TV Recap: An Animated Threat Awaits The Doctor and Belinda in 1950s Miami in This Week’s “Doctor Who”

The Doctor’s quest to get Belinda home makes a pit-stop in 1950s Miami, where they come across a mysteriously locked up theater and living animated figure. Find out just what happens in the second episode of Doctor Who Season 2 – “Lux" – with my spoiler-filled recap.

The episode opens at the aforementioned theater in Miami, where an audience is watching a newsreel which talks of atomic bomb testing, before being treated to a short cartoon featuring Mr. Ring-a-Ding (voice of Alan Cumming). As the theater’s projectionist does his job, a mysterious light illuminates from the sky and appears to transfer over to the film reel as the cartoon begins. All of a sudden, the words from Mr. Ring-a-Ding become a lot more sinister, and he begins to talk to a confused audience. Then, it happens, and the cartoon character reaches his giant hands out of the screen and into the real world. He shouts, “don't make me laugh" as the audience reacts in absolute terror – and the title sequence kicks in.

Following on from the end of last week’s episode, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) are in the TARDIS, puzzled as to why the ship can’t land on May 24th, 2025 – the day that Belinda left Earth. Belinda asks why the Doctor can’t just take the TARDIS to his home planet to fix it, something which he brushes off. You may recall that Gallifrey, the Doctor’s planet, was completely destroyed a few seasons back. The Doctor comes up with a new gadget, a vortex indicator (or vindicator) to attempt to get the TARDIS to be able to land on May 24th – a fun way to allow them to visit a few other planets and timezones on route.

Before heading outside, the duo get all dolled up in their 1950s finest, even though it’s 4:00 a.m. outside. As the vindicator does it’s thing, the Doctor is intrigued by the locked-up theater and begins to investigate – much to Belinda’s chagrin, although she is quickly brought around to his way of thinking. They go to a diner across the street to investigate, and with that, the segregation of the south at the time is brought up subtly but smartly. With the show’s first-ever TARDIS crew consisting entirely of people of color, it’s a good storytelling avenue to take, and is handled tastefully here.

The Doctor and Belinda talk to a mother who lost her son in the incident at the movie theater – in fact, 15 people are all missing and have been for 3 months. The waiter from the diner reveals that the theater’s projectionist, Reginald Pye (Linus Roache), is still inside, having been taking care of the locked up theater since the incident. Every night, the movies keep playing to an empty house. The duo make their way into the theater, and while Mr. Pye is still in the projectionist’s booth, he’s trying to get them to leave. This is where they are surprised by the sentient Mr. Ring-a-Ding, who pops out from behind the curtain.

The Doctor is obviously quite intrigued by this animated creature in front of him, deducing that he is made of light and even has his own soundtrack. Upon bringing up the 15 missing people, the cartoon gets slightly more sinister and keeps repeating the line “don’t make me laugh." We then realize that his laugh is the same as the Toymaker’s and Maestro’s – two other gods the Doctor has battled – and the cartoon reveals himself as Lux, the god of light. Upon realizing this, they run away from Lux, but not before realizing that he must act along to the footage of the animated Mr. Ring-a-Ding on the screen – something Mr. Pye figured out.

Belinda asks Mr. Pye why he doesn’t just run away from the 2ft tall Lux, to which Pye responds by saying Lux created a version of his deceased wife, essentially bringing her back to life for him after 20 years. As the tiny, two-dimensional Lux struggles to make it up the stairs after them, the Doctor and Belinda realize that the 15 audience members are trapped within a film strip. The Doctor asks Lux how he entered this world, to which Lux cleverly responds by saying “I’m a two-dimensional character, you can’t expect backstory!" Lux realizes that the Doctor is the one who took down the Toymaker, Maestro and Sutekh.

Lux then uses his powers to turn the Doctor and Belinda into animated characters themselves in an ingenious and imaginative scene. They’re able to get out of it by having three-dimensional thoughts, where Belinda is afraid she’ll never get home and the Doctor admits that Gallifrey was destroyed. They slowly turn more three-dimensional before returning to their normal selves – however, they are still trapped in the movie screen. They reach up to pull down on the film strip, hoping to reach the end and escape. They appear to be back in the movie theater and are approached by the mother of the missing boy and a police officer, who are both a little racist to the duo. But the Doctor sees past the trick that Lux pulls, noting that the police officer has the wrong uniform on.

They then end up in a white void, and the Doctor realizes they need to go out, pushing towards the screen and eventually coming out of a television set. This puts us in a scene that is sure to get all the Doctor Who fanboys talking, as the Doctor and Belinda find themselves in the living room of what appears to be three big Doctor Who fans – all wearing paraphernalia from the show. They say that they are their biggest fans and are shocked that they’re real.

In an extremely meta conversation, the three fans reveal they watch the Doctor’s exploits every week on the TV. They even go as far as to name drop “Blink" as their favorite episodes, which the Doctor is cheekily annoyed by, listing off some of this current incarnation’s adventures instead. One of the fans says that the current story with Mr. Ring-a-Ding is a bit obvious. In a roundabout moment, the fans reveal they are the ones that are not real, and are just a creation of Lux’s, just a part of the trap. They figure out how to set the Doctor free, even though they won’t exist anymore.

Back in the void, the Doctor and Belinda are finally able to escape from the movie screen, and are once again confronted by Lux. Using film strips, Lux traps the Doctor and uses the light of a Time Lord to build him a real, three-dimensional body. Lux slowly grows bigger and more three-dimensional. Belinda escapes to the projection room to set fire to all the film stock, but is being blocked by Mr. Pye. He eventually realizes that he needs to save the day, and tells Belinda to run as he himself sets fire to the film stock – after seeing and being encouraged by his former wife one last time.

The fire causes a hole to form on the side of the building, letting the Doctor free and even more light shine into Lux. But that’s revealed to be exactly his crux, as Lux continues to grow and float into the sky. He has the light of the sun in his hands, and eventually becomes one with it. The day is saved and the 15 missing people return to a happy crowd of loved ones.

Noting that “sunlight doesn’t suit them," the Doctor and Belinda say goodbye to 1952. Belinda tells the Doctor that the things they said when they were scared are still true, and says “let’s go out and face them together" as they return to the TARDIS. When the missing boy is reunited with his mother, the mysterious Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) comes out of the crowd to show off the TARDIS’ dematerialization to them. The son asks how did they do that, to which Mrs. Flood responds with “trick of the light" as the episode comes to a close. Or does it?

As the credits roll, we cut back to the Doctor Who fans in their living room, critiquing the episode we all just watched. They look at each other and get excited as they realize they’re still real – or are they?

“Lux" was another excellent episode of Doctor Who for me, bringing another unique element to the Pantheon of Gods recently introduced to the show. The technology on display to create Lux is truly phenomenal, leading to some of the best effects work ever seen in the show. Getting to see the Doctor and Belinda animated was an ingenious touch, and while I’m less onboard with the meta-Doctor Who fan element of the episode – it surely will give fans something to talk about. The episode also sees a mellowing out of the Doctor and Belinda’s relationship, with the two sharing a quite tender moment together at the end. Underneath that, you can still feel some tension and mystery boiling.

Next week’s episode takes us far in the future, to a devastated mining colony with only one survivor. To discover the truth, the Doctor and Belinda must face absolute terror.