Woody Allen made a movie called The Purple Rose of Cairo where a movie character sees Mia Farrow and escapes from the film…literally.
Imagine if an animated character did that…and caused major havoc.
That’s what the Doctor and Belinda have to face. They’ll wonder why a Miami theater shows movies without customers…and is also locked in chains.

SPOILERS BELOW

At the Palazzo theater in Miami 1952, people are watching a newsreel talking about atom bomb tests and the death of George VI. A cartoon is played while a beam of moonlight affects it somehow. That’s how Mr. Ring-a-Ding (voiced by Alan Cumming) goes from singing to talking to the audience. That’s fine, since Bugs Bunny did that. What’s not fine is that Ring-A-Ding escapes the screen and tells them “don’t make me laugh.”
The customers disappear without a trace.

The Doctor still tries to get Belinda back to Earth of May 24th…if it still exists. He comes up with a vortex indication that will get him a direct line to Earth. It’ll take while to reach the end, though. They arrive near the Palazzo, and discover the theater is chained up. He’s curious, while Belinda accuses him of being Scooby Doo. He insists he’s really Velma, but he’s the Doctor and this IS what he does.
They find out about the 15 missing customers, and meet the mother of one of them. He tells her he will find her son.

What happens is probably the most bizarre and bonkers episode ever. It’s not enough they deal with a weird cartoon creature that seems to control reality, but they also become animated…literally. It even gets weirder than that.

The Doctor and Belinds get inside, and Ring-a-ding, jaunty sing, tap dancing and all. He still warns them not to make him laugh, because it’s also the Giggle. Ring-a-ding is really a Harbinger to the Gods of Chaos. He can also control film and projectors, trapping the Doctor and Belinda into what might be Scooby Doo UK.

They become real again by (strangely enough) reminding themselves of their plight, but they are still trapped in the film reality.
How to get out?

Meanwhile, the projectionist, named Pye (Linus Roache), says Ring-a-ding brought back his late wife, and that’s why he’s been running movies since the patrons went missing. They are trapped in film, and Ring-a-ding says he can burn the film and them.

Then the show gets REALLY weird. The Doctor and Belinda think they only way to get out of the film is push through. They do…into a living room with three people who apparently know good sci-fi and scarves.

Actually, this is what Ring-a-ding did, only it’s stranger.
Aside from the Doctor wondering if he’s been a TV show all this time (although he seemed to know that already in the first scene of “Before the Flood”), the fans remind him that Ring-a-ding made a mistake by saying film stock is flammable. That might be a way to stop him.
Then the fans wonder if they are real or maybe a trap set by Ring-a-ding. They still insist he beat Ring-a-ding and finish the episode.

The Doctor then decides to “stop the film” and have it burn thanks to the projection light. That works, but Ring-a-ding wants to be a real live boy (kind of). He uses the Doctor’s light to be just that. Then he’ll merge with an atom bomb and be a real threat.
Belinda convinces Pye to burn his film stock, which causes an explosion. It saves the Doctor but now Ring-a-ding grows and grows thanks to sunlight. However, he expands into nothingness. The threat is gone…maybe.
It also means the missing patrons are back, safe and sound. That means the Doctor and Belinda will try again to get back to a time that may or may not exist.

Oh, and Mrs. Flood shows up out of nowhere and seems to suggest May 24th is the end….maybe.
Roll credits, and the three fans from the middle of the show give an instant review of 7/10. They immediately raise it because they’re real after all. Maybe they bump into Osgood someday.

Again, this was one wild episode that comments on reality and perspective. It also shows the Gods of Chaos and their minions (including Mrs. Flood, let’s admit it) will be making more moves soon. As the show’s future is still up in the air, fans may wonder if this season ends with the Doctor’s final defeat. If that happens, will the Big Bads celebrate until they realize their existence is over, too? We’ll know six episodes from now.

Next week, the Doctor lands in an abandoned facility where something horrible has happened…and the cause may still be there.