DOCTOR WHO Dot and Bubble

Tom Hiddleston for Variety's Emmys Studio

I'm with Ricky September. He is hot.

DOCTOR WHO | DOT AND BUBBLE

I don’t normally do meta analysis on tumblr of Doctor Who episodes but I’ve seen people so far reducing Dot and Bubble as a critique of Gen Z and the obsession with social media and “no one wants to work these days!” When I took away a different interpretation of the episode.

Dot and Bubble is about a group of rich white settlers. They’re so rich that to them two hours of work is too much and by their own admission they spend all their time partying otherwise. But I think it’s that scene at the end that really cemented my interpretations of the episode. The other member of the survivors is like “we can live like our ancestors and tame the wilderness.”

They’re trying to capture the magic of the good old days when they aren’t equipped to handle it, but not because of social media, but because they’re so out of touch with reality due to their rich backgrounds! *Lindy gets Ricky September killed and then tells people a lie in order to save her own skin, but also ends up with an ownership over his memory. She tells everyone that she couldn’t stop Ricky from going back to save more people but her tone reminds me a lot of the people on rich reality shows. “He was so brave.”

Idk where else I’m going with this but just something I noticed and thought was interesting about the episode.

*Edit addition: the reason I brought that up was because it’s the kind of ownership over something that isn’t theirs that is only really found by rich people. See Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress.

Let me save you!

Steve Rogers (Infinity War) - 2017

My take on Steve in Infinity War. Of course, it’s not the exact suit because the only reference pictures I had were a couple of concept art posted by Ryan Meinerding and poor quality screenshots from the leaked trailer. Hope you will like it, though ♥

Steve in Infinity War (2017)

Photoshop CS6

THIS IS A LINDY PEPPER-BEAN HATE PAGE

"Hold on, I've seen her before"

"Yeah she's like- she's the face of the ambulance on Kastarion 3."

"No no no, I've seen her somewhere else"

GUYS THEY'RE FIGURING IT OUT THEY'RE BECOMING AWARE OF HER

the ending of that doctor who episode was so good, acting wise

ncuti going from desperation trying to save people who dont want to be saved by him, to laughing in disbelief, to screaming in rage, to just standing there watching with tears running down his face

and then millie as ruby just standing off to side quietly sobbing through all of it, trying to comfort him but not knowing how to and just leaving him to process how he needs to

ncuti gatwa was born to play the doctor and im so happy that he actually gets to

also reeling at the implications of the Doctor having had "his soul torn in half" by bigeneration. like are you gonna elaborate on that orrrrr

Just throwing this out there because even though dot and bubble has only just come out so people haven't had a chance to properly think it through yet, I have seen some general ambiguity for some people in this episode about what specific kind of discrimination is being shown at the end.

It is racism and this is not a thing that is that ambiguous. The unleashed episode clarifies this but it's also very very clear if you see their initial reactions to the doctor and ruby. This is not ableist, homophobia or classism. This is racism. It's also why the doctor gets the big acting moment not ruby. It's targeting him explicitly.

While I'm all for talking about intersectionalism and having multiple interpretations, I think it's kinda important that we focus in on the fact this is a story explicitly about white supremacy and racism

love that they inverted the trope of 'ai gains sentience and immediately starts killing the humans' by going what if the humans just had rancid vibes. did you ever think about that

New favorite reaction shot? New favorite reaction shot.

I’m probably the last person to notice this but I loved it so much I had to write it down. One of the original issues I had with 73 Yards is that, in the beginning, we see Ruby very quickly give up on waiting for the doctor. We’ve established they’ve known each other for at least six months, unless we’ve jumped backwards, so it felt very strange to me.

Then I realized it kicks off the theme of the whole episode.

Ruby’s been traveling with someone for six months who clearly loves her, but is ready to accept at the drop of a hat that he’s just up and left her, and she’s not even mad at him for it. Any other companion would’ve assumed something bad happened to the doctor and/or would be pissed at them for disappearing. The fact that Ruby walks away so quickly and without complaint says a lot about her character and her struggles with abandonment and self-worth. The more I think about 73 Yards the more I really like it.

i don’t think dot and bubble was trying to do both “phone bad” commentary and race commentary. i don’t think it was trying to do “phone bad” commentary at all. the episode wore the veneer of a mediocre black mirror clone to lull the viewer into expecting something predictable and bland—haha they can’t walk without their phones! mid-tier episode but good enough—and then it hits you with the fucking gut punch of that ending, and the Why of the episode falls into place.

i almost wonder if the real “phone bad” commentary has to do with the experiences of people of color in fandom, where they’re having fun with the story and feel a sense of belonging and then boom. they realize that there are racist people and ideas in a situation that previously felt predictable and safe. i’ve heard princess weekes discuss that experience before, and she even made a video essay about martha jones in doctor who. and of course that experience goes far beyond fandom, in much more serious ways, but it’s the technology stuff that made me think of it specifically. and now that i think of it, there are hints dropped about those much more serious ways in the episode—something about a very modern-day-esque police institution existing in this far-off future utopia, and the way lindy called for them, had already rubbed me the wrong way.

maybe this episode was rtd’s attempt to grapple with the ways he failed martha jones and mickey smith in his original run. acknowledging that an adventure can be destroyed in a second, with the realization that everyone else on the adventure sees you as less worthy than your white counterparts. ncuti performs the doctor’s realization and reaction extremely well. i’m glad that this episode exists.

i’m going to rewatch this immediately, i think. please feel free to add your thoughts.

Say what you will about this episode but having the main character see the most graphic horrific terrifying thing they have ever witnessed in their life and then going right back to doomscrolling while they hold back the tears is such an interesting take on how young privileged people interact with the world.