It turns out it takes a whole season to shake off the rust. Doctor Who’s first full season after the return of Russell T. Davies and his production company had some really high moments. It also had quite a few low points. Many of the elements behind these highs and lows are present in Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 1, “The Robot Revolution.” Somehow though, the end result is significantly better. A new companion mystery actually feels compelling. The current political jockeying is less annoying even while still being on the nose. Ncuti Gatwa remains a charismatic powerhouse. Season 2 and we are so back.
New season, new companion, same mystery box.
“The Robot Revolution” is all about introducing Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra, The Doctor’s newest traveling companion. Sethu is a breath of fresh air, commanding attention in a way that she didn’t get to in her guest starring role last season – we will get to that, by the way. Mille Gibson is no slouch as Ruby Sunday, but Belinda’s filled with body language that instantly communicates focus and control. She’s not a mess, caring more about missing her next nursing shift than alien robots. This foundation sets her a bit apart.
It’s a bit hard to look at Belinda and not see Freema Agyeman’s Martha Jones, the companion who probably got the shortest stick of the original Davies run. Some of Belinda’s traits are quite similar to Martha’s – the healthcare background, the implication of future impact in her timeline, and more. But Varada Sethu’s curious but grounded energy separates her from most modern companions. That alone helps prevent me from rolling my eyes at the now-standard Who-isms.
Of course we had to set time aside to explain the “plot hole” that is Sethu having been in the series prior. Naturally, Anita Dobson’s fourth wall breaking mystery woman is also Belinda’s neighbor. Somehow, The Doctor already knows she’s “special.” But Belinda doesn’t care about being special. It doesn’t excite her. Having a companion actively resist being the center of the universe for a season is enticing enough of an idea to me.
“You’re dangerous,” says the smartest woman in the room.
The story of Doctor Who season 2, episode 1 does help sell this new companion. The Doctor and Belinda are desynchronized from each other’s time streams, which adds a fun layer in questioning what exactly The Doctor knows. Normally it’d be frustrating to obfuscate who first set The Doctor onto tracking her down, but with the unique opportunity to return to some time-wimey shenanigans I’ll allow it. I did roll my eyes at the show going out of its way to explain away Sethu’s guest appearance last season. Sure, Doctor Who casts basically every British adjacent actor at least once so these things can’t be avoided. But is it worth dedicating thought to beyond fans recognizing things?
I will grant that the reveal that the future soldier from “Boom” being Belinda’s descendant leads The Doctor to conclude that its “fate” is something that could be worthwhile. Mostly in that Belinda finds the entire thing off putting and creepy. She doesn’t appreciate his violation of her personhood by confirming her future family history. It helps cement her decision that The Doctor is dangerous. This all also plays into the alien robot uprising and its origins that the two find themselves in.
A firm anti-AI stance.
The uprising of Missbelindachandra – getting its name from one of those scam star buying schemes – drives most of the episode while being on the periphery at the same time. Ten years prior on the planet, the mechanical population turned on its human(esque) citizens and created a fascist state. Despite this they’re directed by their leader, the “AI Generator,” to retrieve Belinda since she’s the “rightful” queen. The AI Generator is a great bit. It looks like a big mechanical head that you’d find on Classic Who episodes and its own name on the center. Ditto the robots (Nicholas Briggs, getting to play a non-Dalek), big bright red, and bulky. We don’t get this aesthetic often and it works here.
The reveal of who is actually the AI Generator also works, even if it barely makes sense. Belinda’s pushy and controlling ex also getting caught up in the time blip and going full incel is Davies being way on the nose again. At the very least, it’s not just to look at the camera and yell “Message!” Alan being a nasty and controlling man hiding literally behind AI for validation fits the story while being recognizable in our world. It makes perfect sense for Doctor Who, a BBC owned property to have opinions on Generative AI. This coming as companies like OpenAI are actively petitioning the UK government to allow them to scrape as much copyrighted material as they’d like is not a coincidence.
Alan’s corrective and controlling nature also reflects some of the more troubling aspects of The Doctor. To Belinda’s point, he really has said those same words to women before, enticing them with the fantasy of running away without quantifying the danger. Nearly every companion departure is marked by sadness, which generally puts The Doctor into a bad emotional state. This episode suggests that this season intends to put some of this behavior on the table for critique.
A compelling and fun season kick off.
Altogether, “The Robot Revolution” is a very strong start to the season. Comparing this to last season’s overarching story, I’m at least curious to find out what’s going on. The adventure on Missbelindachandra is a goofy kind of Who we don’t always get unironically. And there’s finally more to dwell on beyond Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor performance. He’s putting in so much work to prop up this new era and I’m so glad the show is finally returning the favor.
Doctor Who Season 2 is available on Disney+.
Featured images via BBC/Disney
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'DOCTOR WHO' SEASON 2 - "THE ROBOT REVOLUTION" - 8/10
8/10
Travis Hymas is a freelance writer and self appointed Pokémon historian out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Known to be regularly obessive over pop culture topics, gaming discourse, and trading card games, he is a published critic featured on sites such as Uppercut and The Young Folks.
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