'Doctor Who' Season 1 Episode 5 Recap: Russell T Davies' Devastating Take on 'Black Mirror' (2024)

Editor's Note: This recap contains spoilers for Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 5, "Dot and Bubble."

In a season of top-notch episodes, somehow Doctor Who keeps delivering excellent, thought-provoking content week after week. “Dot and Bubble” is yet another high point for the rebooted series, which may come as a surprise as it's light on both The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson). Though they don’t get a ton of screen time, Gatwa and Gibson both bring their A-game for this episode, and Gatwa in particular delivers some of his best work in the final gut-punch moments of “Dot and Bubble.”

Wrapped in the classic tale of an alien invasion story, Russell T. Davies has written a cleverly damning indictment of white supremacy. We’re introduced to a place called Finetime through the eyes of one of its residents — Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke). On the surface, Finetime seems like a lovely place where everyone is happy all the time, but the insidiousness of the city is revealed bit by bit until the episode reaches its devastating conclusion. “Dot and Bubble” also addresses the painful reality that the Doctor can’t save everyone — least of all those who don’t want to be saved.

'Black Mirror' Meets Classic Sci-Fi in "Dot and Bubble"

Described by Davies himself as Doctor Who does Black Mirror, "Dot and Bubble" is a very tech-heavy episode that delivers a surprisingly deft critique of overreliance on cellphones and social media. When critiquing such concepts, it's easy to veer into "old man yells at cloud" territory and simply sound out of touch about incredible advances that older generations just might not understand. However, Davies has cleverly couched this particular critique in a wider takedown of a particular sect of privileged white folks who use that privilege for little more than feeding their own vapid self-importance.

With Gatwa wrapping up his time on Sex Education before diving straight into Doctor Who, it's clear that his shooting schedule played a role in the Doctor-lite nature of this episode and "73 Yards." That being said, the series cleverly casts Callie Cooke as our central figure for this episode, who brings a very watchable presence to an otherwise deeply irritating character as we're introduced to the world of Finetime through the eyes of Lindy Pepper-Bean. In a move I found all too relatable, upon waking, Lindy immediately opens her fancy social media "Dot and Bubble" device and is greeted by a host of messages from her friends and followers, all of whom watchers who are paying close attention will notice, are white.

It swiftly becomes clear just how reliant Lindy is on this device as it tells her how to walk, when to turn, and even whether she needs to pee — she hasn't for several days, by the way, which is...concerning, to say the least. Suddenly, Lindy gets a message from the Doctor, who is attempting to alert her to the fact that her planet has been invaded by a giant species of bugs that appear to be gobbling up the residents of Finetime at random. Uninterested in anything that doesn't make sense with her fantasy, Lindy promptly blocks the Doctor and carries on singing along to the latest single from a Harry Styles-esque pop star called Ricky September (Tom Rhys Harries).

On her way to work, Lindy engages in some very performative activism, detailing how sustainable her clothes are as she influences all of her besties to buy one in every color. At the office, Lindy gets another unexpected message, this time from Ruby, who gets a bit further than the Doctor as she uses flattery and a frankly painful amount of pleading to get Lindy to cooperate rather than swiping away. While actively and repeatedly calling Ruby stupid for asking basic questions, Lindy explains that life on Finetime is two hours of work and then play for the rest of the day. She rattles off a list of co-workers with quirky names, but when Ruby asks if they're at their desks — likely already knowing they aren't — Lindy becomes even more petulant until she finally gives in and looks beyond her own bubble. After even more pleading, Ruby finally gets Lindy to look at the desk directly next to hers, which reveals the last of her remaining co-worker as he's consumed by the creatures roaming the planet.

Understandably terrified, Lindy seeks comfort within her bubble, swiping through several profiles before returning to the bright and mindless pop music from Ricky September and disappearing inside her fantasy world as a single tear rolls down her cheek. Ruby comes back and brings the Doctor with her this time, and together they urge Lindy to turn her Dot off so she can walk out of the building without accidentally walking too close to one of the creatures. However, the minute she tries to do so, Lindy realizes she doesn't even know how to walk without directions from the Dot. Against the advice of Ruby and the Doctor, Lindy turns on the device and has it tell her how to get out of the building. When an elevator arrives carrying one of the bugs, it looks as though Lindy is cooked; she simply stands there while it nearly wraps its dripping feelers around her. However, the creature eventually just slides away, letting Lindy go. Once outside, Lindy again tries to ignore the advice of the Doctor and Ruby, instead calling the police — who naturally, don't even answer.

What's Wrong With Finetime in 'Doctor Who'?

The Doctor and Ruby continue to try and gently help Lindy, who insists that she's not a child — while having a temper tantrum if they don't talk to her like she's a princess. Taking another look outside her Bubble, Lindy sees that people are being eaten alive all over Finetime, still seemingly at random, as some people walk around unscathed and unaware. When she finds a hiding spot, we get another key info dump as the Doctor presses for more information. Everyone on Finetime is between the ages of 17 and 27, and they're all the wealthiest kids from Homeworld — as Ruby puts it, they're practically on Love Island: The Planet. Lindy suspects that the creatures came from the wild woods outside their little city — and though it's later revealed that they didn't, this episode would still work if these creatures were an indigenous species taking back their planet. Finally, if you thought you'd seen the last of Susan Twist, think again. Here, our unsettling mystery woman pops up again, now as Lindy's mother back on Homeworld, with a pre-recorded message for her precious girl.

Lindy gets fed up with the Doctor and Ruby and makes a priority call to her inner circle — half of whom are missing. While she tries to explain what's going on, she seems to have the answer to her pal Gothic Paul's concerns that everyone is disappearing. However, even Paul laughs off the idea that they're being eaten before he's promptly, and ironically, eaten on camera in the middle of the call. The Doctor tries to enter the call as the only one with actual information that can help these people, and Lindy ultimately lets him speak, but not without doling out a downright rude string of microaggressions. He manages to distribute the key to their salvation — an escape route beneath the city — before Lindy's Dot starts to lose power. He tells her where to go charge it before it dies completely, and now Lindy must walk across town without her instructions. After walking directly into a pole multiple times, she eventually gets the hang of it before walking directly into a challenge far beyond her means — walking in a straight line down an alley filled with these creatures.

Luckily, Ricky September is there to save the day again, only this time he's actually there and not a dancing drone inside Lindy's bubble. He talks her down the path while explaining that he tried to warn people about this, but his videos about it kept getting deleted — much in the way that many social activists often find their content suppressed when fighting for a cause that doesn't serve the machine. In an unexpected twist, everyone's favorite heartthrob appears to be the only person on the planet who doesn't spend all his time buried in his bubble. Airheaded as ever, Lindy has to be reminded that there are still thousands of people being murdered all around them when she tells Ricky that meeting him has actually made this the best day of her life.

Inside a building, Lindy charges her Dot, and Ricky attempts to call in a rescue from Homeworld, believing all of their parents will come to their rescue the moment they hear what's going on. However, his call finds their Homeworld devastated, with a population of zero as every person there was apparently wiped out by the same bugs. He doesn't tell Lindy, opting to keep her clueless for the sake of sparing her feelings. Together they head into the backrooms to find the conduit that will lead them out of the city. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as opening the door and walking out — they need the access code from the Doctor. Lindy calls them up on her Dot and both Ruby and the Doctor are overjoyed to see that she's still alive.

Ncuti Gatwa Gives One of His Best Performances Yet in "Dot and Bubble"

We get a delicious moment of banter as Ruby and the Doctor both openly lust after Ricky, admiring him for both his charming good looks and his "not like other girls" intelligence. As he begins punching numbers, the Doctor and Ruby attempt to get to the bottom of why these creatures are eating people. Finally putting all the puzzle pieces together, they realize that it's alphabetical — and unfortunately, Lindy's next. While saddened but not overly heartbroken about all of her friends being eaten, Lindy has a real proper breakdown when she realizes they're coming for her, only now taking their plight seriously despite watching multiple people die in the last two hours. What's worse is she's actually already safe from these creatures down in the bunker with Ricky, however, the Doctor has also realized that the bugs didn't come from outside but were instead created by the sentient Dots sick of listening to the mindless babbling of the residents of Finetime.

As Lindy's Dot ultimately turns against her, the selfishness at her core comes to a fever pitch. As Ricky tries to defend her from the now whizzing ball of death, Lindy punches in the final numbers and feebly pries open the door to the outside world. In a whirlwind of action, Ricky's wounded by the Dot and he warns Lindy to look out. Instead of taking any action to help him or even truly defend herself, she, simply throws Ricky to the wolves, telling the Dot his real name comes before hers. Without an ounce of remorse, Lindy just watches her idol die before coldly slamming the door shut behind her as she walks away to her own freedom. It's a chilling moment, well played by an unsettlingly unfeeling Cooke and a genuinely betrayed Harries.

Outside, we finally come face to face with the Doctor and Ruby. However, Lindy promptly dodges them in favor of seeking out her pal Hoochy Pie. Another blond, blue-eyed man who probably also hasn't peed in three days, walks up and explains that they're going to head out into the wilderness to "tame this planet" because all their parents have "gone to the sky," which is apparently really lucky. As the Doctor and Ruby linger on the sidelines, it becomes clear that there's still one last unnerving revelation about Finetime yet to drop. When they approach Lindy, she passive-aggressively thanks them in an attempt to get them to leave her alone, and blatantly lies about what happened to Ricky, claiming that he went back to help more people. The self-appointed leader rattles off some very obvious colonizer lingo as he hypes Lindy up to join his quest to conquer the planet.

When the Doctor gently suggests that they could actually come with him, softly explaining that he can use his ship to whisk them all away to someplace much safer in the blink of an eye, the other shoe finally drops. Lindy, and presumably everyone on Finetime as her companions join in, is insidiously and completely racist. In quick succession, she and her friends rattle off a string of vile comments at the Doctor, from saying it's his "duty" to save her and comparing the TARDIS to voodoo to going as far as to suggest that the Doctor might "contaminate" them. Their behavior is absolutely revolting — and Ruby very nearly says as much.

Showing them far more grace than they deserve, the Doctor swallows his reaction, allowing them to think whatever awful things they want if they'll just let him save them. Gatwa is measured and devastatingly genuine in his delivery as the Doctor makes the kindest offer he can to just save their lives. As they walk away anyway, he cries out that they're going to die out there in the wild, in a desperate last-ditch effort to get any of them to come with him. Still, they walk away, ignoring him as his hearts break for them and his devastation and frustration flare at their prejudice being the only thing standing between them and their only hope. Gatwa's guttural scream and the silent tears that follow will sit with viewers long after the credits roll.

"Dot and Bubble" is a bleak episode with a lot of political teeth, all too apt in a world where we scroll past unspeakable tragedies and endless entertainment in a dystopian swirl all at the touch of our fingertips. The episode also challenges viewers to look past their own bubbles, to see the reality beyond what we're fed every day from any number of sources with their own agendas. As someone who longed for the series to more directly address how Jodie Whittaker's Doctor would have to move through the world differently as the first Doctor not played by a man, I'm glad to see the series not shying away from the realities of the fact that the Doctor is Black now. If the gut punch at the end of this episode came as a complete shock to you, I urge you to watch the episode again, and each of Lindy's microaggressions toward the Doctor will come into stark clarity.

Doctor Who

Doctor Who packs a political punch in a classic sci-fi tale.

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Pros

• Ncuti Gatwa knocks it out of the park with a powerful performance despite limited screentime.
• It's satisfying to see Doctor Who deliver an episode with a strong political point of view again.
• Callie Cooke finds the interesting complexities of Lindy to make her more than a one-dimensional villain.

Cons

• The connection between the Dots and the Bugs feels rushed in the final ten minutes of the episode.

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