After two humming episodes of Doctor Who with ‘Boom’ and ’73 Yards’, the upcoming Black Mirror-style ‘Dot and Bubble’ puts a dampener on that run.
The fifth episode takes us to the world of Finetime, which is walled off from the dense woodland surrounding it by what looks like the Springfield dome from The Simpsons Movie.
In a place “where everything’s fine all of the time”, Finetime has an apparent dress code of pleasing pastels and a sanitised absence of any evidence that humans actually live there. Everyone here is having a swell ol’ time, only working a handful of hours and spending most of their days inside golf-ball VR headsets.
Among them is blonde-haired, blue-eyed Lindy, played by Callie Cooke. She acts and dresses a bit like Cher Horowitz probably would if Clueless were made today, including a fun blue eyeshadow that may yet prompt a flurry of Doctor Who-themed makeup tutorials.
Lindy is as annoying as you can imagine someone who’s chronically online in an annoying way might be. Russell T Davies’ Gen-Z dialogue is cringey enough to make these tech-obsessed youths seem ridiculous, but also brings to mind a wizened Steve Buscemi clutching his skateboard and asking, “How do you do, fellow kids?” In the end, it’s unclear where on the self-awareness spectrum Davies hoped to land.
Lindy and her Finetime chums have become oblivious while sucked into their translucent bubble headsets, which are like a miniature version of the massive dome over their peaches-and-cream metropolis. It would be fun to know what this episode would have looked like pre-Disney.
Inside Lindy’s bubble, we see the compact tiles where each of her friends pop up to chew the fat. The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) appear among them, beamed into Lindy’s retinas from somewhere with incredible lighting.
Our heroes don’t feature as much as you might expect, but are there to warn Lindy of encroaching baddies who have somehow breached the Finetime dome to ruin all the fun.
As is shown in the episode’s teaser, we first encounter the monsters via ominous offscreen gurgling. Unfortunately, once we see them for what they are, it becomes clear they might have been better as an eerie force to be heard, not seen.
As Davies has already teased, the premise for ‘Dot and Bubble’ is Doctor Who does Black Mirror. If Charlie Brooker were still a TV columnist, it would be a treat to get his read on the pastiche.
It’s certainly bleak enough to merit the comparison. But ‘Dot and Bubble’ joins several other episodes this season in the doldrums: every instalment aside from ‘Boom’ and to a lesser extent ’73 Yards’ has brought a brilliant premise that just doesn’t have the requisite follow-through.
The episode’s chief theme – which we can’t share – is an ambitious one which appears almost from nowhere after we thought the principal concerns of the episode had already been settled on. Despite another stellar turn from Gatwa, the upshot is clunky and disappointing. You end up wishing the show had tackled its subject matter in another, better way.
‘Dot and Bubble’ looks great, but much like Finetime itself, looks can be deceiving and what’s underneath lacks the substance to match the style. Maybe it’s why the place is called Finetime, instead of Superbtime or Primetime, because the experience of watching it was just fine.
Doctor Who‘s ‘Dot and Bubble’ will be available on BBC One and iPlayer from June 1 in the UK and May 31 on Disney+ in the US.
Deputy TV Editor
Previously a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape for Digital Spy, when she’s not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas.
When she’s not bingeing a box set, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we’re all watching.