Unsolicited Request

Story: Dot and Bubble

Written By: Russell T. Davies

Length: 45 Minutes
Year: 2024

This is almost like a second Doctor-lite episode in a row, but it is also not.  The Doctor and Ruby just mostly appear on the screen of the episode's main focus, which is a lady in a place called Finetime where everyone is glued to their social media.  Unlike phones, it is genuinely a bubble surrounding their head, filled with everyone's social media presence, an endless live TikTok basically. She can't even walk without the bubble telling her which way to go. This is a planet of useless people.  But there are monsters slowly devouring the population, and if they can just get out of their little bubbles they might notice how grim things are.  

The Doctor and Ruby are able to try and talk to Lindy, and try and guide her to safety, and she is reluctant to even listen because they are boring, but they break through and convince her when she sees the monsters eating everyone. There have been many critiques of social media over the years, "Black Mirror" is and entire series about it, but this is a great episode on it.  Especially when it comes to the ending.  

The Doctor and Ruby, along with a popular singer who figured out what is going on and just has a fake video going on his social platform, help guide her to the tunnels below.  It turns out the monsters are eating people in alphabetical order, and that the AI behind the Dot and Bubble thing is working with the monsters because these vapid idiots suck.  And when it seems like Lindy is next on the list, and her AI turns on her, she just sacrifices the singer she was a big fan of and who was helping her by revealing his real name is not Ricky September, but Ricky Coons, and that alphabetically they need to eat him first.  She then successfully gets to the tunnels with other refugees, and despite all the help she, and everyone else, refuse any help from the Doctor...because he is black. They don't explicitly say it, but it is obvious. All these vapid white people turn out to also be totally racist, and that tracks.

The Doctor is dumbfounded. Still desperate to save them from this world, but they ignore him and go off to what is likely their own doom rather than learn or grow or anything. They'd rather be eaten.  And good riddance to them.  

I thought this episode was great.  The "Black Mirror" like premise, the monsters, the ending where this person the Doctor spent the entire episode trying to help and save turns out to be not only ungrateful but a monster herself...this was possibly the best episode of the season so far. I think I enjoyed it more than "Boom" or "73 Yards,"  and we are in a sweet spot of the season right now.  I hope it can maintain itself to the end!

NEXT TIME: The Regency Era