DOT AND BUBBLE REVIEW - Doctor Who Series 1 Episode 5 Review

[@rpeart73]

I like the fact that we are talking about it. That's the important piece. Conversations create change. This was a really good episode.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Fully agreed!!

[@MarcosSantos-dj6lk]

a lot of people noticed that was racism by the end but as a black person I noticed when she not block Ruby only the Doctor

[@nandaoliver1992]

I realized when she said he would be disciplined, jesus, I got enraged immediately. But the blatant racism at the end left me speechless and crying

[@TheNerdyBrit]

It was a tough watch

[@Cayles764]

The dots gained sentience and grew to (rightly?) hate the people of Finetime

[@christopheralthouse6378]

I felt the same sentiment…for the first time I think in ever, I found myself wishing that the day HADN’T been saved and that everyone but Ricky September had died, at least he wasn’t as bone lazy and snobbish as everyone else… Betting The Doctor feels the same way at this point 😢

[@HuntingViolets]

@@christopheralthouse6378 Eh, they're going to die in the wilds. Can't see them surviving. Probably turn on each other.

[@vapx0075]

@@HuntingViolets Ooooooh, so that's what the Doctor meant when he said 'y'all gonna die out there'. That makes so much more sense.

[@vapx0075]

I was annoyed by them all in the first two minutes. I was clawing at the walls to get out until the horror part started. It was great. It felt totally earned. Not easy in a world full of plastic people.

[@marshsundeen]

​@@HuntingVioletsI give them a week.

[@alanalexander7560]

As others have aid, the dots became self-aware and grew to hate the vapid idiots of Finetime. As for the slugs, I don't think the dots were controlling them or were responsible for them. Rather, the slugs were an environmental hazard that were potentially dangerous but easily avoidable ... IF you're intelligent enough to be aware of your surroundings instead of being too dumb to walk except when your social media tells you to. When the Dots decided to kill the 1%ers the Slugs were a handy weapon in that the Dot could literally just tell the 1%ers to walk straight into the mouths of the nearest slug and they'd just do it. Gotta say, I adored this episode. It starts off as a somewhat silly allegory about social media but then when you least expect it, turns into an incredibly dark and bleak Black Mirror episode about how the 1% are too stupid to live and don't deserve to either.

[@LeafBuilds]

Amazing review, absolutely loved the episode and ESPECIALLY THAT ENDING!!! The bug things are explained in the episode. The A.I within the dot has gained continuous and is fed up of humanities relaxed lifestyle and sees them as a liability which is revealed with the revelation of the alphabetical executions and them targeting peper-bean (forgot her name 💀) , I'm not 100% sure why they're slugs however it's implied that the ai has generated them, thus the weird aesthetic. AND GOD THAT ENDING!!!

[@TheNerdyBrit]

OOHHHHHH I MUST HAVE MISSED THAT THANK YOU

[@LeafBuilds]

​@@TheNerdyBrit haha no worries it took me a min to wrap my head around it but it makes alot of sense (I think 😂)

[@ivisf]

The AI became sentient and hated their insipid conversations

[@jasonsimms7958]

Where did the slugs come from? Let in from outside and the ai controlled them?

[@MrMJE]

@@jasonsimms7958 More than likely bred in a military lab, or an AI controlled lab, a mad scientist's lab. I kinda like not being spoon fed everything,

[@MrMJE]

@@jasonsimms7958 Monsters R Us, something that grew in the back of the fridge

[@HuntingViolets]

@@jasonsimms7958 The Doctor said they were designed by the AI.

[@vapx0075]

@@MrMJE Yeah. It seems pretty obvious at this point in history to have a few working theories how AI can engineer such things.

[@darkwhisperings4641]

The doctors theory was that the Dot/Bubble became sentient and quickly grew to resent/despise the humans, due to being A complicated Psychic-linked A.I. machine, I would assume the system merely disabled the outer defenses and somehow had linked with whatever the native Slug creatures from the out of bounds woodland area, and used them to systematically eat people, rather than just wiping them all out the way they were shown to be capable of doing later on for story reasons.

[@TurtleWrites]

Did anybody else hear 'Rings of Akhaten' in the music at the end of the episode? Like reversed or reflected or something clever musically? Which is neat because that one resolved with the Doctor giving everything and being too much to handle, but this one, he wanted to give the spoiled helpless rich kids (who are now orphans) everything, and is refused. I love how this episode starts with like, oh that would be cool, a little holographic display, and then the arrows appear and instantly I'm like, "Oh, it's a dystopia! Dang I feel, just a little, bad for these people."

[@TurtleWrites]

But then, by the end of a second watch, I'm like dang doc, that two hearts thing is the suckiest of superpowers, 'cause these peeps are racist as fuuuuu. . . .you'll get over it.

[@pampam8584]

RTDs initial episode title of “Monsters, Monsters Everywhere” definitely makes sense now!

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Yeah 100%

[@orangutanboi23]

No I acc agree w u so much abt Russell only making 80% of the story it really does get frustrating after a while and I miss the classic sci-fi explanations. But I think this episode did it better than a lot of the other ones in this series. Still not sure exactly how the ai dots created the slugs but overall its an interesting social commentary and I think it's done really well tbh. (Especially looking at some of the other stuff Russells been churning out lately) But the way we were made to hate the main character so much in such a shirt period of time was amazing icl

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Agree agree agree

[@HuntingViolets]

I would have killed them too. I can't believe they did an episode that made me take the side of AI. I saw someone post: "What if HAL from 2001 was right?" about this episode.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Not a bad synopsis

[@TheTeamAka]

Is it just me, but these episodes are just primed to be able to talk about and wanting the next episode

[@adisakditantimedh331]

That's what Doctor Who has always done, ever since the 1960s.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

The conversation around this series has been so fun!

[@CashelOConnolly]

Yeah,that’s how TV/film works

[@dwfan91-]

Wow you got this out fast! Great video, I pretty much agree, tremendous episode

[@TheNerdyBrit]

I DONT SLEEP I JUST MAKE CONTENT😁

[@kathywinn2617]

I was rooting for the monsters.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

So was i

[@rpeart73]

The monsters got away on the boat 😂

[@aliservan7188]

Cracking episode, very classic feel to it. If you're looking for detailed explanations, you're watching the wrong show. Stop looking for that level of coherence, this is a science fiction kids' show not a documentary

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Bit unnecessary

[@Thetoon25]

Three main Questions About this Episode 1) Why did the Doctor not just land the Tardis in the town and kill the slugs? 2) Who sent the slugs / created them 3) Why did they want to kill the humans? If I missed these points, apologies

[@prateekmandadi5081]

1) force field did not allow him to enter. The doctor mentioned that he tried to enter but the force field's security was too strong. 2) the AI. they look uncanny because the AI made them. 3) the AI made the monsters because it is intelligent. It heard all the disgusting and entitled things that the people of fine time say and realised how disgusting the people who live there are. The AI decided to kill all of them. Honestly, I wish the AI succeeded because GOSH were the people of fine time loaded.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Similar questions to me, but I need a less tired rewatch

[@Thetoon25]

@@prateekmandadi5081 why did the doctor not just use the codes and ladder from where the tardis landed to get in via the back?

[@ianohern7855]

The episode said at least the doctor thought they where made by the dot because the dot gain AI and hated the people. He came to this conclusion because they were killing at alphabetical order.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Ahhh fair

[@aesthetrick2424]

It wasn't explained who sent the slugs and the death code to the dots, but I felt like it was similar to Gus in Mummy on the Orient Express. We never find out who Gus is, but I think for me that doesn't matter.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

I would have loved more answers but I see what you mean

[@adisakditantimedh331]

@@TheNerdyBrit The AI grew and sent the slugs after each person in the alphabetical order of their surnames.

[@Thetoon25]

@@adisakditantimedh331 Why?

[@LeonBlade]

I think the slug things killing people is left to be explained in the finale of this season in some way. Susan Twist's character being the mother of the main girl of the episode is totally intentional and will likely tie into the arc in someway with that character.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Yeah I hope it gets more explanation

[@badfairy9554]

Susan is a bad grandaughter.

[@sallyatticum]

I am sticking with my theory they are stuck in a story, a tv series, and Susan Twist is just a background actor or extra they reuse.

[@karagrimsley670]

I think that the AI killing the Home World as well (and first) is significant. The episode seems like it has one/two themes first - the dangers of social media stifling real world connection and wealthy elitism. But the theme is really racism and the (at first) subtle racism (or at least subtle to me as white person). Lindy is completely dismissive of The Doctor right off the bat but is more open to Ruby, Lindy belittles The Doctor but listens to Ruby more, Lindy thought The Doctor 'looked like someone else' and 'he wasn't as stupid as he looks'. This is before it comes to fruitition at the end with Lindy saying to The Doctor (not Ruby) 'you're not one of us', and all the other comments like ladies don't be contaminated. Particularly, they had to maintain the standards of Finetime I think is significant. It implies the entire society was racist not just these elite kids. The AI decided to kill them because they were Aryan supremity-esque horrible society. Someone does need to tell the AI - dude, genocide is never the answer but I think that's why it was doing it.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

That makes so much sense!!

[@_Zak786]

Also in the video commentary of the giggle russel said that the white circles of the tardis will be used as screens in episode 6, also pls get some sleep my man ❤

[@TheNerdyBrit]

THE NERDY BRIT DOESNT SLEEP THE NERDY BRIT IS ALWAYS MAKING CONTENT

[@_Zak786]

@@TheNerdyBritrespect for that ❤

[@peterdixon7734]

The racism thing was done in the Stargate SG1 episode "The Other Side" ages ago, when SG1 encountered an elitist industrialised race. The SG1 team assume that the aliens' hesitation about accepting Teal'c is the usual adverse reaction to an apparent servant of the System Lords, but this time it transpires that - no, it's because he's black! That was quite well done: they waited a long time and did this after many anti-Jaffa reactions in other episodes. Russell did not care for Stargate but was OK with nicking its blazing fire regeneration visual effect.

[@vapx0075]

Nothing is new.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Great show

[@lolfzbf]

This episode looks very Black Mirror

[@bursty1382]

Not enough doctor in this season. I feel no connection to him. It feels like the doctor isn’t even the main character this season

[@Creek932]

To be fair, the main reason for that is that Ncuti was busy filming Sex Education but they didn’t want to delay the season even further.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

I think both episodes served their purpose but I did want more of him

[@Sam-zu5mr]

Awful episode, worse than space babies and yet the last 2 episodes were so great. I didn't like the character from the start. The only character i liked was sacrificed.

[@alanalexander7560]

That was the point of the episode. Lindy is initially presented as a comedy vapid twit, a parody of one of the Kardashians, and we are all waiting for her to learn her less and be humbled at the end thanks to the Doctor. And then, the twist. No, she's not really funny at all. She is an awful person who flat out murders someone who helped her /and someone she had a powerful crush on!/ to escape the Dot. Lindy and the other idiots are all going to die, horribly, and not because of the slugs or even the Dot. They're going to die because their curdled vicious elitism will not allow them to let someone they consider inferior save them.

[@nandaoliver1992]

That's the point. We know from the start that there's something very wrong with her but we can't pinpoint what until later in the episode. It was very intelligent in predict that the majority of the audience wouldn't realize until the end when it hit us like a train

[@TheNerdyBrit]

I do agree the point has been severely missed

[@dubstepzsi]

Look i am all for leaving things to interpretation but i just things have to come to us from the writers for us to do that and in all honesty as i dont think the series is now written for fans or for fans in mind even anymore that's why we don't get the interpretive writing that we used to that left the audience to see. I feel as such as i am against social media ( namely facebook and twitter or X ) which i feel is why i really liked this episode i just feel it was rushed with no backbone to it. I do have a list of interpreations of this episode and now world but i won't k@ll you with boredom.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Yeah I agree

[@badfairy9554]

They were hungry. that's it.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

I relate

[@sinjun1973]

That wasn’t racism at the end. It was elitism. They’re so much better than them because they’re rich snobs. It had nothing to do with race. Mindy ended up being a complete bitch. She didn’t want to talk to Ruby either but she played the part of elite snob better than the Doctor because he has no patience for that kind of thing. September was the only one that was salvageable and he died because of her selfishness.

[@cjward_24]

It very well could be racism though- Ncuti is the only non-white person in this entire episode, and Lindy says she "just thought he looked like" the guy she blocked earlier.

[@soundgal_sine_qua_non]

When you rewatch the episode, it is full of racist microaggressions towards Ncuti. She doesn't cooperate until Ruby talks to her. She doesn't realize the Doctor was the same person she blocked (a commentary on "all black people look the same"). She says repeatedly how much she hates the Doctor and even says he'll be disciplined when everything is over. She doesn't point Ruby out at the end, just the Doctor. Her friend specifically calls the TARDIS voodoo. It's heavy racism.

[@DaDaPieGaming]

It definitely is racism

[@adisakditantimedh331]

@@DaDaPieGaming It's explicitly racism. "You're not one of us" and rejecting The Doctor because they don't want to be "contaminated" are explicit racist remarks people of colour have encountered in real life for decades. Gatwa's performance of the Doctor's reaction is very much a black man's reaction to being belittled and dismissed.

[@DaDaPieGaming]

@@adisakditantimedh331 Don't reply to me, reply to him😂

[@lolfzbf]

Dot & Bubble is a rubbish episode title

[@vapx0075]

I think it's pretty fitting, the crutch, the addicition, and the antagonist are all inthe titile. It's perfect.

[@TheNerdyBrit]

Worked for me ngl