Dot and Bubble

In the 1980s there were Yuppies and Airheads.

Now we have the Tik Tok generation who never let go of their mobile phones.

Russell T Davies has fun with Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) trapped inside her own bubble. Oblivious that people are being eaten around her.

Until Doctor and Ruby warn her of the danger she is in. Only Lindy cannot even walk on a straight line without her device. Maybe a pot shot at sat nav guidance on phones!

This is a riff of The Macra Terror with slug like creatures eating people.

It was noticeable that Lindy's social bubble was limited. It had the ultimate pay off when the Doctor realised what kind of people he was attempt to save. Not just vacuous but morally bankrupt.

Those put downs from Lindy certainly were coded messages.

I did find that the ending while downbeat did sort of just drifted.

I wasn't a big fan of "Dot and Bubble" and I thought this episode was one of the Weaker ones in the siries, I am probably in the minority of that opinion, but for me "Boom" and "73 Yards" were considerably better. And "Devils chord" was so much fun. However, this episode I didn't feel so strongly about. And I'll explain as to why that is.

Three words, Lindy Pepper Bean. God was she insufferable, now I get that was the whole point, but she really dragged this episode down. I felt like throwing a brick at her. I mean right from the off she was impulsive and rude to the Doctor and Ruby even when they were trying to help her. And even let's her friend die just to by her time to escape, she was well written. Because she was such an annoying character, and she was well written by RTD.

The concept and the story though is formatted nicely and paced quite well. The idea behind the slugs doing things in alphabetical order was something new and fresh, and I didn't mind the concept behind it. I think it worked well in this episode as it created a mystery and made the episode a little lighter in tone. And the Slugs breaking through, was also explored here.

It reminds me of a Goosebumps episode with ants In, apologies I did forget what the story was called, but it has something to do with people being self-contained and the Ants are controlling them, it was right at the end and it was a plot-twist. So it is slightly different, as this episode is starts with this right from the off.

Ncuti Gatwa's frustration and disappointment when he told the humans could be saved if they went with him, he puts on a great performance here, he really let's out his anger and is really scared as to what might happen to them. I am glad they ended it like this, because it ends on a possibility and you can imagine what might happen next.

The Verdict for this episode, is "Dot and Bubble" is well executed, but Lindy really annoyed me and was a great written character by RTD. But it did ruin the enjoyment of this episode. I like how Internet is heavily involved, and social themes like race. So not bad, a so-so episode for me-6/10.

It was like something from an Inside number 9 episode. The way that most whovians would go into this episode thinking it was about "kids are on their phones too much" and believing that this was the premise for pretty much 3/4 of the episode, then the concept is flipped on its head with Ncuti Gatwa stealing the show with just one scene.

RTD said he pitched this concept to Moffat for season 5 but would have been not to the CGI quality to create the world he wanted. This totally works with the new Disney budget coming in and this world seems plausible that something like this could happen. Granted the monsters were a little corny but other than that, RTD absolutely cooked here with the twist.

Going into 'Dot and Bubble', I was a bit weary as it seemed to be a lame Doctor Who knockoff of Black Mirror's 'Nosedive'. However, this episode was not only intriguing, but continuously surprising.

The protagonist of this episode, Lindy I think her name was, was actually fun to watch. Her bratty, tech savvy personality was a good parallel to Millie's much kinder soul. I thought, surely this was a character who would be redeemed...

This episode tricked me. She was certainly not what I thought. I loved the ending of the episode because it completely threw me off. While it wasn't the most amazing thing all round, it was worth the watch and I was definitely invested.

Things are very bad at Finetime, the young, elite residents are vanishing, The Doctor and Ruby arrive, but something is stopping them from getting through.

First time round good, second time round very good, this was one very clever piece of writing, and an amusing dig at Gen Z.

Vibes of Macra Terror and Twin Dilemma, only not missing, and very nicely made. There are definitely Black Mirror vibes to it, it really is a bizarre world, where technology has gone up a few notices, Lady P can't even walk without her tech, what a concept.

It's bold, battling racism in a totally unexpected twist, and Ncuti delivers a knockout performance, his speech at the end, a big 'Doctor' moment, something we haven't seen for some time.

Some amusing moments, Russell has some fun at the expense of the bubble headed, privileged princess, Lady Pepper Bean, but there's no denying that Callie Cooke played the part really well. Not too often I'm on the side of the monsters, but in this instance......she deserved to be slug food.

Depth and imagination, one of the best from this series.

7/10.