Doctor Who returns with The Robot Revolution, a bold but uneven series opener introducing a new companion, Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu). The episode brims with ambition but struggles to ground its emotional core or deliver its message.
Penned by showrunner Russell T Davies and directed by Peter Hoar (It’s a Sin, The Last of Us), The Robot Revolution blends out-of-this-world adventure with a dash of social commentary, kicking off with the abduction of nurse Belinda Chandra by a race of eerie, gigantic red robots from outer space.
Addressing the elephant in the room, I was apprehensive about season two. I had reservations following the disappointing conclusion in season one. The Christmas episode, Joy to the World, kicked the show while it was down, and, considering the embarrassing opener that was Space Babies, there was all the reason to expect The Robot Revolution to follow suit.
It’s by no means a standout, but it is an improvement. Is it enough to win audiences back? I’m dubious.
The story is better, at least, than Space Babies. Seventeen years ago, Belinda Chandra was bought a star as a present by then-boyfriend Alan Budd (Jonny Green), naming it after her, except, unbeknownst to them both, the star happens to be a planet. Cut back to the present day, and the inhabitants of Missbelindchandra are in the midst of a robot uprising, an ongoing war that only their Queen can end. By kidnapping our new companion across the cosmos, the titular robots reveal that Belinda must marry the AI Generator to bring peace. Narratively, it’s not the strongest, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Its undoing, though, lies within the message the episode tries to deliver. The reveal that our AI is controlled by former boyfriend Alan (Al for short, hence AI) is predictably apparent, but his motives become a rug pull with no discernible reason leading us to care. Noticeably absent in the episode, aside from the initial flashback, audiences are never shown Alan’s behaviour, attitudes or desire for power towards Miss Belinda Chandra. The episode alludes to his patterns of coercive control, but this is only in dialogue, referring to him as an incel. Still, we needed more reason to believe or understand his character. If the flashback had spent more time with the pair, it could have enabled audiences to see the micro-aggressions or behavioural patterns he supposedly exhibited that, when exasperated by the foreign tech, would have explained the story the episode sets to tell.
However, Varada Sethu is a tremendous addition to the cast as new companion Belinda Chandra. Previously starring in Boom as Mundy Flynn, Sethu now leads with immense skill as nurse Belinda. Offering a juxtaposition conflict to the Doctor, Belinda questions and ignores his decisions, a contentious dynamic audiences haven’t seen on-screen in New Who since Donna Noble in Series 4. A standout hospital sequence gives her space to shine, suggesting complexity beneath the surface. Again, though, I’d like to explore Belinda’s character further as there are elements alluded to in the episode we have yet to see, such as what drives her and what empowers her to make divisive calls.
Whilst being a nurse is a good baseline for her drive, I’d like to see more of what is at her heart, as a career is not a sole-defying characteristic; look at the over-reliance on this with previous companion Yasmin Khan. To be clear, though, this eagerness to learn more isn’t a result of underdevelopment but rather evidence of how strong Sethu’s delivery of Belinda is. I’m keen to know more about who she is, rather than the mystery surrounding her, a mistake made with Ruby Sunday in the past season.
Where the story falters, so does its camera work by the director of photography, Sam Care. An overreliance on clean reaction shots makes the episode questionably sterile, an aesthetic that doesn’t land when attempting to immerse us in a grassroots rebellion. A clean reaction shot shows a character unobstructed by characters or objects, such as Belinda Chandra reacting or conversing with the Missbelindachandrabots without visual indication that they share the same space. It’s a shame, then, that so much of the episode’s physicality, such as the Missbelindachandrabots mechs or the set builds, are then overlooked in favour of clean shots which absolve audiences from being able to explore the scene or frame.
Comparatively, I think back to the episode The Doctor’s Daughter (2008), where the Doctor and Donna navigate a rebel encampment with a similar make-do approach. Here, the camerawork bounces back and forth from dirty reaction shots, presenting the environment as grimy, lived-in, and tactile.
That visual distance of the framing is mirrored in the pacing. The episode rushes from beat to beat via jarring jump cuts with little connective tissue. We understand what’s happening, just barely, but we don’t always know why it matters. Despite preventing a full exploration, the sets are impressively realised, with the villain’s lair evoking a distinctly Star Wars-like aesthetic and including a mouse droid equivalent. It’s tempting to wonder if this is a knowing nod, given Varada Sethu’s previous role in Andor, though that may be reading too much into it. The droid itself, chirping ‘Polish Polish’ as it scuttles about, is a charming touch, though long-term fans might find it recalls Gadget from The Waters of Mars (2009) more than it does anything from a galaxy far, far away.
Still, the third act delivers one visual knockout: a psychedelic, near-spiritual detour into memory, identity, and the nature of machine consciousness. It’s bold and abstract, and the episode’s high point is quick. Here, director Peter Hoar finally lets the episode’s visual ambitions soar. It is a dazzling reminder of Doctor Who’s capacity for poetic strangeness when it dares to stop explaining itself.
Doctor Who: The Robot Revolution is available for UK audiences on BBC iPlayer. New episodes are released weekly on Saturday at 08:00 BST on the streaming platform or broadcast later on BBC One. For viewers outside the UK, the show can be watched exclusively on Disney+.
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