Recap: Doctor Who, Dot and Bubble

What if there was an alien colony that was basically Facebook? That’s where the Doctor and Ruby land this week. They hope the people there don’t block them before something “unfriends” them in the worst way. Once again, the show shifts to give fans a harsh lesson

SPOILERS BELOW

In Finetime, everything is perfect….which means it’s not.
The episode centers on Lindy Pepperbean (Callie Cooke), a data processor who sends info back to Homeworld. She works two hours a day, then chats with her bubble friends and has fun. She learns certain friends have suddenly gone offline…permanently.
They all live under the Dot and Bubble system, where a dot envelops a person’s head with 360-degree Facebook. They’re so dependent, they can’t walk around without the arrows the Bubble provides. They literally can’t live without the system.

Then the Doctor tries to warn Lindy about creatures eating people in Finetime…but she blocks him because she doesn’t know him. Ruby gets online by pretending to be part of Finetime. This is foreshadowing.

Lindy won’t believe anything is wrong until she turns off her D&B, and notices her co-workers aren’t there. She also sees a creature eating her friend Bertie. She can’t escape without the arrows from the D&B, but she slowly tries. Also, the creature doesn’t seem to be interested in her. That’s odd.

Lindy tells the Doctor and Ruby that Finetime only has rich kids, 17 to 27, doing office things. Ruby calls it “Love Island, The Planet”
So, were the creatures from outside the dome? It’s discovered there’s a river under the city, and a way to escape. Some of Lindy’s friends try to find the river with her, but she has problems getting the location thanks to a low battery.
Fortunately, she finds fellow friend Ricky September (Tom Rhys Harries). Apparently he sometimes reads. Books! Lindy finds that to be wild. He also finds out Homeworld is deserted. The Creatures killed everyone there. Lindy doesn’t know.

Eventually, the Doctor figures out why some people are killed but some are not. They have been eating the Finetime kids in alphabetical order. Not only that (and this might be a bit far-fetched), the Dot’s operating system has turned against the kids and made those creatures. Skynet was never that mean.
What happens next is shocking behavior for a supporting character. Lindy tries to stop the Dot from killing her, while Ricky is able to bat it away. Then, Lindy tells the Dot Ricky’s real last name is Coons. It kills him while she saves herself.
Then again, she’s a rich kid who would sacrifice anyone to live. She has no experience with dealing with people in person, and that’s why she lets him die and lies about his fate. It’s worse than blocking someone in social media.

Then she finally meets the Doctor and Ruby. They learn the survivors plan to leave the dome and try to conquer the rest of the planet. An interesting idea, but these are rich kids. It’s very unlikely they know what to do.
The Doctor says he can taken them in his TARDIS to a better place, but the Finetime kids, especially Lindy, turn him down. They have their doubts about the TARDIS, but it’s really summed up by her words: “You, sir, are not one of us.”
Race does have a role in their rejection. No doubt about it. The Finetime kids may be great for reality shows and Tik Tok, but completely unprepared for the real world….and the Doctor can’t do anything about it. The look of Lindy’s face says it all, as does the Doctor’s reaction to their rejection.

This week’s episode says a lot about dependence on social media, and how it really stunts a person growth. The Finetime kids are proof of that. It shows that sometimes taking a walk and talking to people in person is better than scrolling for likes. It’s a lesson the kids never learned. It would have been interesting to find out what would have happened to them if they had to leave after 27 years old.

One more thing: the Doctor and Ruby see Lindy’s mother…and finally thinks they’ve seen her before. This won’t be the last time.