Dot and Bubble – As this episode of Doctor Who begins, Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) wakes up and speaks to Dot and Bubble. Cooper Mercy (Eilidh Loan) compliments her through a video. Harry Tendency (Aldous Ciokajlo Squire) says good morning. Lindy asks about Jimbo Fennell who always wakes up first. Gothic Paul asks if she’s heard from Mabel and Neve because it’s like they disappeared. The system urges her to get up and head to the bathroom where Dr. Pee (Max Boast) confirms she doesn’t need to go. Lindy opens Ricky September (Tom Rhys Harries) until she receives an unsolicited request from The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). The Doctor warns her that monsters are coming to get her.

She ignores him and blocks him. A news reporter says it’s another glorious day in Finetime. Lindy talks to everyone about her clothes while following the system’s directions. Someone on the ground is dragged away in front of her, but she doesn’t even notice. Lindy complains about having to work and how boring it is. Alan says they’re making Finetime the number one place for substack processing. He admits it’s boring too. Gothic Paul (Pete MacHale) interrupts to say there’s no sign of Zackary. He tried to ask Rooster who is also gone. Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) interrupts to speak to Lindy. Ruby eventually gets her to explain that work is data processing. They clean up substack information and deliver it back to the Homeworld. They work in an office of six two hours a day.

Lindy goes through the list of people in her office. Ruby seems to show her that Danny is missing. She urges Lindy to lower her bubble to see if Danny is there. Lindy eventually looks and realizes there’s no one around. Lindy questions where they are. Ruby warns her there is going to be tough. Lindy looks to her right and sees something frightening. Ruby asks her to lower her Bubble, turn off the Dot, and look. Once Lindy does it, she sees a monster eating one of her coworkers. Lindy tries to distract herself until Ruby connects with her again. She asks Ruby to leave her alone. The Doctor tells Lindy they need to get her out of there. Lindy tries only to realize she doesn’t know how to walk. She has to use the Bubble to guide her out of the building.

The elevator opens and a monster is inside. Ruby and The Doctor yell for Lindy to run. The Doctor is surprised when the monster ignores Lindy. He asks if there’s anything different about her. Lindy tries to get in touch with the police, but they keep saying all lines are busy. Once she makes it outside, Lindy finds out that more people are being attacked. She rushes to a hiding place. Lindy tells The Doctor and Ruby what she saw on the streets. She mentions that they’re told from day one not to touch the Wild Woods. Lindy says Finetime is just people 17 to 27 from the Homeworld. They’re all rich kids. The Doctor remembers her mom, Penny Pepper-Bean because she’s the face of the ambulance on Kastarion 3. Lindy learns they’re in the same room together.

She calls them criminals and questions why she’s even talking to them. Lindy initiates a group chat and tries to tell everyone what is going on. She tells Gothic Paul that some of them get eaten and some of them don’t. Paul doesn’t want to believe it, but he is eaten alive as well. The Doctor explains he has access to the plans to the city and there’s a river running underground. He instructs them to head to the conduits and he’ll send them a code to unlock them. Lindy’s battery runs low. She tries to make her way to her conduit. To reach Plaza 55, she has to walk past several monsters. Someone begins guiding her. She looks ahead and sees Ricky who says they have to get out. Once she makes it to him, she gets her first hug. Ricky says he tried to warn people in his video, but they kept getting deleted.

He worries the monsters are saving them until last. Ricky knows about the conduit at building 7Z2. As they walk, Ricky admits he drops his songs and turns the dot off for the rest of the day. He promises to get her out of there. Once they make it, Lindy decides to charge up while Ricky calls the Homeworld. He finds out that the Homeworld is home to no one now. Ricky claims the link is busy so he doesn’t have to tell Lindy who gets charged. They reach the conduit before Lindy contacts The Doctor to retrieve the code. Ricky knows about pulse codes. Lindy learns her friends are still alive. None of them have been eaten so far. The Doctor asks about Gothic Paul and learns he is named Alexander Paul. He realizes they’re being attacked in alphabetical order.

Suzie is the next one to get eaten. Lindy begins worrying that she’s next. Ricky insists she’ll be okay. The Doctor suspects the monsters were created. He wonders if dot has learned to hate her. The Doctor instructs her to turn off the dot immediately because it could kill her. Lindy tries to turn it off, but the dot will not turn off. It tries to attack her. Ricky yells for her to take his place. She begins inputting the numbers while Ricky tries to destroy dot. She gets them all in. Dot knocks Ricky to the ground. Lindy explains that his name is Richard Coombes, but he changed his name to Ricky September when he reached 50,000 followers. Ricky can’t believe she’d sell him out to save herself. She leaves after Ricky is killed. Then, Lindy encounters others who are gathering supplies.

She runs into Hoochy Pie (Niamh Lynch). The Doctor and Ruby catch up with her and ask about Ricky. Lindy claims he went back because he had other people to save. She learns they’re going outside beyond Finetime. Brewster (Jamie Barnard) introduces himself to Lindy. She learns the truth about the Homeworld and her mom. The Doctor offers to take them somewhere safe using the Tardis. They don’t believe him and refuse to go with him. The Doctor tells them they can say and think whatever they want. He’ll do anything if they just allow him to save their lives. Brewster warns them to turn away before they’re contaminated. The Doctor yells they’re going to die out there and he can save their lives. They leave without letting him help.

The Doctor can’t believe it. He watches Lindy leave with Hoochy and the others. The Doctor enters the Tardis.

 

Doctor Who Review

While an improvement over the last episode, Dot and Bubble still left a lot to be desired. There was likely a purpose here, but one would have to dig into and decipher it. That would require being emotionally invested in the episode and genuinely caring. Unfortunately, the episode didn’t hook me like that so I just didn’t care enough to try to put the pieces together.

The idea was interesting with people being so connected and consumed by social media. The episode seemed to jump right into the action without really telling us anything about the characters leaving a void there. Were we supposed to cheer for anyone in this episode or not? I don’t know, but the episode was just going through the motions to reach the finish line.

Some characters and the behavior of the doctor are extreme to the point of being annoying. It’s hard to know exactly who the show is trying to target at this point, but it’s becoming less likely that adults are the intended audience even though the show has many adult themes. Overall, this was a better episode than the last one but it still felt passionless.

It needed more emotional pull to give viewers a reason to care about Lindy and her safety. Instead, she was unlikable in the beginning and even more so at the end of the episode. It was a good idea that wasn’t executed as well as it could’ve been. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10.

Doctor Who Explanation

So, what exactly happened in this episode? It’s a little hard to say since it wasn’t fully explained. However, Lindy and her friends were rich kids from the Homeworld. Their families paid for them to go to Finetime where they worked for two hours and partied the rest of the time. As for work, they were processing data. At some point, dot began hating everyone and killing them in alphabetical order.

It’s unclear whether this was a play on AI and robots turning on their masters or an evil corporation pulling the strings. The episode was definitely parodying society’s obsession with technology and social media though.

Recaps of Doctor Who can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.