*Exactly what it says on the tin. Spoilers within!*
After “Dot and Bubble” aired, the big question a lot of fans had for each other was, “When did you know?” When did you get what was really going on in Finetime? Because despite the giant slugs that were eating people and the murderous AI, this isn’t ultimately a story about monsters. It’s a story about the nastiest, most hateful parts of humanity.
I’ll admit that, my first time watching, I didn’t put it together until the end. I clocked a lot of Lindy’s hostility toward the Doctor, categorizing much of it as selfish brat behavior, and there were these little moments that snagged in my brain: scenes like Lindy not realizing at first that the Doctor is the same guy she blocked earlier because, “I thought you just looked the same,” or urging her friends to listen to the Doctor while promising, “He’s going to be so disciplined, I can’t wait!” I knew that these moments were something, something beyond a vapid young woman showing contempt for the man who’s trying to save her life, but I wasn’t sure what that something was. And yeah, that was dumb and myopic of me.
When it’s stated more overtly at the end, that their racism against the Doctor keeps them from accepting his further help, everything becomes glaringly obvious in retrospect. Lindy’s immediate displeased expression when he first pops up in her Bubble, the way she listens to Ruby but not him, her kneejerk belief that he must have caused the slugs somehow, “I don’t think he’s as stupid as he looks.” It’s hammered home further when we see Ricky September pull absolute Doctor moves with Lindy and it works—she’d be totally cool with a handsome, knowledgeable man swooping in to save and reassure her, just not this man. And of course, everyone in Finetime is white.
Now, at the end of the season, what really sticks with me is Ncuti Gatwa’s acting in the final scene. He’s rescued (some) of the people from the slugs, those he and Ruby have been able to convince to listen to them. They’re about to go out and “tame” the Wild Woods in the vein of their ancestors, but they’re all coddled brats who are hopelessly dependent on the technology that just tried to have them all killed. They won’t last two days in the wilderness. So the Doctor offers the TARDIS, saying he can take them somewhere safe.
That’s when Lindy says it: “We couldn’t travel with you. […] Because you, sir, are not one of us.” Other ugly words are thrown around, sneers that a box that’s bigger on the inside must be “voodoo” and warnings not to be “contaminated” from prolonged interaction with him. The Doctor pleads with them, but he also realizes the horrible truth that they are simply refusing to be saved by him.
And the Doctor’s reaction, my god! That penny drop moment, the stunned laughter followed by the scream of futile anguish followed by the silent tears. Fantastically played by Gatwa, and for me, it's a reaction that absolutely makes sense for this situation and this Doctor.
First of all, of course the Doctor wants to save these people and gets desperate when they won't let him. Of course he does—that's just who the Doctor is. We've seen them save vile, self-serving humans before, we've seen them offer Sycorax and Rachnoss and Daleks a last chance. No matter how these people have treated him or what they think of him, he still wants to be able to save them.
I keep thinking about how his laughter gives way to a scream. That's very fitting for this Doctor in particular. For all of Fourteen's "rehab," it's clear that Fifteen still has his issues, and for me, it comes through most clearly in the moments where he shouldn't be smiling. The way he briskly tells Ruby that Gallifrey is gone, the way he seems to shrug off not knowing whether Susan was killed with the rest of the Time Lords. It makes a lot of sense to me that he would laugh before he would scream.
Then too, there's the laughter being in part due to his surprise. The Doctor knows they've been Black before, because Thirteen met the Fugitive Doctor and saw the hints of their pre-One past in the Matrix, but he doesn't have those actual memories of the experience of being Black. He's not used to walking around in this skin, with this face. I'm sure he noticed how rude and distrustful Lindy was to him, but he didn't catch why. Not until the end. And it's so dumb and hateful and pointless and absurd, and she's going to die because of it, so in that very first moment, what can he do but laugh?
Finally, I want to give a shoutout to Millie Gibson, who does a beautiful job in that scene as well. As the Doctor screams, Ruby cries for him, wanting to comfort him but knowing she can't make it better. Ruby has a Black mom and grandma, so she’s undoubtedly seen this sort of thing before and knows how awful it is. (It makes me wonder, does Ruby clock it before the Doctor does? Does she realize much earlier why Lindy is treating him this way?) Gibson captures Ruby's reaction to a tee without drawing focus from Gatwa's powerhouse performance. All the flowers to both of them!
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