Physician Who Season 14 Episode 5, “Dot and Bubble,” was launched on Could 31 and whereas it comes throughout in trailers as vibrant, colourful, and a bit wacky, the message of the episode is a complete lot darker. 

“Dot and Bubble” is about on the planet of Finetime, which is completely populated by wealthy, white, younger adults aged between 17 and 27. Over the course of the episode, we’re launched to Lindy Pepper-Bean, performed by Callie Cooke, who’s the principle ‘heroine’ of the story and should use the Physician and Ruby’s recommendation to avoid wasting herself from people-eating slugs. 

Lindy begins the episode, as do the entire residents of Finetime, caught in a really literal bubble of social media. Think about residing inside TikTok, with your entire human contact solely being executed by means of video calls and brief blogs. Lindy is completely unlikable and incapable of even strolling with out the help of the Bubble telling her the place to go, and Russell T Davies has mentioned that we’re purported to consider that she is rising by means of the episode and studying the way to survive exterior of her bubble.

Nevertheless, the purpose of this episode just isn’t Lindy’s private progress or her battle for survival. The purpose of this episode is revealed inside the final 5 minutes when Lindy and her fellow survivors activate the Physician and inform him that he “isn’t one in every of them” and that getting too near him “will contaminate them”, all after taunting him for saying the TARDIS can take them away, describing it as “Voodoo”. 

I’ve to confess, the ending didn’t come as a shock to me. There are indicators of the overriding racism of Finetime littered all through the episode when you take the time to note them:

• There may be not a single black individual residing on Finetime
• Lindy is visibly disgusted when the Physician exhibits himself in her Bubble for the primary time
• Lindy is shocked when she discovers that Ruby and the Physician are in the identical room

With all of those indicators, the twist was considerably anticipated. What I didn’t count on, nonetheless, was how completely each the Physician and Ruby painting the second of realization. Ruby, the white youngster of an adoptive black mom, seems as if she is aware of what’s occurring however is powerless to cease it whereas the Physician, realizing that he can not change their perspective, tearfully begs them to let him assist them anyway. 

Because the bigots of Finetime sailed into the unknowns of the Wild Wooden, the visibly distraught Physician left within the TARDIS and viewers took to social media to debate the implications of the episode. Many have been blown away by how properly the twist was executed, with some admitting that they didn’t see it coming, whereas others shared that they’d seen it coming from a mile away. 

One factor that an amazing majority of viewers have in widespread, although, is that whereas we’re led to consider that the Slugs and Dot (the AI that controls the Bubbles and due to this fact life on Finetime) are the villains, they’re really the heroes of this story. Effectively, these and a lamppost which does one thing the whole viewers finally ends up desirous to do — bonking Lindy over the top just a few instances. 

This isn’t the primary time that Physician Who has tackled the problem of racism. In season 11 (with Jodie Whittaker because the Physician), the present took on the story of Rosa Parks and her combat for the proper to retain her seat on a busy Montgomery bus. 

Nevertheless, that is the primary time that the Physician has been the sufferer of one of these habits from the people he so desperately desires to avoid wasting. It stays to be seen how it will have an effect on his morale transferring ahead into subsequent week’s episode, Rogue. 

In different information from the newest episode, Lindy opinions a video message at one level from her ‘Mummy’, who turned out to be the newest character performed by Susan Twist. Though it will get considerably misplaced within the message of the episode, we are able to lastly say that the Physician and Ruby are beginning to notice that her face is acquainted to them, with the Physician lastly recognizing her because the face of Ambulance and Ruby saying she’s “seen her elsewhere”.