Doctor Who has officially returned for its fifteenth season with “The Robot Revolution”, an adventure that sees Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor rescue a young woman named Belinda Chandra from a foreign planet after an older boyfriend accidentally made her its queen. The episode was an encouraging return to form for the show, and Varada Sethu instantly cemented herself as a great addition to Doctor Who’s cast – even if the Doctor didn’t quite prove himself as much as usual.
After the mixed reviews of Doctor Who’s previous season, “The Robot Revolution” is a strong opener that perfectly sets the stage for what’s to come in the rest of the season. It sets up an engaging mystery surrounding Belinda Chandra, which mirrors the secrecy of Ruby Sunday’s character in the previous season. It’s also a very high-stakes adventure, with many side characters losing their lives in the battle against the robots. However, many audiences have noticed that the Doctor doesn’t do a great job of saving the day as he usually does.
Doctor Who Season 14 Already Highlighted The Fifteenth Doctor's Incompetence
Many Of The Adventures Were Caused By The Doctor's Clumsiness
While Ncuti Gatwa is doing a great job in Doctor Who and his performance as the Doctor already ranks among some of the show’s best, it’s hard to deny that his character isn’t doing a great job of saving the day. In season 14 alone, the Doctor made several mistakes that it’s hard to imagine other incarnations of the Time Lord making. From carelessly standing on a land mine in “Boom” to almost getting Ruby Sunday killed in “The Devil’s Chord,” there are many instances of the Doctor getting extremely lucky in the last season.
Although the Fifteenth Doctor being bad at his job is certainly an endearing characteristic that makes him come across as more “human” and fallible, this shouldn’t always be the case for the Time Lord. He’s defeated some of the biggest dangers the universe has ever faced – not to mention ending the Time War – so he shouldn’t really have struggled so much against a fairy circle in rural Wales.
In Doctor Who Season 15's Premiere, The Fifteenth Doctor Gets A LOT Of People Killed
The Revolution Costs Several Lives
This clumsiness continues into Doctor Who’s fifteenth season, as the Doctor inadvertently gets lots of people killed during the revolution against the robots. As soon as Belinda arrives on the alien planet, he secretly reveals his plan to bring them down by hiding his message in every ninth word, which the robots can’t detect. He then kicks off the assault, and several of the rebels are killed in the skirmish – including his close friend Sasha, whom he’d just spent six months working alongside.
While death is inevitable when traveling with the Doctor, it’s not often that he allows so many people to die under his care. Most of Doctor Who’s companions have been carefully looked after, but he puts Sasha’s life on the line just to help Belinda escape. This seems fairly out-of-character for the Doctor, and Belinda even calls him out on it during their final conversation in the TARDIS.
Belinda Saves The Day In "The Robot Revolution," Not The Doctor
At Least, She's The One Who Finally Brings Down Alan
Most of the time, the Doctor’s clumsiness can be justified by his ability to save the day at the end of the episode. However, that’s not necessarily been the case with the Fifteenth Doctor. In episodes like “Boom” and “73 Yards” from the previous season, the Doctor was either absent or immobile, while Ruby Sunday saved the day on both occasions. This trend continues into “The Robot Revolution”, as it’s Belinda who manages to bring down the robots by confronting Alan and using the certificate to destroy him.
Admittedly, the Doctor manages to save her life by taking the full force of the paradox and seeing the entirety of her timestream, but this isn’t necessarily something he could have planned. The only thing he does plan is the rebels’ attack at the beginning of the episode, and this ends in disaster for many of the soldiers. Belinda is a very exciting Doctor Who companion, and her ability to save the day in “The Robot Revolution” certainly makes her a very admirable figure, but it would have been nice to see the Doctor in better form.
