‘Doctor Who: Dot and Bubble’ Season 1, Episode 5 Spoiler-Free Review – Doctor Who Meets Black Mirror With Uneven Results

Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) | Photo Credit: Bad Wolf/BBC Studios/Disney+

Imagine an episode of Doctor Who that combines the general vibes of “Blink” with the plotline of an episode of Black Mirror, and you’ve got this week’s episode, “Dot and Bubble”. Written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams, “Dot and Bubble” swings for the fences but ultimately misses the mark. Plagued by an unlikable lead character, questionable pacing, and a plot that threatens to give you tonal whiplash, “Dot and Bubble” tries its hardest to offer biting social commentary but ultimately stumbles at the finish line. It’s a very pretty episode, filled with great visual effects, plenty of tension, and some solid acting. But as a piece of drama, it never really comes together.

An Uneven Swing for the Fences

Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) lives an idyllic life in FineTime. She spends her days pursuing social media, in constant connection with her friends and loved ones. But when the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) arrive on her feed, telling her stories of mysterious disappearances in the “real world”, Lindy’s life takes a turn for the strange. As her friends begin disappearing, FineTime’s darker underbelly slowly creeps into Lindy’s life. Can the Doctor and Ruby save Lindy and the rest of FineTime’s citizens before it’s too late? Or will they all continue disappearing until there’s nobody left? In “Dot and Bubble”, Russell T. Davies wades into the waters of timely social satire. Unfortunately, however, Davies’ script lacks the punch to make its satire hit the mark. For as creative and clever as “Dot and Bubble” often is, it simultaneously feels derivative and underbaked.

Thematically, “Dot and Bubble” feels like a defanged episode of Black Mirror. Without venturing into spoilers, the episode delivers some very timely social commentary. But it feels like Davies and Co couldn’t quite commit to following that commentary to its natural endpoint. Instead, as Doctor Who often does, things take a surprising turn towards the latter half of the episode. A turn that ultimately ends up going a bit off the rails. Davies’ script swings for the fences, to be sure. But that swing never really hits. Instead, it just kind of lands with a shocking thud. “Dot and Bubble” is audacious to a fault; a story that really goes for it but ultimately leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth. It’s very Black Mirror but without an understanding of what makes Black Mirror‘s boundary-pushing so effective.

A Doctor and Companion-Lite Story

While last week’s “73 Yards” focused entirely on Millie Gibson’s Ruby, “Dot and Bubble” takes a page out of the “Blink” playbook by featuring very little of the Doctor and Ruby. Instead, Callie Cooke’s Lindy takes center stage in a very Sally Sparrow kind of way. The downside here is that, unlike Sally Sparrow, Lindy Pepper-Bean engenders very little sympathy. Instead, she comes across as vapid and deeply unlikable in ways that make it hard to spend time with her. And sure, perhaps that’s Davies’ intent; an important element of the episode’s satire. But at the same time, Lindy’s a character you find it difficult to root for. And when the episode spends this much time with her, it results in an often unpleasant watch. You constantly wish the Doctor and Ruby would swagger onto the scene and steer the episode into friendlier waters. But they never do.

Instead, “Dot and Bubble” is Lindy’s story – for better or worse. It’s the story of how she steps up to the plate and takes control of her life. And, in fairness, Cooke delivers a performance that’s never anything less than wholly captivating. She fully embodies Lindy; her shallowness, her naivete, and her calculativeness. Cooke easily holds her own in this rather over-the-top episode, constantly commanding the screen throughout the entire runtime. Even if the script makes it a bit undesirable to spend time with Lindy, it’s hard to criticize Cooke’s performance. But it’s Tom Rhys Harries’s Ricky September who really steals the show. Immediately charismatic and captivating, his dynamic with Lindy makes for quite a fun watch. It’s just a shame he’s not got a bigger role.

A Mixture of Underuse and Overindulgence

What’s interesting about “Dot and Bubble” is what it chooses to underuse and what it chooses to overindulge in. The episode uses the Doctor and Ruby quite sparingly. They appear a bit more here than the Tenth Doctor and Martha do in “Blink”, but they’re certainly not the main characters in this episode – to its detriment. Though Gatwa delivers a barnstormer of a performance in the final few minutes, he and Gibson simply aren’t in it anywhere near enough.

Similarly, “Dot and Bubble” uses its monsters quite rarely too – though this restraint is far more effective. As is often the case in horror, a monster is at its scariest the less you see it, and that’s a lesson director Dylan Holmes Williams takes to heart. The monsters look great, but he shows restraint in how often we see them. If only the same could be said about the episode’s titular gimmick – an idea that’s well-realized but ends up feeling a bit like the season desperately needed to save money some way, somehow.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, “Dot and Bubble” swings for the fences but never quite scores a hit. It’s an episode trapped in a mid-season slump. Plagued by an unlikable main character, strange pacing, and an overarching theme that simultaneously lacks teeth and feels shockingly unlike Doctor Who, it’s a bit of a mess from start to finish. While initially quite entertaining, by the time the credits roll, the entire cart’s gone off the tracks. The cast gives great performances, regardless of how well-utilized they are. And the episode’s monsters are sure to rank amongst the series’ creepier ones in hindsight. But as a piece of drama, “Dot and Bubble” misses the mark. It’s fun enough, but a bit too derivative and messy to successfully reach the finish line.

Doctor Who continues with “Dot and Bubble”, premiering Friday, May 31st, at 7pm on Disney+. New episodes premiere on Fridays at 7pm on Disney+.