"Dot and Bubble" is a Surprisingly Dark Reminder That 'Doctor Who' Isn't Always a Fairytale

Doctor Who is a show that is aspirational at its heart. Travel hopefully; never cruel or cowardly, and above all, be kind. Because of this, it's easy to assume that the stories it tells are always happy ones and that everything turns out alright in the end. The good guys triumph, and the evil ones are defeated; essential lessons are learned, new friends are made, and The Doctor shows up just in time to save the day. He forever changes those he interacts with for the better, set on a path to become the best versions of themselves, no matter how many mistakes they've made in the past. But, as anyone familiar with the Brothers Grimm can tell you, even the most seemingly magical stories can have unexpected teeth. 

Such is the case with "Dot and Bubble," a disturbing installment that's as much about the monsters inside its characters as the literal ones trying to eat them. An hour that feels as much like Black Mirror as it does Doctor Who, the episode is a scathing rebuke of everything from celebrity culture and society's obsession with social media to classism and marginalization. It's also the second episode in as many weeks in which the Doctor only appears in a minimal capacity, an intriguing choice for a season so heavily hyped as a fresh introduction to the franchise for new viewers. 

Granted, the Doctor has more screen time than in last week's "73 Yards," and Fifteen's final scene is so powerful that it almost makes you forget that so little of this hour is actually about his character. (Star Ncuti Gatwa has that single perfect tear thing down, is what I'm saying.) But "Dot and Bubble" is perhaps best considered as a rare example of the limits of the Doctor's influence, and how even his best intentions can be smashed on the rocks of the worst of human nature. 

The offbeat story is set in a world known as Finetime, an exclusive domed city where everyone solely communicates virtually. Sure, their surroundings and jobs are real, but the residents of Finetime never interact with them. Instead, they use the episode's titular "Dot and Bubble," a tiny bit of high-end technology that levitates above their heads and creates a virtual domed field around them, giving them immediate access to all sorts of screens and conversations. It's a little like living inside Netflix's The Circle, only on extreme steroids and featuring an AI version of Michelle Buteau that tells you what direction you're supposed to walk in whenever you're required to move and whether you need to use the bathroom.

Finetime residents are required to work, but only for two-hour shifts every day, processing data on information being sent back to the Home World. The rest of their time is their own; they seem to spend it partying and gossiping about everyone else. Because they only view life filtered through the digital screens of their Bubbles, they have no idea what the material world around them looks like, which becomes a problem when they each start disappearing one by one. 

"Dot and Bubble" follows the story of Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cook), a shallow influencer type who blasts daily outfit fashion updates to her feed and whose most attractive personality trait is that she likes the videos of Ricky September, a handsome young guy who dances to pop bops for the amusement of his followers. (That even a hyper-advanced technological society still hasn't evolved past the TikTok economy is, frankly, depressing. But that's neither here nor there.) 

Unfortunately for Lindy and the rest of the Finetime residents, their preoccupation with their literal social circles has blinded them to a genuine problem. Horrible, monstrous slug-like creatures are busy eating people alive one by one, with most of the city's population none the wiser. At least, not until Lindy gets an unsolicited Bubble message from a mysterious stranger attempting to warn her about the danger she's in. The Doctor gets immediately blocked for his trouble, leaving it up to Ruby to speak enough shallow twentysomething to get Lindy to look at the real world long enough to notice that everyone meant to be on her work shift has either disappeared or is currently devoured.

There's something so sad at work here, not just because Lindy's sitting next to someone being eaten alive by a slug monster, but because she's been in the same room as these people on her shift for how long and she's never actually seen them face to face in the real world. It's a painfully literal metaphor for how our addiction to social media keeps us from ever seeing the actual world we live in, but just because it's hamfisted doesn't mean it's wrong. 

For all its pastel-infused, smiley-faced vibes, "Dot and Bubble" is a surprisingly horror-tinged hour, with many creepy things happening outside our direct line of sight. Bodies dragged away, muffled screams, oblivious users so lost in their Bubbles they don't realize they're stepping over the prone forms of their dead friends on the ground. 

But maybe it shouldn't be all that surprising. A playground for the spoiled and overprivileged children of the Home World's elite, Finetime residents range from the ages of 17 to 27; they're all attractive, well-dressed, and wealthy. (Really rich if Lindy's snooty attitude about those who can't afford to attend means anything.) Lazy and entitled, Lindy complains about suffering through her two hours of mandated employment every day and displays little interest or curiosity in anything beyond herself.

It's no wonder the Dots — now at least semi-sentient — have gone into full-blown revolt. Driven to madness by their hatred of the shallow youths whose lives they are forced to watch in stultifying detail, they're the reason the human-eating bugs have arrived. (And they're also the source of their alphabetical kill list.) It is all meant to be quite shocking, but after watching Lindy's behavior throughout this hour.... is it? 

From her absolute disinterest in her friends' lives (she doesn't even notice several of her inner circle are missing for the better part of a week) to the swiftness with which she's willing to turn on Ricky September (surprisingly kind and well-read for a guy who runs a pastel Only Fans) to save her own skin, it certainly doesn't seem like Lindy's a very good person. Granted, being selfish, self-centered, and a raging bigot on top of it all certainly doesn't mean she deserves to die, but let's just say the Dots' sudden determination to end it all makes a certain amount of sense. (Imagine listening to her reciting her environmentally sustainable wardrobe choices daily.)

Thankfully, the Doctor is made of sterner stuff than me. Determined to rescue as many Finetime residents as possible, regardless of how rude or difficult they are, Fifteen and Ruby refuse to give up on Lindy and her friends. The Doctor even goes so far as to promise to transport the group to new lives and a safe home via the TARDIS as quickly as possible. But, of course, he does. He's the Doctor; that's what the Doctor does.

However, the ending brings the unexpected as Lindy and her friends refuse, choosing a life of struggle and hardship in the wild forests surrounding Finetime, choosing what is most likely a certain death rather than be "contaminated" by Fifteen and Ruby, who "don't uphold the standards of Finetime" in their eyes. Of course, these are also people who only just learned to walk without the aid of a digital guide roughly twenty minutes ago, so maybe their judgment's not all that. But they'd rather cosplay at living as pioneers rather than come into close personal contact with someone they see as lesser than themselves. 

Doctor Who smartly doesn't reveal the specific flavor of their bigotry. They might hate Fifteen because he is Black, or an alien, or someone they perceive as poor, subservient, or simply of a lesser class than they are. But whatever their reason, these kids will almost certainly die for it, and there's absolutely nothing the Doctor can do about it. Sometimes, he can't save everyone, not if they don't want to be saved. 

Wow, that's a depressing thought. 

Doctor Who Season 14 streams new episodes on Friday evenings on Disney+ in the U.S. and midnight on Saturday mornings in the U.K.