We'll sort that soon. Those Tories are getting the steel toe cap boot. Unfortunately the BBC is technically government run, and since the government is horrible...the BBC is also currently horrible

This thing has layers. Consider that when you're watching the show, you've got a screen in front of your face. Okay, only the one screen, not many screens. But RTD created a "bubble" for the audience. Because, damn, some of Lindy's lines are on the nose, once you know. But RTD always sprinkled an excuse - some "plausible deniability" - in there, so that you could ignore it, deny it and return to your "safe bubble" again. That's the meta-level genius here. Because how can you, as a writer, put all those things in there, but ensure that (most) of your audience doesn't twig the plot twist too early? The same way that the dots do it. Create a "bubble" around your audience, so they don't see what's going on. But now that the ending has burst that bubble, consider it further. Everyone is noting, rightly, that there were no black people there. But who else wasn't there? Did you see any gay people there? Was there any hint of anything other than heteronormativity in this place? Did you see anyone bending, much less defying, traditional gender norms? (Remember, written by RTD. So simply not possible "he just forgot". No, no-one like that was there because, just like the black people, no-one like that is welcome in "Finetime".) Like, if Ruby were that way inclined and tipped a lesbian wink and flirted with Lindy, do we think that would have received a better reception amongst these neo-Nazis? No, I fear we're only scratching the surface by realising they're white supremacists. In fact, I'd already say that we've got the dialogue that proves they're much more than that. From Lindy's dialogue, black people get punished for insubordination. Black people have a "duty" to protect their white masters. They were not shocked to see a black person - it's not that there aren't black people on their homeworld. They're not just racists. They're not just white supremacists. There's not only racial segregation going on. Racial slavery was happening on their homeworld. They have black people there and they kept them as slaves - who have a "duty" to their masters and who get punished for not knowing their place. Lindy was insisting the Doctor respect the Apartheid of their homeworld. Like, now that the "bubble" was burst by that ending, don't just notice that they were all white. Who else wasn't there? And the brilliance of the way it was revealed is that you were also in your own "bubble" watching it, and that's why you didn't see beyond it to realise. What else didn't we see beyond that bubble?

@@marcusmcculloch3410Sadly Labour are also a transphobic party.

I waited several days prior to posting thinking how emotionally charged these issues can get. I caught-on at the office scenes, when I noticed that every one looked very similar in the way yuppies did in the 1980s & early 1990s. The way that hippies did during their social high point. Here's the thing Star Trek presented the issue better with "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", third season with them making the point that we the two races that hated each other were essentially same. Did I like this Dr Who episode - yeah, for the most part. (But the plot derailed for me in the following:) * Dr. hacked the Dot system to communicate, but did not stop, reprogram the blindness element, or later stop the Dot system from providing a correct alphabetical list or change names and add false names to the list they found out the list. Why? *By the way notice no sonic screwdriver in this episode to open doors? Why? * See the Dr. obviously could hack his way in. so our Dr. very bright alien Time Lord, and rides in a even smarter supercomputer called the Tardis. Why couldn't he have done quick reprogram of the those names in the lists and save lots of those people? ---Yeah..., I have got big problems with their use of logic in the story telling of the episode. --- (Here are the elements of the story that don't mesh - there's another story behind it all:) *Another thing is that their ancestors might have been corporate religious pioneers, mentioning voodoo when describing the Tardis. And God given rights to maintain the standards of Finetime (corporate entity?). Touch taboos. All point to a puritanical social system. *Dr.'s duty was to save Lindy, this is almost a fanatically religious viewpoint of Predetermination. Their society will always come out on top since God is with them. *That the young people follow a physical isolation system. Is it due to bio-attack situations or a social decree? *Why did Lindy's people send their children away to the Moon settlement? *Why did the slugs attack the home world if they came from the moon? *These young people are exclusively physically either at work or home in isolation, and travel between as exercise. Why? *Why have people at work? -- I think that unmentioned in this episode is that there is a WAR going on at heir home world and has been for a while. They sent their children there to protect them (my opinion). -- It could be a trend of examining religion's influence in in sci-fi futures, in "Boom" also now suggested in "Dot and Bubble" That could have been fascinating looking into, Easter eggs like Marty in "73 yds" and these other stories. It could have added to the Wow in these stories.

"First black mainline doctor" is a good phrase to use, thanks! About the only thing I didn't like re: Jo Martin is that I've had to *quantify* calling Ncuti "the first black Doctor"; Chibs, if you really wanted the cred for casting the first black doc, then you *could've DONE that* in the first place! I've been saying "the first black doc to play the role on a regular basis", lol...

Yes. The fact his tears weren't for the things they said to him but for them and his frustration at his inability to convince them to let him save them really hit home for me. He knows they will probably die. He went through so much to help them, and his help only slowed the inevitable. It's such a powerful episode. And your point at the blatant racism he faced coming from an episode centered on the future is a great point I hadn't thought of and makes the episode even stronger now thinking on it.

I thought that too...when was pleading to wanna help,I felt Ncuti FINALLY came thru as being the 'actual ' DOCTOR,that we know and love..when he was down on his knees and screamed,lol,I said NOW THAT,IS THA DOCTOR!!I hope these last 3 eps are real crackers!!💥🤣✌️🍻

Well the doctor is also not used to experience this- at least not in many many years- from the faces we have seen. Perhaps he is both above it, but also not used to it, and have forgotten how some react. Another thing- head that this was the first episode, first scene that Ncuti and Ruby filmed.

Yeah, usually the doctor is allowed to help and, you should say yes and allow help, and they wont. And you cant people who dont want to be helped. And out of rassism even worse.

"Two hearts so even when one is broken the other is still full enough to help others that broke the first." That's gonna stick with me

that's beautifully put

As a white person, what was alarming to me is every white person is seen as a trust fund baby who is completely oblivious to reality and stupid and has absolutely no cares in the world. And of course we all discriminate against everybody and wear posh clothing. But these double standards are okay because white hate is the only hate that is acceptable. Honestly, I don't discriminate or treat anyone differently, so why do I got to keep being lectured about it? If it is a metaphor, I don't understand the analogy? Who is this directed at? Republicans? People who don't like Ncuti's casting? If not, Just white people in general? I don't feel a distinction was made.

Thanks for sharing. I've been wondering a lot about what a black person's experience of this episode might have been like. I kind of suspected the twist might still work for the reasons you mentioned. I guess your comment confirms I nailed it since you're all a monolith! (kidding, obviously)

Exactly this! I noticed the nearly all-white casting, the microaggressions, etc. but I just figured it was because it was a tv show. Realizing it was on purpose was double the plot twist for me lol

Yes, it was a clever way to underscore the true motivation for how Lindy was responding to the Doctor. Once Ricky shows up, she’s acting almost like a normal attractive young white companion who the (white) male Doctor sweeps off her feet.

Brilliant!

Yeah for a while I thought the in-person Ricky actually *was* the Doctor, projecting himself as Ricky to get Lindy to trust him, because the way he spoke was exactly how the Doctor had been speaking to her, and so very *Doctorish*. Which makes it all the more embarrassing that I didn't realise *why", apart from personal familiarity, Lindy might trust this "pale-faced" avatar of the Doctor more than the real thing... =:o/

Another clue is that "Ricky September" isn't even his real name, Just an alias that he goes by... Well-spotted, I don't think anyone else has pointed this out!🤩

Love this, thx!

God that sadly exactly describes what happened to me...

+++++

I can see how others might say that it's "racism bad" too, but I agree that there's more to this episode. They all live in a bubble, online, the system is designed to show you "more of what you like" which often starts off as "what you know, what you're familiar with"... this is a kind of system (algorithm) that promotes isolation bubbles. KZfaq now has an option to see videos that are "New to Me/You", but how often do people use this button? In these bubbles of isolation, misinformation can easily go unchecked and an echo chamber of mirrors is easily formed over time. It's easy to stay there, it feels safe (like tourist ports, ones in Hati were only recently closed in spite of years of developing chaos), and with the internet being so big there is no need to go elsewhere for anything- instant gratification is a demand that is easily met, repeatedly. That being said, I think KZfaq has been getting much better about diversifying recommended content. But I often go out of my way to check out creators that are new to me and new "from both sides", it has to be chosen. For some the idea to branch out may never even occur because there is already plenty of the usual to satisfy them!

This is literally just Rosa. They are the same episode.

@@nightowl8477 bait

@@Scroteydada - what do you mean? I'm saying they're both showing racism through the eyes of white characters, for a white audience. The camera holds on Thirteen and Graham, and everyone applauds their performances. Neither are black stories intended for black people.

@nightowl8477 why would someone write an anti racism story exclusively for black people? That's such a dumb thing to want.

I am irl trying this, it is an emotional feedback loop trying to get off is *dead silence*. I used to like silence. 😢

Which was literally a headline I saw today. AI puts in the garbage and it sends it back out - it is more likely to give the death penalty to hypothetical convicts who speak AAVE for example

It makes sense the white supremacy system would have a rule set in place that the denigrated people should only speak when spoken to, hence he was flagged as 'unsolicited'. I didn't get this one, because unsolicited in my bubble is just junk mail.

​@@rjwalker1726 that's because AI is likely to be programmed with the same biases that the people who made it have. Which is why so many ai filters will make black people or characters white

I clocked the racism fairly early, but only because the people in her bubble suddenly reminded me of my ex's Facebook friend list of some 250 people (that was when I left, I have had him blocked since then). After a decade in an international organization housed in a UN building (sorry, I won't say where) he only had two brown FB friends: his one friend's wife and a friend of mine. No black FB friends, no East Asian ones, none from South America (not even a Chinese colleague of mine who was friends with both me and our son and had visited us a few times). And absolutely none whom he had met through his work. It was a chilling realization for me - I cannot imagine how it feels for his BIPOC colleagues. And he is hardly the only white person in international organizations to be "selective" in this way. 💔🤬

This. I’m so used to seeing white casts that it didn’t even clock.

Yeah me too. Tbh I never thought a western show would tackle this well so it went over my head.

Same here. I'm not Black, but it seemed like more or less your ordinary episode that serves as an allegory about posh entitled people. It reminded me of the Archangel Network back when Martha was the companion. Also, I don't assume that people will harbor the same specific prejudices in the future that people do today. Not because people will be better or whatever, just that it takes some doing to assume zero cultural drift. So here was a planet of people who were exaggerations of some of our worst traits, to the point where it's difficult to see it as realistic ... but they're still exactly bigoted in the same slightly subtle ways, right down to the same microaggressions? I'm not going to say the episode was wrong to try to cover bigotry, only that it had too many misleading elements to make me see it as entirely relevant. Maybe this episode should have taken place in the present, at a boarding school that was mysteriously cut off from the world, and the entitled kids wouldn't trust the Doctor because of his skin tone. We'd be spared a twist ending, but it might have made its point better.

Same for me. I noticed there was only white people in the planet, but I did not think about the planet being full of white supremacist population; I thought it was the casting team's fault. Well, I'm so glad I was wrong.

And some of the early clues also could have alternate reasons for Lindy's issues. Like immediately blocking the Doctor because of the tone he came in with and then thought she stayed with Ruby because she was a bit more of the social soft tones even though both came to help.

I picked up on that, along with it's usual meaning but because of the heavy emphasis on social media, I put it aside thinking she must mean he's not one of her friend group. It wasn't until Lindy went outside that the whole racism aspect clicked, when I realised everyone was white.

The part where she said, "You can't." Man, that was a hit about his intelligence.

I have a big problem with recognizing faces and I honestly thought that she just had this moment of "I think you look familiar but I'm really not sure" 🥲

​@@anyawatchesmovies I mean, she also didn't *really* recognize Ricky in person, or at least she wasn't sure it was him, because she's used to interacting with people on a screen in 2D with screen names, plus her empathy isn't great and she doesn't necessarily think of them as people so might like, not pay enough attention to recognize them as individuals. Also she doesn't really have a concept of people being able to unblock themselves so thinking he must be someone else and not the person she blocked is understandable. One of many of the hints that had (I'm sure deliberately) other non-racist explanations easily available. Not saying it isn't racist. It obviously is. But I do think the episode is making a point about how people will dismiss POC's experience of racism and try to explain it as something else by having a lot of stuff that even in retrospect has other very plausible explanations. Although for this particular one I also have a lot of trouble with faces and there have been times where I've been mistaken as racist because of it even though I try and I can't tell white people apart either. Also, it has been studied that people (not just white people) have an easier time telling people of their own race apart although it's not fully understood why. And white people are a little easier sometimes because I'm more likely to be able to use hair color as a marker.

@@anyawatchesmovies Same here lol. I've struggled all my life with confusing people with others on and off TV because slight similarities in two faces make them extremely difficult to discern. I absolutely bought that she'd just thought she confused him with someone else. It's nothing to do with skin color either, since I do it with literally everyone.

Note that Gothic Paul is also the least pastel and shiny, and everyone dismisses his concerns.

A part of me wondered if it wasn't sexism. It's minuscule compared to the rest but someone pointed out that the ending had the women be given pink safety blankets and the men got blue. Which is a weird priority in an emergency situation. The "Turn away before you're contaminated ladies." also feels paternalistic, especially when the guy was talking about pioneering like their ancestors a moment ago. "Maintaining the standards of finetime" likewise feels like an allusion to miscegenation laws and race-replacement fear-mongering, which usually comes with casting white women in the role of baby makers and stock to be protected. It's fairly minor stuff but given the reality of how racism, classism sexism, ableism, homophobia etc. tend to intersect in authoritarian hierarchies; then I wouldn't be suprised if the where intentional implications. The "Why won't he listen to me??" did strike me as a 'privileged white lady discovers the extent of her standing for the first time' moment.

gothic paul is played by a trans man, so there could definitely be a thematic line there about (like how vera mentions in the video) white queer ppl and how they are ostracized for many other reasons but still have white privilege at the end of the day

@@gota7738 that tracks: If the point is for them to be specifically white-supremacist fascists, not just generically racist, that comes with gender-essentialism and a heavy dose of misogyny. Look at the number of alt-right influencer women who’ve been publicly falling out with the alt-right the last year or so because it turns out folks who are misogynistic towards their political enemies are also misogynistic towards their allies.

Yeah, it never quite sat right with me how the Doctor blithely blew off Martha's fears of being mistreated in Elizabethan England (esp if you know what Her Majesty historically DID about black folks in London), and the entire ep just acts like it's not even an issue...interesting that 12 took Bill to roughly the same time period, and she very much DID have to deal with it, at least in one person. Rosa would definitly play out differently now, wouldn't it? It would be interersting to see if even old friends, like the Brig, would see him differently now...

@@HandofOmega At least 12 punched the racist, but it wouldn't end up well for him if he did the same now.

Or ricky too couldnt which would make him look worse and , his death makes sense story wise.

What makes you think Ricky would be any less racist? He also chose to move to a white supremacist planet!

@@CritterKeeper01 I don't believe Ricky would not be racist, he was raised with the same societal values as everyone else in Finetime. I just think that Ricky's conscious actions to limit his time using the Bubble and to study history and other things indicates that of all the Finetimers, Ricky was the one the Doctor would have had the *best chance* of convincing. Not saying the Doctor definitely would persuade Ricky.

@@CritterKeeper01 Fine time is on a moon as the homeworld can be seen in the sky above them when panning over the dome at the start. Ricky along with all the "children" on finetime were sent there by their rich parents. So not sure how ricky "chose" to move to a white supremecist planet. He was presumably born on home world which was racist and then was sent to fine time which was equally racist. We see in the only interaction that ricky has with the doctor that he is reasonably respectful aside from getting annoyed at being talk down to about the door code thing due to the doctor assuming he was stupid like lindsy was.

@@XenithShadow Incidentally, when the Doctor was figuring out the alphabetical list part, did anyone else suspect that their parents were actually the ones who had set them up? That maybe they just wanted to be rid of their annoying kids, and so sent them far away to be done away with? If anything, that might have made for an even darker twist (pun intended!)...

I don't know if the "boomer writes a phone bad story" aspect is something RTD specifically intended to leverage to help create a bubble to burst by the end, if he did - masterful, and if he didn't - interesting coincidence that personally elevated my enjoyment of the episode

The voodoo line is the point when I allowed myself to call it what it was…. White supremacy and racism. I have become conditioned to try to find any plausible explanation other what is right in front of me. While I don’t have white privileged I do have economic and class privilege.

I am pretty sure that was intentional. Using “phone bad” as a smokescreen to hide the racism until phone gone and the racism is out in the open, and then you can look back and see it was there all along. Every instance where Lindy acted racist towards the Doctor happened in a context where it could also be explained as cliquishness or the Doctor not following the norms of Lindy’s circle, or Lindy just being a social media brat. Her betrayal of Ricky snaps you out of the whole “these are just annoying rich kids on the internet” and primes you to expect additional revelations about her. Then the ending happens and you realize that all of this was hiding in front of your nose the whole time and you didn’t see it, because you were stuck in the “phone bad” bubble. Just some of the cleverest writing I’ve seen on a show in a while.

^ 100% the same for me

@@CodeAndGin DW is certainly no stranger to "new tech is bad/scary" stories (remember when it pointed out how "dangerous" blutooth earpieces and wifi were?), so that's a great mislead to hide what's really going on...

It wanted them to die a slow painful death and slugs do just that.

@@OfficialSoraOkami More than that. It was having fun, watching these useless people walk right into their deaths. It probably recorded every death so it could watch long after the people of Finetime were extinct.

@@OfficialSoraOkami That's a good explanation to why didn't the dots just kill them directly as we saw they could, anyway the dots and the slugs are the real heroes of the story.

I thought the dots didn't kill them that way because it leaves a mess and causes panic. Getting eaten alive removes the body, muffles the screaming, and attracts less attention. It's about the efficiency.

Was it implied or said in the ep that it achieved sentience through their own ways, ie it was that malicious because it learned that from them? Because that drives it home even more that our own worst tendencies will be our downfall

💯. His laugh that turns into a frustrated yell is perfect.

Not to take anything away from Ncuti's performance, but watch Millie in that scene too. She quietly sells Ruby's disappointment of someone who's seen this story before, as the child of a black mother.

@@frankwales YES! I wish more people were also mentioning Ruby's reaction. Not that it was more important than the Doctor's, of course, but just that haunted look in her eyes where she's sadly seen this all before with her mother and grandmother.

That does mean a lot. I remember people asking for when ncuti willhave his “doctor moment”. And i get thats supposed to be the triumphant “imthe doctor and i got this” moment but RTD is doing something a bit different here and emphasizing more about how much this doctor cares, and this scream laugh was it in my mind. In fact i feel eccelsons moment was more in line with this in the doctor dances where he says “everybody lives. For once, everybody lives”. Can hear the relief in his voice that for once in a long time, he doesnt have to do calculus with peoples lives and sacrifice some to save the rest. This feels like the other side of that with his despair and frustration that everyone will be sacrificed this time due to something so stupid yet outside of his control.

That does mean a lot. I remember people asking for when ncuti willhave his “doctor moment”. And i get thats supposed to be the triumphant “imthe doctor and i got this” moment but RTD is doing something a bit different here and emphasizing more about how much this doctor cares, and this scream laugh was it in my mind. In fact i feel eccelsons moment was more in line with this in the doctor dances where he says “everybody lives. For once, everybody lives”. Can hear the relief in his voice that for once in a long time, he doesnt have to do calculus with peoples lives and sacrifice some to save the rest. This feels like the other side of that with his despair and frustration that everyone will be sacrificed this time due to something so stupid yet outside of his control.

I mean rassism and classism go hand in hand most of the time. Its not even a misdirect, its intersectional?

@@marocat4749 No... I mean yes, it IS intersectionl, but the classism is spelled out in a way the racism isn't. It's definitely a misdirect too.

"When people show you who they are...believe them."

yeah. I am bad with faces in general, so that one missed me completely. I am also used to men being viewed with distrust from women and on occasion have received a similar look of disgust after doing something entirely well-intentioned which almost certainly looked weird from an outside perspective - for example, a few weeks ago, I did a double-take and looked at someone's necklace, because it looked like the Witcher wolf, but of course a lot of guys won't be looking at someone's chest because of a necklace (it also wasn't, and I suspect the similarity never crossed her mind). Similarly a rambling rando in your DMs is probably going to look right weird. But yeah, even thinking back, there are one or two things I missed completely.

yeah this is why i don't think people should be shocked/ashamed that they didn't get it. it's designed to be a twist. a cleverly constructed one! but at the same time it is good cause for self-reflection with how there's definitely a pattern

I'm sorry it often takes having that shoved in our faces to notice 😥

And this adds to how we don't recognise things outside our different bubbles. So being from Derry I'll recognise imperialist and colonial rhetoric right away - but will I recognise subtle racist lines like Lindy's outside of that specific context? Often imperialism and racism are the same thing but not always. Are there comments I'm completely missing to friends of mine from other countries & cultures because my lens is too narrow? As Vera said herself she'd naturally be mostly focused on LGBT/Trans issues and might just not notice other transgressions. We all have a lot to think about from this episode - how to do better

"Contaminated" was a word that made me think it was more about culture - skin color isn't contagious, how the heck is being around someone of a different race supposed to contaminate you? Whereas cultural ideals and social mores definitely can be. I guess I forgot that racism doesn't actually make sense, so I shouldn't expect racists to make sense in their ideas.

@@CritterKeeper01 I think the "contamination" was maybe in reference to Ruby, that *she* was happily "consorting" (good word, that) with the black guy, and her attitude/ideas might spread. (Which of course they *might* have, given plenty of time... but it's not like catching Covid, Mr scaredycat control-freak colonialist!)

They warned me about stairs when I got bifocals. I needed the warning, even after I had the warning.

My mum chipped her tooth from walking into a lamp post on the phone to my dad when she was pregnant with me. I occasionally barely miss them as well. 😅

​@@DriverHenryWho3245perhaps that was one of ypur traits and not hers

I've straight up just... Done it. 😅 Introspection tends to mutually exclude walking, I've come to realize.

I have this everytime I get new glasses.

From what I’ve heard, it is actually realistic, how she walks. People have done experiments on rats where they keep them in mazes following simple corridors and routes their entire lives, then place them in open planes, they just cannot register directions and obstacles, their brains just aren’t wired for it. Same could be said for The Finetimers, although your reading is fascinating and does get into the psychology of Lindy a lot better

@@mrcritical6751she "walked" very much like I do when I’m having an episode of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome or vertigo…

I see your points about white supremacy and I raise you eugenics. Yeah they’re white, young & physically attractive. They’re also all ( visibly) non-disabled. One could argue that the lack of adaptability fostered by the use of the bubbles makes them functionally, effectively disabled without the bubble., that s a control mechanism.

Yes this exactly. Throught, she keeps saying she's stupid. But she's not. Any time she tries just a little bit, she's fine. This becomes clear when immediately in a calculated way gets Ricky killed. She's clearly not stupid, but she only bothers to apply herself when she needs to.

@@ContextWrenchWhite supremacy and eugenics go hand in hand. Yeah, you can technically have eugenics without white supremacy but I have never seen white supremacy without some form of eugenics, even if it’s just laws against miscegenation to avoid mixed race children that will eventually not be easily identifiable as white vs nonwhite.

That's definitely another issue- its too many cases where pointing out the microagressions will get shot down as "being overly sensitive".

@@arahman56 yes, that's a great point.

Are you a man? I feel my husband saw it this way and I went all Black Panther on the episode. I saw how she treated the Dr but gave Rudy a chance. I was like, she being racist! My husband was like, Ruby gave her a compliment, that's why she spoke to her. I was so mad at my husband for thinking that.

Ehh, no one is really beyond saving (since i think everyone should have the chance to be saved), but I agree that there are people who don't want to be saved which is ultimately their choice.

@@keelanbarron928 That's why I'm glad the Doctor still offered them a chance regardless and they didn't show them get their "just desserts" it's enough we know they won't make it just that it's their own fault that will happen.

I dunnoooo...I like how the story ended for effect, but I still can't help but feel that the Doctor still wouldn't give up on saving a lot of "don't know any better" young people so easily...Rather than allowing them to slowly die of starvation, animal attacks and disease, I could see him parking the TARDIS very visibly nearby, just standing there and waiting for those who are willing to change rather than die pointlessly to come to him and let him save them...Well, that can be head canon if you like, just because the ep ends doesn't mean the story HAS to end right there!

@@HandofOmega Possibly, it's important to remember all the issues that fell before them are self-made and the Doctor shouldn't be condemned for letting them go. Without him no-one would've even made it out of finetime. He's locked out at every turn, so it's not he didn't try, it's they wouldn't let him until they had no choice.

@@HandofOmega He did try several times to help her, and he does offer help still, but if they dont even wabnt to be dragged to be rescued, he cant force them. And they are aware now. And every time the doctor does its shown as a bad theng, tennant on waters of mars, donna if nessesary, Clara. He pretty much learned that he cant do that against all costs if people again and again violently refuse him, which she did.

And when they meet for real she doesn't even look at the Doctor, just Ruby.

​@@jujublue4426at the very beginning, she ignores them both. It's awkward to watch her see her saviors for the first time in person and not even acknowledge they exist. And she never would have if they didn't push her to.

Christ. This I hadn't realised. Exceptional writing

This is true. As a black person, who has experienced on numerous occasions the impact that racism has, I would have happily let those people die. But if I was very young, and more new to it, my reaction would definitely have been similar to his.

Martha would probably have a laugh at his situation after his attitude in Shakespeare Code.

@@AroAceGamer and Bill too! They dealt with the racism but Martha got it bad in the two parter when they go back before WW1

I don't know if it was because of his colour but I definitely think it was down to people almost always agreeing to being helped, even if it is reluctantly for some. He certainly wouldn't be used to that happening. EDIT: I mean that as the Doctor may not have seen it that way but Lindy and the others certainly turned down his help because of his colour.

I kind of noticed that, but it didn’t fully process yet. Good catch!

True. And if she was raised in one of those bubbles (which it definitely implies she was) she wouldn't have developed any spacial awareness because she never needed it.

Just closing your eyes can mess with your balance and in experiments it takes about thirty minutes to an hour for people to start losing their sense of balance when deprived of a horizon to orientate themselves. Proprioception (the sense of where you are relative to everything else) also starts to fail, which is pretty much what we see in the episode. After all, she doesn't normally use her eyes to orient herself. That's what the arrows/satnav voice is for . . .

I took it as not able to think for herself

I know people that can’t drive without a sat nav.

I think the difference between automatic and deliberate actions might come into play. Some actions become so natural to us that we don't need to think about them, so that when we're put in a situation where we're suddenly thinking about these actions we have problems doing them because we don't really understand what it is we normally do. Her walking without the bubble for once could be making her too conscious of the action of walking, which would fit with her improvement after meeting Ricky. From that point on she's stopped thinking about the action and just letting her legs do their thing.

The hint for me about the underline storyline first was all Lindy's friend were white and second she was rude to the doctor. Third this place was for rich kids and most rich people are white. I think the home.world was mostly white rich people. Bigotry is a disease of thought Lindy and the others must b have been.raised for their parents. Hatred is learned not inherited. Ruby got it right away .I saw it on her face. The doctor realized it and.still wanted to save them but their hatred was ingrained from childhood. I felt his frustration and pain in his situation that he couldn't help them. Ncuti did an excellent job in acting his characters feelings

Stunning performance. He's an incredible Doctor.

​lll😢ll😅l😢l😢ml 8ll😢llllll😢😢lkl😅😅7l😢l😢ll7l😢l😢😢ll7lll😢kl😅llllll😮l7lllllovell ĺ7l66666667ll😮@cynthiar3444 lllllllkl😅lovell so 😢l6😢llll😢😢kkk I love 😢😢llll😅lollipop all of your llllllkllll😮

It also speaks to his past white privilege and would challenge his belief in his own brilliance. How many situations did he succeed based on people being inclined to listen to a man with a white face? He knows that when he was 9,10., 11 and 12, this would’ve gone much differently. Worse, he might not have even noticed.

Almost every other face... and there are levels to the way they as a society reject outsiders. keep in mind we have morphed together a rigid class system to a rigid caste system. Keep in mind a theme runs through LOGAN's RUN, BLADE RUNNER and GATTACA. The bubble people inside their bubble worlds cannot exist away from their electronic interface, and likewise be aware the predatory species of alien beings who discovered this utopian/dystopian paradise have multiplied the way rabbits did in Australia shortly after being introduced. I honestly think NONE of the other Doctors could have saved them, he needed Ruby and precisely Ruby as his only hope for interspecies communication. He is briefly allowed inside their bubble world because he is a friend of Ruby, and she only LOOKS like she actually belongs! Ruby is unique. He is unique. I think this is a clone hive world in its endzone. They would reject ALL Gallifreyian timelords!!!! They are that insular. This is WHY the script is so brilliant, and WHY Ncuti is spot on!

the exact same for me. i thought "can they actually justify only casting white people just for the aesthetic of everyone looking the same?" and then promptly forgot about it until the ending

I expected a generic "social media bad" episode, it was such a good surprise.

@@jujublue4426 Indeed. None of us were expecting it!

:( He died hot that worst people turn on their own if they are semi decent, i guess. And writing wise ricky would have been in the way of the end probably. Him dead closes that , but ricky might have done something? Him dying makes so much sense story wise.

@@marocat4749 And it's actually sad because he was probably redeemable, I have no doubts he also had his own racist biases but he didn't react to the Doctor in disgust and actually listened to him with no problem, he's also more curious and cultivated than the others who don't leave their bubble and has an interest in history. People who go beyond the toxicity of their closed community are also the ones who can defeat their own biases.

@@jujublue4426 Curiosity is his saving grace.

@marocat4749 Yeah I think it was sad but necessary.

Ricky dod still choose to move to a white supremacist planet, so I'm not so confident he would have turned out any better once their immediate need for help passed. We can but hope!

Same, because you need a second watch to "reconnect the dots" and with Lindy's actual nature in mind you immediatly get what her micro-aggressions are about.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The fact that they kind of look goofy makes the characters helplessness around them (at least on the first watch) and weird inability to not walk into them scarier to watch. They shouldn't be so dangerous but they are for a stupid reason you can't change, and it makes you feel more powerless.

Totally agree with you and Vera. The clues I spotted I put down to the characters’ general vapidity, and the realisation of what I was actually watching hit me like a ton of bricks (not least through Ncuti’s performance).

I'm black and didn't realize.

There was at least one case where the Doctor had to deal with bigotry towards himself as a Time Lord (in "Night of the Doctor", where he was blamed for the Time War even though he wasn't a part of it -- which meant the woman he was trying to save actively refused his help and died). Of course, that was a case a of guilt-by-association, rather than outright racism/supremacism.

In the past others have hated and tried to trap or kill him because of who he is and what he has done. This is the only time I'm aware of that he was dismissed, rejected, and despised because if his appearance.

@@YTAgnesAnne Exactly. Those who opposed him because he was a Time Lord had to realize his species first (plus, they usually had legitimate reasons to be suspicious of the Time Lords), they didn't just reject him on sight

I mean, classism and racism are married subjects so I’d still say you weren’t a million miles off spotting the first.

I was in the exact same position, viewing the story from a class based angle and my partner pointing out the racist elements. I clocked some bits of racism, but just took it as being white privilege and thought nothing more of it.

Yeah, i noticed the classism too yet still missed the racism.

Isn't Ruby from Lower Class? She's not middle class and her accent is marked that way, IIRC? If so, she should have been dismissed the same way the Doctor was... But I thought at first it was supposed to be an all white society because it was insular, but not that it was deliberately so to that point.

@@kimyoonmisurnamefirst7061 But Lindy's friends have varied regional accents that are not marked middle or upper so Ruby would not stand out

From the comments I'm reading here and ln the other reactors I follow, most folks are getting it, and discussing it thoughtfully. That said, that's all from within *my* bubble. KZfaq's algorithm has offered up a video with a screenshot from this ep, and titled "Doctor Who now hates the fans!", or similar. I don't wanna watch it... but part lf me feels I should check what's going on over there... =:o/

And that's also metaphorical. But we also learn that actually she can get round obstacles (both physical and problems to solve), if she just puts a small bit of effort in but she can't be bothered unless she has to.

So did I. I literally thought, "oh, Ruby knows the language" because God knows how many times she's had to deal with them. And it just hit me as I was typing this. She's a white woman who was adopted by a Black woman. She likely understood on all the levels what was going on. That's why she took point.

Ricky was the white Doctor that Lindy accepted. His words and actions were exactly the Doctor’s.

​@@idjlesAnd she still screwed him over the second he was no longer essential to her continued survival.

Another thing about that scene I just noticed. The boat they’re in looked familiar to me, when it goes into the light at the end of the tunnel. It just occurred to me what it reminds me of. The boats in the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland/world. With the canopy on top and what looks like a smokestack poking through. Those boats are probably based on real ones that would have been used to take (white) explorers/settlers/colonists into the savage and untamed (non white) wilderness. The ride is meant to give (a parody of) that experience, and I can see a similar design here being used to evoke the same idea.

@@jasonlescalleet5611 Yeah, the whole thing -- especially beanie guy -- gave me massive colonizer vibes, especially the way he talked.

@@NicoleM_radiantbaby Another scary thought, if this was any previous Doctor, who would NOT have triggered their racism response...it's possible that the Doctor might never realize how bad these people are, and would even *praise* their "indomitable human spirit" as he's done before... Incidentally, this is the second episode that's made me think of Wall-E, after Space Babies. Coincidence? hm...

@@HandofOmega Yeah, I thought that too. Scary.

​​@@NicoleM_radiantbabyI don't know. It atleast used to be common in science fiction for racism to be dealt with by using alien characters. The Doctor is an alien, so his alien nature could have been played up as a reason for them to reject him and his help. Maybe RTD thought that would be too subtle for the audience or maybe he preferred the Doctor to express himself in a more human way as he did at the end of the episode. I don't think any of the Doctors would have praised them for anything, atleast not with RTD in control. He is making a clear statement against Colonization. The Doctor cannot be seen as with colonist plans. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Colonization figures somehow into the Doctor's origin story. I also think their is a connection being made here with certain people's views on "wokism", colonization, and slavery. There are people who want to teach children that slavery wasn't bad and not teach them about the terrible things that colonists and later the U.S government did to Native Americans and teach them that the Civil War wasn't fought because of slavery. There are people who would call the Doctor "woke" and hate him. People are hated by White Supremists for simply not being White Supremist even if they are white. Color may be the first thing some people notice, but once talking begins people are also hated for their social and political views. Many people have in recent years ended relationships with family members and old friends because of these issues. Polarization is higher than ever. That is why this episode would have been different if it had been made earlier.

Millie is probably the best actor to play a companion in new Who. Not that it's a competition, but it's honestly impressive just how much talent she has shown in so few episodes.

The slugs commissioned the art!

The place is essentially a summer camp for rich kids to pretend that they are adults without any real responsibility. Their parents paid for most of them to be there. I imagine whoever built/designed this place wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing even if everyone is in their bubble 95% of the time because this is supposed to be high end. It's something to show your shareholders at least.

@@voltijuice8576 Ahh, Vincent Van Sluggo

Not all had blone hair, some has red hair some had brown and black hair… gothic paul, that other girl at the end

Except Gothic Paul, who had darker hair, but as mentioned before, had the least followers. Possibly due to both tone and visual non-conformity

Not all were blonde, there was two red heads, three brunettes and Gothic Paul had black hair and some more extras blurred in the spinning bubble not counting Ruby there were only 6 Characters That were Blonde and 6 that weren't so half and half.

@@OfficialSoraOkamiI'd be curious to go back through the subscriber counts and see if there are any correlations

At one point because i forgot about some of the minor people who appeared at one point i was thinking they were thals but yeah theres there ginger trumpet b at the end and gotjoc paul

LOVE that take, esp ironic given he was IN that movie!🤩👍 EDIT: Ricky>Ken😁

I said what I said. 😜

@@CouncilofGeeks I mean considering what we have heard about Harry Houdini and the Doctor, I wouldn't be surprised

As someone who is really slow to catch up to newer slang, seeing people openly brag about their "body counts" really threw me at first!😁😅

The Doctor fucks. Fitz, specifically.

"Good Queen Bess. Let me tell you, her nickname is no longer... anyway..." - 10th Doctor

I have challenged a couple of people on what they didn’t like about it, and I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer. "It just didn’t feel like Doctor Who." In what way? "The racism twist came out of nowhere." No it didn’t, there were many red flags leading up to it. I missed them too, and felt pretty shit about myself for not realising sooner. "It was too much like Black Mirror." Ok, but everyone was already saying that before it had even aired, just because Black mirror did a 'social media bad' episode, doesn’t mean Doctor Who can’t as well, and even then it really isn’t doing that in the way Black Mirror would (but then I don’t watch Black Mirror so what do I know).

I was especially impressed that this wasn’t just “social media is bad.” I think cis white people can be overly dismissive of technology that has had a positive impact for marginalized groups, helping foster community. Here the episode targets the worst elements of social media that reinforce racism

Rassism is one of the things even and , classism and rassism, dah, like its multi layered. intersectional i guess. And god beware that rassism is sad and selfdestructive. Which review with neil forrester has a good episode on. How he becomes an overt rassist and , yeah. Ok different subtility, but rassism or different cultures and needless being selfdestructive is just a theme in a lot of media. God the zygon invasion is about that almost God media literacy is dead :( And if you call it a bubble of ignorance you i guess could say the same, but then, i guess that criticisms werent interesting into bubbles of ignorace discussed either. Yeah dr who talks about xenophobia and harm like all the time, which rassism is .

@@intergalactic92 Geez as a white person I didn't notice on the frst watch but as soon as they called the Tardis voodoo and said the Doctor wasn't one of them the other details became obvious, idk if it's because I have been in the same place as Ruby, seeing people being less trusty of my black friends than they were of me but I don't get how people don't realize how well done the message is on their second watch at least.

Probably butthurt Bowlestrek and Nerdrotic fans realizing the episode is about them and hating that 🤣

“Sentience” is misused to mean “sapience” all the time. I didn’t learn the difference until 3 years ago. It blew my sapient (hopefully) mind 😂

@becausepuppets yeah, normally the mistake makes a plot hole kinda thing, but a bad one really, but still a little nonsensical. However, I think it works perfect here

​@GMSquared Sapience and sentience are only loosely philosophically defined and not much used, in philosophy we tall about qualia (the experience or "what it is like" to experience, so similar to sentience) and intentionality (what experiences are about or firected towards, like thought and sapience) which together comprise conciousness. However it's easier to make a case that qualia is both necessary and sufficient for conciousness, wheras intentionality is neither. For example, current some AI may well satisfy the criteria for intentionality, they are complex systems which have interactions with paticular subject matter. But there is no qualia, they aren't aware of the things they are processing, they're just processing. When it comes to things like the emotional motivation exhibited by a machine capeable of "hating", qualia is far more important than intentionality, the machine has to experience the sensation of hatred. A machine being intentional, for which we may sub in sapient, or at least sudo-sapient is not something noteworthy, but a machine being capeable of having qualia, that is, being sentient would be exceptional.

@@HeyItsMad Extraordinary reply! Thank you for sharing your knowledge 🥰

@@HeyItsMad I agree. To be clear, I was mostly just saying that the word was very accurate. You did teach me more, so I thank you. I just want to be clear that I actually agree with you and was not trying to say that the doctor, or even Vera, was wrong in any way, just the opposite. It was a positive response to when Vera said mentioned that the Dot still used a very logical method of executing it's goal.

I'm face blind and that caught my attention but I honestly didn't think much of it, since I have a hard time telling people apart. But like. She doesn't remember/recognize the one dark skinned dude, wearing bright orange? Then I realized like ten minutes later and felt like a dumbass.

You mean dawn of the death? The zombie movie of people stock in a súper market and (spoilers ahead) after a long escape they manage to get in a boat and reach a beach, just to meet with a hoard of zombies waiting for them

Yes, in Thin Ice, the Doctor is aware of racism and attempts to initially manage around it. I think the degree of white supremacy was probably shocking to him.

From those of us who can't access iPlayer or Unleashed because we don't live in the UK, thank you for sharing!

It reminded me of the Coin Death in X Men: First Class.

I don't think I would have assumed it was relevant to the plot, just that it was a deliberate casting choice, maybe to consciously counter all the all-white episodes of the past.

I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. You would have noticed because Doctor Who is a British TV programme and Britain has a predominantly white population. It would be okay to have a single episode that's predominantly white/black/asian/whatever, the rest of the series will be as diverse as ever.

@@CritterKeeper01 I suppose in my defence I've been simultaneously watching classic who which is very white.

@@k.stewart007 Weren't the Movelands all black with cornrows? It's been a while, but I do recall a bunch of women in shiny silver jumpsuirs.

Ruby has seen Susan Twist at other points outside the 73 Yards timeline too, otherwise she wouldn't have picked up on recognising Twist within 73 Yards. I don't see a reason to believe she specifically recalls the 73 Yards Twist as opposed to any from the prior episodes, given she never finishes her sentence to define which she recalls.

​@@scroogledoogle3028 Yeah, even as someone very interested in the idea (hinted by her 3 times vs 2) that she almost not quite remembers 73 yards, I'm surprised how many people I've seen are sure that this scene is referencing it. Even with her not quite placing it, and saying oh no not that time the doctor is saying I just assumed she was trying to remember one of the other times. Like maybe The Devil's Chord since Twist was much more a background character in that one and therefore would be harder to quite place.

She can only see the surface, how fitting.

Assuming you believe that the maternal aspect isn’t also planted somehow.

​@@LinguarumFautor But before she just showed up places. Now we are talking about at the very implanting false memories if not giving birth and raising a child.

​@benjamintillema3572 who says she didn't just overwrite actual "mummy's" appearance? I doubt Lindy has ever seen her mother with her real eyes.

He only has one quick conversation with him and imo, he does not seem uncomfortable at all. They are even a little flirty.

@@adawuz7342 no, ncuti and Millie are flirty, he’s clearly very uncomfortable and irritated that the doctor is giving him instructions. It’s one scene but it’s as blatant as all of Lindey’s micro-aggressions in the beginning, you just have to be aware of it.

@@henriknielsen9092 Yes, I saw Lindy as Marjorie Taylor Greene -- a racist but also a terrible person in general. Ricky however would be the contrast -- a pleasant person within that society but still a white supremacist.

Yep, the last time we saw snow in 73 yards was when Ruby was locked out of the apartment.

@@carpelibrarium8522 and even that was outside the building.

You're not the only one, I thought the *parents* had sent their useless kids here to be (mostly painlessly) knocked off! Seemed to explain how the monsters were there, why the system didn't register them, etc...

That might be why he is so popular. He has something everyone wants but no one else has: authenticity. He's present in the moment in a way someone who is always in the bubble never could be and they can recognize it and idealize it even if they can't articulate what exactly makes him special.

Ironically that's the first scene he filmed of this season.