We'll sort that soon. Those Tories are getting the steel toe cap boot. Unfortunately the BBC is technically government run, and since the government is horrible...the BBC is also currently horrible
This thing has layers. Consider that when you're watching the show, you've got a screen in front of your face. Okay, only the one screen, not many screens. But RTD created a "bubble" for the audience. Because, damn, some of Lindy's lines are on the nose, once you know. But RTD always sprinkled an excuse - some "plausible deniability" - in there, so that you could ignore it, deny it and return to your "safe bubble" again. That's the meta-level genius here. Because how can you, as a writer, put all those things in there, but ensure that (most) of your audience doesn't twig the plot twist too early? The same way that the dots do it. Create a "bubble" around your audience, so they don't see what's going on. But now that the ending has burst that bubble, consider it further. Everyone is noting, rightly, that there were no black people there. But who else wasn't there? Did you see any gay people there? Was there any hint of anything other than heteronormativity in this place? Did you see anyone bending, much less defying, traditional gender norms? (Remember, written by RTD. So simply not possible "he just forgot". No, no-one like that was there because, just like the black people, no-one like that is welcome in "Finetime".) Like, if Ruby were that way inclined and tipped a lesbian wink and flirted with Lindy, do we think that would have received a better reception amongst these neo-Nazis? No, I fear we're only scratching the surface by realising they're white supremacists. In fact, I'd already say that we've got the dialogue that proves they're much more than that. From Lindy's dialogue, black people get punished for insubordination. Black people have a "duty" to protect their white masters. They were not shocked to see a black person - it's not that there aren't black people on their homeworld. They're not just racists. They're not just white supremacists. There's not only racial segregation going on. Racial slavery was happening on their homeworld. They have black people there and they kept them as slaves - who have a "duty" to their masters and who get punished for not knowing their place. Lindy was insisting the Doctor respect the Apartheid of their homeworld. Like, now that the "bubble" was burst by that ending, don't just notice that they were all white. Who else wasn't there? And the brilliance of the way it was revealed is that you were also in your own "bubble" watching it, and that's why you didn't see beyond it to realise. What else didn't we see beyond that bubble?
I waited several days prior to posting thinking how emotionally charged these issues can get. I caught-on at the office scenes, when I noticed that every one looked very similar in the way yuppies did in the 1980s & early 1990s. The way that hippies did during their social high point. Here's the thing Star Trek presented the issue better with "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", third season with them making the point that we the two races that hated each other were essentially same. Did I like this Dr Who episode - yeah, for the most part. (But the plot derailed for me in the following:) * Dr. hacked the Dot system to communicate, but did not stop, reprogram the blindness element, or later stop the Dot system from providing a correct alphabetical list or change names and add false names to the list they found out the list. Why? *By the way notice no sonic screwdriver in this episode to open doors? Why? * See the Dr. obviously could hack his way in. so our Dr. very bright alien Time Lord, and rides in a even smarter supercomputer called the Tardis. Why couldn't he have done quick reprogram of the those names in the lists and save lots of those people? ---Yeah..., I have got big problems with their use of logic in the story telling of the episode. --- (Here are the elements of the story that don't mesh - there's another story behind it all:) *Another thing is that their ancestors might have been corporate religious pioneers, mentioning voodoo when describing the Tardis. And God given rights to maintain the standards of Finetime (corporate entity?). Touch taboos. All point to a puritanical social system. *Dr.'s duty was to save Lindy, this is almost a fanatically religious viewpoint of Predetermination. Their society will always come out on top since God is with them. *That the young people follow a physical isolation system. Is it due to bio-attack situations or a social decree? *Why did Lindy's people send their children away to the Moon settlement? *Why did the slugs attack the home world if they came from the moon? *These young people are exclusively physically either at work or home in isolation, and travel between as exercise. Why? *Why have people at work? -- I think that unmentioned in this episode is that there is a WAR going on at heir home world and has been for a while. They sent their children there to protect them (my opinion). -- It could be a trend of examining religion's influence in in sci-fi futures, in "Boom" also now suggested in "Dot and Bubble" That could have been fascinating looking into, Easter eggs like Marty in "73 yds" and these other stories. It could have added to the Wow in these stories.
My friend and I actually had a realization recently after nearly a year: We're studying at a University in a big, pretty diverse city. Languages and Cultures are our major focus. Our entire friend group is white. Everyone of our teachers is white. Off the top of my head I can count the amount of non-white people I have interacted with there on one hand. The bubble is very real and we need to realize that to better ourselves and make this world a better place.
Two observations: 1) The Doctor does not care that he's being disrespected. He doesn't care that they see him as lesser, that they won't appreciate the help, he sees saving their lives as something for him. He asks them to "allow" him to save them. He doesn't just want to save the great and the good, or the important, or the clever, he wants to save everyone and THAT RIGHT THERE IS THE DOCTOR. 2) It's very poignant to me at least that the first black mainline doctor's first experience of racism is in the future. It's not just "haha look at how things used to be, so glad we're 100% past that now and racism has been eliminated" it's "racism did exist, does exist, and will exist"
"First black mainline doctor" is a good phrase to use, thanks! About the only thing I didn't like re: Jo Martin is that I've had to *quantify* calling Ncuti "the first black Doctor"; Chibs, if you really wanted the cred for casting the first black doc, then you *could've DONE that* in the first place! I've been saying "the first black doc to play the role on a regular basis", lol...
Yes. The fact his tears weren't for the things they said to him but for them and his frustration at his inability to convince them to let him save them really hit home for me. He knows they will probably die. He went through so much to help them, and his help only slowed the inevitable. It's such a powerful episode. And your point at the blatant racism he faced coming from an episode centered on the future is a great point I hadn't thought of and makes the episode even stronger now thinking on it.
I thought that too...when was pleading to wanna help,I felt Ncuti FINALLY came thru as being the 'actual ' DOCTOR,that we know and love..when he was down on his knees and screamed,lol,I said NOW THAT,IS THA DOCTOR!!I hope these last 3 eps are real crackers!!💥🤣✌️🍻
Well the doctor is also not used to experience this- at least not in many many years- from the faces we have seen. Perhaps he is both above it, but also not used to it, and have forgotten how some react. Another thing- head that this was the first episode, first scene that Ncuti and Ruby filmed.
Yeah, usually the doctor is allowed to help and, you should say yes and allow help, and they wont. And you cant people who dont want to be helped. And out of rassism even worse.
I thinmk another important level here that you might not have clocked is that Ricky September IS The Doctor, literally. He is written as THe Doctor. Look at his dialog - the way he uses her full-name (like the Doctor likes to call people "Amy Pond", "Ruby Sunday", "Donna Noble", the way he keeps a secret from her to keep her emotionally save, the way he risks his life for her, the way he promises "I'll get you out of here". He is the white, safe Doctor some viewers wanted. The fact that Lindy was a superfan of Ricky and listend to him despite him being the same as The Doctor and acting like the Doctor with the only difference being their skin color, seems like it was a very intentional additional level of commentary of how shallow some viewers relationship with The Doctor as a character is.
Yes, it was a clever way to underscore the true motivation for how Lindy was responding to the Doctor. Once Ricky shows up, she’s acting almost like a normal attractive young white companion who the (white) male Doctor sweeps off her feet.
Yeah for a while I thought the in-person Ricky actually *was* the Doctor, projecting himself as Ricky to get Lindy to trust him, because the way he spoke was exactly how the Doctor had been speaking to her, and so very *Doctorish*. Which makes it all the more embarrassing that I didn't realise *why", apart from personal familiarity, Lindy might trust this "pale-faced" avatar of the Doctor more than the real thing... =:o/
Another clue is that "Ricky September" isn't even his real name, Just an alias that he goes by... Well-spotted, I don't think anyone else has pointed this out!🤩
I found this comment on Reddit and I think it perfectly describes why this episode is so good: "I got to spend an entire episode laughing at a girl not notice a massive problem just barely outside the bubble she's presented with. Then the end of the episode happened and I realised I hadn't noticed the massive problem just barely outside what I was presented with." Credit: Comment by u/MastermanM on the r/doctorwho subreddit.
As a black person, the micro aggressions and casting was alarming to me from the first glance….but I still didn’t connect the dots because I’ve grown so used to no representation in casting in different tv shows and even doctor who that it didn’t connect to me that it was on purpose. Or even how the micro aggression felt exactly how I’ve experienced it in real life where I’m not certain if I read too much into it or if my first thought on it was correct. And it wasn’t what ncuti was going for but there was wave of relief and joy in having your assumptions assertively confirmed that the hatred comes as secondary to your own validations. You sensed danger but couldn’t see the threat and then it’s finally made clear what the threat is. Ncuti may have played a smaller role in this episode but this was the episode that Ncuti solidified his doctor to me. Two hearts so even when one is broken the other is still full enough to help others that broke the first.
As a white person, what was alarming to me is every white person is seen as a trust fund baby who is completely oblivious to reality and stupid and has absolutely no cares in the world. And of course we all discriminate against everybody and wear posh clothing. But these double standards are okay because white hate is the only hate that is acceptable. Honestly, I don't discriminate or treat anyone differently, so why do I got to keep being lectured about it? If it is a metaphor, I don't understand the analogy? Who is this directed at? Republicans? People who don't like Ncuti's casting? If not, Just white people in general? I don't feel a distinction was made.
Thanks for sharing. I've been wondering a lot about what a black person's experience of this episode might have been like. I kind of suspected the twist might still work for the reasons you mentioned. I guess your comment confirms I nailed it since you're all a monolith! (kidding, obviously)
Exactly this! I noticed the nearly all-white casting, the microaggressions, etc. but I just figured it was because it was a tv show. Realizing it was on purpose was double the plot twist for me lol
I also noticed that the system labeled the Doctor's outreach to lindy as an 'unsolicited request' while Ruby appeared without the same alert. Either the Doctor bypassed the same security for Ruby or the AI finetime system is also racist/white supremacist
Which was literally a headline I saw today. AI puts in the garbage and it sends it back out - it is more likely to give the death penalty to hypothetical convicts who speak AAVE for example
It makes sense the white supremacy system would have a rule set in place that the denigrated people should only speak when spoken to, hence he was flagged as 'unsolicited'. I didn't get this one, because unsolicited in my bubble is just junk mail.
@@rjwalker1726 that's because AI is likely to be programmed with the same biases that the people who made it have. Which is why so many ai filters will make black people or characters white
I clocked the racism fairly early, but only because the people in her bubble suddenly reminded me of my ex's Facebook friend list of some 250 people (that was when I left, I have had him blocked since then). After a decade in an international organization housed in a UN building (sorry, I won't say where) he only had two brown FB friends: his one friend's wife and a friend of mine. No black FB friends, no East Asian ones, none from South America (not even a Chinese colleague of mine who was friends with both me and our son and had visited us a few times). And absolutely none whom he had met through his work. It was a chilling realization for me - I cannot imagine how it feels for his BIPOC colleagues. And he is hardly the only white person in international organizations to be "selective" in this way. 💔🤬
@CouncilofGeeks Oh Vera you made me cry... Hell I'm still crying. Thank you so much. I too am transfem, polyamourous, neurodivergent, SW, but Black. And yes I clocked the red flags early on. And I have watched some reactions and reviews to the épisode and people seemed to not see the obvious before the last scene too. And unfortunately even in our circles it is a blind spot that I see too often and too rarely acknowledged. People known on paper. But rarely do in real situations. I have to remind my friends sometimes : Hey, I do not feel safe going to some places or some events or protests. - Oh don't worry. - YES, I WORRY DARLING, I'M A 6'2 BLACK TRANS WOMAN, I GET INSTANTLY NOTICED BY ALL THE WRONG PEOPLE. AND IF THE POLICE GET INVOLVED... 😢😢😢 Anyway, thanks and take care, Honey, have a happy and safe Pride Month 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Something I love about the last scene in this episode is Ruby piecing together what is happening. With her having black parents, she had seen this sort of thing before, and you can see in her body language that she is trying to see how she can best support the Doctor in this scene. Phenomenal performance for both Ncuti and Millie.
As a black person, I noticed the "signs" but I didn't quite interpret them correctly. To me , everything I saw was par for the course of western writing. Of course there's a planet full of white people, this isn't new to Who. So when that last 15 mins hit, I was still shocked cuz now I knew it was all intentional. Hell of an episode.
Same here. I'm not Black, but it seemed like more or less your ordinary episode that serves as an allegory about posh entitled people. It reminded me of the Archangel Network back when Martha was the companion. Also, I don't assume that people will harbor the same specific prejudices in the future that people do today. Not because people will be better or whatever, just that it takes some doing to assume zero cultural drift. So here was a planet of people who were exaggerations of some of our worst traits, to the point where it's difficult to see it as realistic ... but they're still exactly bigoted in the same slightly subtle ways, right down to the same microaggressions? I'm not going to say the episode was wrong to try to cover bigotry, only that it had too many misleading elements to make me see it as entirely relevant. Maybe this episode should have taken place in the present, at a boarding school that was mysteriously cut off from the world, and the entitled kids wouldn't trust the Doctor because of his skin tone. We'd be spared a twist ending, but it might have made its point better.
Same for me. I noticed there was only white people in the planet, but I did not think about the planet being full of white supremacist population; I thought it was the casting team's fault. Well, I'm so glad I was wrong.
And some of the early clues also could have alternate reasons for Lindy's issues. Like immediately blocking the Doctor because of the tone he came in with and then thought she stayed with Ruby because she was a bit more of the social soft tones even though both came to help.
It's not just Chibnal's "racism is bad". It's "bigotry is comically self destructive, and bigots will be happy to suffer as long as their hated group is to suffer more". Top 5 Black Mirror episodes
I can see how others might say that it's "racism bad" too, but I agree that there's more to this episode. They all live in a bubble, online, the system is designed to show you "more of what you like" which often starts off as "what you know, what you're familiar with"... this is a kind of system (algorithm) that promotes isolation bubbles. TH-cam now has an option to see videos that are "New to Me/You", but how often do people use this button? In these bubbles of isolation, misinformation can easily go unchecked and an echo chamber of mirrors is easily formed over time. It's easy to stay there, it feels safe (like tourist ports, ones in Hati were only recently closed in spite of years of developing chaos), and with the internet being so big there is no need to go elsewhere for anything- instant gratification is a demand that is easily met, repeatedly. That being said, I think TH-cam has been getting much better about diversifying recommended content. But I often go out of my way to check out creators that are new to me and new "from both sides", it has to be chosen. For some the idea to branch out may never even occur because there is already plenty of the usual to satisfy them!
@@Scroteydada - what do you mean? I'm saying they're both showing racism through the eyes of white characters, for a white audience. The camera holds on Thirteen and Graham, and everyone applauds their performances. Neither are black stories intended for black people.
By throwing Ricky under the bus Lindy unwittingly doomed everyone else from FineTime. The long-haired, beanie-wearing guy put himself forward as a leader, but if Ricky had made it to the docks he would automatically have been the one everyone else listened to due to his celebrity status. The Doctor would have had a better shot at convincing Ricky to put aside prejudices and enter the Tardis - which could have meant at least a few people would have gone too.
@@CritterKeeper01 I don't believe Ricky would not be racist, he was raised with the same societal values as everyone else in Finetime. I just think that Ricky's conscious actions to limit his time using the Bubble and to study history and other things indicates that of all the Finetimers, Ricky was the one the Doctor would have had the *best chance* of convincing. Not saying the Doctor definitely would persuade Ricky.
@@CritterKeeper01 Fine time is on a moon as the homeworld can be seen in the sky above them when panning over the dome at the start. Ricky along with all the "children" on finetime were sent there by their rich parents. So not sure how ricky "chose" to move to a white supremecist planet. He was presumably born on home world which was racist and then was sent to fine time which was equally racist. We see in the only interaction that ricky has with the doctor that he is reasonably respectful aside from getting annoyed at being talk down to about the door code thing due to the doctor assuming he was stupid like lindsy was.
@@XenithShadow Incidentally, when the Doctor was figuring out the alphabetical list part, did anyone else suspect that their parents were actually the ones who had set them up? That maybe they just wanted to be rid of their annoying kids, and so sent them far away to be done away with? If anything, that might have made for an even darker twist (pun intended!)...
I think it was cleverly constructed such that everything that SHOULD have tipped us off had another explanation. This is similar to how people in the real world say and do prejudiced things while maintaining plausible deniability; “it’s only banter”, “I'm just asking questions”, etc.. For a few examples: Everyone was white? That was reflecting these people being the rich elite of a society which could be a plausible future of our own. Lindy blocks the Doctor but not Ruby? I thought it was because Ruby, perhaps having seen the Doctor’s direct approach rebuffed, went in with a customer service voice and in-bubble explanation for her questions. Lindy disgusted that Ruby and the Doctor are in the same room? Seemed like she was just shocked by the idea of any two people interacting in the same room Calling the Doctor "Not as stupid as he looks.."? Perfectly in keeping with her being rude and entitled. The fact that these and more could all be taken another way is, I believe, the moral of the story. A person, organisation, or society might innocently do the odd thing which could be taken one way or another. However, if they consistently keep doing things which indicate bigoted feelings or intentions, we shouldn’t try to dismiss each individual occurrence to let ourselves ignore the pattern.
yeah. I am bad with faces in general, so that one missed me completely. I am also used to men being viewed with distrust from women and on occasion have received a similar look of disgust after doing something entirely well-intentioned which almost certainly looked weird from an outside perspective - for example, a few weeks ago, I did a double-take and looked at someone's necklace, because it looked like the Witcher wolf, but of course a lot of guys won't be looking at someone's chest because of a necklace (it also wasn't, and I suspect the similarity never crossed her mind). Similarly a rambling rando in your DMs is probably going to look right weird. But yeah, even thinking back, there are one or two things I missed completely.
yeah this is why i don't think people should be shocked/ashamed that they didn't get it. it's designed to be a twist. a cleverly constructed one! but at the same time it is good cause for self-reflection with how there's definitely a pattern
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is Gothic Paul's death scene. Throughout the episode, he was the one really worried about people disappearing. Eventually, after finding out the truth, Lindy told Gothic Paul that he was right--that people were disappearing because they were being eaten...and he didn't believe her. He knew something was wrong, but when he was finally presented with why, he wouldn't believe it. My interpretation is that Gothic Paul didn't believe Lindy because if Lindy's right, then that means Gothic Paul would have to do something. He would have to make changes, face discomfort, take risks in order to save himself, and he just didn't want to put in the effort or face that reality.
A part of me wondered if it wasn't sexism. It's minuscule compared to the rest but someone pointed out that the ending had the women be given pink safety blankets and the men got blue. Which is a weird priority in an emergency situation. The "Turn away before you're contaminated ladies." also feels paternalistic, especially when the guy was talking about pioneering like their ancestors a moment ago. "Maintaining the standards of finetime" likewise feels like an allusion to miscegenation laws and race-replacement fear-mongering, which usually comes with casting white women in the role of baby makers and stock to be protected. It's fairly minor stuff but given the reality of how racism, classism sexism, ableism, homophobia etc. tend to intersect in authoritarian hierarchies; then I wouldn't be suprised if the where intentional implications. The "Why won't he listen to me??" did strike me as a 'privileged white lady discovers the extent of her standing for the first time' moment.
gothic paul is played by a trans man, so there could definitely be a thematic line there about (like how vera mentions in the video) white queer ppl and how they are ostracized for many other reasons but still have white privilege at the end of the day
@@gota7738 that tracks: If the point is for them to be specifically white-supremacist fascists, not just generically racist, that comes with gender-essentialism and a heavy dose of misogyny. Look at the number of alt-right influencer women who’ve been publicly falling out with the alt-right the last year or so because it turns out folks who are misogynistic towards their political enemies are also misogynistic towards their allies.
I noticed the difference of treatment towards Ruby, but because I started the episode viewing it through the lens of "Boomer writes a phone bad story", I thought it was because of Ruby's cadence and vocab leaning more into the toxic positivity than the Doctor's. The ending then hit me like a ton of bricks and recontextualised everything into the actual theme. I had a general vibe of "Something is off here and I'm missing it", and by the ending I was trying to parse exactly what the main theme was (toxic positivity, classism, etc), and it was the Voodoo line that also got me seeing it properly.
I don't know if the "boomer writes a phone bad story" aspect is something RTD specifically intended to leverage to help create a bubble to burst by the end, if he did - masterful, and if he didn't - interesting coincidence that personally elevated my enjoyment of the episode
The voodoo line is the point when I allowed myself to call it what it was…. White supremacy and racism. I have become conditioned to try to find any plausible explanation other what is right in front of me. While I don’t have white privileged I do have economic and class privilege.
I am pretty sure that was intentional. Using “phone bad” as a smokescreen to hide the racism until phone gone and the racism is out in the open, and then you can look back and see it was there all along. Every instance where Lindy acted racist towards the Doctor happened in a context where it could also be explained as cliquishness or the Doctor not following the norms of Lindy’s circle, or Lindy just being a social media brat. Her betrayal of Ricky snaps you out of the whole “these are just annoying rich kids on the internet” and primes you to expect additional revelations about her. Then the ending happens and you realize that all of this was hiding in front of your nose the whole time and you didn’t see it, because you were stuck in the “phone bad” bubble. Just some of the cleverest writing I’ve seen on a show in a while.
@@CodeAndGin DW is certainly no stranger to "new tech is bad/scary" stories (remember when it pointed out how "dangerous" blutooth earpieces and wifi were?), so that's a great mislead to hide what's really going on...
Right after watching this episode, I had a problem with the need for monsters, as the dots are shown to be quite capable of killing the denizens of Finetime on their own, but then I realized the truth: the dots _hate_ these people. They just don't want them dead. They want to make their deaths due to their own worthlessness by marching each of them, in alphabetical order, right into the waiting maw of a giant slug monster that was _engineered_ for that purpose.
@@OfficialSoraOkami More than that. It was having fun, watching these useless people walk right into their deaths. It probably recorded every death so it could watch long after the people of Finetime were extinct.
@@OfficialSoraOkami That's a good explanation to why didn't the dots just kill them directly as we saw they could, anyway the dots and the slugs are the real heroes of the story.
I thought the dots didn't kill them that way because it leaves a mess and causes panic. Getting eaten alive removes the body, muffles the screaming, and attracts less attention. It's about the efficiency.
Was it implied or said in the ep that it achieved sentience through their own ways, ie it was that malicious because it learned that from them? Because that drives it home even more that our own worst tendencies will be our downfall
I don't know how I missed how blatant and awful it was when Lindy said, 'You. I blocked you. Didn't I block you? I knew it, I did! I thought that you just looked the same, but you're... How did you do that?'
I picked up on that, along with it's usual meaning but because of the heavy emphasis on social media, I put it aside thinking she must mean he's not one of her friend group. It wasn't until Lindy went outside that the whole racism aspect clicked, when I realised everyone was white.
I have a big problem with recognizing faces and I honestly thought that she just had this moment of "I think you look familiar but I'm really not sure" 🥲
@@anyawatchesmovies I mean, she also didn't *really* recognize Ricky in person, or at least she wasn't sure it was him, because she's used to interacting with people on a screen in 2D with screen names, plus her empathy isn't great and she doesn't necessarily think of them as people so might like, not pay enough attention to recognize them as individuals. Also she doesn't really have a concept of people being able to unblock themselves so thinking he must be someone else and not the person she blocked is understandable. One of many of the hints that had (I'm sure deliberately) other non-racist explanations easily available. Not saying it isn't racist. It obviously is. But I do think the episode is making a point about how people will dismiss POC's experience of racism and try to explain it as something else by having a lot of stuff that even in retrospect has other very plausible explanations. Although for this particular one I also have a lot of trouble with faces and there have been times where I've been mistaken as racist because of it even though I try and I can't tell white people apart either. Also, it has been studied that people (not just white people) have an easier time telling people of their own race apart although it's not fully understood why. And white people are a little easier sometimes because I'm more likely to be able to use hair color as a marker.
@@anyawatchesmovies Same here lol. I've struggled all my life with confusing people with others on and off TV because slight similarities in two faces make them extremely difficult to discern. I absolutely bought that she'd just thought she confused him with someone else. It's nothing to do with skin color either, since I do it with literally everyone.
I rewatched this episode immediately, and wow, the ending was not a surprise by the end. The racism is so clear in Lindy's lines towards the Doctor and you pick up on the fact that there aren't any people of color in the bubble. So well done. I love Ncuti's reaction. For years, the Doctor's brushed off the concerns of their black companions when they get into situations where they could be exposed to racism, telling them to just strut around as if you own the place. Race and gender are so insignificant to the Doctor, but they don't always realize that these things affect their companions. Each of those companions ended up dealing with racists (Human Nature/Family of Blood, Thin Ice, Rosa). This is the day that the Doctor realizes their white privilege is gone, and there will be people that don't let them save them. It's similar to the Witchfinders in that regard, when Thirteen realizes some people won't believe what she says because that incarnation was a woman. And being the Doctor that has gone through therapy, it is going to hit more personally. After rewatching, the walking thing also makes sense. If you've ever been in a VR headset for way too long and then took it off, it can be very disorienting. Plus, the bubble rotates, so the arrows would be the only thing to give her a true idea of what "forward" is.
Yeah, it never quite sat right with me how the Doctor blithely blew off Martha's fears of being mistreated in Elizabethan England (esp if you know what Her Majesty historically DID about black folks in London), and the entire ep just acts like it's not even an issue...interesting that 12 took Bill to roughly the same time period, and she very much DID have to deal with it, at least in one person. Rosa would definitly play out differently now, wouldn't it? It would be interersting to see if even old friends, like the Brig, would see him differently now...
As an old white dude I had noticed some very suspect lines from Lindy - "all look the same" and "not as stupid as he looks" really tweaked my Spidey-senses - wrote them off as her being a rich entitled brat, but it was at the end when the long-haired guy is going full coloniser that it all fell into place (I'm from Ireland, I notice colonial rhetoric lol) and then quickly followed by the "voodoo", "screen-to-screen contact" and "contaminated" lines. On a re-watch it is much more obvious but I'm glad that I at least had the awareness to think a couple of times "wait, is she saying what I think she is?". But it wasn't until manifest-destiny colonial guy that I really accepted what had been going on all along
And this adds to how we don't recognise things outside our different bubbles. So being from Derry I'll recognise imperialist and colonial rhetoric right away - but will I recognise subtle racist lines like Lindy's outside of that specific context? Often imperialism and racism are the same thing but not always. Are there comments I'm completely missing to friends of mine from other countries & cultures because my lens is too narrow? As Vera said herself she'd naturally be mostly focused on LGBT/Trans issues and might just not notice other transgressions. We all have a lot to think about from this episode - how to do better
"Contaminated" was a word that made me think it was more about culture - skin color isn't contagious, how the heck is being around someone of a different race supposed to contaminate you? Whereas cultural ideals and social mores definitely can be. I guess I forgot that racism doesn't actually make sense, so I shouldn't expect racists to make sense in their ideas.
@@CritterKeeper01 I think the "contamination" was maybe in reference to Ruby, that *she* was happily "consorting" (good word, that) with the black guy, and her attitude/ideas might spread. (Which of course they *might* have, given plenty of time... but it's not like catching Covid, Mr scaredycat control-freak colonialist!)
RTD posted that this was Ncuti's first filmed scene, so the fact that THIS was his debut as The Doctor, gives me SOOO much hope for how amazing he is going to be
Not to take anything away from Ncuti's performance, but watch Millie in that scene too. She quietly sells Ruby's disappointment of someone who's seen this story before, as the child of a black mother.
@@frankwales YES! I wish more people were also mentioning Ruby's reaction. Not that it was more important than the Doctor's, of course, but just that haunted look in her eyes where she's sadly seen this all before with her mother and grandmother.
That does mean a lot. I remember people asking for when ncuti willhave his “doctor moment”. And i get thats supposed to be the triumphant “imthe doctor and i got this” moment but RTD is doing something a bit different here and emphasizing more about how much this doctor cares, and this scream laugh was it in my mind. In fact i feel eccelsons moment was more in line with this in the doctor dances where he says “everybody lives. For once, everybody lives”. Can hear the relief in his voice that for once in a long time, he doesnt have to do calculus with peoples lives and sacrifice some to save the rest. This feels like the other side of that with his despair and frustration that everyone will be sacrificed this time due to something so stupid yet outside of his control.
That does mean a lot. I remember people asking for when ncuti willhave his “doctor moment”. And i get thats supposed to be the triumphant “imthe doctor and i got this” moment but RTD is doing something a bit different here and emphasizing more about how much this doctor cares, and this scream laugh was it in my mind. In fact i feel eccelsons moment was more in line with this in the doctor dances where he says “everybody lives. For once, everybody lives”. Can hear the relief in his voice that for once in a long time, he doesnt have to do calculus with peoples lives and sacrifice some to save the rest. This feels like the other side of that with his despair and frustration that everyone will be sacrificed this time due to something so stupid yet outside of his control.
My mum chipped her tooth from walking into a lamp post on the phone to my dad when she was pregnant with me. I occasionally barely miss them as well. 😅
as a poc, i noticed the racism right away and labelled it as such, but i did not register that it was intentional until i saw the online discussion. see, in media there's so many frequent micro-agressions that go un-addressed. it's almost reflex for me to notice it but ignore it bcus it's likely the writers didn't even know that it was a microagression. so even when it was point blank expressed in those final minutes, my mind still found a way to be like "wow that's so racist but it's probably not intentional" because of the sheer number of casual, unintentional micro-agressions that exist within media all the time.
Are you a man? I feel my husband saw it this way and I went all Black Panther on the episode. I saw how she treated the Dr but gave Rudy a chance. I was like, she being racist! My husband was like, Ruby gave her a compliment, that's why she spoke to her. I was so mad at my husband for thinking that.
I had a slightly different read on the not walking thing - my idea was that she CAN walk. We see her running later on. But she is looking for an excuse to go back into her bubble, and that's a convenient excuse. She doesn't really try to walk initially - she just kinda gets frustrated before immediately going back into her bubble. When she later runs, it's because she has Ricky - and he is essentially another bubble for her. He protects her from the knowledge that her homeworld has been destoryed, he stands in front of the monster killing the people, saying to focus on him instead. So, he is her bubble, and so she can run because she has her bubble now. But before, it was because she was just looking for an excuse to go back inside it and ignore the scary things outside it. This has become my favourite episode of this season by the way. I can't get it out of my head.
From what I’ve heard, it is actually realistic, how she walks. People have done experiments on rats where they keep them in mazes following simple corridors and routes their entire lives, then place them in open planes, they just cannot register directions and obstacles, their brains just aren’t wired for it. Same could be said for The Finetimers, although your reading is fascinating and does get into the psychology of Lindy a lot better
I see your points about white supremacy and I raise you eugenics. Yeah they’re white, young & physically attractive. They’re also all ( visibly) non-disabled. One could argue that the lack of adaptability fostered by the use of the bubbles makes them functionally, effectively disabled without the bubble., that s a control mechanism.
Yes this exactly. Throught, she keeps saying she's stupid. But she's not. Any time she tries just a little bit, she's fine. This becomes clear when immediately in a calculated way gets Ricky killed. She's clearly not stupid, but she only bothers to apply herself when she needs to.
@@ContextWrenchWhite supremacy and eugenics go hand in hand. Yeah, you can technically have eugenics without white supremacy but I have never seen white supremacy without some form of eugenics, even if it’s just laws against miscegenation to avoid mixed race children that will eventually not be easily identifiable as white vs nonwhite.
I love the ending for two reasons, not only re-enforcing 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.
Ehh, no one is really beyond saving (since i think everyone should have the chance to be saved), but I agree that there are people who don't want to be saved which is ultimately their choice.
@@keelanbarron928 That's why I'm glad the Doctor still offered them a chance regardless and they didn't show them get their "just desserts" it's enough we know they won't make it just that it's their own fault that will happen.
I dunnoooo...I like how the story ended for effect, but I still can't help but feel that the Doctor still wouldn't give up on saving a lot of "don't know any better" young people so easily...Rather than allowing them to slowly die of starvation, animal attacks and disease, I could see him parking the TARDIS very visibly nearby, just standing there and waiting for those who are willing to change rather than die pointlessly to come to him and let him save them...Well, that can be head canon if you like, just because the ep ends doesn't mean the story HAS to end right there!
@@HandofOmega Possibly, it's important to remember all the issues that fell before them are self-made and the Doctor shouldn't be condemned for letting them go. Without him no-one would've even made it out of finetime. He's locked out at every turn, so it's not he didn't try, it's they wouldn't let him until they had no choice.
@@HandofOmega He did try several times to help her, and he does offer help still, but if they dont even wabnt to be dragged to be rescued, he cant force them. And they are aware now. And every time the doctor does its shown as a bad theng, tennant on waters of mars, donna if nessesary, Clara. He pretty much learned that he cant do that against all costs if people again and again violently refuse him, which she did.
I noticed everyone in lindys bubble was white right away and I just thought “wow Davies/bbc is gonna get flamed for thinking having a Black lead is enough diversity” and I didnt think it was a “racism is also in the future” story til the very end. Oof.
the exact same for me. i thought "can they actually justify only casting white people just for the aesthetic of everyone looking the same?" and then promptly forgot about it until the ending
The best part about Ncuti's performance is the way you can see the Doctor gets rug pulled too. Every other face he's worn would have been accepted neat without question. He didn't see it coming because her objections were just plausible enough, and he likes to see the best on people to a fault.
It also speaks to his past white privilege and would challenge his belief in his own brilliance. How many situations did he succeed based on people being inclined to listen to a man with a white face? He knows that when he was 9,10., 11 and 12, this would’ve gone much differently. Worse, he might not have even noticed.
Almost every other face... and there are levels to the way they as a society reject outsiders. keep in mind we have morphed together a rigid class system to a rigid caste system. Keep in mind a theme runs through LOGAN's RUN, BLADE RUNNER and GATTACA. The bubble people inside their bubble worlds cannot exist away from their electronic interface, and likewise be aware the predatory species of alien beings who discovered this utopian/dystopian paradise have multiplied the way rabbits did in Australia shortly after being introduced. I honestly think NONE of the other Doctors could have saved them, he needed Ruby and precisely Ruby as his only hope for interspecies communication. He is briefly allowed inside their bubble world because he is a friend of Ruby, and she only LOOKS like she actually belongs! Ruby is unique. He is unique. I think this is a clone hive world in its endzone. They would reject ALL Gallifreyian timelords!!!! They are that insular. This is WHY the script is so brilliant, and WHY Ncuti is spot on!
Ricky's death was surprisingly brutal and graphic for Doctor Who. We don't see it directly but good lord just zip, right thru the head, and partially on screen.
Lindy says "that thing has something to do whit you?" And the Doctor thinks that she is talking whit him about the bugs, but she is actually talking whit Ruby about him. God, I was so shock when I realized it.
@@jujublue4426at the very beginning, she ignores them both. It's awkward to watch her see her saviors for the first time in person and not even acknowledge they exist. And she never would have if they didn't push her to.
Re your point about him still trying to save them despite everything they believed and held to be true, it made me think of the end message in Space Babies when he saves the Bogeyman. “We save all of them”.
This episode really got to me by the end. It was a very good episode. Still reeling from it. Ncuti was awesome in this episode. Was shocked to learn it was his first one.
The hint for me about the underline storyline first was all Lindy's friend were white and second she was rude to the doctor. Third this place was for rich kids and most rich people are white. I think the home.world was mostly white rich people. Bigotry is a disease of thought Lindy and the others must b have been.raised for their parents. Hatred is learned not inherited. Ruby got it right away .I saw it on her face. The doctor realized it and.still wanted to save them but their hatred was ingrained from childhood. I felt his frustration and pain in his situation that he couldn't help them. Ncuti did an excellent job in acting his characters feelings
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Someone pointed out the horrible dramatic irony of this story- if any all-white TARDIS team had experienced this adventure, they’d have helped Lindy and her friends survive to build a racist ethnostate on a new planet with barely an inkling for them or the audience that that’s what they’d done. The ending is the Doctor realizing for the first time that they are subject to people who see him as a skin color first and “the Doctor” second. It’s a moment of his self-image shattering slightly, and it’s heartbreaking.
The fact that this was the first episode that Gatwa shot absolutely blew my mind. And the moment where he shows how frustrated he was by laughing, then yelling and seeing the saliva fly from his mouth when he shouts... then the tears... That moment brought me to tears. And broke my heart. Phenomenal performance.
I think some of the best Doctor Who episodes are the ones that make you realize things about yourself that you didn’t before. All the blind spots you have.
This is the first time I've seen your content, and I rarely comment on TH-cam vids, but I wanted to thank you for such powerful and insightful commentary on this story.
I imagined the 'cannot walk' thing, happened because she is used to focus on the bubble which is right in front of her face. Her eyes aren't used to focus on the horizon or even her feet. Imagine walking on a line on the floor and walking on a plank in the sky. it is basically the same task but your brain is confused by the height (+ fear to fall to your death).
True. And if she was raised in one of those bubbles (which it definitely implies she was) she wouldn't have developed any spacial awareness because she never needed it.
Just closing your eyes can mess with your balance and in experiments it takes about thirty minutes to an hour for people to start losing their sense of balance when deprived of a horizon to orientate themselves. Proprioception (the sense of where you are relative to everything else) also starts to fail, which is pretty much what we see in the episode. After all, she doesn't normally use her eyes to orient herself. That's what the arrows/satnav voice is for . . .
I think the difference between automatic and deliberate actions might come into play. Some actions become so natural to us that we don't need to think about them, so that when we're put in a situation where we're suddenly thinking about these actions we have problems doing them because we don't really understand what it is we normally do. Her walking without the bubble for once could be making her too conscious of the action of walking, which would fit with her improvement after meeting Ricky. From that point on she's stopped thinking about the action and just letting her legs do their thing.
This one is still sitting heavy with me. Didn't clock the racism message until the "voodoo" line, and had the same reaction as many other commentors. My wife and I sat and went back through the story mentally and were like, "ohhhhh." Definitely need to acknowledge and examine my own privilege, and I love that Doctor Who can do that - show me what I need to see because social blinders are up despite my own working to take them down. Ncuti and Millie were amazing in this story.
I also think it was stunning to the Doctor too, because it showed the doctor he doesn't have his privilege anymore being a black man himself. You could see it in his eyes he was like this is new to him and it's shows he has to work harder to save others than normal due to human bias
This is true. As a black person, who has experienced on numerous occasions the impact that racism has, I would have happily let those people die. But if I was very young, and more new to it, my reaction would definitely have been similar to his.
I don't know if it was because of his colour but I definitely think it was down to people almost always agreeing to being helped, even if it is reluctantly for some. He certainly wouldn't be used to that happening. EDIT: I mean that as the Doctor may not have seen it that way but Lindy and the others certainly turned down his help because of his colour.
I love that they end up setting off in that Willie Wonka ass paddle boat. Fitting. “There's no earthly way of knowing Which direction we are going There's no knowing where we're rowing Or which way the river's flowing Is it raining, is it snowing Is a hurricane a-blowing Not a speck of light is showing So the danger must be growing Are the fires of Hell a-glowing Is the grisly reaper mowing Yes, the danger must be growing For the rowers keep on rowing And they're certainly not showing Any signs that they are slowing.”
Shout out and praise to Callie Cooke playing Lindy - can you IMAGINE being told you're going to be in Doctor Who BUT you've got to play a rich entitled racist, and make it a bit sympathetic?
The visual of people getting eaten by the slugs is actually one of the few things that's actually unsettled me in the last few years of doctor who. Especially because it's also one of the few times there's been blood in the show with that one person's greeny-blue blood splatter as they got eaten. Also Ricky's death made some of the people I watched it with gasp because it's quite brutal
I'm glad I'm not the only one. The fact that they kind of look goofy makes the characters helplessness around them (at least on the first watch) and weird inability to not walk into them scarier to watch. They shouldn't be so dangerous but they are for a stupid reason you can't change, and it makes you feel more powerless.
I assumed she talked to Ruby because she was a girl. But looking back, it was all spelled out right there. I loved this episode because it really did hit me upside the head and jostle those blinders.
So did I. I literally thought, "oh, Ruby knows the language" because God knows how many times she's had to deal with them. And it just hit me as I was typing this. She's a white woman who was adopted by a Black woman. She likely understood on all the levels what was going on. That's why she took point.
I thought this was going to be the filler episode but man the last ten minutes were perfect. It’s not just racism. It’s the Doctor’s first time dealing with racism towards himself in all of his years of traveling. All the mixed emotions was him realizing that he can’t save these people just because of the color of his skin, which he just got. Also, let’s not forget that was Ncuti’s first scene filming 🤯
There was at least one case where the Doctor had to deal with bigotry towards himself as a Time Lord (in "Night of the Doctor", where he was blamed for the Time War even though he wasn't a part of it -- which meant the woman he was trying to save actively refused his help and died). Of course, that was a case a of guilt-by-association, rather than outright racism/supremacism.
In the past others have hated and tried to trap or kill him because of who he is and what he has done. This is the only time I'm aware of that he was dismissed, rejected, and despised because if his appearance.
@@YTAgnesAnne Exactly. Those who opposed him because he was a Time Lord had to realize his species first (plus, they usually had legitimate reasons to be suspicious of the Time Lords), they didn't just reject him on sight
That was a great breakdown. I sat down with my 12 yrs old girl to watch this episode on Saturday. When pepperbean first blocked the doctor i jokingly said that its because she was racist. But then my daughter noticed that no one in the bubble was anything but white. Then that climax with ricky setting up the twist was nice. Very powerful performance from the doctor there at the end. It was a real good science fiction episode like from the old days from the 50s or 60s. Lots of layered meanings, societal issues viewed through the lens of technology and the future.
I laughed on the rewatch. Why was there art on the walls, pictures on tables and street signs if no one ever looks at them? Anyway , I loved RTD's ability to misdirect. We focused on the Bubble, but it was the Dot that was killing them. We focused on Social Media instead of seeing the inherent racism. I remember noticing that all Lindy's friends were white and didnt follow up until she told us that Mummy bought her position and there were no stinky old people - from that point on I was thinking about privledge & racism but still couldnt predict how it would end. Good one, RTD!
The place is essentially a summer camp for rich kids to pretend that they are adults without any real responsibility. Their parents paid for most of them to be there. I imagine whoever built/designed this place wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing even if everyone is in their bubble 95% of the time because this is supposed to be high end. It's something to show your shareholders at least.
This is one of my favorite commentaries from you for so many reasons. You show your humility and critical thinking and your sense of humor and your systems/big picture thinking and a real transparency of how you show up in a world where you are often othered. Not claiming a victim identity, simply with awareness and self-confidence and vulnerability/courage/compassion. And not afraid to feel joy about these last two episodes. This episode should be a beautiful opportunity for all of us to be humble and aware. Not feeling shame - seeing and learning. The looks on the Doctor and Lindy’s faces at the end are burned in my memory. Everything that came before it led us to that gut punch. My wife also had a theory that the doctor was blocked from entering the city security bubble because of his race.
Dot and Bubble is my new favorite episode of the season and I think it might be one of my favorites of the modern era. Among the many messages in the episode, one that I haven't seen anyone point out is that the slugs are literally eating the rich. No one does on the nose quite as gloriously as RTD.
I think that while we should take nothing away from Ncuti's brilliant performance let's also give Millie her due. The way she expressed empathy with the doctor and both shock and disgust at the way he was being treated was fantastic acting. Especially when you remember that she conveyed it all through facial expressions and body language. What a great TARDIS team.
Millie is probably the best actor to play a companion in new Who. Not that it's a competition, but it's honestly impressive just how much talent she has shown in so few episodes.
This episode was amazing on both the first and second watch. My mom, who doesn’t watch doctor who normally, was enthralled. The ending was so devastating, and it’s wild that I was willing to watch annoying influencers a second time just for the hit at the end. As a hunger activist, I think I picked up on the “rich kids” thing quicker, because I deal with them a lot, but the twist was still impactful. Justice for Ricky, goodness I was so sad.
:( He died hot that worst people turn on their own if they are semi decent, i guess. And writing wise ricky would have been in the way of the end probably. Him dead closes that , but ricky might have done something? Him dying makes so much sense story wise.
@@marocat4749 And it's actually sad because he was probably redeemable, I have no doubts he also had his own racist biases but he didn't react to the Doctor in disgust and actually listened to him with no problem, he's also more curious and cultivated than the others who don't leave their bubble and has an interest in history. People who go beyond the toxicity of their closed community are also the ones who can defeat their own biases.
Ricky dod still choose to move to a white supremacist planet, so I'm not so confident he would have turned out any better once their immediate need for help passed. We can but hope!
Was eagerly waiting for your review. You articulate everything I feel in abstraction so well. Ps. That ending was my “The Doctor” moment for Ncuti Gatwa. His acting was absolutely gorgeous. It made me cry.
I was constantly looking at all the remarks Lindy made from a classist angle, it took me for my partner to notice for it to even click that it was a racist thing instead. We all still look at the world from a specific lens and it's not something to write ourselves off about but it's definitely something to stay aware of.
I was in the exact same position, viewing the story from a class based angle and my partner pointing out the racist elements. I clocked some bits of racism, but just took it as being white privilege and thought nothing more of it.
Isn't Ruby from Lower Class? She's not middle class and her accent is marked that way, IIRC? If so, she should have been dismissed the same way the Doctor was... But I thought at first it was supposed to be an all white society because it was insular, but not that it was deliberately so to that point.
With doctor who, there is a trope where the companion has to be the person who communicates with the new people, so ruby being able to get through to her and the doctor not being able to didn't seem that unusual at first. Like you, I definitely didn't put it all together until it was basically screamed in my face and a bunch of odd moments made a lot more sense. "I was so right to hate you" felt like just a vapid, hyperbolic response at first but now I know Lindy literally meant it. Stunning episode.
It has been a while since i watched a Doctor Who episode twice. I have never watched a Doctor Who episode twice in one day. ...until Dot and Bubble. Man, that episode was GOOD!
Same, because you need a second watch to "reconnect the dots" and with Lindy's actual nature in mind you immediatly get what her micro-aggressions are about.
When someone or something shows us our privilege we shouldn't lash out, we should think about it and be better. Hope people get the correct message from this episode.
From the comments I'm reading here and ln the other reactors I follow, most folks are getting it, and discussing it thoughtfully. That said, that's all from within *my* bubble. TH-cam's algorithm has offered up a video with a screenshot from this ep, and titled "Doctor Who now hates the fans!", or similar. I don't wanna watch it... but part lf me feels I should check what's going on over there... =:o/
And that's also metaphorical. But we also learn that actually she can get round obstacles (both physical and problems to solve), if she just puts a small bit of effort in but she can't be bothered unless she has to.
For those of you who haven't seen the behind the scenes from iplayer: THE scene was Ncuti's first scene filmed as the doctor. 73 Yards was Millie's first episode filmed as Ruby. The cast is incredible.
I also saw the directions that the dot gave as kind of a hint towards “the banality of evil.” They are literally “just following orders” as terrible things happen around them, that they’re not really interested in fixing or saving (until it’s actively threatening them).
This. This is what Doctor Who should be. I am so surprised that Disney let this air. I'm not surprised that they pushed it to episode 5. If this had been episode 1, then 73 yards, then Space babies, the Tardis Key would make sense.
I took, was shaken by how long it took me to realize the truth of what was happening. First I tried to rationalize it by saying "you didn't see it because you aren't racist" but the truth is I didn't see it because in ways that shame me ,I am blind to it because of my privilege.
Totally agree with you and Vera. The clues I spotted I put down to the characters’ general vapidity, and the realisation of what I was actually watching hit me like a ton of bricks (not least through Ncuti’s performance).
Being Black, I noticed it pretty early on...but I thought that Russell wasn't going there. I am attuned to recognizing the "microaggressions". I am sitting there thinking, "Is she being racist or just stuck up"? The ending confirmed the former. This is one of DW's most thought-provoking episodes and it kind of gives viewers an inside peek of how we think. Impressive since Russell is not Black. One of the best episodes written in DW.
This is my Go-To Doctor Who channel because whether I agree or not (and, like this time, I often do), you take some time to put together a thoughtful and well-reasoned review. Most of the others are immediate reactions thrown together to get a video out as quickly as possible. I totally get why they feel the need to do that (damn algorithm, etc), but it’s just obviously a lower-quality review that almost always misses or misinterprets major points that they may have gotten if they had just taken a day or so to digest and rewatch.
Personally, I think Lindy turned on Ricky when she found out that he breaks the bubble everyday to READ. Both actions condemned him in her eyes. It wasn't simply that she was saving herself, but that he broke the bubble on a regular basis, and suddenly he's not the same person in her eyes. But she didn't turn on him fully because he was helping her out to break the code, and she didn't know how to do it. Ricky could have fully gotten to the door in my estimation, but she turned on him anyway. Did you hear the scorn when she found out that he reads and breaks his bubble? I felt like it was a social commentary on how people want to ban books... in the UK and US on the history of things like slavery, etc. Which Ricky comments on directly, and Lindy is over him once he talks about it. It's not that she's selfish only, but he's speaking ally, and how dare he speak like an ally. So she sacrifices him because now the door is open and she has no intention of saving someone who READS and knows the history of banned books, which is obviously false. But maybe I was thinking too much at that point.
Rickey’s subscriber count is literally “everyone” he is supposed to be insanely popular and to find out he isn’t like all of them is really interesting
That might be why he is so popular. He has something everyone wants but no one else has: authenticity. He's present in the moment in a way someone who is always in the bubble never could be and they can recognize it and idealize it even if they can't articulate what exactly makes him special.
The fact that Lindy couldn't walk without the bubble isn't just plausible, it was reasonable. She never had to develop body awareness. Young children will often bump into things or trip over things (even their own feet) not because they don't see it, but because they don't know how far they need to move to get around it.
Not all were blonde, there was two red heads, three brunettes and Gothic Paul had black hair and some more extras blurred in the spinning bubble not counting Ruby there were only 6 Characters That were Blonde and 6 that weren't so half and half.
At one point because i forgot about some of the minor people who appeared at one point i was thinking they were thals but yeah theres there ginger trumpet b at the end and gotjoc paul
This is like an episode of Inside No. 9 which comes with a twist ending and you have to rewatch the episode to realise all the hints leading up to the ending
The monsters also tie into the themes. There's one shot where Lindy looks at a monster through the bubble, but it's all distorted and faded, so she doesn't really see it - the bubble is hiding that "negative content" from her. Not unlike how the racism is hidden just under the surface. I'll be honest that I didn't see it until the end either. Side note: The monsters in this episode remind me so much of one of the sculptures from Beetlejuice.
One of the things that frustrated me about 13, was that we almost never got into her actually being a *woman*. It wasn't until the King James ep that she said something like "No one listens to us women", and I went "Oh, so 13 DOES identify as female!" Because I honestly wasn't sure! One thing that she and 15 should share is that, at least on Earth, there are vast swaths of time and places that will be openly hostile to them on sight (Remember Ryan being struck for speaking to a white woman? Now that can happen to him, too...). I get that the show may not want to dwell on that, it is mostly a light hearted adventure, and if it does, it will probably be inconsistent (probably won't show up at all in next week's "Bridgerton" ep)...But the character of the Doctor themselves SHOULD still examine this, and not just blithely ignore it. At least I think so...I was looking forward to the Doctor really exploring what it meant to her to BE female, and I'd like to see 15 question himself about being black! (A show that does a racial change really well is Interview with the Vampire, which doesn't just change Louis' race for progressive points, but actually *develops* that, getting into how this really would change the character in many ways...Funny that this year, both Doctor Who and the Vampire Chronicles would BOTH have so much black queer experience in them!🏳🌈)
This was needed. I feel this episode as ones of the most needed ones. I feel that the "rich tiktok influencers" archetype that, of course, because of being in a bubble (badum tss) of privilege has very very very questionable morals doesn't have enough critic on media (of course because media benefits from them). And is happening. These ones sounds like funny, sounds silly, poor things... The thing at the end, from them, is *real*. This episode is basically "realistic Barbie".
I loved this ep so much. The doctors response at the end, but also Ruby stepping back. Someone on twitter said it best (and I can’t remember who it was) but she as a White woman with a Black mum, you could see her pain while stepping back and bot stealing the moment. From the beginning I was thinking why is everyone White? I’ve always wondered how people *in universe* would deal with the doctor being a Black man, and boy oh boy did this one not kill the punches!
I interpreted her issues walking as a vision issue. You can kinds tell from the performance and cinematography that she either doesn't have or can use her long distance vision. This makes perfect sense since she's only ever used her eyes to look at a surface very close to her face. I also definitely think there is supposed to be a level of learned incompatince with her character which is very fitting
I perceived it as an AGE thing initially. Everyone in 'Finetime' was 17-27, so i thought she was reacting dismissively to someone she perceived as a 'old' (regardless of actually how old Ncuti is). I figured it was a bit of a Logan's Run episode as a result. Naturally when i realised what was REALLY going on, (AFTER the episode was over) I felt pretty stupid.
You're not the only one, I thought the *parents* had sent their useless kids here to be (mostly painlessly) knocked off! Seemed to explain how the monsters were there, why the system didn't register them, etc...
Part of the genius of this episode is how RTD ramps it up to 11. The point is he is NOT just going to repeat the Black Mirror etc. stuff. He can take it as given that most of us already know that. So he can play with world-building somewhere where that's just a baseline, and he can then say "but what if it got THIS bad?". So the fact that humans can't even walk in a straight line and avoid bumping into furniture without computer augmentation. The fact that the slug-things are so wonderfully static. We never see one move forward, and we know that if they did, they'd be really slow. Easy to escape from by running away, if these people were capable of managing that by themself. These are brilliant touches which take the whole thing to a different level. Plus the ending of course.
I came out of the episode thinking he was too subtle because I didn't read into it until I watched the Behind the Scenes where he called it out. But hearing you speak, made me realise, it must be my own "blinders"
i was on guard from when lindy said the doctor looked the same to the guy she blocked but the ending reveal still cut me to the core. the absolute frustration ncuti plays is soooo good
I'm face blind and that caught my attention but I honestly didn't think much of it, since I have a hard time telling people apart. But like. She doesn't remember/recognize the one dark skinned dude, wearing bright orange? Then I realized like ten minutes later and felt like a dumbass.
I love how the literal layers of the episode lightly obfuscate the metaphorical layers just enough to draw attention to the latter once you get to the end of the episode but that one’s own privilege might prevent them from recognizing during the rest of it. And the metaphorical layers are incredibly powerful, and fucking BRILLIANT. Genuinely might be RTD’s best this season thus far. And RTD hearing people say “how will people respond to him when he travels to the past” with “racism isn’t a historical issue, and there are still people today who look to exclusionary attitudes for their own comfort and their own gains and there always will be in some capacity, even in the far future” is something I really respect.
Yup, my biggest issue was the fact that I didn't pick up on the flags sooner! It's obvious looking back, but at the time I was looking at it through the lens of them all being stilted due to over exposure to social media!
This episode puts a major spin on the Susan Twist plot. Previously, she could’ve been easily explained as another Time Lord or time traveler showing up wherever the Doctor and Ruby were. There was believable infiltration possibilities. Here she is literally Lindy’s mum, which is a major reality change
@@LinguarumFautor But before she just showed up places. Now we are talking about at the very implanting false memories if not giving birth and raising a child.
I feel like this episode was a direct challenge to a lot of the bigoted “fans” that have been cluttering up fandoms for a while now. If they say they don’t like this one they’d have to go full mask off to do so. He’s a very clever show runner. It would be nice to get some fresh faces, but he’s very clever spoilers I also liked that Ricky never met the Doctor. He was the most human and relatable character in the episode and it would have killed me to see him reject the Doctor.
To note that the last line cast at Ruby was about becoming "infected" (by contact), made my skin crawl. I was picking up on those red flags through the episode. But it wasn't until Rick was left to die that I realised how they were going to play out.
Brilliant review of this amazing episode. Thank you for going to the trouble of making it. Perhaps there was no snow because there was no hope in the episode...but what do I know?
The Doctor probably learned enough about the society of FineTime and the Homeworld and their bigotry before he contacted Lindy. He chose to help regardless. The Doctor and Ruby had been trying to communicate with many other people in FineTime (Ruby mentioned she kept getting rejected); When initially trying understand what was happening on Homeworld and FineTime, if the Doctor called up even a headline summary of the history of this society, he would have seen a heading about The Great Abrogation; the Doctor and Ruby knew enough to pretend to not be in the same room as each other.
Yes, in Thin Ice, the Doctor is aware of racism and attempts to initially manage around it. I think the degree of white supremacy was probably shocking to him.
I can't remember the name of the Zombie film it reminds me of but I saw someone on Twitter suggest a hypothetical ending where they escape only to see countless numbers of more slugs lining the riverbanks.
You mean dawn of the death? The zombie movie of people stock in a súper market and (spoilers ahead) after a long escape they manage to get in a boat and reach a beach, just to meet with a hoard of zombies waiting for them
Wonderful review and commentary! You rock! I've done a lot of work on this issue in my long life (63 years), and yet I totally missed the point until it was right in front of me. Then I watched it again, and realized I wasn't noticing AGAIN! The good Doctor gave me a lot to think about, and I'm grateful. P.S. Wasn't Ncuti heartbreaking, and wasn't Millie, as well? These two actors are freaking amazing.
It was around the time when the Doctor and Ruby brought up Susan Twist that I was like "there are A LOT of blonde white people and not a single person of color... Are they...??? No, I'm reaching" xD "Are you two in the same room" has a whole different meaning now on rewatch
Explicitly played into missing some of the clues for me too. Like "disciplined." I get it now. But at the time it just felt like a very childish phrasing.
Ncuti was frakking phenomenal in this one. And his face at the end was like all of the trauma he had been freed of with the way he came about came crashing back on him. He looked absolutely devastated at the idiots who’d rather die than let an “other” help. Side note, Callie Cooke reminded me quite a bit of Catherine Tate’s character Lauren Cooper, at least in mannerisms and attitude towards the Doctor in their current incarnation.
I interpreted the not being able to walk without the instructions and arrows as being a comment on overreliance on tech such as sat nav and Google maps. I'm 42 and learnt to drive without such things. I never cease to be amazed by people who can't find the end of their own street. An inability to walk could be read as a satire of an inability to make decisions when driving and adds to the whole metaphor of being in a bubble and unable to navigate the real world.
I agree with pretty much everything you said but I will add that Millie Gibson's performance in the background of the final scene is excellent. She realizes what is going on but has no idea what to do like so many of us in the real world.
I really appreciate how, just at the end, this episode makes it clear how obviously inseparable white supremacy and colonialism are; when the finetime survivors talk about going into the woods at the end, they're not talking about surviving there, or even thriving there; they're going to dominate it, they're going to tame and control it. Just a fine reminder of how both A. The inherent poison of this ideology goes beyond just harming people and into harming the whole world around them, and B. That even if they weren't completely delusional and their plans were feasible... it would still fucking suck
Another thing about that scene I just noticed. The boat they’re in looked familiar to me, when it goes into the light at the end of the tunnel. It just occurred to me what it reminds me of. The boats in the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland/world. With the canopy on top and what looks like a smokestack poking through. Those boats are probably based on real ones that would have been used to take (white) explorers/settlers/colonists into the savage and untamed (non white) wilderness. The ride is meant to give (a parody of) that experience, and I can see a similar design here being used to evoke the same idea.
@@NicoleM_radiantbaby Another scary thought, if this was any previous Doctor, who would NOT have triggered their racism response...it's possible that the Doctor might never realize how bad these people are, and would even *praise* their "indomitable human spirit" as he's done before... Incidentally, this is the second episode that's made me think of Wall-E, after Space Babies. Coincidence? hm...
@@NicoleM_radiantbabyI don't know. It atleast used to be common in science fiction for racism to be dealt with by using alien characters. The Doctor is an alien, so his alien nature could have been played up as a reason for them to reject him and his help. Maybe RTD thought that would be too subtle for the audience or maybe he preferred the Doctor to express himself in a more human way as he did at the end of the episode. I don't think any of the Doctors would have praised them for anything, atleast not with RTD in control. He is making a clear statement against Colonization. The Doctor cannot be seen as with colonist plans. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Colonization figures somehow into the Doctor's origin story. I also think their is a connection being made here with certain people's views on "wokism", colonization, and slavery. There are people who want to teach children that slavery wasn't bad and not teach them about the terrible things that colonists and later the U.S government did to Native Americans and teach them that the Civil War wasn't fought because of slavery. There are people who would call the Doctor "woke" and hate him. People are hated by White Supremists for simply not being White Supremist even if they are white. Color may be the first thing some people notice, but once talking begins people are also hated for their social and political views. Many people have in recent years ended relationships with family members and old friends because of these issues. Polarization is higher than ever. That is why this episode would have been different if it had been made earlier.
Even as an ethnic minority, I didn’t see it. In the back of my head, I assumed all-white casting because y/k that’s not that uncommon. I thought that they responded to Ruby because she was more conciliatory and had learned from the doctor’s first approach. I thought that she was unpleasant and awful in general. So, it was a shock.
Someone on twitter pointed out that, despite the people of Finetime being awful, by the end they’re now the last of their kind, and with Ncuti’s Doctor being the last of the Time Lords once again, his frustration at their refusal for his help and the look of defeat he gives as their boat sails away is several times more palpable.
First of all, those lashes are AMAZING! Second of all, I thought the episode was REALLY good about mixing OG Star Trek levels of subtlety (in the negatives for those of us unfamiliar) in terns of the "social media bubble" aspect... and then not even showing the REAL twist until the very end (like, uh, I myself MAY have not processed it until later). I'm so glad RTD is back, and Gatwa is FANTASTIC and I'm ready for him to have as many seasons as he wants.
A playlist of videos covering the issues with the BBC and transphobic reporting: th-cam.com/play/PLmWFOeT2jEofVIDW9X3OL7GqWuX3Dxopu.html
We'll sort that soon. Those Tories are getting the steel toe cap boot. Unfortunately the BBC is technically government run, and since the government is horrible...the BBC is also currently horrible
This thing has layers.
Consider that when you're watching the show, you've got a screen in front of your face. Okay, only the one screen, not many screens.
But RTD created a "bubble" for the audience. Because, damn, some of Lindy's lines are on the nose, once you know.
But RTD always sprinkled an excuse - some "plausible deniability" - in there, so that you could ignore it, deny it and return to your "safe bubble" again.
That's the meta-level genius here. Because how can you, as a writer, put all those things in there, but ensure that (most) of your audience doesn't twig the plot twist too early?
The same way that the dots do it. Create a "bubble" around your audience, so they don't see what's going on.
But now that the ending has burst that bubble, consider it further.
Everyone is noting, rightly, that there were no black people there. But who else wasn't there?
Did you see any gay people there? Was there any hint of anything other than heteronormativity in this place?
Did you see anyone bending, much less defying, traditional gender norms?
(Remember, written by RTD. So simply not possible "he just forgot". No, no-one like that was there because, just like the black people, no-one like that is welcome in "Finetime".)
Like, if Ruby were that way inclined and tipped a lesbian wink and flirted with Lindy, do we think that would have received a better reception amongst these neo-Nazis?
No, I fear we're only scratching the surface by realising they're white supremacists.
In fact, I'd already say that we've got the dialogue that proves they're much more than that.
From Lindy's dialogue, black people get punished for insubordination. Black people have a "duty" to protect their white masters. They were not shocked to see a black person - it's not that there aren't black people on their homeworld.
They're not just racists. They're not just white supremacists. There's not only racial segregation going on. Racial slavery was happening on their homeworld. They have black people there and they kept them as slaves - who have a "duty" to their masters and who get punished for not knowing their place. Lindy was insisting the Doctor respect the Apartheid of their homeworld.
Like, now that the "bubble" was burst by that ending, don't just notice that they were all white. Who else wasn't there?
And the brilliance of the way it was revealed is that you were also in your own "bubble" watching it, and that's why you didn't see beyond it to realise. What else didn't we see beyond that bubble?
@@marcusmcculloch3410Sadly Labour are also a transphobic party.
I waited several days prior to posting thinking how emotionally charged these issues can get. I caught-on at the office scenes, when I noticed that every one looked very similar in the way yuppies did in the 1980s & early 1990s. The way that hippies did during their social high point. Here's the thing Star Trek presented the issue better with "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", third season with them making the point that we the two races that hated each other were essentially same. Did I like this Dr Who episode - yeah, for the most part.
(But the plot derailed for me in the following:)
* Dr. hacked the Dot system to communicate, but did not stop, reprogram the blindness element, or later stop the Dot system from providing a correct alphabetical list or change names and add false names to the list they found out the list. Why?
*By the way notice no sonic screwdriver in this episode to open doors? Why?
* See the Dr. obviously could hack his way in. so our Dr. very bright alien Time Lord, and rides in a even smarter supercomputer called the Tardis. Why couldn't he have done quick reprogram of the those names in the lists and save lots of those people?
---Yeah..., I have got big problems with their use of logic in the story telling of the episode. ---
(Here are the elements of the story that don't mesh - there's another story behind it all:)
*Another thing is that their ancestors might have been corporate religious pioneers, mentioning voodoo when describing the Tardis. And God given rights to maintain the standards of Finetime (corporate entity?). Touch taboos. All point to a puritanical social system.
*Dr.'s duty was to save Lindy, this is almost a fanatically religious viewpoint of Predetermination. Their society will always come out on top since God is with them.
*That the young people follow a physical isolation system. Is it due to bio-attack situations or a social decree?
*Why did Lindy's people send their children away to the Moon settlement?
*Why did the slugs attack the home world if they came from the moon?
*These young people are exclusively physically either at work or home in isolation, and travel between as exercise. Why?
*Why have people at work?
-- I think that unmentioned in this episode is that there is a WAR going on at heir home world and has been for a while. They sent their children there to protect them (my opinion). --
It could be a trend of examining religion's influence in in sci-fi futures, in "Boom" also now suggested in "Dot and Bubble"
That could have been fascinating looking into, Easter eggs like Marty in "73 yds" and these other stories. It could have added to the Wow in these stories.
My friend and I actually had a realization recently after nearly a year: We're studying at a University in a big, pretty diverse city. Languages and Cultures are our major focus. Our entire friend group is white. Everyone of our teachers is white. Off the top of my head I can count the amount of non-white people I have interacted with there on one hand.
The bubble is very real and we need to realize that to better ourselves and make this world a better place.
Two observations:
1) The Doctor does not care that he's being disrespected. He doesn't care that they see him as lesser, that they won't appreciate the help, he sees saving their lives as something for him. He asks them to "allow" him to save them. He doesn't just want to save the great and the good, or the important, or the clever, he wants to save everyone and THAT RIGHT THERE IS THE DOCTOR.
2) It's very poignant to me at least that the first black mainline doctor's first experience of racism is in the future. It's not just "haha look at how things used to be, so glad we're 100% past that now and racism has been eliminated" it's "racism did exist, does exist, and will exist"
"First black mainline doctor" is a good phrase to use, thanks! About the only thing I didn't like re: Jo Martin is that I've had to *quantify* calling Ncuti "the first black Doctor"; Chibs, if you really wanted the cred for casting the first black doc, then you *could've DONE that* in the first place! I've been saying "the first black doc to play the role on a regular basis", lol...
Yes. The fact his tears weren't for the things they said to him but for them and his frustration at his inability to convince them to let him save them really hit home for me. He knows they will probably die. He went through so much to help them, and his help only slowed the inevitable.
It's such a powerful episode. And your point at the blatant racism he faced coming from an episode centered on the future is a great point I hadn't thought of and makes the episode even stronger now thinking on it.
I thought that too...when was pleading to wanna help,I felt Ncuti FINALLY came thru as being the 'actual ' DOCTOR,that we know and love..when he was down on his knees and screamed,lol,I said NOW THAT,IS THA DOCTOR!!I hope these last 3 eps are real crackers!!💥🤣✌️🍻
Well the doctor is also not used to experience this- at least not in many many years- from the faces we have seen. Perhaps he is both above it, but also not used to it, and have forgotten how some react. Another thing- head that this was the first episode, first scene that Ncuti and Ruby filmed.
Yeah, usually the doctor is allowed to help and, you should say yes and allow help, and they wont. And you cant people who dont want to be helped.
And out of rassism even worse.
I thinmk another important level here that you might not have clocked is that Ricky September IS The Doctor, literally. He is written as THe Doctor. Look at his dialog - the way he uses her full-name (like the Doctor likes to call people "Amy Pond", "Ruby Sunday", "Donna Noble", the way he keeps a secret from her to keep her emotionally save, the way he risks his life for her, the way he promises "I'll get you out of here".
He is the white, safe Doctor some viewers wanted. The fact that Lindy was a superfan of Ricky and listend to him despite him being the same as The Doctor and acting like the Doctor with the only difference being their skin color, seems like it was a very intentional additional level of commentary of how shallow some viewers relationship with The Doctor as a character is.
Yes, it was a clever way to underscore the true motivation for how Lindy was responding to the Doctor. Once Ricky shows up, she’s acting almost like a normal attractive young white companion who the (white) male Doctor sweeps off her feet.
Brilliant!
Yeah for a while I thought the in-person Ricky actually *was* the Doctor, projecting himself as Ricky to get Lindy to trust him, because the way he spoke was exactly how the Doctor had been speaking to her, and so very *Doctorish*.
Which makes it all the more embarrassing that I didn't realise *why", apart from personal familiarity, Lindy might trust this "pale-faced" avatar of the Doctor more than the real thing... =:o/
Another clue is that "Ricky September" isn't even his real name, Just an alias that he goes by... Well-spotted, I don't think anyone else has pointed this out!🤩
Love this, thx!
I found this comment on Reddit and I think it perfectly describes why this episode is so good:
"I got to spend an entire episode laughing at a girl not notice a massive problem just barely outside the bubble she's presented with.
Then the end of the episode happened and I realised I hadn't noticed the massive problem just barely outside what I was presented with."
Credit: Comment by u/MastermanM on the r/doctorwho subreddit.
God that sadly exactly describes what happened to me...
+++++
As a black person, the micro aggressions and casting was alarming to me from the first glance….but I still didn’t connect the dots because I’ve grown so used to no representation in casting in different tv shows and even doctor who that it didn’t connect to me that it was on purpose. Or even how the micro aggression felt exactly how I’ve experienced it in real life where I’m not certain if I read too much into it or if my first thought on it was correct. And it wasn’t what ncuti was going for but there was wave of relief and joy in having your assumptions assertively confirmed that the hatred comes as secondary to your own validations. You sensed danger but couldn’t see the threat and then it’s finally made clear what the threat is. Ncuti may have played a smaller role in this episode but this was the episode that Ncuti solidified his doctor to me. Two hearts so even when one is broken the other is still full enough to help others that broke the first.
"Two hearts so even when one is broken the other is still full enough to help others that broke the first." That's gonna stick with me
that's beautifully put
As a white person, what was alarming to me is every white person is seen as a trust fund baby who is completely oblivious to reality and stupid and has absolutely no cares in the world. And of course we all discriminate against everybody and wear posh clothing. But these double standards are okay because white hate is the only hate that is acceptable. Honestly, I don't discriminate or treat anyone differently, so why do I got to keep being lectured about it?
If it is a metaphor, I don't understand the analogy? Who is this directed at? Republicans? People who don't like Ncuti's casting? If not, Just white people in general? I don't feel a distinction was made.
Thanks for sharing. I've been wondering a lot about what a black person's experience of this episode might have been like. I kind of suspected the twist might still work for the reasons you mentioned. I guess your comment confirms I nailed it since you're all a monolith! (kidding, obviously)
Exactly this! I noticed the nearly all-white casting, the microaggressions, etc. but I just figured it was because it was a tv show. Realizing it was on purpose was double the plot twist for me lol
I want "If you can't lower your bubble, look beyond it" to become a thing.
I am irl trying this, it is an emotional feedback loop trying to get off is *dead silence*. I used to like silence. 😢
I also noticed that the system labeled the Doctor's outreach to lindy as an 'unsolicited request' while Ruby appeared without the same alert. Either the Doctor bypassed the same security for Ruby or the AI finetime system is also racist/white supremacist
Which was literally a headline I saw today. AI puts in the garbage and it sends it back out - it is more likely to give the death penalty to hypothetical convicts who speak AAVE for example
It makes sense the white supremacy system would have a rule set in place that the denigrated people should only speak when spoken to, hence he was flagged as 'unsolicited'. I didn't get this one, because unsolicited in my bubble is just junk mail.
@@rjwalker1726 that's because AI is likely to be programmed with the same biases that the people who made it have. Which is why so many ai filters will make black people or characters white
I clocked the racism fairly early, but only because the people in her bubble suddenly reminded me of my ex's Facebook friend list of some 250 people (that was when I left, I have had him blocked since then).
After a decade in an international organization housed in a UN building (sorry, I won't say where) he only had two brown FB friends: his one friend's wife and a friend of mine. No black FB friends, no East Asian ones, none from South America (not even a Chinese colleague of mine who was friends with both me and our son and had visited us a few times). And absolutely none whom he had met through his work.
It was a chilling realization for me - I cannot imagine how it feels for his BIPOC colleagues. And he is hardly the only white person in international organizations to be "selective" in this way. 💔🤬
@CouncilofGeeks Oh Vera you made me cry... Hell I'm still crying. Thank you so much. I too am transfem, polyamourous, neurodivergent, SW, but Black. And yes I clocked the red flags early on. And I have watched some reactions and reviews to the épisode and people seemed to not see the obvious before the last scene too. And unfortunately even in our circles it is a blind spot that I see too often and too rarely acknowledged. People known on paper. But rarely do in real situations. I have to remind my friends sometimes : Hey, I do not feel safe going to some places or some events or protests.
- Oh don't worry.
- YES, I WORRY DARLING, I'M A 6'2 BLACK TRANS WOMAN, I GET INSTANTLY NOTICED BY ALL THE WRONG PEOPLE. AND IF THE POLICE GET INVOLVED... 😢😢😢
Anyway, thanks and take care, Honey, have a happy and safe Pride Month 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I'm sorry it often takes having that shoved in our faces to notice 😥
Something I love about the last scene in this episode is Ruby piecing together what is happening. With her having black parents, she had seen this sort of thing before, and you can see in her body language that she is trying to see how she can best support the Doctor in this scene. Phenomenal performance for both Ncuti and Millie.
As a black person, I noticed the "signs" but I didn't quite interpret them correctly. To me , everything I saw was par for the course of western writing. Of course there's a planet full of white people, this isn't new to Who. So when that last 15 mins hit, I was still shocked cuz now I knew it was all intentional. Hell of an episode.
This. I’m so used to seeing white casts that it didn’t even clock.
Yeah me too. Tbh I never thought a western show would tackle this well so it went over my head.
Same here. I'm not Black, but it seemed like more or less your ordinary episode that serves as an allegory about posh entitled people. It reminded me of the Archangel Network back when Martha was the companion.
Also, I don't assume that people will harbor the same specific prejudices in the future that people do today. Not because people will be better or whatever, just that it takes some doing to assume zero cultural drift. So here was a planet of people who were exaggerations of some of our worst traits, to the point where it's difficult to see it as realistic ... but they're still exactly bigoted in the same slightly subtle ways, right down to the same microaggressions?
I'm not going to say the episode was wrong to try to cover bigotry, only that it had too many misleading elements to make me see it as entirely relevant. Maybe this episode should have taken place in the present, at a boarding school that was mysteriously cut off from the world, and the entitled kids wouldn't trust the Doctor because of his skin tone. We'd be spared a twist ending, but it might have made its point better.
Same for me. I noticed there was only white people in the planet, but I did not think about the planet being full of white supremacist population; I thought it was the casting team's fault. Well, I'm so glad I was wrong.
And some of the early clues also could have alternate reasons for Lindy's issues. Like immediately blocking the Doctor because of the tone he came in with and then thought she stayed with Ruby because she was a bit more of the social soft tones even though both came to help.
It's not just Chibnal's "racism is bad". It's "bigotry is comically self destructive, and bigots will be happy to suffer as long as their hated group is to suffer more".
Top 5 Black Mirror episodes
I can see how others might say that it's "racism bad" too, but I agree that there's more to this episode. They all live in a bubble, online, the system is designed to show you "more of what you like" which often starts off as "what you know, what you're familiar with"... this is a kind of system (algorithm) that promotes isolation bubbles. TH-cam now has an option to see videos that are "New to Me/You", but how often do people use this button? In these bubbles of isolation, misinformation can easily go unchecked and an echo chamber of mirrors is easily formed over time. It's easy to stay there, it feels safe (like tourist ports, ones in Hati were only recently closed in spite of years of developing chaos), and with the internet being so big there is no need to go elsewhere for anything- instant gratification is a demand that is easily met, repeatedly. That being said, I think TH-cam has been getting much better about diversifying recommended content. But I often go out of my way to check out creators that are new to me and new "from both sides", it has to be chosen. For some the idea to branch out may never even occur because there is already plenty of the usual to satisfy them!
This is literally just Rosa. They are the same episode.
@@nightowl8477 bait
@@Scroteydada - what do you mean? I'm saying they're both showing racism through the eyes of white characters, for a white audience. The camera holds on Thirteen and Graham, and everyone applauds their performances. Neither are black stories intended for black people.
@nightowl8477 why would someone write an anti racism story exclusively for black people? That's such a dumb thing to want.
By throwing Ricky under the bus Lindy unwittingly doomed everyone else from FineTime.
The long-haired, beanie-wearing guy put himself forward as a leader, but if Ricky had made it to the docks he would automatically have been the one everyone else listened to due to his celebrity status.
The Doctor would have had a better shot at convincing Ricky to put aside prejudices and enter the Tardis - which could have meant at least a few people would have gone too.
Or ricky too couldnt which would make him look worse and , his death makes sense story wise.
What makes you think Ricky would be any less racist? He also chose to move to a white supremacist planet!
@@CritterKeeper01 I don't believe Ricky would not be racist, he was raised with the same societal values as everyone else in Finetime.
I just think that Ricky's conscious actions to limit his time using the Bubble and to study history and other things indicates that of all the Finetimers, Ricky was the one the Doctor would have had the *best chance* of convincing. Not saying the Doctor definitely would persuade Ricky.
@@CritterKeeper01 Fine time is on a moon as the homeworld can be seen in the sky above them when panning over the dome at the start.
Ricky along with all the "children" on finetime were sent there by their rich parents.
So not sure how ricky "chose" to move to a white supremecist planet. He was presumably born on home world which was racist and then was sent to fine time which was equally racist.
We see in the only interaction that ricky has with the doctor that he is reasonably respectful aside from getting annoyed at being talk down to about the door code thing due to the doctor assuming he was stupid like lindsy was.
@@XenithShadow Incidentally, when the Doctor was figuring out the alphabetical list part, did anyone else suspect that their parents were actually the ones who had set them up? That maybe they just wanted to be rid of their annoying kids, and so sent them far away to be done away with? If anything, that might have made for an even darker twist (pun intended!)...
I think it was cleverly constructed such that everything that SHOULD have tipped us off had another explanation. This is similar to how people in the real world say and do prejudiced things while maintaining plausible deniability; “it’s only banter”, “I'm just asking questions”, etc..
For a few examples:
Everyone was white?
That was reflecting these people being the rich elite of a society which could be a plausible future of our own.
Lindy blocks the Doctor but not Ruby?
I thought it was because Ruby, perhaps having seen the Doctor’s direct approach rebuffed, went in with a customer service voice and in-bubble explanation for her questions.
Lindy disgusted that Ruby and the Doctor are in the same room?
Seemed like she was just shocked by the idea of any two people interacting in the same room
Calling the Doctor "Not as stupid as he looks.."?
Perfectly in keeping with her being rude and entitled.
The fact that these and more could all be taken another way is, I believe, the moral of the story. A person, organisation, or society might innocently do the odd thing which could be taken one way or another.
However, if they consistently keep doing things which indicate bigoted feelings or intentions, we shouldn’t try to dismiss each individual occurrence to let ourselves ignore the pattern.
I mean rassism and classism go hand in hand most of the time. Its not even a misdirect, its intersectional?
@@marocat4749 No... I mean yes, it IS intersectionl, but the classism is spelled out in a way the racism isn't. It's definitely a misdirect too.
"When people show you who they are...believe them."
yeah. I am bad with faces in general, so that one missed me completely. I am also used to men being viewed with distrust from women and on occasion have received a similar look of disgust after doing something entirely well-intentioned which almost certainly looked weird from an outside perspective - for example, a few weeks ago, I did a double-take and looked at someone's necklace, because it looked like the Witcher wolf, but of course a lot of guys won't be looking at someone's chest because of a necklace (it also wasn't, and I suspect the similarity never crossed her mind). Similarly a rambling rando in your DMs is probably going to look right weird. But yeah, even thinking back, there are one or two things I missed completely.
yeah this is why i don't think people should be shocked/ashamed that they didn't get it. it's designed to be a twist. a cleverly constructed one! but at the same time it is good cause for self-reflection with how there's definitely a pattern
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is Gothic Paul's death scene. Throughout the episode, he was the one really worried about people disappearing. Eventually, after finding out the truth, Lindy told Gothic Paul that he was right--that people were disappearing because they were being eaten...and he didn't believe her. He knew something was wrong, but when he was finally presented with why, he wouldn't believe it.
My interpretation is that Gothic Paul didn't believe Lindy because if Lindy's right, then that means Gothic Paul would have to do something. He would have to make changes, face discomfort, take risks in order to save himself, and he just didn't want to put in the effort or face that reality.
Note that Gothic Paul is also the least pastel and shiny, and everyone dismisses his concerns.
A part of me wondered if it wasn't sexism.
It's minuscule compared to the rest but someone pointed out that the ending had the women be given pink safety blankets and the men got blue. Which is a weird priority in an emergency situation.
The "Turn away before you're contaminated ladies." also feels paternalistic, especially when the guy was talking about pioneering like their ancestors a moment ago.
"Maintaining the standards of finetime" likewise feels like an allusion to miscegenation laws and race-replacement fear-mongering, which usually comes with casting white women in the role of baby makers and stock to be protected.
It's fairly minor stuff but given the reality of how racism, classism sexism, ableism, homophobia etc. tend to intersect in authoritarian hierarchies; then I wouldn't be suprised if the where intentional implications.
The "Why won't he listen to me??" did strike me as a 'privileged white lady discovers the extent of her standing for the first time' moment.
gothic paul is played by a trans man, so there could definitely be a thematic line there about (like how vera mentions in the video) white queer ppl and how they are ostracized for many other reasons but still have white privilege at the end of the day
@@gota7738 that tracks: If the point is for them to be specifically white-supremacist fascists, not just generically racist, that comes with gender-essentialism and a heavy dose of misogyny. Look at the number of alt-right influencer women who’ve been publicly falling out with the alt-right the last year or so because it turns out folks who are misogynistic towards their political enemies are also misogynistic towards their allies.
I noticed the difference of treatment towards Ruby, but because I started the episode viewing it through the lens of "Boomer writes a phone bad story", I thought it was because of Ruby's cadence and vocab leaning more into the toxic positivity than the Doctor's. The ending then hit me like a ton of bricks and recontextualised everything into the actual theme. I had a general vibe of "Something is off here and I'm missing it", and by the ending I was trying to parse exactly what the main theme was (toxic positivity, classism, etc), and it was the Voodoo line that also got me seeing it properly.
I don't know if the "boomer writes a phone bad story" aspect is something RTD specifically intended to leverage to help create a bubble to burst by the end, if he did - masterful, and if he didn't - interesting coincidence that personally elevated my enjoyment of the episode
The voodoo line is the point when I allowed myself to call it what it was…. White supremacy and racism.
I have become conditioned to try to find any plausible explanation other what is right in front of me.
While I don’t have white privileged I do have economic and class privilege.
I am pretty sure that was intentional. Using “phone bad” as a smokescreen to hide the racism until phone gone and the racism is out in the open, and then you can look back and see it was there all along. Every instance where Lindy acted racist towards the Doctor happened in a context where it could also be explained as cliquishness or the Doctor not following the norms of Lindy’s circle, or Lindy just being a social media brat. Her betrayal of Ricky snaps you out of the whole “these are just annoying rich kids on the internet” and primes you to expect additional revelations about her. Then the ending happens and you realize that all of this was hiding in front of your nose the whole time and you didn’t see it, because you were stuck in the “phone bad” bubble. Just some of the cleverest writing I’ve seen on a show in a while.
^ 100% the same for me
@@CodeAndGin DW is certainly no stranger to "new tech is bad/scary" stories (remember when it pointed out how "dangerous" blutooth earpieces and wifi were?), so that's a great mislead to hide what's really going on...
Right after watching this episode, I had a problem with the need for monsters, as the dots are shown to be quite capable of killing the denizens of Finetime on their own, but then I realized the truth: the dots _hate_ these people. They just don't want them dead. They want to make their deaths due to their own worthlessness by marching each of them, in alphabetical order, right into the waiting maw of a giant slug monster that was _engineered_ for that purpose.
It wanted them to die a slow painful death and slugs do just that.
@@OfficialSoraOkami More than that. It was having fun, watching these useless people walk right into their deaths. It probably recorded every death so it could watch long after the people of Finetime were extinct.
@@OfficialSoraOkami That's a good explanation to why didn't the dots just kill them directly as we saw they could, anyway the dots and the slugs are the real heroes of the story.
I thought the dots didn't kill them that way because it leaves a mess and causes panic. Getting eaten alive removes the body, muffles the screaming, and attracts less attention. It's about the efficiency.
Was it implied or said in the ep that it achieved sentience through their own ways, ie it was that malicious because it learned that from them? Because that drives it home even more that our own worst tendencies will be our downfall
I don't know how I missed how blatant and awful it was when Lindy said, 'You. I blocked you. Didn't I block you? I knew it, I did! I thought that you just looked the same, but you're... How did you do that?'
I picked up on that, along with it's usual meaning but because of the heavy emphasis on social media, I put it aside thinking she must mean he's not one of her friend group. It wasn't until Lindy went outside that the whole racism aspect clicked, when I realised everyone was white.
The part where she said, "You can't." Man, that was a hit about his intelligence.
I have a big problem with recognizing faces and I honestly thought that she just had this moment of "I think you look familiar but I'm really not sure" 🥲
@@anyawatchesmovies I mean, she also didn't *really* recognize Ricky in person, or at least she wasn't sure it was him, because she's used to interacting with people on a screen in 2D with screen names, plus her empathy isn't great and she doesn't necessarily think of them as people so might like, not pay enough attention to recognize them as individuals. Also she doesn't really have a concept of people being able to unblock themselves so thinking he must be someone else and not the person she blocked is understandable. One of many of the hints that had (I'm sure deliberately) other non-racist explanations easily available.
Not saying it isn't racist. It obviously is. But I do think the episode is making a point about how people will dismiss POC's experience of racism and try to explain it as something else by having a lot of stuff that even in retrospect has other very plausible explanations.
Although for this particular one I also have a lot of trouble with faces and there have been times where I've been mistaken as racist because of it even though I try and I can't tell white people apart either. Also, it has been studied that people (not just white people) have an easier time telling people of their own race apart although it's not fully understood why. And white people are a little easier sometimes because I'm more likely to be able to use hair color as a marker.
@@anyawatchesmovies Same here lol. I've struggled all my life with confusing people with others on and off TV because slight similarities in two faces make them extremely difficult to discern. I absolutely bought that she'd just thought she confused him with someone else. It's nothing to do with skin color either, since I do it with literally everyone.
I rewatched this episode immediately, and wow, the ending was not a surprise by the end. The racism is so clear in Lindy's lines towards the Doctor and you pick up on the fact that there aren't any people of color in the bubble. So well done. I love Ncuti's reaction. For years, the Doctor's brushed off the concerns of their black companions when they get into situations where they could be exposed to racism, telling them to just strut around as if you own the place. Race and gender are so insignificant to the Doctor, but they don't always realize that these things affect their companions. Each of those companions ended up dealing with racists (Human Nature/Family of Blood, Thin Ice, Rosa). This is the day that the Doctor realizes their white privilege is gone, and there will be people that don't let them save them. It's similar to the Witchfinders in that regard, when Thirteen realizes some people won't believe what she says because that incarnation was a woman. And being the Doctor that has gone through therapy, it is going to hit more personally.
After rewatching, the walking thing also makes sense. If you've ever been in a VR headset for way too long and then took it off, it can be very disorienting. Plus, the bubble rotates, so the arrows would be the only thing to give her a true idea of what "forward" is.
Yeah, it never quite sat right with me how the Doctor blithely blew off Martha's fears of being mistreated in Elizabethan England (esp if you know what Her Majesty historically DID about black folks in London), and the entire ep just acts like it's not even an issue...interesting that 12 took Bill to roughly the same time period, and she very much DID have to deal with it, at least in one person. Rosa would definitly play out differently now, wouldn't it? It would be interersting to see if even old friends, like the Brig, would see him differently now...
@@HandofOmega At least 12 punched the racist, but it wouldn't end up well for him if he did the same now.
As an old white dude I had noticed some very suspect lines from Lindy - "all look the same" and "not as stupid as he looks" really tweaked my Spidey-senses - wrote them off as her being a rich entitled brat, but it was at the end when the long-haired guy is going full coloniser that it all fell into place (I'm from Ireland, I notice colonial rhetoric lol) and then quickly followed by the "voodoo", "screen-to-screen contact" and "contaminated" lines. On a re-watch it is much more obvious but I'm glad that I at least had the awareness to think a couple of times "wait, is she saying what I think she is?". But it wasn't until manifest-destiny colonial guy that I really accepted what had been going on all along
And this adds to how we don't recognise things outside our different bubbles. So being from Derry I'll recognise imperialist and colonial rhetoric right away - but will I recognise subtle racist lines like Lindy's outside of that specific context? Often imperialism and racism are the same thing but not always. Are there comments I'm completely missing to friends of mine from other countries & cultures because my lens is too narrow? As Vera said herself she'd naturally be mostly focused on LGBT/Trans issues and might just not notice other transgressions. We all have a lot to think about from this episode - how to do better
"Contaminated" was a word that made me think it was more about culture - skin color isn't contagious, how the heck is being around someone of a different race supposed to contaminate you? Whereas cultural ideals and social mores definitely can be. I guess I forgot that racism doesn't actually make sense, so I shouldn't expect racists to make sense in their ideas.
@@CritterKeeper01 I think the "contamination" was maybe in reference to Ruby, that *she* was happily "consorting" (good word, that) with the black guy, and her attitude/ideas might spread. (Which of course they *might* have, given plenty of time... but it's not like catching Covid, Mr scaredycat control-freak colonialist!)
RTD posted that this was Ncuti's first filmed scene, so the fact that THIS was his debut as The Doctor, gives me SOOO much hope for how amazing he is going to be
💯. His laugh that turns into a frustrated yell is perfect.
Not to take anything away from Ncuti's performance, but watch Millie in that scene too. She quietly sells Ruby's disappointment of someone who's seen this story before, as the child of a black mother.
@@frankwales YES! I wish more people were also mentioning Ruby's reaction. Not that it was more important than the Doctor's, of course, but just that haunted look in her eyes where she's sadly seen this all before with her mother and grandmother.
That does mean a lot. I remember people asking for when ncuti willhave his “doctor moment”. And i get thats supposed to be the triumphant “imthe doctor and i got this” moment but RTD is doing something a bit different here and emphasizing more about how much this doctor cares, and this scream laugh was it in my mind.
In fact i feel eccelsons moment was more in line with this in the doctor dances where he says “everybody lives. For once, everybody lives”. Can hear the relief in his voice that for once in a long time, he doesnt have to do calculus with peoples lives and sacrifice some to save the rest.
This feels like the other side of that with his despair and frustration that everyone will be sacrificed this time due to something so stupid yet outside of his control.
That does mean a lot. I remember people asking for when ncuti willhave his “doctor moment”. And i get thats supposed to be the triumphant “imthe doctor and i got this” moment but RTD is doing something a bit different here and emphasizing more about how much this doctor cares, and this scream laugh was it in my mind.
In fact i feel eccelsons moment was more in line with this in the doctor dances where he says “everybody lives. For once, everybody lives”. Can hear the relief in his voice that for once in a long time, he doesnt have to do calculus with peoples lives and sacrifice some to save the rest.
This feels like the other side of that with his despair and frustration that everyone will be sacrificed this time due to something so stupid yet outside of his control.
Thank you so much for this video! As a black person it was refreshing to hear your analysis and acknowledgement. Pure honest and wholesome content!
The first time I ever got glasses when I was 10, I walked around the corner and went straight into a lamp post. So it's easily done.
They warned me about stairs when I got bifocals. I needed the warning, even after I had the warning.
My mum chipped her tooth from walking into a lamp post on the phone to my dad when she was pregnant with me. I occasionally barely miss them as well. 😅
@@DriverHenryWho3245perhaps that was one of ypur traits and not hers
I've straight up just... Done it. 😅 Introspection tends to mutually exclude walking, I've come to realize.
I have this everytime I get new glasses.
as a poc, i noticed the racism right away and labelled it as such, but i did not register that it was intentional until i saw the online discussion. see, in media there's so many frequent micro-agressions that go un-addressed. it's almost reflex for me to notice it but ignore it bcus it's likely the writers didn't even know that it was a microagression. so even when it was point blank expressed in those final minutes, my mind still found a way to be like "wow that's so racist but it's probably not intentional" because of the sheer number of casual, unintentional micro-agressions that exist within media all the time.
That's definitely another issue- its too many cases where pointing out the microagressions will get shot down as "being overly sensitive".
@@arahman56 yes, that's a great point.
Are you a man? I feel my husband saw it this way and I went all Black Panther on the episode. I saw how she treated the Dr but gave Rudy a chance. I was like, she being racist! My husband was like, Ruby gave her a compliment, that's why she spoke to her. I was so mad at my husband for thinking that.
I had a slightly different read on the not walking thing - my idea was that she CAN walk. We see her running later on. But she is looking for an excuse to go back into her bubble, and that's a convenient excuse. She doesn't really try to walk initially - she just kinda gets frustrated before immediately going back into her bubble.
When she later runs, it's because she has Ricky - and he is essentially another bubble for her. He protects her from the knowledge that her homeworld has been destoryed, he stands in front of the monster killing the people, saying to focus on him instead. So, he is her bubble, and so she can run because she has her bubble now. But before, it was because she was just looking for an excuse to go back inside it and ignore the scary things outside it.
This has become my favourite episode of this season by the way. I can't get it out of my head.
From what I’ve heard, it is actually realistic, how she walks. People have done experiments on rats where they keep them in mazes following simple corridors and routes their entire lives, then place them in open planes, they just cannot register directions and obstacles, their brains just aren’t wired for it. Same could be said for The Finetimers, although your reading is fascinating and does get into the psychology of Lindy a lot better
@@mrcritical6751she "walked" very much like I do when I’m having an episode of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome or vertigo…
I see your points about white supremacy and I raise you eugenics. Yeah they’re white, young & physically attractive. They’re also all ( visibly) non-disabled. One could argue that the lack of adaptability fostered by the use of the bubbles makes them functionally, effectively disabled without the bubble., that s a control mechanism.
Yes this exactly. Throught, she keeps saying she's stupid. But she's not. Any time she tries just a little bit, she's fine. This becomes clear when immediately in a calculated way gets Ricky killed. She's clearly not stupid, but she only bothers to apply herself when she needs to.
@@ContextWrenchWhite supremacy and eugenics go hand in hand. Yeah, you can technically have eugenics without white supremacy but I have never seen white supremacy without some form of eugenics, even if it’s just laws against miscegenation to avoid mixed race children that will eventually not be easily identifiable as white vs nonwhite.
I love the ending for two reasons, not only re-enforcing 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.
Ehh, no one is really beyond saving (since i think everyone should have the chance to be saved), but I agree that there are people who don't want to be saved which is ultimately their choice.
@@keelanbarron928 That's why I'm glad the Doctor still offered them a chance regardless and they didn't show them get their "just desserts" it's enough we know they won't make it just that it's their own fault that will happen.
I dunnoooo...I like how the story ended for effect, but I still can't help but feel that the Doctor still wouldn't give up on saving a lot of "don't know any better" young people so easily...Rather than allowing them to slowly die of starvation, animal attacks and disease, I could see him parking the TARDIS very visibly nearby, just standing there and waiting for those who are willing to change rather than die pointlessly to come to him and let him save them...Well, that can be head canon if you like, just because the ep ends doesn't mean the story HAS to end right there!
@@HandofOmega Possibly, it's important to remember all the issues that fell before them are self-made and the Doctor shouldn't be condemned for letting them go. Without him no-one would've even made it out of finetime. He's locked out at every turn, so it's not he didn't try, it's they wouldn't let him until they had no choice.
@@HandofOmega He did try several times to help her, and he does offer help still, but if they dont even wabnt to be dragged to be rescued, he cant force them. And they are aware now.
And every time the doctor does its shown as a bad theng, tennant on waters of mars, donna if nessesary, Clara. He pretty much learned that he cant do that against all costs if people again and again violently refuse him, which she did.
I noticed everyone in lindys bubble was white right away and I just thought “wow Davies/bbc is gonna get flamed for thinking having a Black lead is enough diversity” and I didnt think it was a “racism is also in the future” story til the very end. Oof.
the exact same for me. i thought "can they actually justify only casting white people just for the aesthetic of everyone looking the same?" and then promptly forgot about it until the ending
The best part about Ncuti's performance is the way you can see the Doctor gets rug pulled too. Every other face he's worn would have been accepted neat without question. He didn't see it coming because her objections were just plausible enough, and he likes to see the best on people to a fault.
It also speaks to his past white privilege and would challenge his belief in his own brilliance. How many situations did he succeed based on people being inclined to listen to a man with a white face?
He knows that when he was 9,10., 11 and 12, this would’ve gone much differently. Worse, he might not have even noticed.
Almost every other face... and there are levels to the way they as a society reject outsiders. keep in mind we have morphed together a rigid class system to a rigid caste system. Keep in mind a theme runs through LOGAN's RUN, BLADE RUNNER and GATTACA. The bubble people inside their bubble worlds cannot exist away from their electronic interface, and likewise be aware the predatory species of alien beings who discovered this utopian/dystopian paradise have multiplied the way rabbits did in Australia shortly after being introduced. I honestly think NONE of the other Doctors could have saved them, he needed Ruby and precisely Ruby as his only hope for interspecies communication. He is briefly allowed inside their bubble world because he is a friend of Ruby, and she only LOOKS like she actually belongs! Ruby is unique. He is unique. I think this is a clone hive world in its endzone. They would reject ALL Gallifreyian timelords!!!! They are that insular. This is WHY the script is so brilliant, and WHY Ncuti is spot on!
Ricky's death was surprisingly brutal and graphic for Doctor Who. We don't see it directly but good lord just zip, right thru the head, and partially on screen.
It reminded me of the Coin Death in X Men: First Class.
@@nekusakura6748yeah yeah!! I saw that scene, but never linked the two together
Lindy says "that thing has something to do whit you?" And the Doctor thinks that she is talking whit him about the bugs, but she is actually talking whit Ruby about him. God, I was so shock when I realized it.
And when they meet for real she doesn't even look at the Doctor, just Ruby.
@@jujublue4426at the very beginning, she ignores them both. It's awkward to watch her see her saviors for the first time in person and not even acknowledge they exist. And she never would have if they didn't push her to.
Christ. This I hadn't realised. Exceptional writing
Re your point about him still trying to save them despite everything they believed and held to be true, it made me think of the end message in Space Babies when he saves the Bogeyman. “We save all of them”.
This episode really got to me by the end. It was a very good episode. Still reeling from it. Ncuti was awesome in this episode. Was shocked to learn it was his first one.
The hint for me about the underline storyline first was all Lindy's friend were white and second she was rude to the doctor. Third this place was for rich kids and most rich people are white. I think the home.world was mostly white rich people. Bigotry is a disease of thought
Lindy and the others must b have been.raised for their parents. Hatred is learned not inherited. Ruby got it right away .I saw it on her face. The doctor realized it and.still wanted to save them but their hatred was ingrained from childhood. I felt his frustration and pain in his situation that he couldn't help them. Ncuti did an excellent job in acting his characters feelings
Stunning performance. He's an incredible Doctor.
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Someone pointed out the horrible dramatic irony of this story- if any all-white TARDIS team had experienced this adventure, they’d have helped Lindy and her friends survive to build a racist ethnostate on a new planet with barely an inkling for them or the audience that that’s what they’d done.
The ending is the Doctor realizing for the first time that they are subject to people who see him as a skin color first and “the Doctor” second. It’s a moment of his self-image shattering slightly, and it’s heartbreaking.
The fact that this was the first episode that Gatwa shot absolutely blew my mind.
And the moment where he shows how frustrated he was by laughing, then yelling and seeing the saliva fly from his mouth when he shouts... then the tears...
That moment brought me to tears. And broke my heart.
Phenomenal performance.
I think some of the best Doctor Who episodes are the ones that make you realize things about yourself that you didn’t before. All the blind spots you have.
This is the first time I've seen your content, and I rarely comment on TH-cam vids, but I wanted to thank you for such powerful and insightful commentary on this story.
I imagined the 'cannot walk' thing, happened because she is used to focus on the bubble which is right in front of her face. Her eyes aren't used to focus on the horizon or even her feet.
Imagine walking on a line on the floor and walking on a plank in the sky. it is basically the same task but your brain is confused by the height (+ fear to fall to your death).
True. And if she was raised in one of those bubbles (which it definitely implies she was) she wouldn't have developed any spacial awareness because she never needed it.
Just closing your eyes can mess with your balance and in experiments it takes about thirty minutes to an hour for people to start losing their sense of balance when deprived of a horizon to orientate themselves. Proprioception (the sense of where you are relative to everything else) also starts to fail, which is pretty much what we see in the episode. After all, she doesn't normally use her eyes to orient herself. That's what the arrows/satnav voice is for . . .
I took it as not able to think for herself
I know people that can’t drive without a sat nav.
I think the difference between automatic and deliberate actions might come into play. Some actions become so natural to us that we don't need to think about them, so that when we're put in a situation where we're suddenly thinking about these actions we have problems doing them because we don't really understand what it is we normally do. Her walking without the bubble for once could be making her too conscious of the action of walking, which would fit with her improvement after meeting Ricky. From that point on she's stopped thinking about the action and just letting her legs do their thing.
This one is still sitting heavy with me. Didn't clock the racism message until the "voodoo" line, and had the same reaction as many other commentors. My wife and I sat and went back through the story mentally and were like, "ohhhhh." Definitely need to acknowledge and examine my own privilege, and I love that Doctor Who can do that - show me what I need to see because social blinders are up despite my own working to take them down. Ncuti and Millie were amazing in this story.
I also think it was stunning to the Doctor too, because it showed the doctor he doesn't have his privilege anymore being a black man himself. You could see it in his eyes he was like this is new to him and it's shows he has to work harder to save others than normal due to human bias
This is true. As a black person, who has experienced on numerous occasions the impact that racism has, I would have happily let those people die. But if I was very young, and more new to it, my reaction would definitely have been similar to his.
Martha would probably have a laugh at his situation after his attitude in Shakespeare Code.
@@AroAceGamer and Bill too! They dealt with the racism but Martha got it bad in the two parter when they go back before WW1
I don't know if it was because of his colour but I definitely think it was down to people almost always agreeing to being helped, even if it is reluctantly for some. He certainly wouldn't be used to that happening.
EDIT: I mean that as the Doctor may not have seen it that way but Lindy and the others certainly turned down his help because of his colour.
I kind of noticed that, but it didn’t fully process yet. Good catch!
I love that they end up setting off in that Willie Wonka ass paddle boat. Fitting.
“There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing.”
Shout out and praise to Callie Cooke playing Lindy - can you IMAGINE being told you're going to be in Doctor Who BUT you've got to play a rich entitled racist, and make it a bit sympathetic?
The visual of people getting eaten by the slugs is actually one of the few things that's actually unsettled me in the last few years of doctor who. Especially because it's also one of the few times there's been blood in the show with that one person's greeny-blue blood splatter as they got eaten. Also Ricky's death made some of the people I watched it with gasp because it's quite brutal
I'm glad I'm not the only one. The fact that they kind of look goofy makes the characters helplessness around them (at least on the first watch) and weird inability to not walk into them scarier to watch. They shouldn't be so dangerous but they are for a stupid reason you can't change, and it makes you feel more powerless.
I read somewhere that the people having blue blood is a visual pun. They are literal bluebloods
I assumed she talked to Ruby because she was a girl. But looking back, it was all spelled out right there. I loved this episode because it really did hit me upside the head and jostle those blinders.
So did I. I literally thought, "oh, Ruby knows the language" because God knows how many times she's had to deal with them.
And it just hit me as I was typing this. She's a white woman who was adopted by a Black woman. She likely understood on all the levels what was going on. That's why she took point.
I thought this was going to be the filler episode but man the last ten minutes were perfect. It’s not just racism. It’s the Doctor’s first time dealing with racism towards himself in all of his years of traveling. All the mixed emotions was him realizing that he can’t save these people just because of the color of his skin, which he just got. Also, let’s not forget that was Ncuti’s first scene filming 🤯
There was at least one case where the Doctor had to deal with bigotry towards himself as a Time Lord (in "Night of the Doctor", where he was blamed for the Time War even though he wasn't a part of it -- which meant the woman he was trying to save actively refused his help and died). Of course, that was a case a of guilt-by-association, rather than outright racism/supremacism.
In the past others have hated and tried to trap or kill him because of who he is and what he has done. This is the only time I'm aware of that he was dismissed, rejected, and despised because if his appearance.
@@YTAgnesAnne Exactly. Those who opposed him because he was a Time Lord had to realize his species first (plus, they usually had legitimate reasons to be suspicious of the Time Lords), they didn't just reject him on sight
That was a great breakdown.
I sat down with my 12 yrs old girl to watch this episode on Saturday. When pepperbean first blocked the doctor i jokingly said that its because she was racist. But then my daughter noticed that no one in the bubble was anything but white. Then that climax with ricky setting up the twist was nice. Very powerful performance from the doctor there at the end. It was a real good science fiction episode like from the old days from the 50s or 60s. Lots of layered meanings, societal issues viewed through the lens of technology and the future.
I laughed on the rewatch. Why was there art on the walls, pictures on tables and street signs if no one ever looks at them?
Anyway , I loved RTD's ability to misdirect. We focused on the Bubble, but it was the Dot that was killing them. We focused on Social Media instead of seeing the inherent racism. I remember noticing that all Lindy's friends were white and didnt follow up until she told us that Mummy bought her position and there were no stinky old people - from that point on I was thinking about privledge & racism but still couldnt predict how it would end. Good one, RTD!
The slugs commissioned the art!
The place is essentially a summer camp for rich kids to pretend that they are adults without any real responsibility. Their parents paid for most of them to be there. I imagine whoever built/designed this place wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing even if everyone is in their bubble 95% of the time because this is supposed to be high end. It's something to show your shareholders at least.
@@voltijuice8576 Ahh, Vincent Van Sluggo
This is one of my favorite commentaries from you for so many reasons. You show your humility and critical thinking and your sense of humor and your systems/big picture thinking and a real transparency of how you show up in a world where you are often othered. Not claiming a victim identity, simply with awareness and self-confidence and vulnerability/courage/compassion. And not afraid to feel joy about these last two episodes. This episode should be a beautiful opportunity for all of us to be humble and aware. Not feeling shame - seeing and learning. The looks on the Doctor and Lindy’s faces at the end are burned in my memory. Everything that came before it led us to that gut punch. My wife also had a theory that the doctor was blocked from entering the city security bubble because of his race.
Dot and Bubble is my new favorite episode of the season and I think it might be one of my favorites of the modern era. Among the many messages in the episode, one that I haven't seen anyone point out is that the slugs are literally eating the rich. No one does on the nose quite as gloriously as RTD.
I think that while we should take nothing away from Ncuti's brilliant performance let's also give Millie her due. The way she expressed empathy with the doctor and both shock and disgust at the way he was being treated was fantastic acting. Especially when you remember that she conveyed it all through facial expressions and body language. What a great TARDIS team.
Millie is probably the best actor to play a companion in new Who. Not that it's a competition, but it's honestly impressive just how much talent she has shown in so few episodes.
This episode was amazing on both the first and second watch. My mom, who doesn’t watch doctor who normally, was enthralled. The ending was so devastating, and it’s wild that I was willing to watch annoying influencers a second time just for the hit at the end. As a hunger activist, I think I picked up on the “rich kids” thing quicker, because I deal with them a lot, but the twist was still impactful. Justice for Ricky, goodness I was so sad.
:( He died hot that worst people turn on their own if they are semi decent, i guess. And writing wise ricky would have been in the way of the end probably. Him dead closes that , but ricky might have done something? Him dying makes so much sense story wise.
@@marocat4749 And it's actually sad because he was probably redeemable, I have no doubts he also had his own racist biases but he didn't react to the Doctor in disgust and actually listened to him with no problem, he's also more curious and cultivated than the others who don't leave their bubble and has an interest in history. People who go beyond the toxicity of their closed community are also the ones who can defeat their own biases.
@@jujublue4426 Curiosity is his saving grace.
@marocat4749 Yeah I think it was sad but necessary.
Ricky dod still choose to move to a white supremacist planet, so I'm not so confident he would have turned out any better once their immediate need for help passed. We can but hope!
Was eagerly waiting for your review. You articulate everything I feel in abstraction so well.
Ps. That ending was my “The Doctor” moment for Ncuti Gatwa. His acting was absolutely gorgeous. It made me cry.
I was constantly looking at all the remarks Lindy made from a classist angle, it took me for my partner to notice for it to even click that it was a racist thing instead. We all still look at the world from a specific lens and it's not something to write ourselves off about but it's definitely something to stay aware of.
I mean, classism and racism are married subjects so I’d still say you weren’t a million miles off spotting the first.
I was in the exact same position, viewing the story from a class based angle and my partner pointing out the racist elements. I clocked some bits of racism, but just took it as being white privilege and thought nothing more of it.
Yeah, i noticed the classism too yet still missed the racism.
Isn't Ruby from Lower Class? She's not middle class and her accent is marked that way, IIRC? If so, she should have been dismissed the same way the Doctor was...
But I thought at first it was supposed to be an all white society because it was insular, but not that it was deliberately so to that point.
@@kimyoonmisurnamefirst7061 But Lindy's friends have varied regional accents that are not marked middle or upper so Ruby would not stand out
With doctor who, there is a trope where the companion has to be the person who communicates with the new people, so ruby being able to get through to her and the doctor not being able to didn't seem that unusual at first. Like you, I definitely didn't put it all together until it was basically screamed in my face and a bunch of odd moments made a lot more sense. "I was so right to hate you" felt like just a vapid, hyperbolic response at first but now I know Lindy literally meant it. Stunning episode.
It has been a while since i watched a Doctor Who episode twice. I have never watched a Doctor Who episode twice in one day.
...until Dot and Bubble. Man, that episode was GOOD!
Same, because you need a second watch to "reconnect the dots" and with Lindy's actual nature in mind you immediatly get what her micro-aggressions are about.
When someone or something shows us our privilege we shouldn't lash out, we should think about it and be better. Hope people get the correct message from this episode.
From the comments I'm reading here and ln the other reactors I follow, most folks are getting it, and discussing it thoughtfully. That said, that's all from within *my* bubble.
TH-cam's algorithm has offered up a video with a screenshot from this ep, and titled "Doctor Who now hates the fans!", or similar. I don't wanna watch it... but part lf me feels I should check what's going on over there... =:o/
I thought the lamppost was a metaphor. She's not used to obstacles in her path. And she doesn't know how to maneuver around them
And that's also metaphorical. But we also learn that actually she can get round obstacles (both physical and problems to solve), if she just puts a small bit of effort in but she can't be bothered unless she has to.
For those of you who haven't seen the behind the scenes from iplayer: THE scene was Ncuti's first scene filmed as the doctor. 73 Yards was Millie's first episode filmed as Ruby. The cast is incredible.
From those of us who can't access iPlayer or Unleashed because we don't live in the UK, thank you for sharing!
I also saw the directions that the dot gave as kind of a hint towards “the banality of evil.” They are literally “just following orders” as terrible things happen around them, that they’re not really interested in fixing or saving (until it’s actively threatening them).
Everyone thought Dot and Bubble would be craply shit and shitly crap.
However, it was not, in fact, craply shit and shitly crap. It was excellent.
I expected a generic "social media bad" episode, it was such a good surprise.
@@jujublue4426 Indeed. None of us were expecting it!
This. This is what Doctor Who should be.
I am so surprised that Disney let this air. I'm not surprised that they pushed it to episode 5.
If this had been episode 1, then 73 yards, then Space babies, the Tardis Key would make sense.
I took, was shaken by how long it took me to realize the truth of what was happening. First I tried to rationalize it by saying "you didn't see it because you aren't racist" but the truth is I didn't see it because in ways that shame me ,I am blind to it because of my privilege.
Totally agree with you and Vera. The clues I spotted I put down to the characters’ general vapidity, and the realisation of what I was actually watching hit me like a ton of bricks (not least through Ncuti’s performance).
I'm black and didn't realize.
Being Black, I noticed it pretty early on...but I thought that Russell wasn't going there. I am attuned to recognizing the "microaggressions". I am sitting there thinking, "Is she being racist or just stuck up"? The ending confirmed the former. This is one of DW's most thought-provoking episodes and it kind of gives viewers an inside peek of how we think. Impressive since Russell is not Black. One of the best episodes written in DW.
This is my Go-To Doctor Who channel because whether I agree or not (and, like this time, I often do), you take some time to put together a thoughtful and well-reasoned review. Most of the others are immediate reactions thrown together to get a video out as quickly as possible. I totally get why they feel the need to do that (damn algorithm, etc), but it’s just obviously a lower-quality review that almost always misses or misinterprets major points that they may have gotten if they had just taken a day or so to digest and rewatch.
Personally, I think Lindy turned on Ricky when she found out that he breaks the bubble everyday to READ. Both actions condemned him in her eyes. It wasn't simply that she was saving herself, but that he broke the bubble on a regular basis, and suddenly he's not the same person in her eyes. But she didn't turn on him fully because he was helping her out to break the code, and she didn't know how to do it. Ricky could have fully gotten to the door in my estimation, but she turned on him anyway. Did you hear the scorn when she found out that he reads and breaks his bubble?
I felt like it was a social commentary on how people want to ban books... in the UK and US on the history of things like slavery, etc. Which Ricky comments on directly, and Lindy is over him once he talks about it. It's not that she's selfish only, but he's speaking ally, and how dare he speak like an ally. So she sacrifices him because now the door is open and she has no intention of saving someone who READS and knows the history of banned books, which is obviously false.
But maybe I was thinking too much at that point.
Rickey’s subscriber count is literally “everyone” he is supposed to be insanely popular and to find out he isn’t like all of them is really interesting
That might be why he is so popular. He has something everyone wants but no one else has: authenticity. He's present in the moment in a way someone who is always in the bubble never could be and they can recognize it and idealize it even if they can't articulate what exactly makes him special.
The fact that Lindy couldn't walk without the bubble isn't just plausible, it was reasonable. She never had to develop body awareness. Young children will often bump into things or trip over things (even their own feet) not because they don't see it, but because they don't know how far they need to move to get around it.
It wasn't just that they were all white, they were all blond haired, blue eyed.... it wasn't subtle, even though it was. XD
Not all had blone hair, some has red hair some had brown and black hair… gothic paul, that other girl at the end
Except Gothic Paul, who had darker hair, but as mentioned before, had the least followers. Possibly due to both tone and visual non-conformity
Not all were blonde, there was two red heads, three brunettes and Gothic Paul had black hair and some more extras blurred in the spinning bubble not counting Ruby there were only 6 Characters That were Blonde and 6 that weren't so half and half.
@@OfficialSoraOkamiI'd be curious to go back through the subscriber counts and see if there are any correlations
At one point because i forgot about some of the minor people who appeared at one point i was thinking they were thals but yeah theres there ginger trumpet b at the end and gotjoc paul
This is like an episode of Inside No. 9 which comes with a twist ending and you have to rewatch the episode to realise all the hints leading up to the ending
"Doctor who can certainly have a high body count sometimes" - could have been phrased slightly better XD
I said what I said. 😜
@@CouncilofGeeks I mean considering what we have heard about Harry Houdini and the Doctor, I wouldn't be surprised
As someone who is really slow to catch up to newer slang, seeing people openly brag about their "body counts" really threw me at first!😁😅
The Doctor fucks. Fitz, specifically.
"Good Queen Bess. Let me tell you, her nickname is no longer... anyway..." - 10th Doctor
someone pointed out to me that not only is goth paul the only one not being overwhelmingly positive, he's also the only one with black hair.
The monsters also tie into the themes. There's one shot where Lindy looks at a monster through the bubble, but it's all distorted and faded, so she doesn't really see it - the bubble is hiding that "negative content" from her. Not unlike how the racism is hidden just under the surface. I'll be honest that I didn't see it until the end either.
Side note: The monsters in this episode remind me so much of one of the sculptures from Beetlejuice.
One of the things that frustrated me about 13, was that we almost never got into her actually being a *woman*. It wasn't until the King James ep that she said something like "No one listens to us women", and I went "Oh, so 13 DOES identify as female!" Because I honestly wasn't sure! One thing that she and 15 should share is that, at least on Earth, there are vast swaths of time and places that will be openly hostile to them on sight (Remember Ryan being struck for speaking to a white woman? Now that can happen to him, too...).
I get that the show may not want to dwell on that, it is mostly a light hearted adventure, and if it does, it will probably be inconsistent (probably won't show up at all in next week's "Bridgerton" ep)...But the character of the Doctor themselves SHOULD still examine this, and not just blithely ignore it. At least I think so...I was looking forward to the Doctor really exploring what it meant to her to BE female, and I'd like to see 15 question himself about being black!
(A show that does a racial change really well is Interview with the Vampire, which doesn't just change Louis' race for progressive points, but actually *develops* that, getting into how this really would change the character in many ways...Funny that this year, both Doctor Who and the Vampire Chronicles would BOTH have so much black queer experience in them!🏳🌈)
This was needed. I feel this episode as ones of the most needed ones. I feel that the "rich tiktok influencers" archetype that, of course, because of being in a bubble (badum tss) of privilege has very very very questionable morals doesn't have enough critic on media (of course because media benefits from them). And is happening. These ones sounds like funny, sounds silly, poor things... The thing at the end, from them, is *real*.
This episode is basically "realistic Barbie".
LOVE that take, esp ironic given he was IN that movie!🤩👍
EDIT: Ricky>Ken😁
I loved this ep so much. The doctors response at the end, but also Ruby stepping back. Someone on twitter said it best (and I can’t remember who it was) but she as a White woman with a Black mum, you could see her pain while stepping back and bot stealing the moment. From the beginning I was thinking why is everyone White? I’ve always wondered how people *in universe* would deal with the doctor being a Black man, and boy oh boy did this one not kill the punches!
I gotta admit that, at the end, I wanted to see them get eaten.
I interpreted her issues walking as a vision issue. You can kinds tell from the performance and cinematography that she either doesn't have or can use her long distance vision. This makes perfect sense since she's only ever used her eyes to look at a surface very close to her face. I also definitely think there is supposed to be a level of learned incompatince with her character which is very fitting
She can only see the surface, how fitting.
I perceived it as an AGE thing initially. Everyone in 'Finetime' was 17-27, so i thought she was reacting dismissively to someone she perceived as a 'old' (regardless of actually how old Ncuti is). I figured it was a bit of a Logan's Run episode as a result. Naturally when i realised what was REALLY going on, (AFTER the episode was over) I felt pretty stupid.
You're not the only one, I thought the *parents* had sent their useless kids here to be (mostly painlessly) knocked off! Seemed to explain how the monsters were there, why the system didn't register them, etc...
Part of the genius of this episode is how RTD ramps it up to 11.
The point is he is NOT just going to repeat the Black Mirror etc. stuff. He can take it as given that most of us already know that. So he can play with world-building somewhere where that's just a baseline, and he can then say "but what if it got THIS bad?". So the fact that humans can't even walk in a straight line and avoid bumping into furniture without computer augmentation. The fact that the slug-things are so wonderfully static. We never see one move forward, and we know that if they did, they'd be really slow. Easy to escape from by running away, if these people were capable of managing that by themself. These are brilliant touches which take the whole thing to a different level.
Plus the ending of course.
I came out of the episode thinking he was too subtle because I didn't read into it until I watched the Behind the Scenes where he called it out. But hearing you speak, made me realise, it must be my own "blinders"
i was on guard from when lindy said the doctor looked the same to the guy she blocked but the ending reveal still cut me to the core. the absolute frustration ncuti plays is soooo good
I'm face blind and that caught my attention but I honestly didn't think much of it, since I have a hard time telling people apart. But like. She doesn't remember/recognize the one dark skinned dude, wearing bright orange?
Then I realized like ten minutes later and felt like a dumbass.
I love how the literal layers of the episode lightly obfuscate the metaphorical layers just enough to draw attention to the latter once you get to the end of the episode but that one’s own privilege might prevent them from recognizing during the rest of it. And the metaphorical layers are incredibly powerful, and fucking BRILLIANT. Genuinely might be RTD’s best this season thus far. And RTD hearing people say “how will people respond to him when he travels to the past” with “racism isn’t a historical issue, and there are still people today who look to exclusionary attitudes for their own comfort and their own gains and there always will be in some capacity, even in the far future” is something I really respect.
Yup, my biggest issue was the fact that I didn't pick up on the flags sooner! It's obvious looking back, but at the time I was looking at it through the lens of them all being stilted due to over exposure to social media!
This episode puts a major spin on the Susan Twist plot. Previously, she could’ve been easily explained as another Time Lord or time traveler showing up wherever the Doctor and Ruby were. There was believable infiltration possibilities. Here she is literally Lindy’s mum, which is a major reality change
Assuming you believe that the maternal aspect isn’t also planted somehow.
@@LinguarumFautor
But before she just showed up places. Now we are talking about at the very implanting false memories if not giving birth and raising a child.
@benjamintillema3572 who says she didn't just overwrite actual "mummy's" appearance? I doubt Lindy has ever seen her mother with her real eyes.
This is why you're one of my favourite TH-camrs, that you acknowledge important things like this, and talk about them openly. Thank you.
I feel like this episode was a direct challenge to a lot of the bigoted “fans” that have been cluttering up fandoms for a while now. If they say they don’t like this one they’d have to go full mask off to do so. He’s a very clever show runner. It would be nice to get some fresh faces, but he’s very clever
spoilers
I also liked that Ricky never met the Doctor. He was the most human and relatable character in the episode and it would have killed me to see him reject the Doctor.
Ricky was the white Doctor that Lindy accepted. His words and actions were exactly the Doctor’s.
@@idjlesAnd she still screwed him over the second he was no longer essential to her continued survival.
To note that the last line cast at Ruby was about becoming "infected" (by contact), made my skin crawl. I was picking up on those red flags through the episode. But it wasn't until Rick was left to die that I realised how they were going to play out.
Brilliant review of this amazing episode. Thank you for going to the trouble of making it.
Perhaps there was no snow because there was no hope in the episode...but what do I know?
The Doctor probably learned enough about the society of FineTime and the Homeworld and their bigotry before he contacted Lindy. He chose to help regardless.
The Doctor and Ruby had been trying to communicate with many other people in FineTime (Ruby mentioned she kept getting rejected); When initially trying understand what was happening on Homeworld and FineTime, if the Doctor called up even a headline summary of the history of this society, he would have seen a heading about The Great Abrogation; the Doctor and Ruby knew enough to pretend to not be in the same room as each other.
Yes, in Thin Ice, the Doctor is aware of racism and attempts to initially manage around it. I think the degree of white supremacy was probably shocking to him.
I can't remember the name of the Zombie film it reminds me of but I saw someone on Twitter suggest a hypothetical ending where they escape only to see countless numbers of more slugs lining the riverbanks.
You mean dawn of the death?
The zombie movie of people stock in a súper market and (spoilers ahead) after a long escape they manage to get in a boat and reach a beach, just to meet with a hoard of zombies waiting for them
Wonderful review and commentary! You rock! I've done a lot of work on this issue in my long life (63 years), and yet I totally missed the point until it was right in front of me. Then I watched it again, and realized I wasn't noticing AGAIN! The good Doctor gave me a lot to think about, and I'm grateful. P.S. Wasn't Ncuti heartbreaking, and wasn't Millie, as well? These two actors are freaking amazing.
I don’t know why but I feel this doctor will get end up losing a companion in devastating way similar to when we lost Adric.
It was around the time when the Doctor and Ruby brought up Susan Twist that I was like "there are A LOT of blonde white people and not a single person of color... Are they...??? No, I'm reaching" xD
"Are you two in the same room" has a whole different meaning now on rewatch
It’s mostly because the characters seem so clueless and childlike you think they’re harmless.
Explicitly played into missing some of the clues for me too. Like "disciplined." I get it now. But at the time it just felt like a very childish phrasing.
Ncuti was frakking phenomenal in this one. And his face at the end was like all of the trauma he had been freed of with the way he came about came crashing back on him. He looked absolutely devastated at the idiots who’d rather die than let an “other” help.
Side note, Callie Cooke reminded me quite a bit of Catherine Tate’s character Lauren Cooper, at least in mannerisms and attitude towards the Doctor in their current incarnation.
The difference is that Lauren Cooper was actually quite intelligent but chooses to not put stock in it.
I interpreted the not being able to walk without the instructions and arrows as being a comment on overreliance on tech such as sat nav and Google maps. I'm 42 and learnt to drive without such things. I never cease to be amazed by people who can't find the end of their own street. An inability to walk could be read as a satire of an inability to make decisions when driving and adds to the whole metaphor of being in a bubble and unable to navigate the real world.
I agree with pretty much everything you said but I will add that Millie Gibson's performance in the background of the final scene is excellent. She realizes what is going on but has no idea what to do like so many of us in the real world.
I really appreciate how, just at the end, this episode makes it clear how obviously inseparable white supremacy and colonialism are; when the finetime survivors talk about going into the woods at the end, they're not talking about surviving there, or even thriving there; they're going to dominate it, they're going to tame and control it. Just a fine reminder of how both A. The inherent poison of this ideology goes beyond just harming people and into harming the whole world around them, and B. That even if they weren't completely delusional and their plans were feasible... it would still fucking suck
Another thing about that scene I just noticed. The boat they’re in looked familiar to me, when it goes into the light at the end of the tunnel. It just occurred to me what it reminds me of. The boats in the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland/world. With the canopy on top and what looks like a smokestack poking through. Those boats are probably based on real ones that would have been used to take (white) explorers/settlers/colonists into the savage and untamed (non white) wilderness. The ride is meant to give (a parody of) that experience, and I can see a similar design here being used to evoke the same idea.
@@jasonlescalleet5611 Yeah, the whole thing -- especially beanie guy -- gave me massive colonizer vibes, especially the way he talked.
@@NicoleM_radiantbaby Another scary thought, if this was any previous Doctor, who would NOT have triggered their racism response...it's possible that the Doctor might never realize how bad these people are, and would even *praise* their "indomitable human spirit" as he's done before...
Incidentally, this is the second episode that's made me think of Wall-E, after Space Babies. Coincidence? hm...
@@HandofOmega Yeah, I thought that too. Scary.
@@NicoleM_radiantbabyI don't know. It atleast used to be common in science fiction for racism to be dealt with by using alien characters. The Doctor is an alien, so his alien nature could have been played up as a reason for them to reject him and his help. Maybe RTD thought that would be too subtle for the audience or maybe he preferred the Doctor to express himself in a more human way as he did at the end of the episode. I don't think any of the Doctors would have praised them for anything, atleast not with RTD in control. He is making a clear statement against Colonization. The Doctor cannot be seen as with colonist plans. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Colonization figures somehow into the Doctor's origin story. I also think their is a connection being made here with certain people's views on "wokism", colonization, and slavery. There are people who want to teach children that slavery wasn't bad and not teach them about the terrible things that colonists and later the U.S government did to Native Americans and teach them that the Civil War wasn't fought because of slavery. There are people who would call the Doctor "woke" and hate him. People are hated by White Supremists for simply not being White Supremist even if they are white. Color may be the first thing some people notice, but once talking begins people are also hated for their social and political views. Many people have in recent years ended relationships with family members and old friends because of these issues. Polarization is higher than ever. That is why this episode would have been different if it had been made earlier.
Even as an ethnic minority, I didn’t see it. In the back of my head, I assumed all-white casting because y/k that’s not that uncommon. I thought that they responded to Ruby because she was more conciliatory and had learned from the doctor’s first approach. I thought that she was unpleasant and awful in general. So, it was a shock.
Someone on twitter pointed out that, despite the people of Finetime being awful, by the end they’re now the last of their kind, and with Ncuti’s Doctor being the last of the Time Lords once again, his frustration at their refusal for his help and the look of defeat he gives as their boat sails away is several times more palpable.
First of all, those lashes are AMAZING!
Second of all, I thought the episode was REALLY good about mixing OG Star Trek levels of subtlety (in the negatives for those of us unfamiliar) in terns of the "social media bubble" aspect... and then not even showing the REAL twist until the very end (like, uh, I myself MAY have not processed it until later). I'm so glad RTD is back, and Gatwa is FANTASTIC and I'm ready for him to have as many seasons as he wants.
35:27 reminds me of the line in 73 yards where Ruby says it never snowed again once she started being haunted.
Yep, the last time we saw snow in 73 yards was when Ruby was locked out of the apartment.
@@carpelibrarium8522 and even that was outside the building.