Doctor Who - Lucky Day
One of the concepts Doctor Who has explored over the years, with select companions, is what happens to those people after they leave and attempt to go back to a normal life. With The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) still stuck unable to reach the present, "Lucky Day" instead gives us a Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) episode that isn't what it initially appears. The first-half of the episode deals with Ruby attempting to move on from her time-traveling adventures and beginning a hopeful relationship with Conrad () who it turns out also had a short encounter with The Doctor as a child and is not what it seems.
For the episode's twist, Doctor Who takes real-world examples of conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxers, climate deniers, and flat earthers and crafts a Doctor Who equivalent. In a world that now knows, and has seen proof of aliens, Conrad is out to prove the whole thing a hoax. His entire relationship with Ruby was a con to make U.N.I.T. look like fools, and he's successful.
The frustration of Ruby and Kate (Jemma Redgrave) is palpable while "Lucky Day" also provides waves of shame and anger from them as well. Not quite satisfied with his big win, Conrad attempts to double-down invading U.N.I.T. only to find out that monsters and aliens are quite real as Kate allows the situation with the murderous Shreek to go a bit too far in an attempt to teach the young man a lesson. Not only is the twist completely successful, but the episode perfectly incapsulates the exhaustion with dealing with deniers who constantly demand proof, and when given it, simply choose not to acknowledge it. I'm a bit surprised they didn't work in the character wearing a red baseball cap at some point.
As with real-world deniers, however, Conrad isn't changed by the proof literally given to him. This leads to a short conversation with The Doctor and some words of advice which he throws back into the Time Lord's face. Conrad is who he is, a manipulative and talented liar who knows the truth of the world but chooses to deny it in order to fuel a movement to make himself, and other hateful small-minded people just like him, important while doing actual damage to the world with their lies.
- Title: Doctor Who - Lucky Day
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