TV Recap: Belinda Chandra Gets Hurtled Into Space in the First Episode of “Doctor Who” Season 2 – “The Robot Revolution"

The Doctor is back for a brand-new season of adventures in Doctor Who, which kicks off with “The Robot Revolution" – featuring rogue robots, a brand-new companion and a rather creepy enemy. Find out just what happens in my spoiler-filled recap of the opening episode.

The episode opens 17 years in the past, where we’re immediately introduced to our new companion Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu. She’s seen sitting on a bench with her boyfriend Alan (Jonny Green), who presents her with a Star Certificate, naming a far-off star as Miss Belinda Chandra. Keep note of this, as it will become immensely important moving forward.

The action then jumps forward 17 years to the present day, as we get our first shot of the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) peeking out of the TARDIS as it arrives outside a hospital – the hospital where Belinda is working as a nurse. The Doctor is trying to get information on Belinda, for an as-of-yet unknown to us reason, and sneakily gets access to the computer systems with his Sonic Screwdriver, accidentally cutting the power to the hospital.

Cut to Belinda’s home, where a mysterious light begins to emanate from her window – a spaceship has landed! Then, giant red robots fight their way into her home, where they reveal they come from the star Miss Belinda Chandra and that they need Belinda herself as their queen. We then get a very intriguing moment, where its shown that Mrs. Flood (yes, that Mrs. Flood from last season) is now Belinda’s neighbor, just as she was to Ruby last season. The Doctor arrives just as the spaceship takes off, unable to stop it, while Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) looks straight at the camera and says “you ain’t seen me."

Following on from the title sequence, the Doctor is following the spaceship as Belinda is on board, telling the robots they don’t have the right person – that it was Alan who bought the Star Certificate. After both the Doctor and Belinda go through some sort of time fracture, Belinda arrives at Miss Belinda Chandraville and meets with the people’s representative, Sasha 55 (Evelyn Miller), who bids welcome to their one true queen. Importantly, it’s revealed that the robots are their overlords, who they must obey in all things. A war rages between the robots and the people, with a battle taking place in the cityscape. Sasha 55 turns to Belinda and whispers, “please help us."

As Belinda walks towards her new throne, she is surrounded by robots and people of the planet, which just happens to include the Doctor. The robots tell Belinda she will be marrying the great AI Generator, revealed to be the true ruler of Miss Belinda Chandra. It knows no pity, no kindness and no mercy. The binding contract of the stars, otherwise known as the Star Certificate, is the AI Generator’s reasoning for wanting to marry Belinda. The Doctor, having integrated himself into the society, reveals himself as the official historian – and explains the story of Miss Belinda Chandra. We discover that, for some reason, the robots can’t understand every ninth word, and so the Doctor works a hidden message into his speech.

The Doctor gives the call and a battle begins between the people and the robots, with a few casualties along the way. He promises to get Belinda out of there, but sadly, Sasha 55 perishes, someone who is revealed to have been close to the Doctor over his six months integrating himself into the society. They manage to escape, and the Doctor has to power down a cute vacuum robot that has followed them, so they can avoid detection. As the Doctor explains more about the situation to Belinda, we get the first sign that there may be something more to her – as the Doctor flashes back to Mundy Flynn, the character also played by Varada Sethu in last year’s “Boom."

Belinda shows off her extremely caring nature by tending to many of the injured people, amusingly calls herself the Nurse when she finds out the Doctor’s name. Others, specifically Manny (Max Parker), seem to place the blame for the losses on Belinda – something she can’t quite shake off, so she decides to reactivate the vacuum robot so the robots can come find her and end all the bloodshed, something the Doctor isn’t quite on board with.

Belinda and the Doctor are taken to see the AI Generator, who plans to merge with Belinda and have her become a part of it – a true union. Belinda is willing to do this in order to save the people, and perhaps instill some compassion into the AI Generator. Before she does that though, it’s revealed the AI Generator is none other than her ex-boyfriend Alan, who has undergone a transformation to become a very creepy half-humanoid, half-robotic figure. The robots went back in time 10 years through a time fracture, the same one felt by the Doctor and Belinda earlier, to retrieve Alan and to be integrated into the AI Generator. He was happy to oblige, as control of a “video game-like" narrative was given to him, nevermind the actual cost to human lives. Therefore, Alan was the one that started the revolution. Through flashbacks, it's revealed that Belinda ended things with Alan due to his very controlling nature.

Despite his words saying otherwise, every ninth word out of Alan’s mouth reveals the truth – that he wants help and is in pain. As it looks like Belinda is about to sacrifice herself, she holds up the original copy of the Star Certificate towards Alan, which – after a rather trippy sequence – the Doctor is able to pull her away from the reaction. His presence allowed him to absorb most of the reaction, with Alan being transformed into a sperm in an egg.

After the victory, the Doctor’s TARDIS is returned to him as the people of Miss Belinda Chandraville start a new life of peace and harmony with the robots. The Doctor still wants to know how the robots got an extra copy of the Star Certificate, but Belinda is more interested in getting home. Following this, we get the usual companion introduction to the TARDIS, which ends up a little more understated than Ruby’s last season.

Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor lets Belinda know that it is also a time machine, inviting her to travel with him. He even tells him about a descendant of hers, none over than Mundy Flynn – a mystery he is trying to solve. But Belinda remains uninterested, denying the Doctor’s request and asking him to take her home. But the TARDIS has other plans, not even allowing the Doctor to land at the appropriate time. Something is stopping Belinda from getting home, and the Doctor promises he will get her home, but that it may be the long way round.

The episode comes to a close as the TARDIS dematerializes and we see a London taxi, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and other remnants of the planet Earth floating through space. The final shot ends on a calendar showing May 24th, the day the Doctor was trying to get Belinda back to.

Next time, the Doctor and Belinda arrive in Miami, Florida in 1952 where they discover that 15 people went missing from a movie theater – and the culprit might be a little, animated…