Doctor Who: Dot And Bubble Review - 5 Ups & 5 Downs
Well, I think we all know who our new least-favourite character is...
Like many episodes this season, we didn't know much about Dot and Bubble heading into it, other than it seemed to be Doctor Who doing its best impression of Black Mirror – something it achieves with mixed success.
It's an episode of extremely high highs, but also some very low lows. I would like it on record, however, that I liked it a lot more than the evenly balanced Ups and Downs might suggest. Still, Dot and Bubble has its flaws, and I have to acknowledge them.
Intriguingly, we know that this was RTD's pitch for an episode way back in 2010, and would've served as an Eleven and Amy Pond story – had this been the case, the commentary on social media might have felt less 'old hat'. It ultimately didn't end up coming to fruition 14 years ago due to being too expensive a concept (those were the days before Disney money), but in any event, it might've felt a little fresher back then, though it would have robbed us of those juicy last ten minutes.
Anyway, let's see what stuck the landing, and what didn't!
10. UP - A Supremely Hateable Performance
Dot and Bubble features up-and-comer Callie Cooke as a guest lead, and she does a remarkable job.
Unlike other Doctor-lite episodes (which have given us extremely likeable one-off leads like Sally Sparrow and Elton Pope), Dot and Bubble takes an altogether different route by making the central character an absolutely abhorrent person. Blissfully unaware of how the world works, socially performative, manipulative, and self-serving, Lindy Pepper-Bean may be one of the most unlikeable characters in the show's history, and that's without factoring in that she's a massive racist.
I'm not giving Callie Cooke an Up because I loved her character – quite the opposite. It's an achievement to embody a character so well, that they can make your blood boil constantly. Cooke plays the vapid influencer side of this character to frustrating perfection, and absolutely nails it when the story calls for a more sinister turn towards the end. It's honestly depressing that people like this exist in the real world, too.
Overall, I commend this approach. I'm sure that following such an irredeemable character for the entire runtime won't be to everyone's taste, but it makes for a very different type of story. More big swings from Russell, and another hit. We're picking up some momentum now.