Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
The Doctor: "There are creatures out there in the real world. There are monsters and they are coming to get you. No, no Lindy, don't!"
Lindy: "Blocked."
Due to Ncuti Gatwa filming the final season of Sex Education at the time, certain allowances had to be made. Last week, the Doctor took a backseat and Ruby had her moment in the sun with 73 Yards but this week both of them were somewhat reduced in their roles.
Making a more adept comparison, we got a replacement protagonists it this week but if you're expecting influencer Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) to be similarly likable to the likes of Elton Pope and Sally Sparrow, you will be disappointed. Saying that, guest actor Callie Cooke did leave one hell of an impression.
Taking place on the world of Finetime, Lindy's a young woman that not only has herself surrounded in a bubble by similarly like minded people (the majority of whom with ridiculous names), but she's very hostile towards anyone trying to infiltrate her circle of friends. The Doctor and Ruby both had to work overtime to just about get through to Lindy.
Any episode that kind of declared open season on influences could've gone either. It could very much be a case of a much older writer being out of touch with the youth of today. It could also be a fair insight into the overreliance of technology. Lindy literally needed her dot and bubble to do something as basic as walking.
Then there was Ricky September (Tom Rhys-Harries). At first he appeared to be a vacant pretty boy, only to be a lot smarter and kinder than everyone else at Finetime. It was also his quick thinking that essentially prevented Lindy from getting eaten alive by those slow moving slug creatures. Then Lindy screwed him over and the poor guy died.
As a protagonist, Lindy was a horrible person throughout the episode. She was condescending, rude, entitled, superficial and generally clueless. However to end the episode, she was also straight up racist in refusing the Doctor's help in order to get to proper safety. By far, a truly contemptible character but an excellent performance from Callie Cooke.
As for the Doctor, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel for him. We were always going to get an episode where the character being a black man would be used against and safely, it happened here. Ncuti Gatwa gave one hell of a performance in that bitter denouement.
- Susan Twist appeared as Lindy's mother, Penny. Both the Doctor and Ruby were recognising her.
- We got references to both Love Island and Heartstopper. The influences ranged between 17 to 27 in ages.
- Some of the influencer names were hilariously bad like Dr Pee, Cooper Mercy, Hoochie Pie and so on. Two hours a day work and excess partying would be the dream.
- Both the Doctor and Ruby fancied Ricky September. The latter also liked to read. Ricky also liked using the Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini song as well to slack off.
- The episode pulled heavily from the Nosedive episode of Black Mirror.
- Chronology: Primarily set on Finetime with a glimpse of the destroyed Homeworld, which was where all the rich influences came from.
I can see why Dot And Bubble may be a divisive episode for some people but I genuinely liked this one. Not as much as last week's but it certainly left an impression with its central ideas. The ending alone certainly made the episode.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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