Doctor Who Episode Review: Dot and Bubble (2024)

Synopsis: Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) lives in Finetime, a community populated by wealthy young adults who spend their entire day living and interacting with each other in a social media bubble generated by a floating robot "Dot." When her social group is infiltrated by two strangers calling themselves the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), she believes they are just spam. However, when they finally convince her to lower her bubble, she learns she and the other Finetime residents are being hunted and eaten by alien creatures.

Review: With the new season of Doctor Who coming out in just a couple months, I am trying to get my wife and myself caught up and watched Dot and Bubble last night. It ended up being an interesting choice.

The whole social commentary on social media taking over young people's lives wasn't exactly subtle but the believable extreme the episode took it to certainly was entertaining and, at times, even humorous. My wife and I, for example, both got a laugh at how Lindy couldn't even figure out how to walk without her bubble giving her directions.

There was also an interesting mystery surrounding the aliens that were hunting down Finetime's residents as some were eaten right away while others were able to walk right past the creatures without being harmed. The suggestion they weren't there by accident added to the mystery because it was unclear who would have motive to release the creatures, both in Finetime and on Finetime's residents' nearby home world.

The episode wasn't without its flaws. For one, I had the same complaint about this episode as I've had with others in this season - it doesn't explain why the Doctor and Ruby are on the planet to begin with. Were they there because they learned Finetime was in danger or was discovering the danger purely luck and they were there for another reason.

I also wasn't a big fan of the ending. There's no redemption arc for Lindy, who ends up being even more unlikable than she was earlier in the episode and even displaying a surprising villain quality, along with the rest Finetime's residents. 

I was also left a bit puzzled by the Doctor's low opinion of Finetime's survivors (especially without the knowledge of how Lindy saved herself), being so quick to believe they wouldn't be able to last on their own if he didn't save them. I feel like earlier versions of him would be much more optimistic and encouraging.

I'll try to remain optimistic myself though and just assume this episode is setting up Lindy and her friends as future villains for the series.

Final Opinion: It's a good episode with a storyline that is exaggerated but honestly not too far off from a very real possibility. I just wish the ending would have been a little more satisfying than it was.

My Grade: B-

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Here are some other Doctor Who episode reviews: 

Doctor Who Episode Review: The Star Beast (2023)

Doctor Who Episode Review: Flatline (2014)

Doctor Who Episode Review: Mummy on the Orient Express (2014)