r/doctorwho • u/snugasabugrugs • Jun 02 '24
RICKY SEPTEMBER ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Spoilers
RTD bring him back.
Bring him back right now.
He had doctor energy when he was guiding Lindy through the madness to safety! He could be the new Captain Jack Hartness!!!!!! BRING HIM BACK.
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u/Annual-Avocado-1322 Jun 02 '24
I know racism was the point but did anyone else feel set-up to prejudge Ricky too?
A handsome talented performer who is actually this smart must be up to something nefarious, right?
Until he got his head punctured I thought he was gonna turn out to be the bad guy.
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u/MurkyLibrarian Jun 02 '24
yeah, my friend and I watched this episode together, and we were suspicious of him too. you know, until Lindy murdered him.
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u/BillyCahstiganJr Jun 03 '24
when he appeared, i assumed it was gonna be some ham-fisted "kids nowadays blindly follow social media stars and influencers without question or hesitation" type of thing, and he was gonna betray Lindy. he definitely seemed dodgy as fuck to me at the start
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u/the_lonely_creeper Jun 03 '24
Nah. He didn't have the aura of "I'm secretly evil".
Plus, he was shocked when the homeworld was all dead and he tried to protect Lindy from that fact.
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u/MasterNightmares 28d ago
I mean, real life does kinda teach you to be suspicious of any celebrity being nice because often they're hiding something.
Anyone charismatic enough to play the system to become publicly popular often know how to undercut people for their own benefit which resulted in their rise in the first place.
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u/Zitty-Z Jun 02 '24
I mean you could bring him back but the whole reason he existed was to show how racist Lindy was. An attractive white dude has everything figured out and helps you escape from the monsters but then a BLACK dude does the exact same thing and he gets swiped to the side.
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u/ScienceAndGames Jun 02 '24
I mean she basically killed Ricky, I think it was to show how callous and selfish she was.
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u/The_Newromancer Jun 02 '24
Also think it’s meant to show how the one good dude gets killed by the selfish. Goodness doesn’t last long if the society is rotten.
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u/NFB42 Jun 02 '24
Yeah. I felt it was very important to show that like, it's not as if they're only racist to non-white people but all great and kind and loving to each other. Obviously they treated each other very differently, but I think it was important and great of the episode that it emphasized that like, if your society and culture is based upon vicious and petty cruelty to whole groups of people based just on how they look/their heritage, that kind of stuff doesn't just stop with the outgroup. It pervades everything in some way.
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u/stolethemorning Jun 02 '24
Yeah and did you notice the way she treated Gothic Paul? I feel like she always disregarded him and swiped him to the side faster than her other friends. It seemed to me to be because he was ‘different’, even if the difference was just black eyeliner. It emphasised her complete intolerance of any difference whatsoever.
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u/EbolaSuitLookinCute Jun 03 '24
Not only her intolerance, but the whole in-bubble society. The other members of her close circle all had in the neighborhood of 17k-22k followers. Gothic Paul had something like 386, indicating that the majority of their society excluded him and felt the same way she did.
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u/Tinawebmom Jun 02 '24
The one good dude and smart dude. They needed his brains to help set up their new home. And she killed him!
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
I mean she basically killed Ricky
Basically? I'd say she murdered him. She knew what telling the Dot Ricky's real last name would do and she did it. She might as well have shot him in the head with a gun.
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u/314kabinet Jun 03 '24
The camera framing of his death was exactly the same as if she shot him with a handgun too.
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u/so_zetta_byte Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
I mean thematically (though not necessarily literally) I think it's deeper than that. Ricky was essentially executed because he risked introducing new ideas into an insular society.
If Ricky makes it to the end, I don't see how he isn't instantly considered the leader by everyone because he's a megacelebrity. And we don't get much interaction between the two, but it seemed like he didn't immediately take issue with the Doctor and was perfectly willing to do what the Doctor told him.
If he makes it to the end, I feel like he'd definitely try and persuade everyone to go with the Doctor. Would his word be enough for the others? Maybe, maybe not. But I think for the narrative, that's a big part of why he was murdered. I think there's a higher level meaning beyond just to be a demonstration of callousness.
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u/takaznik Jun 02 '24
Yeah but then you have him walking away as a companion probably. I think he would take the Doctor's offer too. I kept thinking it was gonna be a whole other Rita situation.... And I guess in a way it was, just the Doctor never offered him the ride
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u/bluehands Jun 03 '24
I thought for a moment we were going to get a really unpleasant companion. Off the top of my head I can't remember the last time we had a somewhat distasteful companion, I liked the premise.
Then she turned out to be vile, so never mind.
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u/ScienceAndGames Jun 03 '24
I mean the last time I can think of was 19 years ago with Adam from Eccleston’s run, he lasted like an episode before the Doctor had enough.
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u/NihilismIsSparkles Jun 02 '24
That's why he sounds so much like 15! Thank you that one has been driving me nuts. I thought it was odd for RTD not to give Ricky a different way of speaking.
You hit the nail right where I needed it!
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u/stolethemorning Jun 02 '24
I fully thought it was the doctor when I heard him! And even when we saw him, I was like ‘there’s no way that’s Ricky September, that would be a crazy coincidence! obviously the Doctor has put on a hologram because he knows she’d trust him more if he looked like Ricky’. Took me about 10 minutes to be fully convinced it was Ricky, lol. The writers did a great job of making them super similar.
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u/NihilismIsSparkles Jun 02 '24
First thing I thought was "This boy is a white hologram of the Doctor because he's desperate to save these racist idiots"
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
I fully thought it was the doctor when I heard him!
Oh good, I'm not the only one. I was surprised when the camera turned and we saw him, not the Doctor.
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u/teamdogemama Jun 02 '24
I legit screamed at the TV.
I hate Lindy so much.
I think they'll last 3 months.
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u/corpboy Jun 02 '24
That is generous. What are they eating for dinner... that evening? And the evening after?
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u/EclipseHERO Jun 02 '24
3?!
Fucking generous!
That "society" doesn't know how to do anything for themselves and they're going INTO THE WILDERNESS.
If by some miracle they manage to catch or grow food, they won't have enough to go around and will tear each other apart for food before dying when the hunters/farmers die.
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u/CurrenttQueen Jun 02 '24
I thought was imagining the racism I thought after they said contamination that it was germs because the city was sterilised
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u/AnyImpression6 Jun 02 '24
She deliberately got the white dude killed though.
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u/MarthLikinte612 Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
Well yeah she still sees everyone else as beneath her. Just black people are EVEN lower.
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u/jolygoestoschool Jun 02 '24
Ehh she killed ricky, she just told off the doctor. I think it was more to show how terrible and spoiled a person she was.
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u/MarthLikinte612 Jun 02 '24
She would have done the same to the doctor if she felt it would help her survive.
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u/Delicious-Tachyons Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
Racist? I figured those people were just dumb but now that I think about it, planet finetime seemed to be composed entirely of white people.
And the other chick not saying the tardis was fake but rather voodoo, which is a religion that I think is all Haitians?
Hah I get it.
Edit: Thanks for the random down votes because you failed to read my comment through. Comprehension is key
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u/BlackTearDrop Jun 02 '24
They also start using colonialist language when talking about going out into the world as "Pioneers" and "Taming the world" etc. They also said "Your kind" to the Doctor. I missed basically everything but thinking back there was a lot of little things that add up and make more sense when you view it from a racist lens. Very well done. Especially with the on the nose allegory about rich kids and social media, always online culture that the episode front loaded. So most people don['t even notice the touches of racism until it's obvious. Really well done.
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u/RQK1996 Jun 02 '24
They even reiterate they are specifically talking to the Doctor and not both Ruby and the Doctor by having her say "you sir, you are not one of us"
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u/hoodie92 Jun 02 '24
Rewatch the last scene. They were all racist. It's not subtle.
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u/Delicious-Tachyons Jun 02 '24
Will do
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u/JoyBus147 Jun 03 '24
There's also a ton of hints sprinkled through the episode--the Doctor gets a "unsolicited message: block?" label on him when he tries to friend Lindy while Ruby connects with her without any such label, Lindy convinces her friends to listen to the Doctor because he's smarter than he looks, etc.
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u/haaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Jun 02 '24
He could have been a great companion... and it would have made it more interesting if he was indeed racist... not total racist, but just full of prejudice because of the society he grew up in. We know that the character is a bit of a rebel, he's open minded, he likes to escapes from the rules of his society... but it would be more interesting to explore how a person's racism can fade away with time and experience than it would be if the character is not racist at all.
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u/Qualazabinga Jun 02 '24
I've seen this sentiment a few times now, why so people want a (slightly) racist for the companion of Ncuti so badly? It's just weird to want a racist companion, someone that travels and has adventures with the doctor, to me.
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u/haaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Jun 02 '24
Oh no, it's not that i want that, i'm just saying that Ricky September could be interesting as a companion that comes from a racist society...
Because, thematics like that are always interesting to explore. but before this episode, it wouldn't even have crossed my mind.
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u/haaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
and if you want to know why i think it would be an interesting angle? It's because heinous racism is often addressed in fictions, but everyday, unconscious racism is not as often addressed. That's why i think this character could have been the perfect companion for that... he is not as racist as the others, he doesn't want to be racist... but still, he is the product of the society he grew up in, and is bound to have a lot of prejudices that he's not even aware of. As we all are.
Talking about KKK racism, nazism, and things like that is "easy", because most of the audience will look at them and say "yeah they are the bad guys, i'm not like this!"... but what if the racist character was like us... someone who doesn't see themself as racist, someone who is really trying not to be racist, but just can't help from having some behaviours that shows that they are not as unprejudiced as they thought? That could help the audience think about their own latent racism.
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u/PhantomBanker Jun 02 '24
I think this is why I hated the Rosa Parks episode so much. In that episode, they made the villain so blatantly over-the-top racist that it was too easy to say “Racism = bad.” Segregating lunch counters and public transportation is bad, certainly, but so is only accepting white people in your social media circles.
Racism isn’t just KKK burning crosses. It’s also looking at someone more carefully when they’re walking down your street or entering your place of business. It’s assuming a person’s level of education or financial status. It’s making a hiring decision based on how ethnic-sounding a person’s name is on the résumé.
Adding a companion that exemplifies all these little nuances would be a great setup for a character arc. The development and growth of such a person would be a fantastic storyline.
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
Racism isn’t just KKK burning crosses. It’s also looking at someone more carefully when they’re walking down your street or entering your place of business.
I'm a black woman. I have no kids. Never had.
But I did once have some white woman ask me how many kids I had and with how many different fathers when I was in my 20s.
Or the assumption that my mother raised my siblings and I on her own when she was married to my dad, had all her kids with my dad and remained with my dad for 56 years until he died. And no, we were never on welfare and not one of us had a child out of wedlock.
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u/Charliesmum97 Jun 02 '24
Good lord. Why are people so stupid?
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
It's the assumption they make. Surely if you're a minority woman, you have multiple kids, none share the same father and you live off of the system. Or if you're a minority man, you've got multiple baby-mamas.
Another true story. My sister got into one of the top 3 Ivy League colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton). My dad bragged to everyone he encountered. He was in a customer facing job.
This one white woman actually had the balls to look my father in the face and tell him "You know she only got in because she's black."
This b#tch did not know my sister or that she was always in a gifted programs since kindergarten or that she'd maintained all As her whole academic life.
No, surely the only reason was because of affirmative action.
Mind you, we have "white sounding" names and my sister did not check off the box on the application stating she was black.
The stupidity we saw in the final 10 minutes of the episode? Yeah, not surprising at all.
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u/Charliesmum97 Jun 02 '24
I wish I could say something other than 'that sucks'.
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
Not much else to say. It's the world we live in. And it sucks.
I just think of it this way: my neighbor did not win. He did not get to run me out of the condo I bought. He moved. I won.
That woman? My sister went to her Ivy School, got her degree, went to law school and became a practicing attorney for many years. Her petty words did not diminish my sister's shine or her career. So she can think what she wants, it won't make her more than she is.
Just like the end of this episode. Those Finetimers are floating into certain death. You know who won't be? That black man they think is beneath you. He will live (and not just because he's the Doctor and a Time Lord). They, otoh, will die horribly.
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u/haaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Jun 02 '24
Yeah, i agree, but at the same time, in order to make a Rosa Parks episode, they needed something to perturbate what happened... and i don't see any "casual racist" travel through time to prevent Rosa Parks' action.
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u/Excellent_Simple7659 Jun 02 '24
Then don't include any sci-fi elements at all, make the villains the racists who are contemporary to that era
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u/haaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Jun 02 '24
no... you can't... if you don't introduce any sci-fi element, then all the Rosa Parks story would happen exactly how it happened. If we want to have the Doctor involved so she can make sure it happens the way it's supposed to happen, then you need a sci-fi element, something trying to stop it from happening.
Also, any contemporary threat to Rosa Parks action would mean, since it would be thwarted by the Doctor, that the Doctor, and not Rosa Parks is the true hero of the story... that would not send the right message. In order to send the right message, they had to have Rosa Parks be the real hero of the story, and someone trying to change that event so the black emancipation movement would be stopped/weakened. That's also why the Doctor's team had to solve the situation not by being heroes, but by acting like all the white people who would thought that seats were for them first and not for black people, if not, they would have become "white saviors", and once again, it would have sent the wrong message...
I understand that this bad guy seems a bit over the top (and actually just a bit, because you can unfortunately see that people like him do exist, i come across them almost everyday on Reddit or in Youtube comment every time a black actor is cast in a popular franchise), but it was the best thing to do in order to make a Rosa Parks episode.
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u/Big-Ambitions-8258 Jun 02 '24
I think my only issue would be having Ncuti's run where he has to deal with dialogue constantly dealing with microaggressions and that might be an uncomfortable that he'd have to deal with that during his tenure.
Like he's said he doesn't want to be known as "The Black Doctor". He wants to be known as the Doctor just like his White counterparts.
Likewise, it has pretty bad implications that the Black character now has to serve as someone who the White character goes to to learn what's racist or not. And that the main Black character has to serve as a guide for White audience members to learn what their racism is.Having this character might reduce Ncuti's Doctor's whole identity to Black and while that's a major component isn't his entire identity.
Speaking as a WOC myself, you have that happening where White people might ask heavy questions, expecting quick answers. It's a heavy emotional/mental burden having the racist acts happen, and then having to essentially be google for people who don't want to do the work themselves in researching those racial issues.
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
Except that Ruby seems to more experienced with racism than the Doctor. He's only been Black a few months out of the 2,000 years he (knowingly) has been alive. (pre-Hartnell doesn't count.)
Ruby, OTOH, would've experienced it second-hand due to her adoptive mother. It's why she caught on to Lindy before he did. He was still figuring it out when Ruby was like "screw these AHs, let's go."
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u/Meridian_Dance Jun 02 '24
They were talking about Ricky as a companion bringing along microagressions and needing the doctor to explain racism.
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
I still think Ruby would be the one to explain it better than the Doctor.
Like I said, the Doctor's been black for like 6 months out of the 2000+ years he's been alive. Lindy had to damn-near spit in his face for him to realize why she was so hostile and had been so nasty to him all along. Ruby realized it first.
For Ruby who's experienced microaggressions because she grew up with a black parent (and for those us who just grew up black), she'd be the one to explain. The Doctor would be oblivious.
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u/haaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Jun 02 '24
i understand that, i was not saying that since Ncuti is black, then i want them to address that with a racist companion, i was just saying that if Ricky September was to be brought back somehow, it would be more interesting, since he's from a racist society, to use that, rather than just forget that aspect.
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u/Qualazabinga Jun 02 '24
Okay yeah I can see that, on its own I thought it weird for people to want a racist character (although I probably conflicted it with a recent one I saw where they wanted it to be like a cowboy, which I think would be a lot more racist). But hearing your reasoning I think it's a sound reason that can convey the message of unconscious racism out to a broader light. It would be interesting storytelling for sure.
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u/Kiboune Jun 03 '24
Agree. He was a person who wanted to learn more and be more open to everything new
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u/MemeFarmer314 Jun 03 '24
“Was Ricky September racist?” - The greatest thread in the history of forums, closed by moderators after 12,239 pages of heated debate
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u/Flimsy-Hospital4371 Jun 02 '24
I agree with people pointing out that he was probably racist too but I will say that he showed enough deviation from the herd that I can see him going with the Doctor. He had more common sense than many others. (Same with the kid that noticed others were missing at the beginning of the episode and kept trying to warn the MC.)
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u/Rharyx Jun 02 '24
Yeah, like he's definitely also racist due to his upbringing, but he's probably the only one in their bubble who I could see actually unlearning his prejudices and becoming a better person upon traveling with the Doctor.
His role is basically acting as the Doctor for Lindy anyway -- how she would go along with someone like the Doctor if he had still been white -- even down to being the one to witness his homeworld wiped out and keeping it a secret. So that comparison would probably also include the idea that he's an odd duck among his people and wouldn't mind running away to explore other worlds with an open mind and a love for discovery.
But people thinking he's 100% not racist just because he's the only one who's slightly endearing is definitely concerning.
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u/snugasabugrugs Jun 02 '24
completely agree - defo gonna have some biases due to the society he grew up in which is unavoidable but he seems open minded enough to grow & change.
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u/bornatmidnight Jun 02 '24
This. There was a moment where he was a bit “sassy” with the Doctor regarding the numbers, that came across as a bit of a micro aggression.
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u/NoLand4936 Jun 02 '24
My favorite choice anyone in the episode made was honestly Ricky not telling her that the home planet was dead and gone. The argument could be made it’s better for her to know, but in such a self obsessed society taking the step to keep her focused and on task with a tiny bit of hope is far better than giving her something that will only distract her from their goal.
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
I actually initially thought it was suspicious that he didn't tell her. I kept waiting for him to be the bad guy. Then I realized if he told her, she would've freaked out and been useless. He knew his own people and that they can't take anything outside of their bubble.
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u/1wbah Jun 03 '24
He definitely didn't know tho, cus after reveal that homeland was destroyed mc said "lucky mommy gone to heavens" or something, basically did "oh no, anyway".
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 03 '24
But at that point she was no longer confronting giant slugs ready to eat her. So she could default back into her own selfishness. Besides, we saw how quick she got over Ricky's death after she got him killed.
Not even a moment of silence for her mummy. That bitch is cold.
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u/ErrU4surreal 29d ago
Ricky knows she doesn't care; it's the best day of her life! (there's still thousands of people being eaten every day)
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u/Basic_Kaleidoscope32 Jun 02 '24
That moment made my jaw drop! I knew she was a bad person, but the casualness that she just threw her idol under the bus to save herself. And THEN all the vileness she spewed at the Doctor.
It’s in my top 10 eps of Who
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u/cyankitten Jun 04 '24
For me, before that, it was when Ricky September said about all the people who died that day & she was like “yeah I know, but..” & kinda indifferent to it
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u/VFiddly Jun 02 '24
Nah he worked in this episode, but even aside from the giant hole in his head there is absolutely zero reason to bring him back, he wouldn't make any sense outside of the context of this episode
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u/ararazu1 Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
Maybe it's just me really wanting someone not from modern-day Earth in the TARDIS, but I think it could've been interesting.
It would also be kind of weird to have two main characters whose initials are R.S. and whose surname denotes a period of time, though.
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u/snugasabugrugs Jun 02 '24
yeah ur right, maybe they can just bring the actor back in future? i think he really fit well into the doctor who universe :)
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u/smallcoder Jun 02 '24
I'm wondering whether the fan interest in the Ricky character may influence RTD to consider bringing Ricky back, but only when the Ruby storyline has been told. We could have the ending of the Doctor's travels with Ruby - however that may be - with all the sadness that the Doctor would feel at being, once again alone. Then he could timey-wimey tardis back to just before Ricky gets perforated by the dot and whisk him away as the new companion.
Totally NOT going to happen but it would be good fun for the Doctor to have a non-earth human as his companion for a change. I always love Adric from the Tom Baker years :)
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u/UDcc123 Jun 02 '24
Isn’t the point that he’s well-rounded and instead of being fed one point of view, he’s taken the liberty to grow…which is why he specifically WASN’T racist?
Similar to how most racists today grew up in a culture of racism. And he showed the path to break the chain.
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u/thor11600 28d ago
I feel like he was intended to play The Doctor role in this episode to further highlight how things would normally go if The Doctor were white - this episode would have been a walk in the park if this had been 14, which I kind of thing is the point - The Doctor goes through this identify crisis because for no good reason whatsoever, he's no longer able to be who he is simply because of what he looks like. Powerful stuff.
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u/Meridian_Dance Jun 02 '24
It’s more why he may have been able to unlearn racism, but there’s zero chance someone who has grown up in that environment isn’t racist on some level.
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u/takaznik Jun 03 '24
It is something you can unlearn, but it would require interaction with other races, Ricky being in this situation, likely didn't have any.
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u/emerald_soleil Jun 02 '24
That was the entire point: he had Doctor energy and he was white, so Lindy would listen to him. But like most Uber privileged people, Lindy had no use for him once he'd helped her, and he was convenient to throw under the trolley when she needed to save her own skin.
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u/Skullpuck Jun 02 '24
I feel like an idiot. I write screenplays. Yet, I missed the racism theme entirely. I mean, I can see it clear as day now. But, during the watch with my kids, I just took it as cell phone shaming. I can totally see the racism now and I'm kind of ashamed that I didn't pick up on it during the watch.
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u/potato4peace Jun 02 '24
Is Ricky September actually a variant of Ruby Sunday???
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u/thirtyonepercentfree Eccleston Jun 02 '24
That was my first thought when I was watching. Similar name, similar look, similar behaviour even. We've seen alternate reality versions of Ruby this season already - the different race one (after stepping on a butterfly) and the one that grew old and stopped the Mad Jack. Maybe they are hinting at a Ruby "multiverse"? It's a common trope lately.
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u/Skullpuck Jun 02 '24
Yeah, but what about Randy Saturday? Which, come to think of it, sounds like that day we all get together for a key party.
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u/potato4peace Jun 03 '24
Oo I didn’t spot Randy Saturday - but it could fall into the same category??
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u/Smike0 Jun 02 '24
Imagine if the doctor takes his face one day like he did with Capaldi
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u/TheOkayUsername Jun 02 '24
It would honestly make sense. To safe people no matter how bad they are. To sacrifice and to help for no reason. A reminder. Plus the Doctor thought he was hot.
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u/No_Flower_1424 Jun 02 '24
I liked Ricky a lot. I think the whole point of his character is that he wasn't racist like the others: he lives outside the bubble so away from the echo chamber, he tries to educate himself and is clearly smarter than everyone there (RTD makes sure to show us that the racists are all pretty stupid), he was willing to risk his life for another, and he smiles when the Doctor flirts with him. But he tries to assimilate into this society, so while he holds no hatred and is probably the one good person there, him conforming to this hateful society still didn't spare him from their hatred.
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u/dod6666 Jun 03 '24
Maybe if there is another parallel universe story. You will get Micky September.
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u/Inkysquid24 Jun 02 '24
Man I was hoping Ricky would travel in the tardis for a while. Why did that crazy girl have to kill him. She couldn't even walk without his help☹️
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u/LadyBug_0570 Jun 02 '24
Because she was a frickin, self-centered, shallow, racist-ass twat of a bitch and I hope she gets eaten by something with a lot of teeth in the woods. Or that her bladder explodes and she dies from sepsis because she doesn't know when she has to pee.
Sorry, I just really hate her.
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u/Zerodyne_Sin Jun 02 '24
I think he was as good as he was to show how even someone "of their tribe" is still expendable to these sociopaths. I have doubts he'd come back but it'd be a nice surprise.
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u/ShinyArtist Jun 03 '24
He probably has some prejudices he needs to work through, but I think he was open to change. And I think he and the Doctor had a flirty moment. He was the only one smiling at the Doctor and being modest about how he educated himself, which is in contrast to Lindy acting superior about her knowledge even when she didn’t have any.
And when the Doctor called him smart too, Ricky had a shy grin at that. Definitely felt flirty vibes between the two.
I definitely think he was the only one worth saving and that’s probably why RD killed him off to make that ending more powerful.
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u/kerblamophobe Jun 02 '24
The actor portraying him could’ve been a great doctor
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u/manbeardawg Jun 02 '24
Maybe he will or was…
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u/_PM_me_ur_boobs___ Jun 02 '24
Can you imagine? The Doctor, hiding in a racist space bubble enclosed town, uploads a corny song every day and spent the rest reading in his own flat.....
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u/AssaMarra Jun 02 '24
I've been seriously wondering if he's the one they had picked out before Gatwa auditioned.
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u/BlackTearDrop Jun 02 '24
What are you talking about?
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u/AssaMarra Jun 02 '24
After Gatwa was announced as 15, RTD did an interview saying that they had held auditions and picked out a favourite before Gatwa auditioned last and blew them away, taking the role.
This guy played the doctor-esque character so well that I'm wondering if he was the original pick. After all, if you're looking for somebody to play that role, why not look back at who originally auditioned?
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u/tallnfriendly Jun 03 '24
He absolutely WAS racist. You cannot willingly live in a white supremacist society (as the figurehead and star child no less) and not be racist. He had the most potential to un-learn his racism, but there's nothing to indicate that he does not hold the same beliefs as the society he lives in.
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u/CloseToMyActualName Jun 03 '24
The society existed entirely in the Dot and Bubble, Rickey didn't live in that society, he just visited for a few minutes a day to shoot his videos.
Ricky pro-actively initiated contact with the Doctor by grabbing part of the bubble and reacted completely positively to him. A main point of the character is he wasn't racist.
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u/pd71 Jun 02 '24
https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/doctorwho-tomrhysharries-ann1
sounds like hes returning. i remember rumors of a 3 way love interest, could be him.
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u/wonkey_monkey Jun 03 '24
That's from over a month ago and it's about his appearance in Dot and Bubble.
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u/loveyouronions Jun 02 '24
I’ve loved him since unforgotten, what a fantastic actor
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u/ilovetoreadbo0ks Jun 02 '24
Oh dear God! All of this.
As I was watching, all I could think was, "He's going to die, isn't he." And then he did, and I was pissed.
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u/scissorsgrinder Jun 02 '24
How do you know he's not really racist too?
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u/snugasabugrugs Jun 02 '24
how do you know he is?
obviously it's a possibility that he is racist as he did come from a racist society (in which case all my love for him ceases), however he shows himself to be someone who actively rejects that society. he doesn't like using his dot & bubble and instead prefers to live in the real world. he follows the doctor & ruby's advice and treats them with respect. he never showed any racism.
but yeah, if he's racist then f him obviously lol
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u/drkenata Jun 02 '24
The more I think about Ricky, the more I see how he is actually a bit of a dark reflection of the Doctor.
Ricky September is quite literally followed by every person in FineTime to the point the people know his public history off the top of their head. The Doctor is a figure who wants to save the day, yet doesn’t care for credit or praise.
Ricky personally rejects the social media of FineTime, yet doesn’t seem to use his platform to foster any significant change.
Ricky tries to inform others of the problems, but decides to stop trying after hitting a couple of minor roadblocks. The Doctor wants to save life so badly, that they will literally go to any lengths, even straight begging, to try to save lives.
Ricky only seems to help Lindy because she crossed his path. He is literally outside the safe zone by himself. The Doctor is actively trying to save as many people as possible.
Ricky embodies several dubious hero tropes. For instance, Ricky doesn’t tell Lindy about the fate of the home world, seemingly trying to protect her from the horrors. The Doctor spends the story trying to make Lindy see the truth of what’s going on.
Ricky is nothing like the Doctor or Ruby. He is kind of a caricature of hero. Seemingly sensitive, good looking, and intelligent. Yet, the cracks in this hero are kind of everywhere.
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u/Mend1cant Jun 02 '24
I wouldn’t be upset if they brought him in as #16. Wouldn’t be the first time reusing support actors.
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u/RegalBrit Jun 02 '24
I posted on another thread about him and how the name is so similar to Ruby's I was waiting for a drop.
But now I think about him more, all I see is a classic white saviour. Would've 100% taken the Doctor's credit.
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u/CloseToMyActualName Jun 03 '24
Well first watch through I was a little annoyed at the idea of the character since our helpless incompetent female lead (can't even walk on her own) went from being saved by one inexplicably competent man to being saved by another inexplicably competent man.
But I do think the proper interpretation is he's a Doctor analog except white (so she follows him) and human (so not remotely as capable).
I think Lindy had to kill him for two reasons:
1) He'd take too much focus at the end, especially as that's when we're supposed to catch on to the racism.
2) Racism teaches you to dehumanize other people. It's usually just other races, but you can turn on that dehumanization against anyone.
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u/ViscountessNivlac Jun 02 '24
People will call anything 'Doctor energy' these days.
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u/just_one_boy Jun 02 '24
He's deliberately meant to be Doctor coded.
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u/hoodie92 Jun 02 '24
Didn't get that vibe from him at all. Being mildly heroic is not all that's required to be "Doctor coded".
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u/Meridian_Dance Jun 02 '24
The entire point is that he’s doctor-coded but white, so Lindy listens and lets him save her, but refused to with The Doctor simply because he’s black.
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u/FloppyShellTaco Jun 02 '24
Still a Nazi nepo baby lol. He was also rolling his eyes at the doctor. He’s just the least bad Nazi and smart enough to realize the imminent danger they were in.
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Jun 02 '24
I just got more and more angry as the episode progressed. By the time Lindy was face to face with the doctor I literally had to pause my tv and walk away. I know the doc is a good person, but I am not and I took great delight in the thought of her being mauled to death horrifically. I would have pushed her off the damn boat.
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u/TMcMobley Jun 03 '24
My family tired to defend that bitch when she sent dot after him but I was like no, this is a selfish evil bitch.
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u/AnAngryPlatypus Jun 03 '24
Silver lining, Billie Joe Armstrong will be awake for the rest of the season.
(…I’ll see myself out…)
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u/Ohmaggies Jun 04 '24
Rip Ricky
I think it’s important we don’t make the mistake of thinking racism is an on/off button. Ricky is a decent person but we’ve all got our own issues and had he not been murdered, they’d have come up eventually.
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u/TheOkayUsername Jun 02 '24
Ricky September is like my 2nd favourite character from this series. Wish he could’ve been a companion. He would’ve been if he wasn’t killed off
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u/GlobalNuclearWar Jun 02 '24
Given the society he’s coming from I suspect that >! he was just as racist as everyone else in the place and wouldn’t have gone with the Doctor either. !<
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u/TheOkayUsername Jun 02 '24
I don’t think everyone in a white society is doomed to be racist. When my grandma was young in a white Netherlands, she taught the first refugee kids that came in the neighbourhood (when pretty much nobody ever saw a person of color in real life) sewing lessons for free, just because they were nice neighbour kids, while her husband absolutely despised that. Now Im not saying she wasn’t racist because of that, but not everyone in a white society will absolutely do anything to avoid people of color. Besides, he was flirting a bit with the doctor
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u/GlobalNuclearWar Jun 03 '24
“I don’t think everyone in a white society is doomed to be racist.“ I’d agree with that.
That society didn’t just have passing racism. She saw the Doctor and blocked him, then saw him again and assumed he was another black man who just looked like the first one.
When she realized he’d hacked the dot she told him that he would be disciplined, not arrested, not charged with lawbreaking, disciplined. As you would with a slave or lower caste.
It’s not a white society. It’s a whites ONLY society. Huge difference.
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u/Strawb3rryJam111 Jun 02 '24
I knew he was gonna get killed the moment he helped Lindy. I was expecting a “good guy surprisingly dies”trope, looking at every corner for a slug.
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u/CypherRen Jun 03 '24
Any proof he wasn't a racist? Pretty sure the lot of them were racists
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u/osmium999 Jun 03 '24
I mean it's impossible to not be influenced by a society like that, but the only interaction he has with the doctor is pretty positive, he smiles at the doctor and listens to him, he politely tries to interrupt the doctor to tell him that he already know puls codes. When you compare that to the reactions of Lindy's friends during the voice call it's pretty striking. Maybe he is not 100% void of any prejudices but he is light-years ahead of everybody else on his planet
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u/ahufana Jun 03 '24
There is zero proof that he was or wasn't. We'll never know.
I'm a little bothered by the number of people who are willing to just assume he probably was. That mindset is, by its very nature, prejudiced.
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u/Ravyn_Rozenzstok Jun 03 '24
Nah, he was a racist. A cute, sensitive, charismatic, musically-talented racist, but still, not a good person in the end.
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u/Cybermat4707 Jun 02 '24
Ricky September is:
I rate him 10/10.