Doctor Who (2023- ): Season two’s mystery-filled premiere
Photo courtesy of Harald Krichel / Wikimedia Commons
*Spoilers Ahead*
In less than six months since the show’s sixty-first anniversary, the Doctor Who franchise has returned to television with new episodes. Although this season is officially dubbed “Season 2,” it will be the show’s fifteenth season since its reboot in 2005, and the franchise’s forty-first season overall.
The season began on Saturday, Apr. 12, releasing at 3:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Disney+, and will have eight episodes airing weekly until May 31. Actor Ncuti Gatwa —most notable for his role in Barbie (2023), and Sex Education (2019-2023)— returns for his second season as the titular character, “the Doctor.” Last year’s season also starred Millie Gibson as Ruby, but her departure at the end of the season left fans wondering what next year would have in store.
Season two starts off strong with its first episode, “The Robot Revolution,” written by showrunner Russell T. Davies (RTD). The episode immediately introduces a new character, Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu. We are first shown a flashback to seventeen years prior, where Belinda receives a birthday gift from her annoying boyfriend: a framed certificate stating that he named a star after her.
Seventeen years later, in 2025, Belinda is a nurse and no longer dating that awful boyfriend. She is good at her job, fights with her roommates, drinks a bottle of expired milk for dinner, and crashes into bed shortly after a long shift. Her rest is interrupted, when a cartoony-looking spaceship lands outside, large robots breaking into her front door. Strangely, these robots address her by name, thinking she is their queen. They state that they come from the star named after her, which they refer to as “Missbelindachandra.”
The robots take her to the star system, where Belinda learns that the inhabitants there are dictated by the robots and the “AI Generator,” whom they have decided Belinda will marry after killing her and turning her into a similar robot creature. To save her, the Doctor infiltrates the planet, starts a rebellion against the robots, and helps Belinda escape into the under-city.
To those surprised at showrunner RTD’s heavy-handed contemporary commentary, this show has always been a little “too woke” for comfort, and no writer has ever tried to hide that. Honestly, my first thought about the AI Generator was not anything related to the current Artificial Intelligence market, but instead, that it kind of looked like Freddy Fazbear from the popular gaming franchise Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014– ).
The AI commentary buckles down later on, implying that the true villains are not faulty or wild robots, but entitled young white men who think the world is theirs to control. This is emphasized in a line from this episode that made me laugh out loud, “planet of the incels.”
To save us all some time (and word count), I will not break down any of the time travel logistics or jargon of the episode. The plot was interesting and fun— maybe a little hard to follow for a moment or two.
Technically speaking, I enjoyed this episode. The set and costume design of Missbelindachandra were reminiscent of Star Wars, especially with the costuming and weaponry. Gatwa’s Doctor is a standout in the costuming department so far, and he starts the season in another kilt, a reference to his Scottish identity. Another nice touch that I appreciated was Belinda’s mini Ugg boots. The visual effects were also stunning (thanks to the Disney budget), but I am most excited to see Doctor Who’s classic practical effects in later episodes.
When it was first announced that Sethu would be a series regular this year, fans wondered if she would play the character she played in “Boom”— a futuristic episode about a religious war on a distant planet. It was confirmed at the end of the episode, however, that the character, Mundy Flynn, is a distant future relative of Belinda’s. Sethu will be a series regular as the new companion (someone who travels with Doctor Who) this year, which I am excited about. Her character is already intriguing and likable, and has a personality that bounces off the Doctor nicely.
Many have said that RTD is “reheating his own nachos”— or self-plagiarising —with his return to the show. It’s true that last season shared many similarities, both in characters and storyline— with Seasons One and Two, which originally aired in 2005 and 2006. Many viewers drew strong comparisons between Ruby and Rose (played by Billie Piper), noting the likeness between the two companions. When it was announced that the next companion (after a young, blonde woman played the former) was going to be a young independent woman of color working in the healthcare industry, the “nacho reheating" allegations from fans only became more frequent. Personally, I am not mad about it— I liked his nachos the first time.
At the end of the episode, Belinda requests the Doctor to take her home immediately. Unfortunately, he is unable to land on the exact date she left Earth. Belinda’s increasing anger at the Doctor excited me— I love when companion characters don’t want to be there. Something about their hesitation to jump into the time travel lifestyle makes their stories so much more interesting to me.
In terms of looking ahead at the season-long plot, I must mention Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson). Mrs. Flood has been the topic of many fan theories since her first appearance in the episode “The Church on Ruby Road.” At first, she appears to be Belinda’s neighbor, which is strange because she was Ruby’s neighbor last season. Before you can make sense of this, is kidnapped mid-conversation by robots— already a wild scene —but then, out of nowhere, she breaks the fourth wall. When the Doctor shows up chasing after them, she turns to the camera, stares directly at the audience, and says, “You ain’t seen me.” Like… what is her deal? She scares me!
After watching this episode, I am curious as to why the Doctor cannot land back on Earth to take Belinda home, and why he stumbled upon her after meeting her descendant 3,000 years from now. Even though I want answers now, I am excited to find out in the lineup of exciting episodes this spring.