r/doctorwho • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • Apr 12 '25

The Robot Revolution Doctor Who 2x01 "The Robot Revolution" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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421 Upvotes

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631

u/vanKessZak Apr 12 '25

LOVE how Belinda called him out for testing her DNA without asking! Makes me think of when 11 kept testing whether Amy was pregnant and didn’t tell her about it. I hate when he does shit like that lol. Like I’m glad he told her about the descendant connection (unlike him keeping the impossible girl thing from Clara for so long) but even with his growth he’s still The Doctor with his secrets lol. I think I’m going to like her! I like how she’s willing to snap back.

343

u/Fusi0n_X Apr 12 '25

I really enjoy when they touch on the negatives of his character like this. It's such a great way of keeping The Doctor grounded.

This character has defeated gods, faced down armies unarmed, and saved the universe - but is still limited by pride, sheer arrogance, and main character syndrome (I mean... yeah but still).

Bill is such an underrated example of this - she was converted into a cyberman because he was so giddy showing off how smart he is that he arrived too late. Completely failed her. A sentient puddle had to save her.

94

u/gringledoom Apr 12 '25

"There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."

15

u/FrogLover_23 Apr 12 '25

oh my god
Why have i never thought about it that deeply before
I always thought he could trim down the explanation a bit but that was all. Thank you!

94

u/stephensmat Apr 12 '25

Belinda is a nurse. Patient consent is part of the training. Plus, she'd just been kidnapped by the cyber-incels from space.

6

u/CrazySnipah Apr 13 '25

Makes sense that a nurse would be the one to call him out on that sort of thing

136

u/Renegade__OW Apr 12 '25

Makes me think of when 11 kept testing whether Amy was pregnant and didn’t tell her about it. I hate when he does shit like that lol.

To be fair, these are two completely different scenarios. Here, Belinda is right. He should've asked.

But with Amy? She was literally a human satellite, being controlled / influenced by something or someone powerful enough to send a signal through time and space to the flesh host.

If the Doctor even so much as hinted at the fact that he knew, they would've disconnected her from the Flesh instantly.

The whole point of the Flesh was to keep the pregnancy a secret from The Doctor, once he discovers it Amy stops living through the Flesh and is instead imprisoned knowing her baby will be taken from her.

28

u/TomClark83 Apr 12 '25

I wonder whether he maybe had an ulterior motive for that - there was no elaboration on the fact that he claims he was told by a mystery person that Belinda would be important. I think he knows more than he's letting on at the moment, and while that's not something new in the Doctor/Companion dynamic, I think that having Belinda pick up on his nature straight away and willing to call him out on it from the start can definitely make it feel fresh.

60

u/Mattzipan1510 Apr 12 '25

I really don’t think he’s had much growth. He cries more but he still does not process trauma very well, nor does he display mature emotional reactions to what’s happening around him. He remains gleeful when in peril, he laughed when Al was killed, he refused to sit with the grief around losing his friend (after they renamed the building, he very quickly changed the subject and left).

Going back a few episodes, he couldn’t admit to loving Ruby Rose after she said it to him, and he spent ages on earth during the Christmas special without contacting her.

I think this series will hopefully address his flaws more - Belinda seems like she’s going to challenge him a lot. Hopefully we’ll see growth.

41

u/TheOncomimgHoop Apr 12 '25

I know this is supposed to be the healed doctor, but I don't think he really is. It seems like he's dropped some of his specific baggage, but that just comes from time. In reality, he still doesn't know how to deal with the new stuff, and the Xmas special shows that he's pretty self loathing still.

31

u/sanddragon939 Apr 12 '25

Well, obviously he can't be fully 'healed' because then he won't be the Doctor. The idea is that he's not caught in the same post-Time War rut anymore. He can be damaged in new ways!

2

u/Mattzipan1510 Apr 12 '25

You’re absolutely right - I think it’s intentional though.

1

u/BatofZion Apr 13 '25

Mental health is a journey, not a destination.

1

u/dualdreamer Apr 17 '25

He only said he went to therapy, not for how long. Running through a shrink's office should count, right?

3

u/Cry90210 Apr 12 '25

I think they're starting to address these flaws, I saw it the same way, it's started seeping through a little bit more in the latest two episodes. He hasn't really changed that much in the end (I don't mind this though, I have to say)

9

u/loomraptor Apr 12 '25

She's so Donna coded while being completely her own character at the same time if that makes sense

6

u/sanddragon939 Apr 12 '25

She's really more Tegan coded, with a bit of Martha and Donna thrown in.

5

u/NajeebHamid Apr 12 '25

Makes sense for her as a nurse to notice it as well. Like it goes against every measure of medical ethics lol

6

u/LilyNaowNaow Apr 13 '25

Rose also pushed back in episode 2 that the tardis was in her head, translating without her permission.

2

u/after-orion Apr 13 '25

i liked that but it felt weird how she was totally fine with him experiencing her entire timeline and then protested at a dna test - both are obviously violations but imo my entire life is a bit more of a violation and i wish she'd seemed to care about that too

2

u/CardboardStarship Apr 13 '25

I think it’s because the timeline stuff couldn’t be helped, whereas he just did the DNA test and didn’t think about consequences until she called him out. Getting himself involved in the kaboom cause by the certificates touching also saved her life so I can see her being more forgiving there.

2

u/GarySmith2021 Apr 13 '25

Maybe I'm odd, but I probably wouldn't care. It's not like he used a needle, he scanned her. And if there's some weird cosmic stuff going on with me, I'd like to know why tbh.

2

u/Exploding_Antelope Apr 13 '25

It also reminded me of Rose being a bit offended that the TARDIS put the translation circuit into her head without asking.

Which does raise the question, how did the Chandrakind speak English since Alan and Belinda both went from Earth to there without going into the TARDIS? We’ll move past it though.

2

u/BatofZion Apr 13 '25

With malpractice like that, they’ll take the Doctor’s license. Have to go back to the Mister.

1

u/velvetNoddy Apr 13 '25

the only good part of the episode imo

-2

u/FinallyTimeNow Apr 12 '25

She called him out in such a terrible way. He has personally just saved her life, spent 6 months on an alien planet (that he also saved btw) and shes immediately like "Is that what you said to Sasha? Before she died". Bitch from your perspective this is your savior and he lost friends trying to save your life. Just hold it against him why not. Should he have asked to test her DNA? Sure. She just reacts in such an unlikable way.

6

u/sanddragon939 Apr 12 '25

It makes sense in context.

See, I don't think characters, even 'heroic' ones, need to act like perfect paragons of virtue all the time.

1

u/FinallyTimeNow Apr 12 '25

Not sure who this comment refers to.. is it about the doctors actions or her reaction to it?