This evaluation comprises full spoilers for Doctor Who season 2, episode 1, “The Robot Revolution”
“The Robot Revolution” kicks off Doctor Who’s second season (which can also be the fifteenth of the revived period, and forty first of the sequence total) with all of the subtlety of a glitter cannon. It’s loud, brilliant, and begging you to have enjoyable. It opens robust, racing via a pulpy rescue mission full of bellowing purple robots who shout “Behold!” like they’re auditioning for a live-action Thundercats reboot, and introduces a charmingly absurd sprucing droid that deserves its personal Star Wars-esque merch line. There’s visible invention to spare, and campier instincts which are proudly leaned into. But for all its spectacle and self-aware chaos, this premiere not often pulls itself collectively into one thing emotionally or thematically stable. The tempo is frantic, however the plot is hole, and the preliminary spark fades shortly, leaving a forgettable story the place a flagship return ought to have been.
Nowhere is that hollowness extra apparent than within the central twist: The reveal that Belinda’s ex, Al (with a lowercase “l,” quick for Alan), is definitely the AI (with an uppercase “I”) Generator controlling the robotic horde doesn’t a lot twist because it unravels. It’s one other of Russell T. Davies’ more and more worn-out wordplay gambits, a religious cousin to final season’s Sue Tech/Sutekh gag and the continued parade of Susan Twist cameos. And like these, it doesn’t maintain as much as scrutiny. Al exhibits up for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it intro, vanishes for 40 minutes, then returns because the “shock” villain with all of the dramatic affect of a Windows error message. The AI Generator itself seems to be prefer it stumbled out of a garish Fallout mod, all cartoon menace and flickering CRT pomp, however even that fizzles as soon as the punchline lands. The downside isn’t simply the twist itself, however that it mirrors a bigger concern: It’s content material to coast on model and quirk with out giving the story something to chew on.
Despite the limp plot and undercooked villainy, “The Robot Revolution” isn’t a complete loss. Its greatest asset, by far, is its character work, which gives a promising glimpse on the season forward. Belinda Chandra, performed with disarming appeal and quiet authority by Varada Sethu, isn’t precisely new. She first popped up in “Boom” as Mundy Flynn, a army medic in considered one of final season’s higher standalone episodes. Here, we get a decision to that setup: Belinda and Mundy are merely associated, and separated by hundreds of years. It’s not precisely the primary time Doctor Who has needed to account for an actor solid in a number of roles, and it does add simply sufficient narrative gravity to Belinda’s TARDIS debut.
Better nonetheless, she arrives totally shaped. Belinda’s bought opinions, she pushes again, and she or he doesn’t let the Doctor get away together with his typical verbal sleight of hand. That alone already units her aside. While I appreciated Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday final season – her vitality with Ncuti Gatwa was electrical – she generally felt extra like a tag-along quite than a co-lead. So, it’s refreshing to see somebody arrive with momentum and chunk. With a Doctor who’s spent the final run veering between whimsy and wistfulness, a companion to correctly bounce off within the TARDIS may very well be precisely what Doctor Who wants.
It additionally helps that the TARDIS lastly begins performing like a personality once more. It’s not only a shiny teleportation pod: It’s temperamental, tactile, and responsive, and the Doctor doesn’t simply pilot it, he negotiates, pleads, and wrestles with the console. “The Robot Revolution” provides Gatwa ample alternative to showcase his bodily efficiency expertise, and he shines in these moments, injecting a uncooked drive and frustration into the scenes. The elevated TARDIS motion is a welcome shift, and its lavish, but sterile, new design is lastly made use of. It’s nonetheless lacking the type of lived-in appeal it had again when Amy and Rory have been knocking round in it, however attending to spend extra time with its ravishing glowing panels must do for now.
Visually talking “The Robot Revolution” throws all the pieces it’s bought on the wall. Time fractures shimmer, transitions snap into gear, and the robots, whereas one-note, profit massively from these cumbersome, theatrical, sensible fits. The manufacturing’s gunning for cinematic aptitude: Sometimes it lands, generally it seems to be just like the green-screen footage was finalized on the eleventh hour. The ambition’s admirable, even when the execution wobbles – which, to be fully truthful, isn’t that uncommon for Doctor Who units.
For essentially the most half, “The Robot Revolution” looks like mid-season filler dressed up in premiere clothes. There are flashes of enjoyable, such because the episode’s humor, that often handle to chop via its visible and narrative chaos. The throwaway “planet of the incels” line stands out as one of many few sharp moments that sticks. And whereas the remainder of the plot is quite forgettable, there’s some semblance of narrative course by its decision. The Doctor and Belinda are being blocked from reaching Earth in 2025, nudging them towards an extended, stranger highway residence. It’s a modest hook, however sufficient to present the season a backbone. If Doctor Who leans into that construction and continues constructing on the sharp chemistry between Gatwa and Sethu, there’s nonetheless time and house to develop.
So no, “The Robot Revolution” isn’t a knockout. But it’s a quick, intermittently humorous, and principally empty slice of sci-fi which will simply be laying the groundwork for one thing extra. If season 2 manages to concentrate on its new TARDIS staff, and perhaps even dial again a few of the universe-ending theatrics, that journey again to Earth may be price taking.
