Doctor Who (2023– ): Episode two recap and review

Photo courtesy of Doctor Who / Wikimedia Commons

*Spoilers Ahead*

Doctor Who’s (2023– ) newest season premiered last Saturday, Apr. 12, with the episode “The Robot Revolution,” starring Ncuti Gatwa in the titular role, and introducing Varada Sethu as new character and companion Belinda Chandra. The episode ended on a worrisome note, with the Doctor struggling to return Belinda home.

Episode two, written by showrunner Russell T. Davies (RTD), aired Saturday, Apr. 19, and is titled “Lux.” This is my official recap and review of the newest episode, with the disclaimer that my opinions are completely subjective. My critic credentials include my lifelong love of the franchise, as well as my dad’s—who watched this episode with me! Spoilers ahead, obviously.

The episode starts coldly at the location of a movie theater in Miami, Florida, 1952. When a strange energy beams into the projection room of the theater, the cartoon character, Mr. Ring-a-Ding (voiced by Doctor Who alumnus Alan Cumming) on the big screen seemingly comes to life, becoming aggressive and addressing audience members directly. He then climbs out of the screen, and audience members start to panic. This opening immediately felt reminiscent of the episode from series two in 2006, “The Idiot’s Lantern.” The episodes are set within a year of each other (1952-1953), and similarly, “The Idiot’s Lantern” focused on a villain residing in television sets.

The episode then returns to the end point of the series premiere: the Doctor with Belinda in his time machine, struggling to get Belinda home, and the TARDIS—a fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft—through this adventure safely. At this point in time, Belinda is not thrilled, to say the least, that the Doctor cannot seem to travel back to the day she left Earth: May 24, 2025. As the Doctor constructs a device to help him guide his ship home, Belinda spends some time telling him about her family.

The two landed on Earth in Miami in 1952, and so they used the device to triangulate coordinates for a path home. Belinda is wary, but excited at the prospect of time travel, and elects to get dressed up in period-appropriate attire with the Doctor. While waiting for the device to work, the two discover the movie theater from earlier on, now chained tightly shut. They talk to a few locals who are out in the middle of the night, and discover that over a dozen people went missing from the theater a few months ago.

It is here where Belinda feels the first hit of the time period, and the Doctor has to take a moment to explain American segregation laws of the era, as well as the fact that even though she is of Indian descent, Jim Crow laws would also apply to her in this time and location. This felt a little over-explained, but perhaps a non-American audience would disagree.

Despite showcasing some regressive time-traveling last year, this subject was not really touched on extensively. In this season, however, actor Gatwa’s Doctor must experience how his new appearance as a black man affects how people treat him, similarly to how the character had to adjust to less than liberated times when played by Jodie Whittaker.

The Doctor and Belinda then break into the theater, where they encounter the owner, Mr. Ring-a-Ding. The animation in this episode is absolutely something to note; watching the 2-dimensional character interact with the 3-dimensional real world was incredibly visually interesting, despite being a little off-putting. 

Mr. Ring-a-Ding is soon revealed to be Lux, part of the Pantheon of Discord— transcendental beings outside the universe looking to cause chaos. While these beings have appeared more in recent years, the Pantheon includes Doctor Who (1963– ) villains from episodes over 50 years ago. Because the Doctor has tangled with many members of the Pantheon, he starts to scrape together a plan.

He and Belinda are trapped inside the film reel, momentarily becoming animated characters! They try over and over to break out of the film, finding themselves in situations that feel real, but ultimately are just another trick. At one point, the Doctor manages to break through a glass screen, climbing out of a TV and into the living room of what appears to be Doctor Who (1963– ) fans.

I must say— this is objectively hilarious, and I applaud RTD for unashamedly and playfully dragging his own fanbase. The visual effects here, specifically the perspective tricks, are incredible; for a moment, I thought the Doctor was about to climb out of my TV!

I will not spoil the rest of the episode, but I have no complaints about the plot resolution. I wonder if we will see more members of the Pantheon this season, as last season we met Maestro in “The Devil’s Chord” and Sutekh in “Empire of Death.” My annoying fan moment from this episode is that I knew in advance this plot would be Pantheon related, as sometime last year set photos leaked online from when this episode was being filmed, and the broken theater sign displaying “HAR B INGER” was visible.

This episode featured lots of fun effects, like the perspective trick and digitally filmed features to give the appearance of a film reel. Similar to the previous episode, the costuming is on point! In the past, Doctor Who (1963– ) occasionally lacked the fun period attire, but with this reboot and budget increase, they are finally leaning into extravagant costuming much more. It looks great!

As always, I have several questions about where we are headed next. The creepy Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) somehow returns in this episode, and is among the crowd of people in Miami at the end of the episode. She speaks to a few people nearby, pointing out the TARDIS and warning them to enjoy the show while it lasts, and that it will end on May 24. 

Here is where I have to mention, May 24, 2025, or the date Belinda is trying to get home to, is the scheduled air date for the penultimate episode of the season. There are lots of theories amongst fans on who Mrs. Flood could be, as well as theories about countless other details. I do not yet have a full theory pertaining to Mrs. Flood, but my dad believes she might be connected to a character from classic Doctor Who (1963-1989). 

I am enjoying the season so far, and I like Belinda a lot. I am excited to see what comes next, with this week's upcoming episode, “The Well,” co-written by Sharma Angel Walfall, the show's new writer.