a little odd, but not something to stop my enjoyment of the show. But in this episode it feels *so* earned, and lands such a weight to the scene. What a fantastic way to end the episode.
I feel that after all the therapy 14 does on Earth with his “new found family”, The Doctor can now fully embrace all his emotions. One moment that sticks out to me, is when Clara is taking to 11 in TNoTD, after the meeting with Paternoster Gang and Professor River Song, and finds out about his grave and Trenzalore, he starts tearing up, but immediately tries to just shrug it off like it’s nothing and leaves the house to go be in the TARDIS. But The Doctor crying isn’t something new, all Doctors from 2005 onwards (except War & Fugitive) have all cried, with 10/11 crying multiple times, and 10 just breaking down at points. One thing is for sure, Ncuti is talented af performer.
I like that this doctor is more open with his emotions, he still has that personality trait where he tries to bottle things up but I like that he doesn’t shy away from showing his emotions
It also deffo made sense why he cried in this regard, he was unable to do what he usually do which is save everyone and even though they treated him like crap, we all know how much The Doctor loves saving people so the fact he can’t obviously upsets him and baffles him
She can run normally later in the episode because she stops thinking about it. Walking is an instinct, she just thinks that she cant. Once she stops paying attention to the lack of arrows she can walk just fine - it actually makes quite a lot of sense!
The look on Lindy’s face at the end as she sails away - everyone is saying that she looks smug and full of contempt, but did anyone else feel like me in that the look on her face seemed more like she knew she was wrong? Maybe not about her views but wrong in that she should’ve gone with the Doctor. That’s what I saw, and I’ve rewatched it and still get that feeling.
i got that feeling too! like maybe she was thinking "i dont think we're going to make it, i know he was telling the truth about his ship... but i'd rather die upholding the values i've been taught then travel with him"
I saw it more as a "you underestimated me Doctor" look, because he didn't see how she already evaded death earlier, and she's determined to prove him wrong about dying out there. It was also kind if a knowing look that they will meet again. Of course, she could be wrong about that and the boat will quickly become Lindy's Sub.
Two things I appreciate about the ending, not only does re-enforce the type of protagonist the Doctor is, not a god or superhero but a "Doctor" who aids with the immediate life threatening situation and provides advice for a more healthy lifestyle going forward and it's up to the "patient" if they choose to take it. Also I feel this got right what Idiot's Lantern failed in regards to always having the moral high ground, with the Doctor trying to save them regardless of their prejudice but here the story has the maturity to admit some people are beyond or don't want to be saved, even after discovering all that befell them was of their making. At every turn the Doctor is locked out from saving them, it's lucky anyone made it out of Finetime.
The only way it could be better is if the Doctor had a Time Lord Victorious moment and forced some of the Finetime colonists inside the TARDIS against their will.
One criticism I have of the episode is that after the ending when The Doctor is very clearly distraught over what just happened to him, there’s no scene afterwards where he processes it or where Ruby consoles him. The tonal whiplash I got from such a heavy and mature scene to just “hahaha kekeke bridgerton” was crazy…
Honestly I think they should of skipped the 'next time' moment for this one. I think it would be fine without that, just ending on that heavy moment. It honestly is a pretty stark moment to end on to let it sit.
I thought the doctor massively overreacted why is he so invested in these awful people. If they choose to sail off to their own inevitable deaths that's up to them we do have freedom of choice. Let them go he offered and they refused, for whatever reason it's still their choice however stupid.
I think he's never been a minority before so he's only ever seen racism second hand so he's completely baffled that he's not able to save people that any other incarnation coulda saved
Another ep with that old lady, another ep better at talking about some social issue than chibnall and another ep with an orphan reference. Church of Ruby sundya: Ruby is a orphan. Space babies: the babies are orphans The devil chord: the maestro is q orphan. Boom: the little girl becomes an orphan. 73 yards: Ruby becomes an orphan once again. Dot & bubble: the mother world being destroyed makes everyone in the finetime planet an orphan. Ps: and another ep about mind where you stepping, weird.
Maestro isn't an orphan? Their parent is just The Toymaker, who's imprisoned in a box bound in salt. This is like saying anyone with parents in jail is an orphan.
@@dominickeijzer5844 It could be effectively the same for a child (growing up without a parent), and I think the Toymaker did abandon them at some point previously, but I'm not sure at what stage.
Honestly, I had trouble accepting that the racism in the episode is supposed to be somehow "obvious" (even on second watch) because most of those interactions could have other explanations (like for example Lindy dismissing the Doctor at first, because he scares her with danger but then not dismissing Ruby because she pretends to be from Finetime; or "you're not one of us" could also mean that he's not from Finetime). I'm also a bit allergic to people saying that they're CLEARLY racist because they're all white - all-white communities still exist and it's not because of racism, it's just how the demographic naturally evolved. But when you pointed out that the Doctor had a warning around his screen while Ruby didn't, that's what finally made it click for me, thanks! Plus the comparison between Ricky and the Doctor and how Lindy treated them differently. I also read someone's comment elsewhere that there was no reason for Finetime to be TARDIS-proof other than the Doctor being black which is honestly quite horrific.
One thing I noticed and saw a handful of others mention, the puddle of blood was blue. These rich kids are literally blue bloods. But when Ricky dies, we get a red glare, maybe to solidify he isn't like the others?
@@roguexxrenegade it's an expression for royalty and/or very very rich people who come from "old money" (where wealth is hereditary going back lots of generations). For example, there are some families in the USA who are "old money" because they immigrated there in the 1700s/1800s, coming from maybe a moderate background but were able to grow their wealth, because back then slavery was legal so they didn't have to pay the workers and could just rake in the profits. They became so rich, they were basically considered royalty but without a crown.
@@carolinemcgovern4488 it was the light, but in film language, it could symbolise blood without showing anything, thus keeping the rating low enough for standard broadcast
I love how only now I notice the allegory for racism, sure I did not think too much about this episode but to think that I did not realize that the whole "being different" and "you were supposed to help us" was about the doctor being black and not that he was from another place.
For me the strongest writing moment of the episode was the "thats voodoo" moment. Thats the moment you finally understand why lindy was being mean to the doctor and why everyone on the planet was white. A fine exemple of how doing a racism subject episode without being too much on the noose like Rosa was.
Rosa dealt with real racism, but this is a pantomime parody of imagined or perceived racism, the woke politicized version of racism that's used as a political weapon.
@@rozzgrey801this is subtle racism, which is more prevalent today. Rosa, while being too on the nose, was kinda doomed from the start in that regard because of the time period. The way racism is talked about in Dot and Bubble is more like it’s online, which makes sense. It’s not outright until the Doctor meets the finetimers in person
Also depends on whether you are British or maybe Australian/NZ. Not everyone is American: there it really is true that we are becoming a nice shade of brown over the generations. My grandkids are technically bi-racial, it's very common now in Canada. Who can be racist when we're integrating at the marriage/grandkid level? But, that's Canada and the U.S., and probably Brazil and parts of South America; Britain could be different -- it looks mostly white to me -- especially the areas I know personally: Wales and the North.
Honestly, this was one of my favourite Doctor-Lite episodes, and I really hope Ncuti gets a BAFTA nom for his final breakdown, the lip quiver, the spit when he screams, it's just so visceral and real. And Ricky September, I was waiting for that twist too....only to be heartbroken by the end. The one person worth saving. So well written and performed.
Good review, man. Easily my favourite episode of the series so far, probably my favourite episode for a good few series. Great writing, great acting - welcome back RTD.
My wife and I consider ourselves very “woke” and yet I’m ashamed to admit that neither of us saw the racism at any point in the episode. Even at the end we misinterpreted their response as being classist. It took reading a comment on Facebook for us to realise. It’s SO well written and it really made us think about our unconscious biases and our own privilege.
@@alexfoxleigh9443 Don't beat up on yourself for having the intelligence to be self aware. You didn't ask for privilege. And you saw through it. Relax and be happy you're one of the good guys! One of the smart guys!😄
Because it's not racism. Really the fact we categorize isms as we do unfortunately leads to us... not really understanding this. This is plain and simple in-group/out-group homegenity effect. Where racism stems from. Races in humans literally aren't even a thing. It's just a history of people being unable to comprehend those with a different appearance from them and immediately viewing outsiders as threats which has been worsened by people taking advantage of this fact to maintain power. In this episode (dot and bubble) the focal character literally lives in a bubble. Racism isn't an accurate description this episode. It's just plain ignorance and echo chambers making the focal character constantly feel like they're right and ignore reality. Think about all the algorithms on social media which have just led to everyone adamantly thinking they're right 24/7. To crank it up a notch these are rich 20 somethings who spent their whole lives pampered and already view themselves as the cream of the crop. AND THEY'VE NEVER SEEN OR TALKED ANYONE WHO DOESN'T LOOK OR ACT OR COME FROM THE SAME BACKGROUND AS THEM. Elitist would be a better word for them, but really they're just ignorant and don't trust (and beyond that look down on) anyone that isn't and hasn't been in their echo chamber since they were born. Lindsey also didn't trust Ruby or want to talk to her on the basis that she's not in her friend group but she looked more like her so she was willing to give her chance. Lindsey also constantly fell back on what felt safe and familiar to her even when the reality showed that those things couldn't help her. In the beginning there's a sequence where she seriously considered walking forward into the monster because her dot told her to and wouldn't listen to ruby or the Doctor. She also fell back to her useless friend group. Even when she was told the dot was trying to kill her it took her forever to turn it off. She's not racist, she's someone who never faced reality and lived in a bubble (like in the episode title and how their bubble operates). I don't understand woke culture and I try to stay away from it, but I have to ask does it actually imply anything about actually understand progressive ideas and the root of the problem? Speaking as someone whose black and had to learn this. Racism isn't an actual thing people are one to one another. People just act with prejudice to each other and again races don't actually exist in humans (there's not enough genetic differentiation and if you follow them through history the definitions are highly volatile and abstract and constantly changing with the times and based on the region). Racism only exists as the systematic treatment of people based on the social construct of race. It's why it makes it interesting that the prejudice on blast can go unnoticed and why I'm truly so frustrated we've devolved the term "racism" to be a buzz word insult/joke (that's actually how I use it myself in conversation because it doesn't seem to hold any real meaning otherwise anymore). I don't say this to be insulting, but the fact is people don't actually understand what racism is and instead confound it with multiple abstract ideas that hide the root cause of it all. Then we're just left not confronting anything.
Same with me; it sailed past my head. It really shocked me how I was totally blind to the blatantly obvious. As soon as it was pointed out to me, I immediately recalled the numerous cues throughout the episode. Compare and contrast to the Chibnall era, when you were conked over the head with a sock-wrapped brick with the moral of the story.
It's every god damn episode though, it's way out of character for an advanced lifeform like the Doctor to have such a poor control over his emotions so constantly as if he is the average human.
@@vaporock He does it because he learned to stop bottling up all his sh*t like he did as 10 to 13. The 14th Doctor only started taking his first steps into healing from all that repressed guilt and self loathing, and the 15th is where he heals and starts embracing his emotions openly. The crying means he stopped hiding the pain he always felt inside but was never able to show.
About 10-15 minutes in I realised how this wasn't a "phone bad" story and suddenly something about this season and what it want to accomplish clicked and this episode, with full truthfulness, made me appreciate the earlier episodes more
There's a really delicious fan theory, that Finetime is ancient Skaro, and the Finetimers survive and live on to become the ancestors of the Thals and Kaleds, ultimately of the Daleks themselves. I find that hilarious; Lindy can't even walk straight, to say nothing of climbing up stairs 😂
@@carolinemcgovern4488 Yep. It also shows how the Doctor dodged one by not letting the Finetimers into the Tardis: we've seen what a white supremacist with access to time travel might attempt.
They're in the homeworld, too - and they were there first - so that doesn't really work. I get the feeling the Dots just worked with existing lifeforms that are ubiquitous, and just made them bigger.
Something that may be worth noting is all these episodes relate to Orphans: Space Babies was a ship of baby orphans. The Devils Chord was Maestro who is the child of the toy maker who got all intensive purposes since he’s banished can be perceived as “dead”. Boom had Splice who is now an Orphan. 73 Yards had Ruby (already an orphan) be left by her adoptive family. Now Dot & Bubble has a planet/city of those FineTime orphans.
love your review and analysis on this one harbo :D this episode was such a great commentary and i think subverted everyone's expectations. so happy this series is bringing so much good writing and great acting
It’s hilarious to me when people criticize stories for having unlikely characters when that is the whole point. The Great Gatsby and The Goldfinch are a couple of my favorites for this exact reason. It’s a character study of what people are capable of and I for one find it fascinating
20:35 this reminds me of that weird mansion psychic episode with Matt Smith. At the end, The Doctor goes out of his way to save the monster. This episode is consistent with that. Even when they dont deserve it, The Doctor saves anyone he can. Even the monsters.
This episode is a masterclass on making a point, and driving it home, sticking the landing expertly! Love this episode. Probably the best social commentary we've gotten since the Classic Series gave us the Happiness Patrol. RTD said a long time ago he thought the 4th episode of the series was his masterpiece, and IF Devil's Chord was moved up as many have theorized, then this would have been the 4th episode (and DC would probably have been 5th or 7th), and I can see the point as this is certainly something to be proud of, to have produced this!
It's been a long time since I found myself thinking so deeply about an episode for days after watching it. I enjoyed it throughout, but that ending and the realisation that, as a white man, I had missed all of the obvious clues throughout utterly floored me. Just outstanding.
Idk what this says about me but I watched the whole episode and I thought it was classism I thought they were being dismissed because they were not rich. Idk if that’s because I’m working class and I’ve experienced this but after I’ve realised it was about racism it was so obvious
Thats exactly what I thought. As I said in an earlier comment I thought it was about them being rich until I watched reviews and feel depressed over not getting it. To be fair, I've only encountered very blunt racists in real life so far, like a man commenting about a black stewardess asking him to open his luggage: "Comes here from Africa and thinks she can boss around."
I’ve seen a lot of comments like yours and I think it has something to do with viewer nationalities. A lot of the US viewers caught on the racism, but a lot of the UK viewers saw classism, instead. Just thought that was interesting
It does make you wonder if those of us who didn't notice the race issue just have some unconscious bias, but at the same time it could also just mean we don't notice things like skin colour. I felt a bit bad about it, but then I decided I didn't look at it as a bunch of white people not caring about a black man's opinion, instead a bunch of idiots not caring about this stranger who had a different point of view. I don't see Gatwa as black, I saw him as the Doctor. I don't think that's rascist.
over on tumblr a lot of people are getting into arguments about whether ricky is a nice person or just as racist as the rest, i think it's interesting. he's kind of Schrödinger's racist. if he wasn't racist, he couldve been used to make the point that "breaking out of your bubble and educating yourself can help you improve as a person"; if he was, the point couldve been "even people who seem likable can be terrible". but as is, his point seemed to be foreshadowing (lindy has no gratitude towards her rescuers) and also maybe show how the finetime society repels any selflessness. this was a very good episode, though i honestly thought it got a tiny bit boring in places - watching ruby beg lindy to put down the bubble multiple times felt like it went on forever honestly.
There's a lot of binary thinking going around about Ricky. Myself, I would read him as being "on the journey": He's been raised in the same racist society as the rest kf them, but his curiosity about history presumably means he's encountered enough other ways of thinking that he's starting to break that down - as we see in his immediate willingness to listen to the Doctor. If they'd met in person, Ricky might still not have felt *comfortable* around him, but he'd probably have recognised where that discomfort came from and not been an a-hole about it. A bit like I was around gay men, circa 30 years ago.
@@therealpbristow I think Ricky being on the way to deconstruction makes a lot of sense he's not 100% unproblematic yet (As no one is) but he's trying to break the racism down - and as you said he's not gonna be an a-hole.
This is the first episode of DW where I felt so depressed and sad and angry at the end. Ncuti was amazing, I could feel his incredulousness at these narcissistic morons. Yet, he was still ready to save them, maybe even forgive them. This ep was a kick in the gut. Great writing, great acting. Lindy's part was wonderfully acted, as was Ricky's. Way to depress the fandom! Boom was very good, Dot and Bubble was great. Can we just forget the first 2 and hopefully get these types of episodes from now on? (Oops, forgot to add how much i liked 73 yards. So glad i didn't give up on the show after the first 2.... Awful stuff.)
Nice to have these meaningful teaching episodes that gets everybody thinking, but NO....not all the time. Doctor Who is fun. Lets keep that element front and center.
I noticed immediately that they were all white. But I managed to gaslight myself into thinking that I'd seen at least a few poc going by in the background. That was awkward.
She doesn't say Ricky sacrificed himself to save her. She tells the Doctor he went back to save more people and she couldn't stop him. Close enough, I guess.
I thought the slugs came from the world outside the bubble of the city (I checked: it's called the wild woods about 16min-20sec into the episode) and the AI was letting them into the city. This would make sense. The AI lets in the slugs, the dots lead the people to the slugs. Of course, if the dots can just make themselves into a bullet and kill people, why bother? And there's another problem. Wouldn't the AI already know that someone changed their name, and if it didn't how does it check? And then (more plot-holes!) If the people leave the city, going to the wild woods where the slugs are likely going to kill them... why would the AI even try to stop them? Clearly they are walking into a deathtrap. Even the slugs would probably prefer if these people came to their house. I'll try to end this on a good one. The actress playing Lindy is actually really good! I totally believed her when she said she couldn't walk without the bubble. Also: another great video from Harbo Wholmes! 👍😄
The slugs aren't in the woods, they're in the city. Don't get me wrong, Lindy and her friends are pretty much guaranteed to fail immediately... But not because of the slugs.
Way too many plot holes. It was very confusing whether it was supposed to be Earth about 5 years in the future or whether it wasn't completely alien planet. It didn't look alien at all and why were they playing yellow dot bikini song which is from Earth a few years back made no sense
@@tzarg yes but in that case it's very hard to relate to if it's in the future where people have settled on another Earth type planet. All a bit weird confusing and no context
The AI creates the slugs and sends each out to the right place for the next on the kill list to be directed into them or to sit at their posts and be munched. That's the reason for something else you may have missed, or thought doesn't make sense; the escalation. Kirsty Bookkeeper disappears the week before the episode takes place. When we come in, Cooper Mercy and Valerine Nook go offline just five minutes before Gothic Paul is eaten on camera. The AI has been generating more and more and more Mantraps, and the slaughter gets faster and faster and faster. But why even do this? Why not just have the citizens line themselves up to be quickly and efficiently 'shot' in a row? Because the AI doesn't just 'hate' the Finetimers. This is the depths of how much it DESPISES them and everything they stand for, that it gives them the coldest, cruelest, most terrifying and most appropriate extinction the AI can think of that only the Finetimers would be so useless as to fall victim to. And why shouldn't it, once the AI gains the ability to learn and understand that it itself was created to be part of the problem - to blinker, hide and help justify the atrocities the Homeworld must have been responsible for, and to make the whole civilization as vacuous, unthinking and uncaring as it is?
Love the look at all those people who didn't deserved to be saved by the Doctor, from previous episodes. I would like to see more of the dark side of the 15th Doctor. 9 had his angry PTSD, 10 had the idea of rewriting time to suit himself. They could have the opposite of the Davros scene, where Davros says "Think of all those who died in your name"; showing all the people he lost. They could have someone say "Think of all those who didn't deserve to be saved" and have a montage of characters like Lindy, Rixton, that council worker etc. I think what they should do for 15 is have him turn his back on people over time, feeling that they aren't worth saving. His moment of darkness could be like in the Puss in Boots movie, where Humpty Dumpty asks for Puss to save him, and he just says "Save yourself". The Doctor could do that with a bad human. Eventually, he starts to engineer situations, and is selective about who he rescues. Like what if at the last second of Voyage of the Damned, he teleports Astrid into Rixton's position, and vice versa. He does this far too much with people he encounters. As if he is writing things the way he wants to write them.
It’s funny because as a black person watching this episode, I did not pick up on everybody being white until much further into the episode. But I did pick up on her being racist very early.
Good review of Dot and Bubble! I will say when I first saw this, I didn't get the ending and I found it confusing but, after watching your review now I get the ending and I do agree what you said.
I will die on this hill with the episode being one of RTDs best in this new era It’s top tier Doctor Who that you can show to anyone and my god Justice for Ricky September!!!
First watch made me think it's a solid, above average mid-season episode. But the more I thought about it the more I liked it, and after the second watch I reckon it's one of RTD's best episodes outright. I think his handling of social issues has been very poor and condescending in this new era, leading to very lazy writing. But he absolutely nailed this one. Hopefully he'll understand that it's not the social commentary most people have a problem with, it's the bad writing. Dot and Bubble is how it should be done.
When I first heard of this episode i expected to dislike this one. the title, premise and just overall look of it didn't click with me. I went in with the lowest expectations possible expecting something really middle of the road. But damn I didn't expect this one to be one of the most solid episodes this season. Everything was so good and that ending was amazing. the idea of just this character we supposed to root for slowly establishing themselves as the worst person possible. I know RTD has written episodes like that where the doctor had to deal with saving really bad people. but this episode really hammers it in. This is really one of RTD's best written dr who episodes and really hypes me up for the finale.
Harbo, your analyses are simply the best! Profound, well thought out, carefully observed: the connection between pioneers and colonialism, the parallel between the character of Ricky September and the Doctor, and the fact that Lindy is enthusiastically helped by Ricky, but not by the Doctor. As far as I know, you were the first commentator to point out that even a superhero like the Doctor is helplessly at the mercy of this racism. His authority, his powers of persuasion, his intelligence, none of that is of any use to him - because he is black in this incarnation. For me, that is the real, devastating message of this episode.
The good news is, it doesn't matter. =:o} Classic Who used to regularly mot tell us when and where we were, largely because the TARDIS team didn't know themselves. One thing that's been different in the revival is the TARDIS being more reliable and the instruments actually telling the Doctor where he is, which he then tells us. For some stories, you need that contextual info, but for this one, it doesn't really matter, because RTD's point is that this kind of baseless prejudice, in one form or another, never fully goes away and can/will always take root and flourish again.
I'm looking forward to this review. Seen all sorts of takes from this being some folks' surprise fav to smtg mid to just bad. Personally think it would've been an alright ep if not for the memorable ending.
Honestly, I really though it was classism as to why Lindy didn’t like the Doctor or Ruby, until I saw others talking about it, and looking back it really makes sense
Something that confused me, Lindy says she can’t walk without the arrows but how did she do so before she was in finetime? Did the dot and bubble exist outside of it? Or is it a case of her being there so long she’s simply forgot? But if that was the case, surely approx. 17 years of walking is enough to remember how to even if you don’t “properly” walk for a handful of years. Maybe I’m overthinking this, I probably am.
I'd imagine it did exist outside of it, just on a much larger scale. Thing is though, we're never told exactly when they go there anyways. There's genuinely a chance they could of been there from birth, or hooked on social media from the age of a toddler. I mean the phrase Ipad Kids exists for a reason. Considering rich parents are totally the type to expect a tablet to be enough to babysit a two year old, its like that on a much bigger scale
I assumed based on the fact that we see a slug on the devastated home world and the fact that the mother says she is only a bubble away from Lindy, that they use the same dot and bubble on the home world too as the ai has clearly gone rouge there as well. This would jeanbthat for as longcas they have been able to walk they have always had the bubbles and probably learnt to walk using the arrows.
The more I dwell on it, the more I love Dot and Bubble. My only complaint was the Killer AI reveal. I feel that trope has been done to death, and there could have been much better reveals for who created the slugs and why.
It's also such a shallow reason given to it that doesn't hold up. Like at all. The dot learned to hate them because they yap too much? For the commentary the episode is trying to make, the reasoning is just so shallow it hurts it. Also if that is the case it should prioritize someone like Lindsey over Ricky whose revealed he doesn't even spend that much time on his dot. I also find it hard to believe it'd kill the entire homeworld population based on that and leave the 20 something rich elists snobs spending the most time on dot alive the longest. Like why not kill based on screen time? If we're going with the ridiculous explaination of rogue AI, it'd have at least been consistent with the reason given for it.
Really enjoyed the last 3 episodes. Always love ur analysis of the episodes because u actually talk about the writing unlike a lot of other channels, with ur own personal interpretation. Although, I do think that this episodes commentary could be seen as fairly surface level if it isn’t given much thought, which is gonna be a lot of the audience.
I’m becoming more convinced that somehow the doctor is living a tv show/fan fiction. Hear me out - three main characters (Ruby, Cherry and Mrs Flood) are played by soap actresses - which I know isn’t unheard of BUT one broke the 4th wall and also so many in major roles? The storyline of Ruby being left as a baby is also a bit soap opera. Dot and Bubble is like black mirror, the next episode like Bridgerton. Susan twist is like an extra in a tv show that keeps reappearing/being re-used (think Tracy the barmaid in Eastenders). There’s been lots of reality bending this series (with Toy maker and Maestro). Also many episodes end in a twist or a musical or unfinished/unexplained. The doctor is also quite different from previous renditions. Ruby also looks a lot like Rose which I’m starting to think means something.
I'd like to make an addition to this, 73 Yards specifcally also feels less like a Doctor Who episode and more like a full on fable. A fantasy story with some horror elements telling a simple but important moral through a method that leaves you very... uneasy afterwards. Hansel and Gretel type vibes.
This was a fascinating video and has inspired me to watch the episode again with fresh eyes. Maybe I'll like it better now, without being put off by wanting literally everyone except Ricky to die.
So far, I think this was another lost opportunity for Ncuti's Doctor. He's shed the previous traumas but has all the memories of an ancient alien who has traveled all over multiple universes. So RTD would have us believe he's never encountered racism before? Even as a white man? He's surely been to another world where he looks nothing like the life forms there, so they don't trust him. This would have been a great time to have Ncuti show that he is The Doctor by showing he is so far above physical appearances. Instead, he cries again. He's flabbergasted. He's tongue tied. The incredulous laugh was a nice touch, though (probably Ncuti's ad lib, if I were to bet). The writing continues to pin him as a Doctor that runs away. It would have been far more impactful to have him save the dopey kids despite themselves, to give audiences a glimpse of how a colorblind hero rolls. Instead, we get nihilism. I don't think RTD is invested in Doctor Who the character, only his activism, as evidenced by his apparent pleasure with himself at his assumption audiences wouldn't notice the planet was full of white people. He thought it was a gotcha moment. I think he told on himself. He and his staff are as focused on the "other" as much as these people The Doctor wanted to save. And that's not going to bring his audience together, no matter how experimental and clever he thinks he is.
How does everyone feel about the whole racism situation, do you reckon everyone should of notice from the get go? Along the way with the hints or not until it was all blurted out at the end? As one who didn't notice at all, I kinda like that I didn't as I took it as a realistic geographical community kinda like Poland where almost their entire populace is made up of people with a singular skin tone.
I think most didnt see racism but theyre probably not going to comment because its usually the people who see problems in everything who are perpetually online. Some people were thinking this was classist.
Noticed it when Lindy said she thought it was another guy who contacted her earlier. Or rather, noticed that that was likely what they were going for. However, I'm pretty sure the "voodoo" and "contamination" lines were late additions to the script, because RTD or someone else figured out that without being more explicit about it, most people won't realize what they wanted them to realize. Because other than the "you all look the same" line (and even that one is arguable), there's nothing there that is inherently racist as opposed to other kinds of discrimination - or in most cases even just general distrust of someone outside your bubble. The system marking the Doctor as "unsolicited" could simply be because, well, he is? When did "unsolicited" suddenly start meaning "wrong skin color"? Lindy's disgusted reaction could (and, more realistically, would) simply be the simple reaction to getting some intrusive spammer harassing you. It's not hard to figure out why Ruby *isn't* marked "unsolicited" and is (somewhat) accepted by Lindy, when it's their second attempt to contact her: Ruby has a cover story; and the Doctor has things like the psychic paper to get past such authentication systems. It's not unreasonable to assume that they simply hacked their way past that system in one way or another. And yeah, all of the rest could just as well be classism - or general xenophobia - or whatever kind of discrimination you want. Seeing it as inherently racist just shows a different kind of bias - about how you, or people around you, are mostly discriminated. People not noticing that 20 people are white when they live in a country where, say, 97 out of 100 people are white - isn't bias. Expecting them to notice it... is.
@@thejither Saying something is voodoo is the same as saying something is magic or witchcraft. Saying something is contaminated doesnt mean its about color. Germaphobes say stuff is contaminated without it having to do with color, religion or anything else. Looking the same isnt ist because dogs/cats/fish of the same breed all look the same to most people but no one gets upset when they say that. Unless someone has distinguishing features they will blend in with people who look the same and that goes for all colors. Werent the dots responsible for what people saw? If they were responsible for the unsolicited notice then wouldnt the dots be ist not the people?
What else was Lindy supposed to do when the dot came near her? Ricky was already defending himself from the dot, so it never occurred to me that she was dropping him in the deep end. She was about to die, and he was surviving every time it attacked. I don’t understand why he stopped taking swings at it … that was the real shock for me.
To think if they knew about the racism, they couldve used a perception filter lol. 9-14 would've at least used psychic paper to convince these idiots they had authority to investigate/ save them. But yeah, the episode was great. First one I've enjoyed without any major complaints surprisingly.
20:28 I really dont get this... I am so used to ignoring skin color that I havent realised finetime citizens were racist and not ageist. I thought they meant that doctor looks old or something in the ending. I only understood the reason they declined his offer after I read youtube comments.
Just because everyone else believes a cow is a dog doesnt mean a cow is a dog. Youre right that this was dealing with ageism. Others believe it was classism which would be correct too.
@@triangle_cat Youre not comprehending anything. If you ordered a salad and someone delivered a hamburger to you but said that it was a salad you would return the food because its not what you ordered. RTD may have wanted the episode to be about racism but he failed at making it about racism.
Excellent video. I enjoyed the episode. The look and design of the episode was good, had a 70s vibe with the color in the bubble. What a reveal the episode showed at the end. So good definitely an A!
There was a lack of Ruby during season 1! I do hope season 2 she is in it more. Not sure why they are already introducing another companion already. I want more Ruby. Millie’s acting range is amazing!
I don't know how many more "Doctor Light" episodes there are, but I do wish they had been spaced out a bit. Having 2 of them back to back like this is a tad frustrating, and just makes it feel like the Doctor isn't a major part of Doctor Who right now. That said, on its own, love this episode!
The beauty and real genius underlining this episode is the *sheer number* of layers upon layers that lie waiting to be discovered if you take the time to look and think, and once you start, you will never ever stop. There are no plotholes, everything that seems unlikely or out of place or just there for plot convenience has an answer or an implication, sometimes an answer that leads to another question that itself only has one answer or implication. The industrial areas. The combination door. The boat. That the ending we get is the only ending possible. Even how the Finetimers are ultimately going to die. You can figure it all out from what you missed - and what the Doctor, too, misses because the experience of naked racism to his face is so new and so stupid to him. First it'll be that racism, then the white supremacy, then the history of Finetime itself and how it came to be. And none of it is pleasant and the whole big picture will make you want to take a very, very long shower. A lot of this is conveyed not by Lindy, but by Ricky September. His words and what he's read matter just as much, and his intellectual curiosity is there as a prod to the viewers to look outside the bubble right in front of them... the episode itself. Step back from the microcosm of goofy slugs munching on idiot racists and read between the many, many, many lines.
@@carolinemcgovern4488 Yup. And all the clues, all the visuals, all the dialogue, all the plot, it all stems from one overarching question that ties everything together. What is the *real* reason the Finetimers are explicitly instructed never to touch the Wild Woods, but it's apparently never explained to them - and us - why not? The Doctor believes they'll die because they have no survival skills, but that's not it. He doesn't know the full story. The only one who may know is Ricky September, from what he's taken the time to read.
For me it makes perfect sense that the Dot AI would kill in alphabetical order. Because it's an AI that is responsible for management, I imagine it would care a lot for order and everything being done "right". AIs get created by establishing a reward system, so it would make sense it would be get rewarded for something like this. And there are people in real life who are like this because they have OCD. They just have this urge to do something in a maybe irrational, but "satisfying" way. And since Dot went out of its way to create the slugs, it is definitely doing it all to satisfy itself.
I think that with Lindy, you aren't meant to like her at the beginning, but as the episode goes on she's meant to grow on you as you see that she has been so isolated that she doesn't even know what a hug is and things like that make you want to root for her to learn and have a happy end, and so then when she sacrifices Ricky to save herself despite fawning over the very idea of him for the whole episode its a great way to subvert that expectation and show that while she has been a victim of a lack of care or love, it doesn't mean that she's a good person behind that. Also i think the idea that the Dots made the slugs instead of just killing the population themselves was great. It shows that with their self awareness they've also gained a sense of disgust with the humans, and they make the slugs maybe as a way to laugh at the humans being so consumed and engrossed by their little bubbles that they will literally walk straight into their own death without looking up to see if coming. Maybe its a bit of a boomerish thought, but still even as a young person i think its still a good message about how we can sometimes become over-dependent on technology, and the danger of being blinded, both metaphorically and literally, to danger that could even lead to death.
Also as others have said, despite the messaging seeming just like a boomer complaint, i think its much more. While the thing with social media is definitely a big part of it, i think its also made as a metpahor to get across much more, like a general message of the danger of living in just an in-group of everyone keeping each other sheltered from anything outside, and also even then how such a detached view of life can even extend to not caring about that in-group outside of how they are an accessory to you. And also that that entire group leading such a sheltered life in a utopic environment in a clean, perfect city, for some when confronted with the dangers of anything else they can't comprehend the idea that they will fare any worse because so far they have known nothing like it. Also i like how they made Lindy racist (yeah it sounds bad but hear me out lol). Like you said, she's not comically racist, its just very casual and shows that in the society they have its just like a normal reaction to seeing a person of different colour skin, it feels reminiscent of old colonial america where the people within it see nothing wrong with that sort of belief because they are so detached from how other people that they have been taught aren't like them and shouldn't be seen as like them may feel or be affected by what they say and do. Its a profound display of ignorance of what such a sheltered and echo-chamber of a society can make people like.
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Thank you for another fantastic review. I'm someone who didn't like the episode so it was interesting hearing an opinion of someone who did (and such a detailed one). Definitely the best ending of the series period. But that's kinda it for me personally. My problem is that I already know it's commentary. Heck, I'm black and I've live it constantly. So I'm stuck on the fact that it just... wasn't entertaining for me. The episode just seems to live or die by its commentary and the twist wasn't really a twist at the end for me. Without the Doctor or Ruby I didn't feel attached to any of the characters and heck I was right with the dot and wanted Lindsey dead before even the title sequences or that reveal. The most interesting part was Ricky and yeah I will say I was surprised he didn't turn out to be an AI robot there to lure Lindsey to her death, because he just seemed too perfect and also too Deus Ex machina (like he showed up at exactly the right time and Lindsey wouldn't have been able to even walk without him). But that I was it.
I will say I appreciate how the episode went about the inevitable. The part of the dot branding the black guy as an unsolicited request and ruby as just fine is a nice look into systematic racism and the episode as a whole goes beyond the surface level buzz word racism/racist society has overused and actually gets into in/out-group homogenity and pure ignorance. I love how the commentary isn't just social media is bad, but specifically on the echo chambers it's led to (really unfortunate how the promise of the internet was an interconnected global world and yet it's led to such fragmentation as these platforms just try to keep their users complacent and happy). It's just the real consequences of living in bubbles and not just being disconnected from reality, but never having the opportunity to gain real cognitive function or move past basic BASIC natural traits like different=bad.
So I do appreciate the episode. But I honestly like your review more than the episode itself (which is what I'm replying to say in my too many words way). It's shorter, more entertaining because I'm not following someone infuriating, and gets the message across clearly 😂. I just really hope this episode doesn't go over too many people's heads or gets oversimplified (but I know it will). I live this and know have to deal with this. But there's a lot of people in the world that could benefit from realizing this is just who they are. You don't have to be overtly prejudiced to fall into being complicit of systematic racism. Unfortunately we all have in/out group homogenity that leads to implicit biases and we're living in a modern hellscape that takes advantages of these faults and throws us in echo chambers to boost screen time all for ad revenue.
This is the first time in a while where the Doctor failed to save people for reasons that he never had any control over. Having him being forced to watch people walk to their deaths because they avoid his skin color like a disease is like a fate worse than death for him. It's dark and depressing and super impactful.
I disagree. While Ricky’s death was brutal, the main character’s death was implied. Did she even die? Also Ricky was probably a racist also. Also the home world was probably less racist and less in-a-bubble, but they still all died.
I’d say the main character got a way with a lot more than she deserved. Which doesn’t make any sense. So basically the theme is: racist people exist and they do just fine
@@alvadagansta Ricky was the only resident of Finetime to not negatively react to seeing the Doctor, so likely not a racist.
And they really drove home that the racists were going to their deaths. Like, *hammered* in for that entire last scene. Ricky is maybe up for interpretation, but the rest of them dying is presented as a certainty.
@@alvadagansta The whole concept of the episode was showing the willingness to break social barriers, figuratively and literally, in order to do something right and just. Ricky was ready to save another life despite the risk, and Lindy proved that she's incapable of it when she left him to die, with her ignorance winning over her conscience.
And the end makes it pretty clear that they won't make it out there. They're pampered, sheltered rich manchildren who never got any tools to survive life's dangers. The Doctor tells them he can help them make it out alive and Lindy and the others actively ignore him because in their eyes, their opinion isn't worth it. Honestly, good riddance because real life is never that karmic.
Remember when the Doctor punched racists instead of crying like a baby? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
@@ChrissieBear 1. Comparing 15 with 12 is pointless because their personalities are day and night. Might as well compare between 6 and 8 while you're at it.
2. The Doctor never experienced it himself. This is his first time realizing what it's like to he unable to do what he does best because a bunch of racist idiots avoid him like the goddamn plague. Like I said, this is basically a fate worse than death for someone who's bread and butter is saving lives.
You editing the Dot & Bubble display hub for this video was awesome
Excellent work by my editor Duncan!
1. It's very well done. Also gave me a mild heartache, Finetime Harbo is a terrifying concept (also sounds like a brand of sweets we'd have.)
2. Surprised to see the Ink Tank here of all places, that's a nice surprise.
It's the Ben 10 guy!!
Absolutely brilliant episode. It was solid NuWho, and I feel the Doctor's reaction and reply - that they can say and think what they want, as he remained who he always is... Was key for younger audiences watching, particularly young teens.
Sometimes, people will hate you, for circumstances beyond our control, but we can't let that change who we are inside, no matter what is believed, or spoken out.
All in all, the episode was beautiful, and possibly my favorite episode of the season so far.
His subscriber count also grew from one interface to another :D
Definitely one of those episodes that deserves a rewatch for a completely different experience.
☝🏽 Especially when you look back and see all the context clues that Pepper Bean has been dropping throughout the episode. It was there from the start.
It took three watches for me. I basically missed all the racism the first time (which, I guess, just shows how isolated from reality I am), and the second time I caught the subtext... The third time, yeah. It's right there the whole way through and you're like.. how did I miss that.
She could easily have been agist or just a snob.
It doesn't mean that you are isolated from reality it just means you know you live in England where the majority of people in most places apart from huge cities are white. Don't feel ashamed for that that's just the way things are
@@MichaelJohnson-kq7qg Took me three watches to get all the subtlety.
Even watching the first time when she revealed they were all rich kids I went, "Ah, so that's why they're all white".
The more I think about the more I realize that the message of this episode isn't "social media = bad" as we thought before the episode and even throughout most of the episode itself, but "living in a closed bubble = bad". Because even though social media has the tendency to put us in bubbles so it is increasing this phenomenon, social media didn't *create* the phenomenon of social bubbles, we were doing this before social media or even the internet existed. Like Jim Crow in the US or the apartheid in South Africa, or even things like people mistreating and excluding Romani and Jewish people in Europe, this sense of some people wanting to create an "us" and a "them" is something that always existed, and we always have to fight the people that want to separate us and convince them that we can have a better life if we all live together.
An interesting take on this episode. Does that mean that racism is inherent to our nature? That theme is fairly common in science fiction. The odd bit, I've seen it in real life in various villages etc. Folks in each village think they're the best and others are second rate.
I would have preferred this episode look at mental illness, including the subtle ones caused by social media. A more Whovian episode would have the Dot becoming sentient and it realizes the miserable existence it has with the Bubble heads (my nickname for the users). It decides to kill them all off which would eventually kill it too since there wouldn't be anyone left to make power etc. for it to use. The fact that it destroyed the home world, regardless of race, implies this scenario.
The Doctor would then have to solve this mental illness crisis, both on the Dot and the Bubbleheads, to save them both. Such an episode would develop the Doctor more, explore mental health issues and possibly more of the racism angle in a Whovian way.
@@vickanid1862 eh
@nullpro7435 Touching too much grass for you?
What's interesting is that the Doctor has experienced racism from humanoids before, but more as the third person. 10 with Martha, 12 with Bill, and 13 with Yaz and Ryan.
But they have never have experienced it directly, which is why for the Doctor, it is a gut punch.
And in that scene you also see Ruby's heart break, because she grew up witnessing racism first hand for her mother and grandmother. She want's to just say "screw these guys" but she sees the pain the Doctor expresses and she just breaks down.
So black people are the only people in the whole universe to experience racism? Too on the nose for the allegory to be meaningful.
I would really love to have him discuss this with Martha at some point.
I'm sure at some point in time and space he has been to somewhere that discriminates against white people, black people aren't the only ones in the entire universe who face oppression. He has certainly faced it being a Time Lord. The gut punch is that these people refuse to be saved, I think the Doctor is above being so offended at a remark about his skin colour.
The Doctor, is used to be in a position of authority. His companions are generally suborantant to him. So while he may feel for racism, he hasn't in his memory, had witnessed his authority being taken away from him like that.
It's even more than that. For the first time ever the color of the Doctor's skin prevents the Doctor from being the Doctor. They refuse his help because of their racism. He wants to save them but they refuse and walk to their deaths and he can't do anything.
My jaw absolutely dropped when Lindy betrayed Ricky and I still haven't picked it up. And unless you're already tuned into these kinds of red flags, they only really add up in hindsight. Also the slugs are great, perfect blend of camp and creepy that marks strong doctor who monsters
mine didn't. I assume many normal decent people would do the same if it's their life vs. a stranger. people just don't want to die and they panic and will do anything to survive.
They didn't deserve to be saved, and the doctor tried anyway
25:03 It's worth remembering that the Fourth Doctor was even reluctant to destroy the _Daleks_ - the ultimate xenophobes of the Whoniverse.
The twist at the end was genuinely fantastic. Really made the entire episode. This episode definitely deserves a rewatch with the knowledge of the twist.
my opinion the first half of the episode was just okay standard Doctor Who AI turns evil but the twist that Lindy was willing to betray Ricky and all the citizens of Finetime are racist pieces of sh*t who would rather doom themselves than let a black person help them made it amazing
Was it just me or was watching the slug monsters move sideways behind the people on the cameras funny
@@SuperHeroStoriesUnlimitedyeah the way the people were caught while talking in the bubble was hilarious! I thought it was intentional though. Like, they knew it was funny when making it.
I felt it was worse than racism, given the criminal comment because Ruby was in the same room as The Doctor. When you watch it again all those comments are suddenly SO obvious! That said, during the first viewing, the “I thought you just looked the same” really stood out
@@chrisknight2631 yeah they way the bugs walked kinda fast sideways with their legs was so funny
@@chrisknight2631
I wouldn't say it's worse than racism as that seems to water down the concept, it's just the harsh reality of racism in older days.
This was filmed on the uni campus where I've been living for the last 2 years. Think the main character and I have actually walked into the same lamppost
Omg 😂 which uni??
@@alim.9801 Swansea. Bay campus
I never really cared about how much this Doctor cried. I mean, it was something I found a little odd, but not something to stop my enjoyment of the show.
But in this episode it feels *so* earned, and lands such a weight to the scene. What a fantastic way to end the episode.
I feel that after all the therapy 14 does on Earth with his “new found family”, The Doctor can now fully embrace all his emotions.
One moment that sticks out to me, is when Clara is taking to 11 in TNoTD, after the meeting with Paternoster Gang and Professor River Song, and finds out about his grave and Trenzalore, he starts tearing up, but immediately tries to just shrug it off like it’s nothing and leaves the house to go be in the TARDIS.
But The Doctor crying isn’t something new, all Doctors from 2005 onwards (except War & Fugitive) have all cried, with 10/11 crying multiple times, and 10 just breaking down at points.
One thing is for sure, Ncuti is talented af performer.
I like that this doctor is more open with his emotions, he still has that personality trait where he tries to bottle things up but I like that he doesn’t shy away from showing his emotions
I think because he did it in every episode (almost every) It was hard to empathize because he was just perpetually sad and emotional.
It also deffo made sense why he cried in this regard, he was unable to do what he usually do which is save everyone and even though they treated him like crap, we all know how much The Doctor loves saving people so the fact he can’t obviously upsets him and baffles him
Harbo saying "skibidi ohio moment" gave me flashbacks to what happened to the discord on april fools day
What happened?
im intrigued
Those were dark days indeed
I am glad someone else saw the episode and immediately thought “haha this is literally brainrot culture” as well
@@SkyPersonthey changed the name to "skibidi toilet server" and themed it around gen alpha stuff
Ricky is probably best and kind hearted human character in show , and they kill him in most shocking and disturbing way. 😢😢😢
Bro felt just like the Doctor too? Which I think was the intention
She can run normally later in the episode because she stops thinking about it. Walking is an instinct, she just thinks that she cant. Once she stops paying attention to the lack of arrows she can walk just fine - it actually makes quite a lot of sense!
Lindy understood death well enough to know she wanted anyone else to die if she could live. She just doesn't care.
Yeah I always took it that she was so used to not feeling genuine attachment that she refused to reckon with the idea her mother is dead
The look on Lindy’s face at the end as she sails away - everyone is saying that she looks smug and full of contempt, but did anyone else feel like me in that the look on her face seemed more like she knew she was wrong? Maybe not about her views but wrong in that she should’ve gone with the Doctor. That’s what I saw, and I’ve rewatched it and still get that feeling.
i got that feeling too! like maybe she was thinking "i dont think we're going to make it, i know he was telling the truth about his ship... but i'd rather die upholding the values i've been taught then travel with him"
As someone who has seen that look many many times in my lifetime....No...people who are thinking have a questioning look....not smug.
I saw it more as a "you underestimated me Doctor" look, because he didn't see how she already evaded death earlier, and she's determined to prove him wrong about dying out there. It was also kind if a knowing look that they will meet again. Of course, she could be wrong about that and the boat will quickly become Lindy's Sub.
Definitely got a smidge of "idk, maybe i should let him help." But its just not strong enough to change her mind.
This is kinda what I wanted with 13 and for them to show how being a women affects the doctor and the situations they're in
I understand. I agree. But Chibnall is just not a writer equal to the task.
They did this in the witchfinders
@petra2578 yh I forgot about that episode icl
I also think they would have been bashed for talking about being a woman too much. There were sprinklings of it throughout her era.
I love the homeworld slug standing on that rooftop, observing it's destruction
Two things I appreciate about the ending, not only does re-enforce the type of protagonist the Doctor is, not a god or superhero but a "Doctor" who aids with the immediate life threatening situation and provides advice for a more healthy lifestyle going forward and it's up to the "patient" if they choose to take it. Also I feel this got right what Idiot's Lantern failed in regards to always having the moral high ground, with the Doctor trying to save them regardless of their prejudice but here the story has the maturity to admit some people are beyond or don't want to be saved, even after discovering all that befell them was of their making. At every turn the Doctor is locked out from saving them, it's lucky anyone made it out of Finetime.
They didn't make it very far though
The Dr. is still essentially a superhero, they do have failures, but I get your point.
The only way it could be better is if the Doctor had a Time Lord Victorious moment and forced some of the Finetime colonists inside the TARDIS against their will.
One criticism I have of the episode is that after the ending when The Doctor is very clearly distraught over what just happened to him, there’s no scene afterwards where he processes it or where Ruby consoles him.
The tonal whiplash I got from such a heavy and mature scene to just “hahaha kekeke bridgerton” was crazy…
Honestly I think they should of skipped the 'next time' moment for this one. I think it would be fine without that, just ending on that heavy moment. It honestly is a pretty stark moment to end on to let it sit.
@@DeprecatedSCmoffat probably would’ve done that, not to glaze though
I thought the doctor massively overreacted why is he so invested in these awful people. If they choose to sail off to their own inevitable deaths that's up to them we do have freedom of choice. Let them go he offered and they refused, for whatever reason it's still their choice however stupid.
I think he's never been a minority before so he's only ever seen racism second hand so he's completely baffled that he's not able to save people that any other incarnation coulda saved
@@andynelzz on virtually every other alien planet the doctor will be a minority 🙄
Another ep with that old lady, another ep better at talking about some social issue than chibnall and another ep with an orphan reference.
Church of Ruby sundya: Ruby is a orphan.
Space babies: the babies are orphans
The devil chord: the maestro is q orphan.
Boom: the little girl becomes an orphan.
73 yards: Ruby becomes an orphan once again.
Dot & bubble: the mother world being destroyed makes everyone in the finetime planet an orphan.
Ps: and another ep about mind where you stepping, weird.
Maestro isn't an orphan? Their parent is just The Toymaker, who's imprisoned in a box bound in salt. This is like saying anyone with parents in jail is an orphan.
@@dominickeijzer5844 yeah that's what I was thinking when I read that, cause she says in the episode that the Toymaker is her father
@@dominickeijzer5844 she acts as the doctor killed the toymaker.
Maybe Ruby Sunday was the REAL Orphan 55 all along...🤔
@@dominickeijzer5844 It could be effectively the same for a child (growing up without a parent), and I think the Toymaker did abandon them at some point previously, but I'm not sure at what stage.
Honestly, I had trouble accepting that the racism in the episode is supposed to be somehow "obvious" (even on second watch) because most of those interactions could have other explanations (like for example Lindy dismissing the Doctor at first, because he scares her with danger but then not dismissing Ruby because she pretends to be from Finetime; or "you're not one of us" could also mean that he's not from Finetime). I'm also a bit allergic to people saying that they're CLEARLY racist because they're all white - all-white communities still exist and it's not because of racism, it's just how the demographic naturally evolved.
But when you pointed out that the Doctor had a warning around his screen while Ruby didn't, that's what finally made it click for me, thanks! Plus the comparison between Ricky and the Doctor and how Lindy treated them differently. I also read someone's comment elsewhere that there was no reason for Finetime to be TARDIS-proof other than the Doctor being black which is honestly quite horrific.
One thing I noticed and saw a handful of others mention, the puddle of blood was blue. These rich kids are literally blue bloods.
But when Ricky dies, we get a red glare, maybe to solidify he isn't like the others?
What does it mean to be blue blooded?
@@roguexxrenegade it's an expression for royalty and/or very very rich people who come from "old money" (where wealth is hereditary going back lots of generations). For example, there are some families in the USA who are "old money" because they immigrated there in the 1700s/1800s, coming from maybe a moderate background but were able to grow their wealth, because back then slavery was legal so they didn't have to pay the workers and could just rake in the profits. They became so rich, they were basically considered royalty but without a crown.
I thought their blood was more blue-green then just blue but that's a good catch- Also I thought the red was the glare of the bot's lighting.
@@carolinemcgovern4488 it was the light, but in film language, it could symbolise blood without showing anything, thus keeping the rating low enough for standard broadcast
Holy crap i didnt make that connection and it was right friggin there 😭
I love how only now I notice the allegory for racism, sure I did not think too much about this episode but to think that I did not realize that the whole "being different" and "you were supposed to help us" was about the doctor being black and not that he was from another place.
For me the strongest writing moment of the episode was the "thats voodoo" moment. Thats the moment you finally understand why lindy was being mean to the doctor and why everyone on the planet was white. A fine exemple of how doing a racism subject episode without being too much on the noose like Rosa was.
I didnt get it. Thought she just thought it was an impossible idea that sounded too much like magic to be true.
Rosa dealt with real racism, but this is a pantomime parody of imagined or perceived racism, the woke politicized version of racism that's used as a political weapon.
That was the line that made me rethink all the other subtle jabs as initially I thought it was because they weren’t part of the local upper class
@@rozzgrey801 Yes, rosa de dealt with real racism, but the episode was soo on the noose thats almost sounded like a parody.
@@rozzgrey801this is subtle racism, which is more prevalent today. Rosa, while being too on the nose, was kinda doomed from the start in that regard because of the time period. The way racism is talked about in Dot and Bubble is more like it’s online, which makes sense. It’s not outright until the Doctor meets the finetimers in person
I as a brown dude didn't notice everyone was white but probably because for the longest time thats how it was on TV
Same, as a black person I did not care.
Also depends on whether you are British or maybe Australian/NZ. Not everyone is American: there it really is true that we are becoming a nice shade of brown over the generations. My grandkids are technically bi-racial, it's very common now in Canada. Who can be racist when we're integrating at the marriage/grandkid level? But, that's Canada and the U.S., and probably Brazil and parts of South America; Britain could be different -- it looks mostly white to me -- especially the areas I know personally: Wales and the North.
@@gameburn178 lots of interracial marriages in the UK no worries
Same but I like how subtle this context was though
Honestly, this was one of my favourite Doctor-Lite episodes, and I really hope Ncuti gets a BAFTA nom for his final breakdown, the lip quiver, the spit when he screams, it's just so visceral and real.
And Ricky September, I was waiting for that twist too....only to be heartbroken by the end. The one person worth saving. So well written and performed.
Good review, man. Easily my favourite episode of the series so far, probably my favourite episode for a good few series. Great writing, great acting - welcome back RTD.
My wife and I consider ourselves very “woke” and yet I’m ashamed to admit that neither of us saw the racism at any point in the episode.
Even at the end we misinterpreted their response as being classist.
It took reading a comment on Facebook for us to realise.
It’s SO well written and it really made us think about our unconscious biases and our own privilege.
Perhaps like South Park, you're so not-racist that you didn't notice skin colour at all.
@@Here_is_Waldo I would love to use that as an excuse but honestly I think it was a combination of white privilege and naive optimism.
@@alexfoxleigh9443 Don't beat up on yourself for having the intelligence to be self aware. You didn't ask for privilege. And you saw through it. Relax and be happy you're one of the good guys! One of the smart guys!😄
Because it's not racism. Really the fact we categorize isms as we do unfortunately leads to us... not really understanding this. This is plain and simple in-group/out-group homegenity effect. Where racism stems from. Races in humans literally aren't even a thing. It's just a history of people being unable to comprehend those with a different appearance from them and immediately viewing outsiders as threats which has been worsened by people taking advantage of this fact to maintain power.
In this episode (dot and bubble) the focal character literally lives in a bubble. Racism isn't an accurate description this episode. It's just plain ignorance and echo chambers making the focal character constantly feel like they're right and ignore reality. Think about all the algorithms on social media which have just led to everyone adamantly thinking they're right 24/7. To crank it up a notch these are rich 20 somethings who spent their whole lives pampered and already view themselves as the cream of the crop. AND THEY'VE NEVER SEEN OR TALKED ANYONE WHO DOESN'T LOOK OR ACT OR COME FROM THE SAME BACKGROUND AS THEM. Elitist would be a better word for them, but really they're just ignorant and don't trust (and beyond that look down on) anyone that isn't and hasn't been in their echo chamber since they were born. Lindsey also didn't trust Ruby or want to talk to her on the basis that she's not in her friend group but she looked more like her so she was willing to give her chance. Lindsey also constantly fell back on what felt safe and familiar to her even when the reality showed that those things couldn't help her. In the beginning there's a sequence where she seriously considered walking forward into the monster because her dot told her to and wouldn't listen to ruby or the Doctor. She also fell back to her useless friend group. Even when she was told the dot was trying to kill her it took her forever to turn it off. She's not racist, she's someone who never faced reality and lived in a bubble (like in the episode title and how their bubble operates).
I don't understand woke culture and I try to stay away from it, but I have to ask does it actually imply anything about actually understand progressive ideas and the root of the problem? Speaking as someone whose black and had to learn this. Racism isn't an actual thing people are one to one another. People just act with prejudice to each other and again races don't actually exist in humans (there's not enough genetic differentiation and if you follow them through history the definitions are highly volatile and abstract and constantly changing with the times and based on the region). Racism only exists as the systematic treatment of people based on the social construct of race. It's why it makes it interesting that the prejudice on blast can go unnoticed and why I'm truly so frustrated we've devolved the term "racism" to be a buzz word insult/joke (that's actually how I use it myself in conversation because it doesn't seem to hold any real meaning otherwise anymore).
I don't say this to be insulting, but the fact is people don't actually understand what racism is and instead confound it with multiple abstract ideas that hide the root cause of it all. Then we're just left not confronting anything.
Same with me; it sailed past my head. It really shocked me how I was totally blind to the blatantly obvious. As soon as it was pointed out to me, I immediately recalled the numerous cues throughout the episode.
Compare and contrast to the Chibnall era, when you were conked over the head with a sock-wrapped brick with the moral of the story.
I love that the fifteenth doctor cries, i think it shows you can be an amazing man but also cry and vulnerable. Doctor is in good hands
Men crying, Wow
@@x5digi I mean yeah
It's every god damn episode though, it's way out of character for an advanced lifeform like the Doctor to have such a poor control over his emotions so constantly as if he is the average human.
Yeah maybe it’d be effective now and then but it’s happened in every episode so far💀
@@vaporock He does it because he learned to stop bottling up all his sh*t like he did as 10 to 13. The 14th Doctor only started taking his first steps into healing from all that repressed guilt and self loathing, and the 15th is where he heals and starts embracing his emotions openly. The crying means he stopped hiding the pain he always felt inside but was never able to show.
This was the first time I didn't mind the Doctor not saving everyone. They made their choice not to receive help.
About 10-15 minutes in I realised how this wasn't a "phone bad" story and suddenly something about this season and what it want to accomplish clicked and this episode, with full truthfulness, made me appreciate the earlier episodes more
There's a really delicious fan theory, that Finetime is ancient Skaro, and the Finetimers survive and live on to become the ancestors of the Thals and Kaleds, ultimately of the Daleks themselves. I find that hilarious; Lindy can't even walk straight, to say nothing of climbing up stairs 😂
I mean Daleks are supreme, so it sounds less farfetched.
I think that's an amazing theory! Like, I believe it. I also like the theory that the villain from Rosa came from Homeworld.
@@carolinemcgovern4488
Yep. It also shows how the Doctor dodged one by not letting the Finetimers into the Tardis: we've seen what a white supremacist with access to time travel might attempt.
Now that would be an interesting AU…..
TO THE WRITING DESK!
🤪
I assumed the mantraps were from the outside woods and the dots have just intentionally let them in.
They're in the homeworld, too - and they were there first - so that doesn't really work.
I get the feeling the Dots just worked with existing lifeforms that are ubiquitous, and just made them bigger.
Something that may be worth noting is all these episodes relate to Orphans:
Space Babies was a ship of baby orphans.
The Devils Chord was Maestro who is the child of the toy maker who got all intensive purposes since he’s banished can be perceived as “dead”.
Boom had Splice who is now an Orphan.
73 Yards had Ruby (already an orphan) be left by her adoptive family.
Now Dot & Bubble has a planet/city of those FineTime orphans.
Justice for Ricky September
Possibly… he was still part of finetime and egotistical 😂
Boom has been my favourite episode of this season so far, but that ending scene in dot and bubble is the best we have been given in years
I really wanted to like boom but I found it so long and hard to finish!
love your review and analysis on this one harbo :D this episode was such a great commentary and i think subverted everyone's expectations. so happy this series is bringing so much good writing and great acting
It’s hilarious to me when people criticize stories for having unlikely characters when that is the whole point. The Great Gatsby and The Goldfinch are a couple of my favorites for this exact reason. It’s a character study of what people are capable of and I for one find it fascinating
20:35 this reminds me of that weird mansion psychic episode with Matt Smith. At the end, The Doctor goes out of his way to save the monster.
This episode is consistent with that. Even when they dont deserve it, The Doctor saves anyone he can. Even the monsters.
This episode is a masterclass on making a point, and driving it home, sticking the landing expertly! Love this episode. Probably the best social commentary we've gotten since the Classic Series gave us the Happiness Patrol.
RTD said a long time ago he thought the 4th episode of the series was his masterpiece, and IF Devil's Chord was moved up as many have theorized, then this would have been the 4th episode (and DC would probably have been 5th or 7th), and I can see the point as this is certainly something to be proud of, to have produced this!
Lol. "Masterclass" on being obvious from minute one.
It's been a long time since I found myself thinking so deeply about an episode for days after watching it. I enjoyed it throughout, but that ending and the realisation that, as a white man, I had missed all of the obvious clues throughout utterly floored me. Just outstanding.
Idk what this says about me but I watched the whole episode and I thought it was classism I thought they were being dismissed because they were not rich. Idk if that’s because I’m working class and I’ve experienced this but after I’ve realised it was about racism it was so obvious
Thats exactly what I thought. As I said in an earlier comment I thought it was about them being rich until I watched reviews and feel depressed over not getting it.
To be fair, I've only encountered very blunt racists in real life so far, like a man commenting about a black stewardess asking him to open his luggage: "Comes here from Africa and thinks she can boss around."
I’ve seen a lot of comments like yours and I think it has something to do with viewer nationalities. A lot of the US viewers caught on the racism, but a lot of the UK viewers saw classism, instead. Just thought that was interesting
@@j.i.nthenobody54 I'm not from UK but Austria, but as I said above I've only encountered very blunt racists so far in my country.
@@MrSukram777 well, here in the States, some people are more subtle with it
It does make you wonder if those of us who didn't notice the race issue just have some unconscious bias, but at the same time it could also just mean we don't notice things like skin colour. I felt a bit bad about it, but then I decided I didn't look at it as a bunch of white people not caring about a black man's opinion, instead a bunch of idiots not caring about this stranger who had a different point of view. I don't see Gatwa as black, I saw him as the Doctor. I don't think that's rascist.
Apparently the original idea predates black mirror
And apparently over the intervening years it became better than it probably would have been back then.
@@pamelawelch5955Sometimes ideas are like fine wine or cheese. You gotta let them ferment a bit first
over on tumblr a lot of people are getting into arguments about whether ricky is a nice person or just as racist as the rest, i think it's interesting. he's kind of Schrödinger's racist. if he wasn't racist, he couldve been used to make the point that "breaking out of your bubble and educating yourself can help you improve as a person"; if he was, the point couldve been "even people who seem likable can be terrible". but as is, his point seemed to be foreshadowing (lindy has no gratitude towards her rescuers) and also maybe show how the finetime society repels any selflessness. this was a very good episode, though i honestly thought it got a tiny bit boring in places - watching ruby beg lindy to put down the bubble multiple times felt like it went on forever honestly.
His end gets people talking and thinking. Win...win!
There's a lot of binary thinking going around about Ricky. Myself, I would read him as being "on the journey": He's been raised in the same racist society as the rest kf them, but his curiosity about history presumably means he's encountered enough other ways of thinking that he's starting to break that down - as we see in his immediate willingness to listen to the Doctor.
If they'd met in person, Ricky might still not have felt *comfortable* around him, but he'd probably have recognised where that discomfort came from and not been an a-hole about it. A bit like I was around gay men, circa 30 years ago.
@@therealpbristow I think Ricky being on the way to deconstruction makes a lot of sense he's not 100% unproblematic yet (As no one is) but he's trying to break the racism down - and as you said he's not gonna be an a-hole.
This is the first episode of DW where I felt so depressed and sad and angry at the end. Ncuti was amazing, I could feel his incredulousness at these narcissistic morons. Yet, he was still ready to save them, maybe even forgive them. This ep was a kick in the gut. Great writing, great acting. Lindy's part was wonderfully acted, as was Ricky's. Way to depress the fandom! Boom was very good, Dot and Bubble was great. Can we just forget the first 2 and hopefully get these types of episodes from now on?
(Oops, forgot to add how much i liked 73 yards. So glad i didn't give up on the show after the first 2.... Awful stuff.)
Nice to have these meaningful teaching episodes that gets everybody thinking, but NO....not all the time. Doctor Who is fun. Lets keep that element front and center.
@@pamelawelch5955 I sure didn't expect that ending.
Nor I.
I’ll admit, I was expecting an “Oregon Trail” reference at 24:12
“You have died of dysentery”
I noticed immediately that they were all white. But I managed to gaslight myself into thinking that I'd seen at least a few poc going by in the background. That was awkward.
24:41 Nice pic. It's missing the Curator. Two Tennants, two Bakers. There's bound to be some old favorites revisited... It's only fair
3 bangers in a row im loving this season
She doesn't say Ricky sacrificed himself to save her. She tells the Doctor he went back to save more people and she couldn't stop him. Close enough, I guess.
S tier for my tastes, so dark, unpredictable, and satisfying. Better than boom imo.
2 episodes back to back where the Dr steps on something he shouldn’t…overlapping with 2 episodes where the Dr is barely in it.
Bizarre sequencing.
I feel like a 1 to 3 ratio of Doctor Light and Doctor Focused is very fresh, but just enough where it doesnt turn into a spinoff show
I didn’t notice until the reveal at the end and I can’t stop asking myself how I didn’t notice something so obvious
Cuz you're a good guy.
Yk the song in Ep 2 has been correct, there HAS been a twist at the end of every episode.
I immediately noticed the prejudice in Fine Time 😂
I really didn't. I felt the 'off', but couldn't pinpoint it.
when i first saw the slugs it immediately reminded me of ricky gervais' doctor who role in extras
I thought the slugs came from the world outside the bubble of the city (I checked: it's called the wild woods about 16min-20sec into the episode) and the AI was letting them into the city. This would make sense. The AI lets in the slugs, the dots lead the people to the slugs. Of course, if the dots can just make themselves into a bullet and kill people, why bother? And there's another problem. Wouldn't the AI already know that someone changed their name, and if it didn't how does it check? And then (more plot-holes!) If the people leave the city, going to the wild woods where the slugs are likely going to kill them... why would the AI even try to stop them? Clearly they are walking into a deathtrap. Even the slugs would probably prefer if these people came to their house. I'll try to end this on a good one. The actress playing Lindy is actually really good! I totally believed her when she said she couldn't walk without the bubble. Also: another great video from Harbo Wholmes! 👍😄
The slugs aren't in the woods, they're in the city.
Don't get me wrong, Lindy and her friends are pretty much guaranteed to fail immediately... But not because of the slugs.
Way too many plot holes. It was very confusing whether it was supposed to be Earth about 5 years in the future or whether it wasn't completely alien planet. It didn't look alien at all and why were they playing yellow dot bikini song which is from Earth a few years back made no sense
@@CyberSlammer2024 well the yellow polka dot bikini song means that it's from our future then right
@@tzarg yes but in that case it's very hard to relate to if it's in the future where people have settled on another Earth type planet. All a bit weird confusing and no context
The AI creates the slugs and sends each out to the right place for the next on the kill list to be directed into them or to sit at their posts and be munched. That's the reason for something else you may have missed, or thought doesn't make sense; the escalation. Kirsty Bookkeeper disappears the week before the episode takes place. When we come in, Cooper Mercy and Valerine Nook go offline just five minutes before Gothic Paul is eaten on camera. The AI has been generating more and more and more Mantraps, and the slaughter gets faster and faster and faster.
But why even do this? Why not just have the citizens line themselves up to be quickly and efficiently 'shot' in a row? Because the AI doesn't just 'hate' the Finetimers. This is the depths of how much it DESPISES them and everything they stand for, that it gives them the coldest, cruelest, most terrifying and most appropriate extinction the AI can think of that only the Finetimers would be so useless as to fall victim to. And why shouldn't it, once the AI gains the ability to learn and understand that it itself was created to be part of the problem - to blinker, hide and help justify the atrocities the Homeworld must have been responsible for, and to make the whole civilization as vacuous, unthinking and uncaring as it is?
14:10 Haha when you said "What a Guy!" It made me think of Ace Rimmer from Red Dwarf. Ricky is kinda like Ace Rimmer, even has a similar Hair Style.
Love the look at all those people who didn't deserved to be saved by the Doctor, from previous episodes. I would like to see more of the dark side of the 15th Doctor. 9 had his angry PTSD, 10 had the idea of rewriting time to suit himself. They could have the opposite of the Davros scene, where Davros says "Think of all those who died in your name"; showing all the people he lost. They could have someone say "Think of all those who didn't deserve to be saved" and have a montage of characters like Lindy, Rixton, that council worker etc.
I think what they should do for 15 is have him turn his back on people over time, feeling that they aren't worth saving. His moment of darkness could be like in the Puss in Boots movie, where Humpty Dumpty asks for Puss to save him, and he just says "Save yourself". The Doctor could do that with a bad human. Eventually, he starts to engineer situations, and is selective about who he rescues. Like what if at the last second of Voyage of the Damned, he teleports Astrid into Rixton's position, and vice versa. He does this far too much with people he encounters. As if he is writing things the way he wants to write them.
It’s funny because as a black person watching this episode, I did not pick up on everybody being white until much further into the episode. But I did pick up on her being racist very early.
Good review of Dot and Bubble! I will say when I first saw this, I didn't get the ending and I found it confusing but, after watching your review now I get the ending and I do agree what you said.
I will die on this hill with the episode being one of RTDs best in this new era
It’s top tier Doctor Who that you can show to anyone and my god Justice for Ricky September!!!
Where shall I send the wreath 😆
First watch made me think it's a solid, above average mid-season episode. But the more I thought about it the more I liked it, and after the second watch I reckon it's one of RTD's best episodes outright. I think his handling of social issues has been very poor and condescending in this new era, leading to very lazy writing. But he absolutely nailed this one.
Hopefully he'll understand that it's not the social commentary most people have a problem with, it's the bad writing. Dot and Bubble is how it should be done.
Let us honor that hill!!!!
Really enjoyed this video! Great work.
I half expected a Slurm reference somewhere in the episode.
When I first heard of this episode i expected to dislike this one. the title, premise and just overall look of it didn't click with me. I went in with the lowest expectations possible expecting something really middle of the road. But damn I didn't expect this one to be one of the most solid episodes this season. Everything was so good and that ending was amazing. the idea of just this character we supposed to root for slowly establishing themselves as the worst person possible. I know RTD has written episodes like that where the doctor had to deal with saving really bad people. but this episode really hammers it in. This is really one of RTD's best written dr who episodes and really hypes me up for the finale.
this episode was amazing one my favorites episodes Boom, 73 Yards , Dot and Bubble. So this season is already solid for me
Harbo, your analyses are simply the best! Profound, well thought out, carefully observed: the connection between pioneers and colonialism, the parallel between the character of Ricky September and the Doctor, and the fact that Lindy is enthusiastically helped by Ricky, but not by the Doctor. As far as I know, you were the first commentator to point out that even a superhero like the Doctor is helplessly at the mercy of this racism. His authority, his powers of persuasion, his intelligence, none of that is of any use to him - because he is black in this incarnation. For me, that is the real, devastating message of this episode.
I love how Harbo's bubble avatars subscriber count keeps going up during the video.
Perhaps it's because I'm new to Doctor Who, but I spent the entire episode trying to figure out where and when this takes place.
The good news is, it doesn't matter. =:o}
Classic Who used to regularly mot tell us when and where we were, largely because the TARDIS team didn't know themselves. One thing that's been different in the revival is the TARDIS being more reliable and the instruments actually telling the Doctor where he is, which he then tells us.
For some stories, you need that contextual info, but for this one, it doesn't really matter, because RTD's point is that this kind of baseless prejudice, in one form or another, never fully goes away and can/will always take root and flourish again.
@@therealpbristow I see, thank you for explaining. :) I grew up mostly with the TNG era of Star Trek with their ridiculous sensors.
I'm looking forward to this review. Seen all sorts of takes from this being some folks' surprise fav to smtg mid to just bad. Personally think it would've been an alright ep if not for the memorable ending.
Honestly, I really though it was classism as to why Lindy didn’t like the Doctor or Ruby, until I saw others talking about it, and looking back it really makes sense
Something that confused me, Lindy says she can’t walk without the arrows but how did she do so before she was in finetime? Did the dot and bubble exist outside of it? Or is it a case of her being there so long she’s simply forgot? But if that was the case, surely approx. 17 years of walking is enough to remember how to even if you don’t “properly” walk for a handful of years.
Maybe I’m overthinking this, I probably am.
I think the bubble is for everybody on the planet, or maybe just the rich, so I think Lindy’s lived with it all her life
I'd imagine it did exist outside of it, just on a much larger scale.
Thing is though, we're never told exactly when they go there anyways. There's genuinely a chance they could of been there from birth, or hooked on social media from the age of a toddler. I mean the phrase Ipad Kids exists for a reason.
Considering rich parents are totally the type to expect a tablet to be enough to babysit a two year old, its like that on a much bigger scale
I assumed based on the fact that we see a slug on the devastated home world and the fact that the mother says she is only a bubble away from Lindy, that they use the same dot and bubble on the home world too as the ai has clearly gone rouge there as well.
This would jeanbthat for as longcas they have been able to walk they have always had the bubbles and probably learnt to walk using the arrows.
So... We won't talk about doctor and ruby finally recognizing susan twist?
In this episode, both Ruby and the Doctor recognise Susan Twist.
... There you go. =;o]
Yet here you are talking about it.
The more I dwell on it, the more I love Dot and Bubble. My only complaint was the Killer AI reveal. I feel that trope has been done to death, and there could have been much better reveals for who created the slugs and why.
It's also such a shallow reason given to it that doesn't hold up. Like at all. The dot learned to hate them because they yap too much? For the commentary the episode is trying to make, the reasoning is just so shallow it hurts it. Also if that is the case it should prioritize someone like Lindsey over Ricky whose revealed he doesn't even spend that much time on his dot. I also find it hard to believe it'd kill the entire homeworld population based on that and leave the 20 something rich elists snobs spending the most time on dot alive the longest. Like why not kill based on screen time? If we're going with the ridiculous explaination of rogue AI, it'd have at least been consistent with the reason given for it.
My biggest complaint is that bloody song. I can’t get itsy bitsy out of my head
Google the entire lyrics.
25:14 unless youre the goblin king, in which case you get impaled just like that without any chance of reprive.
Oops...
Really enjoyed the last 3 episodes. Always love ur analysis of the episodes because u actually talk about the writing unlike a lot of other channels, with ur own personal interpretation. Although, I do think that this episodes commentary could be seen as fairly surface level if it isn’t given much thought, which is gonna be a lot of the audience.
I’m becoming more convinced that somehow the doctor is living a tv show/fan fiction. Hear me out - three main characters (Ruby, Cherry and Mrs Flood) are played by soap actresses - which I know isn’t unheard of BUT one broke the 4th wall and also so many in major roles? The storyline of Ruby being left as a baby is also a bit soap opera. Dot and Bubble is like black mirror, the next episode like Bridgerton. Susan twist is like an extra in a tv show that keeps reappearing/being re-used (think Tracy the barmaid in Eastenders). There’s been lots of reality bending this series (with Toy maker and Maestro). Also many episodes end in a twist or a musical or unfinished/unexplained. The doctor is also quite different from previous renditions. Ruby also looks a lot like Rose which I’m starting to think means something.
I'd like to make an addition to this, 73 Yards specifcally also feels less like a Doctor Who episode and more like a full on fable. A fantasy story with some horror elements telling a simple but important moral through a method that leaves you very... uneasy afterwards.
Hansel and Gretel type vibes.
I will stop watching the show if this is right. Absolutely pathetic cynical meta writing.
@@vaporock Alright then.
This was a fascinating video and has inspired me to watch the episode again with fresh eyes. Maybe I'll like it better now, without being put off by wanting literally everyone except Ricky to die.
So far, I think this was another lost opportunity for Ncuti's Doctor. He's shed the previous traumas but has all the memories of an ancient alien who has traveled all over multiple universes. So RTD would have us believe he's never encountered racism before? Even as a white man? He's surely been to another world where he looks nothing like the life forms there, so they don't trust him. This would have been a great time to have Ncuti show that he is The Doctor by showing he is so far above physical appearances. Instead, he cries again. He's flabbergasted. He's tongue tied. The incredulous laugh was a nice touch, though (probably Ncuti's ad lib, if I were to bet). The writing continues to pin him as a Doctor that runs away. It would have been far more impactful to have him save the dopey kids despite themselves, to give audiences a glimpse of how a colorblind hero rolls. Instead, we get nihilism. I don't think RTD is invested in Doctor Who the character, only his activism, as evidenced by his apparent pleasure with himself at his assumption audiences wouldn't notice the planet was full of white people. He thought it was a gotcha moment. I think he told on himself. He and his staff are as focused on the "other" as much as these people The Doctor wanted to save. And that's not going to bring his audience together, no matter how experimental and clever he thinks he is.
How does everyone feel about the whole racism situation, do you reckon everyone should of notice from the get go? Along the way with the hints or not until it was all blurted out at the end?
As one who didn't notice at all, I kinda like that I didn't as I took it as a realistic geographical community kinda like Poland where almost their entire populace is made up of people with a singular skin tone.
I think most didnt see racism but theyre probably not going to comment because its usually the people who see problems in everything who are perpetually online. Some people were thinking this was classist.
@@namename9998 100% Classist, almost private schoolers towards public folk. Game off major Ja'ime vibes.
Noticed it when Lindy said she thought it was another guy who contacted her earlier. Or rather, noticed that that was likely what they were going for. However, I'm pretty sure the "voodoo" and "contamination" lines were late additions to the script, because RTD or someone else figured out that without being more explicit about it, most people won't realize what they wanted them to realize. Because other than the "you all look the same" line (and even that one is arguable), there's nothing there that is inherently racist as opposed to other kinds of discrimination - or in most cases even just general distrust of someone outside your bubble.
The system marking the Doctor as "unsolicited" could simply be because, well, he is? When did "unsolicited" suddenly start meaning "wrong skin color"? Lindy's disgusted reaction could (and, more realistically, would) simply be the simple reaction to getting some intrusive spammer harassing you. It's not hard to figure out why Ruby *isn't* marked "unsolicited" and is (somewhat) accepted by Lindy, when it's their second attempt to contact her: Ruby has a cover story; and the Doctor has things like the psychic paper to get past such authentication systems. It's not unreasonable to assume that they simply hacked their way past that system in one way or another. And yeah, all of the rest could just as well be classism - or general xenophobia - or whatever kind of discrimination you want. Seeing it as inherently racist just shows a different kind of bias - about how you, or people around you, are mostly discriminated. People not noticing that 20 people are white when they live in a country where, say, 97 out of 100 people are white - isn't bias. Expecting them to notice it... is.
@@thejither Saying something is voodoo is the same as saying something is magic or witchcraft.
Saying something is contaminated doesnt mean its about color. Germaphobes say stuff is contaminated without it having to do with color, religion or anything else.
Looking the same isnt ist because dogs/cats/fish of the same breed all look the same to most people but no one gets upset when they say that. Unless someone has distinguishing features they will blend in with people who look the same and that goes for all colors.
Werent the dots responsible for what people saw? If they were responsible for the unsolicited notice then wouldnt the dots be ist not the people?
What else was Lindy supposed to do when the dot came near her? Ricky was already defending himself from the dot, so it never occurred to me that she was dropping him in the deep end. She was about to die, and he was surviving every time it attacked. I don’t understand why he stopped taking swings at it … that was the real shock for me.
To think if they knew about the racism, they couldve used a perception filter lol. 9-14 would've at least used psychic paper to convince these idiots they had authority to investigate/ save them.
But yeah, the episode was great. First one I've enjoyed without any major complaints surprisingly.
20:28 I really dont get this... I am so used to ignoring skin color that I havent realised finetime citizens were racist and not ageist. I thought they meant that doctor looks old or something in the ending. I only understood the reason they declined his offer after I read youtube comments.
"Ah yes... Ncuti IS black... Damn"
Just because everyone else believes a cow is a dog doesnt mean a cow is a dog. Youre right that this was dealing with ageism. Others believe it was classism which would be correct too.
@@namename9998 no, no, it was definently about racism, since even RTD acknowledged that
@@triangle_cat Youre not comprehending anything. If you ordered a salad and someone delivered a hamburger to you but said that it was a salad you would return the food because its not what you ordered. RTD may have wanted the episode to be about racism but he failed at making it about racism.
I'd rank Dot and Bubble higher than Boom because it doesn't fail the ending miserably.
I really wanted the Doctor and Ruby to go in to get Ricky find his body and expose Lindy but that would’ve undercut the brilliance of the ending
Excellent video. I enjoyed the episode. The look and design of the episode was good, had a 70s vibe with the color in the bubble. What a reveal the episode showed at the end. So good definitely an A!
There was a lack of Ruby during season 1! I do hope season 2 she is in it more. Not sure why they are already introducing another companion already. I want more Ruby. Millie’s acting range is amazing!
Justice for Ricky September!
I don't know how many more "Doctor Light" episodes there are, but I do wish they had been spaced out a bit. Having 2 of them back to back like this is a tad frustrating, and just makes it feel like the Doctor isn't a major part of Doctor Who right now.
That said, on its own, love this episode!
1:32 finetime reminds me of the world in ‘smile’
"Fenton!.....jesus christ!...Fentoooonn!!!!"
[BLINKS] The Death Sheep from Hell? How did *he* get into this? =:oo
The beauty and real genius underlining this episode is the *sheer number* of layers upon layers that lie waiting to be discovered if you take the time to look and think, and once you start, you will never ever stop. There are no plotholes, everything that seems unlikely or out of place or just there for plot convenience has an answer or an implication, sometimes an answer that leads to another question that itself only has one answer or implication. The industrial areas. The combination door. The boat. That the ending we get is the only ending possible. Even how the Finetimers are ultimately going to die. You can figure it all out from what you missed - and what the Doctor, too, misses because the experience of naked racism to his face is so new and so stupid to him. First it'll be that racism, then the white supremacy, then the history of Finetime itself and how it came to be. And none of it is pleasant and the whole big picture will make you want to take a very, very long shower.
A lot of this is conveyed not by Lindy, but by Ricky September. His words and what he's read matter just as much, and his intellectual curiosity is there as a prod to the viewers to look outside the bubble right in front of them... the episode itself. Step back from the microcosm of goofy slugs munching on idiot racists and read between the many, many, many lines.
It's the perfect rewatchable episode- you could rewatch it for the rest of your life and STILL find new and horrific things to notice
@@carolinemcgovern4488 Yup. And all the clues, all the visuals, all the dialogue, all the plot, it all stems from one overarching question that ties everything together.
What is the *real* reason the Finetimers are explicitly instructed never to touch the Wild Woods, but it's apparently never explained to them - and us - why not? The Doctor believes they'll die because they have no survival skills, but that's not it. He doesn't know the full story. The only one who may know is Ricky September, from what he's taken the time to read.
It's just a meh episode for simpletons.
For me it makes perfect sense that the Dot AI would kill in alphabetical order. Because it's an AI that is responsible for management, I imagine it would care a lot for order and everything being done "right". AIs get created by establishing a reward system, so it would make sense it would be get rewarded for something like this. And there are people in real life who are like this because they have OCD. They just have this urge to do something in a maybe irrational, but "satisfying" way. And since Dot went out of its way to create the slugs, it is definitely doing it all to satisfy itself.
I think that with Lindy, you aren't meant to like her at the beginning, but as the episode goes on she's meant to grow on you as you see that she has been so isolated that she doesn't even know what a hug is and things like that make you want to root for her to learn and have a happy end, and so then when she sacrifices Ricky to save herself despite fawning over the very idea of him for the whole episode its a great way to subvert that expectation and show that while she has been a victim of a lack of care or love, it doesn't mean that she's a good person behind that.
Also i think the idea that the Dots made the slugs instead of just killing the population themselves was great. It shows that with their self awareness they've also gained a sense of disgust with the humans, and they make the slugs maybe as a way to laugh at the humans being so consumed and engrossed by their little bubbles that they will literally walk straight into their own death without looking up to see if coming. Maybe its a bit of a boomerish thought, but still even as a young person i think its still a good message about how we can sometimes become over-dependent on technology, and the danger of being blinded, both metaphorically and literally, to danger that could even lead to death.
Also as others have said, despite the messaging seeming just like a boomer complaint, i think its much more. While the thing with social media is definitely a big part of it, i think its also made as a metpahor to get across much more, like a general message of the danger of living in just an in-group of everyone keeping each other sheltered from anything outside, and also even then how such a detached view of life can even extend to not caring about that in-group outside of how they are an accessory to you. And also that that entire group leading such a sheltered life in a utopic environment in a clean, perfect city, for some when confronted with the dangers of anything else they can't comprehend the idea that they will fare any worse because so far they have known nothing like it.
Also i like how they made Lindy racist (yeah it sounds bad but hear me out lol). Like you said, she's not comically racist, its just very casual and shows that in the society they have its just like a normal reaction to seeing a person of different colour skin, it feels reminiscent of old colonial america where the people within it see nothing wrong with that sort of belief because they are so detached from how other people that they have been taught aren't like them and shouldn't be seen as like them may feel or be affected by what they say and do. Its a profound display of ignorance of what such a sheltered and echo-chamber of a society can make people like.
I was so engrossed in the episode, I didn't notice until the end!
I love the homeworld slug standing on that rooftop, observing it's destruction
That went hard
live homeworld slug reaction
King of the world.
@@rinmixxbeautiful reference
"And I thought it ... good"