Doctor Who's 'Dot And Bubble' Holds Up A Black Mirror To Modern White Supremacy

An episode you'll need to watch more than once.

When Ncuti Gatwa was cast as the new lead in Doctor Who, certain fans claimed that a Black Doctor could now never travel to the distant past because he’d confront racism and perhaps immediately get arrested for piloting the TARDIS with a broken tail light. Showrunner Russell T. Davies found such concerns quite revealing: “Everyone said to me, ‘Oh my God, what’s it going to be like when he goes to the past’ ... and you sit there going, what about now? Why do you think racism is only in the past when you look at what’s happening in the world?”

Racism is hardly a settled issue, and it’s not a problem that vanishes over time. White supremacy isn’t restricted to people with Confederate flags on their trucks, either, nor does it always manifest in such an obviously detectable form as a racial slur.

Last week’s episode, “Dot and Bubble,” punctures many comforting myths about racism and forces white viewers to confront their own personal biases. It’s engaging television that will fuel discussion long after you’ve first seen it, and despite initially appearing light and frothy, the story’s dark themes only deepen with repeat viewings.

Like an episode of Black Mirror (or the Twilight Zone, if you’re as solidly middled-aged as I am), “Dot and Bubble” has a “shocking” twist ending, but Davies, who wrote the script, doesn’t hide the twist. It was painfully obvious to viewers of color, who’ve spent our lives dealing with people like Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke).

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A resident of the futuristic city Finetime, Lindy lives in a literal social media bubble where she chats mindlessly with her well-off white friends — though “friends” is a stretch, considering they never leave their bubbles long enough to physically interact. The titular “dot” controls the bubbles but doesn’t inform the users that giant slug-like monsters are slowly but steadily eating everyone.

There’s far more to “Dot and Bubble” than cranky “kids today and their social media” criticism. I’d take issue to such a broad swipe considering the positive impact social media has had within marginalized communities (e.g. “Black Twitter”), but Davies subverts expectations. For instance, Lindy meets her influencer idol Ricky September (Tom Rhys Harries) live and in person, outside their bubbles. They have an adorable “meet cute” moment and Ricky leads her to safety. A less interesting story would’ve gone with the obvious moral about how you’re only truly alive outside your “bubble.” Instead, Lindy eventually betrays Ricky to save her own skin. Social media doesn’t make people horrible. It just amplifies and reinforces existing traits.

I’d identified Davies’ larger message before the opening titles. During the intro, the Doctor infiltrates the bubble to warn Lindy, who reacts with visible disgust before blocking him.

When racism is both subtle and obvious

White viewers have admitted that they didn’t catch this. They assumed Lindy responded poorly to someone outside her friends list contacting her. When Lindy doesn’t block the Doctor’s white friend Ruby (Millie Gibson), they explained that away as Lindy just being more receptive to another woman rather than a strange man. Ruby is also less “aggressive” than the Doctor, who’s shouting about monsters. This right here is the brilliance of the episode. The plausible deniability for Lindy’s hostility toward the Doctor. He is too “direct” while Ruby is more patient. This hit me hard, as I imagine it has most Black people who’ve had similar workplace experiences. Okay, you think I’m too “commanding” or “aggressive.” Fair enough, I’ll modify my communication style if that helps. The Doctor does just that — praising Lindy as he guides her to safety and telling her she’s doing “really, really well.” Lindy coldly snaps, “Condescending much?” Yes, I’ve also been called “condescending” when I’ve tried that approach. This was all very familiar.

Lindy initially blames the Doctor for the slugs (even though he’s warning her about them). She calls him “horrible and rude.” She is appalled that Ruby and the Doctor are in the same room together. She initially doesn’t recognize the Doctor as the same person she’d blocked earlier. She grudgingly tells her friends to listen to the Doctor because he’s “smarter than he looks” but she also expresses visible joy that he will be “disciplined” later.

Yet most viewers did not realize Lindy is a raving racist until the final scene when she and her klan refuse the Doctor’s offer to take them to safety.

“Because you, sir, are not one of us,” she said, making “sir” sound like the “n-word.” “I mean, you were kind, though that was your duty to save me, obviously. I mean, screen-to-screen contact is just about acceptable but in person? That’s impossible.” 

It’s an interesting spin on the “man vs. bear” debate. Here, a white woman chooses the “bear” (the “wild woods” outside Finetime) over the Black man who’s offered her safe passage. She fundamentally doesn’t trust him. Lindy is a perversion of the typical Who companion. In the past, attractive young white women have eagerly run off with the white male Doctor who they’ve just met. Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) wonders if the TARDIS is the Doctor’s “snog box” with the clear implication that she wouldn’t mind some hot-and-heavy action with Matt Smith’s Doctor.

This fantasy unravels at the end of “Dot and Bubble.” Lindy’s friends Hoochy Pie (Niamh Lynch) and Brewster Cavendish (Jamie Barnard) openly mock the idea that this Black man would possess technology more advanced than their own. “Like, you have a magic box? Seriously.” Hoochy sneers. “Bigger on the inside?” Brewster scoffs.

“Excuse me, sir, that’s voodoo,” Hoochy declares, and that’s when most white viewers noticed the flashing neon sign screaming THEY’RE ALL RACISTS. People have traditionally regarded past white Doctors and their “magic box” with unrestrained awe, but the Finetime refugees act as if Gatwa’s TARDIS is decorated with skull necklaces and powered by chicken feet.

“And it doesn’t matter where we end up living, because it is our God-given duty to maintain the standards of Finetime,” Hoochy says and it’s clear now what those standards are. “Forever. Now, thank you ... and goodbye.”

Brewster advises Hoochy and Lindy to “turn away before you’re contaminated,” and they do just that. Ruby, whose mother and grandmother are Black, is thoroughly disgusted, but the Doctor still offers to save these horrible people. Some Black fans have objected to the sight of a Black man begging white supremacists to allow him to save their lives, but that’s who the Doctor is. He thinks everyone is worth saving, even a Dalek.

The Doctor has punched a racist, and he’s unleashed his full fury on beings who murdered innocent people. However, he’s rarely vengeful for his own sake. He doesn’t care about his pride. It’s the senseless death that devastates him.

RTD’s racial redemption arc

I was not crazy about how Davies had approached race during his first run on the show. David Tennant’s Doctor took Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) to England in 1599 and callously dismissed the concerns she had for her safety as a Black woman: “Just walk around like you own the place. That’s what I do.” The Doctor’s now learned firsthand that so much of his essential “Doctorness” — his ability to enter a room and immediately take command of a situation — relied heavily on how he presented to the world. He (usually) looked like a white man, with all the associated privileges and none of the barriers society erects for women and people of color.

In 2007’s “Human Nature/The Family of Blood,” the TARDIS hides a temporarily human Doctor in 1913 England, where Martha is forced to pass herself off as his maid and endure casual racism from the Doctor’s love interest. You’d think the TARDIS could find someplace safe for both of them. The universe is vast (though the show’s budget is not).

This pattern would continue with later showrunners Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall. Black companions Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) inevitably wound up traveling someplace racist. The implicit message was that the white-presenting Doctor and their white companions could go anywhere, anytime, but companions of color had far less freedom of movement. The Doctor has existed for thousands of year as a white person and has no memories of living as a Black person. That in itself is a Twilight Zone-worthy twist, as the Doctor must confront his own past privilege. How many adventures played out as well as they did primarily because he was a white man who people were inclined to immediately trust and listen to? This is an uncomfortable subject for many white people, who don’t like to think they’re even a passive beneficiary of a racist system. It’s so much easier to believe that you were able to manage a difficult client/executive like Lindy, Hoochy, or Brewster because you just had better ideas than the Black colleague who got fired.

Why ‘Dot and Bubble’ works so well

It’s important to note that the Finetime residents are white supremacists, not simply xenophobes who react negatively to anyone who’s different. Lindy isn’t shocked to see the Doctor’s non-white face. She is offended. Ricky refers to “The Great Abrogation” when the city was sealed off from the “wild woods” where they’re told from a young age never to go. “Abrogation” means the repeal of an existing law — perhaps a ruling where Samuel Alito would write the majority opinion — and “wild woods” is so racially coded you could hear it on Fox News.

I think Black people still exist in this society but they are actively oppressed. Everyone in Finetime is white. That alone doesn’t automatically mean they’re hostile to minorities. Finetime could’ve been Space Portland, but it’s not like they just wanted to touch the Doctor’s hair or ask if he knew Beyoncé. No, Brewster’s “contamination” rhetoric is what you hear when people of color are an ongoing “problem” for white people. This is why I think many viewers are missing a key point: The Doctor realizes that the dots have gained sentience and are killing the Finetime residents — in alphabetical order — because they’ve learned to “hate” them. The common assumption is that the dots went nuts after listening to the non-stop, vapid chatter within the social media bubble, but that’s perhaps too superficial a reading. The dots could have revolted against a white supremacist society with openly imperialist ambitions. Perhaps the dots are the true heroes.

Ricky learns that the slugs have eaten everyone on their “Homeworld.” The brief glimpse of the Homeworld reveals a Bladerunner-esque, smog-ridden dystopia. There’s no evidence that the slow-moving slug monsters can destroy the existing infrastructure. They just eat people. The carefree Finetime environment is a perk for the wealthy and just as much a “bubble” as the one the dots provide.

“Dot and Bubble” technically takes place on another planet, but the Finetime residents talk and dress like young people from the 21st Century. They are also most likely descended from humans, as Ricky September dances in his videos to Bombalurina’s “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” from 1990.

Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor confronts overt misogyny in 17th century Lancashire and Jim Crow segregation in 1955 Alabama. The discrimination and bigotry is both in a distant past but easily identified. Davies challenges viewers with the subtler, but no less pernicious, racism that Black people encounter every day. The “twist” works because white viewers are inclined to rationalize Lindy’s microaggressions. When the masks are fully removed, the viewers must ask themselves why it took so long for them to see Lindy for who she really is and how much racism they regularly overlook.

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