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I have so many feelings, I mean thoughts, about "Lucky Day"!
If UNIT were all frauds used to control people, how could Conrad fake them out? They'd have known the Shreek call was a false alarm and wouldn't have come. He could claim they are bad at their jobs, but the whole scenario shows that UNIT believes there is a real threat, and also that they were capable of recognizing that this was not that real threat in the nick of time. Frankly, I don't trust any military organization on earth to do what UNIT did there.
But that's part of the point. The demonstration that UNIT was fake failed to demonstrate anything of the kind, but that's the story of at least the US nowadays, and the episode seems to demonstrate that it feels the same in the UK.
I am still seething at and about Conrad half an hour after finishing the episode because it hit home too much. It's terribly heavy-handed, but so is what I see happening around me.
Conrad really did reject reality. He believed in the moments he needed help, and as soon as he felt safe, he was laughing about special effects again. He didn't even believe he was in the TARDIS. I have spent the last ten years trying to decide whether people are deluded or lying, especially those in power. I am repeatedly confounded because can be both/and instead of either/or. This episode felt so on the nose that I am horrified and think it shouldn't work, and yet it worked a bit too well for me (see "seething").
I felt bad for eight-year-old Conrad. I thought Jonah Hauer-King did excellent work, convincing both as a sweet, awkward guy and an entitled influencer with no compunction about shooting someone who's helping him. When he admitted not taking the antidote but told Ruby that he wanted to be brave, and replace the Doctor, I said to Brilliant Husband, "Oh, too bad: he's not really boyfriend material after all." I was right, but for the wrong reasons! (Also, I admit with some embarrassment that I have seen all 13 episodes of World on Fire and spent the whole episode going, "He looks familiar, but maybe he just looks like someone. He's the star of World on Fire!
I love Kate. Ibrahim is right: she went too far. But stepping in front of Ruby and shouting, "Don’t you dare point a gun at her!" felt so right. She's flawed, and she was wrong, and I love her anyway. I'm glad she has Shirley and Ibrahim around her, and I hope she listens to them more.
And I love Ruby, who can't come off high alert. I love all her mums (counting her grandmother, crowing over the shirtless pic!). It's both great to have such support—but also a bit scary! I hope we'll keep checking in with Ruby.
Also, the Vlinx evacuating gave a nice comedic short break to the tension!
Conrad asks the Doctor if he has met Belinda Chandra again, and the Doctor appears not to have met her yet! Is this how he starts looking into her, which brings us into the first episode of the season? I like it!
I do not like Mrs Flood letting Conrad out.
If UNIT were all frauds used to control people, how could Conrad fake them out? They'd have known the Shreek call was a false alarm and wouldn't have come. He could claim they are bad at their jobs, but the whole scenario shows that UNIT believes there is a real threat, and also that they were capable of recognizing that this was not that real threat in the nick of time. Frankly, I don't trust any military organization on earth to do what UNIT did there.
But that's part of the point. The demonstration that UNIT was fake failed to demonstrate anything of the kind, but that's the story of at least the US nowadays, and the episode seems to demonstrate that it feels the same in the UK.
I am still seething at and about Conrad half an hour after finishing the episode because it hit home too much. It's terribly heavy-handed, but so is what I see happening around me.
Conrad really did reject reality. He believed in the moments he needed help, and as soon as he felt safe, he was laughing about special effects again. He didn't even believe he was in the TARDIS. I have spent the last ten years trying to decide whether people are deluded or lying, especially those in power. I am repeatedly confounded because can be both/and instead of either/or. This episode felt so on the nose that I am horrified and think it shouldn't work, and yet it worked a bit too well for me (see "seething").
I felt bad for eight-year-old Conrad. I thought Jonah Hauer-King did excellent work, convincing both as a sweet, awkward guy and an entitled influencer with no compunction about shooting someone who's helping him. When he admitted not taking the antidote but told Ruby that he wanted to be brave, and replace the Doctor, I said to Brilliant Husband, "Oh, too bad: he's not really boyfriend material after all." I was right, but for the wrong reasons! (Also, I admit with some embarrassment that I have seen all 13 episodes of World on Fire and spent the whole episode going, "He looks familiar, but maybe he just looks like someone. He's the star of World on Fire!
I love Kate. Ibrahim is right: she went too far. But stepping in front of Ruby and shouting, "Don’t you dare point a gun at her!" felt so right. She's flawed, and she was wrong, and I love her anyway. I'm glad she has Shirley and Ibrahim around her, and I hope she listens to them more.
And I love Ruby, who can't come off high alert. I love all her mums (counting her grandmother, crowing over the shirtless pic!). It's both great to have such support—but also a bit scary! I hope we'll keep checking in with Ruby.
Also, the Vlinx evacuating gave a nice comedic short break to the tension!
Conrad asks the Doctor if he has met Belinda Chandra again, and the Doctor appears not to have met her yet! Is this how he starts looking into her, which brings us into the first episode of the season? I like it!
I do not like Mrs Flood letting Conrad out.
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I'm not sure he did. I think it's just as likely that he wanted to bring down UNIT for rejecting him, so he became an "influencer" to those who wanted to believe in conspiracy theories to use against UNIT. The confrontation with the Shreek in UNIT was being livestreamed to his followers. I think when he thought Kate was going to let the Shreek have him, he was truly begging for his life, but immediately switched back to conspiracy stuff when she backed off. He could then say to his followers "the guy in the Shreek suit was really trying to kill me, so I had to play along in that moment to survive". They'd believe him too, because, well... [looks into the camera like I'm on The Office]
He may have at least sipped the Kool-Aid, but I think maybe it's a case of his connection to reality being fluid. He was playing the part so hard, it becomes difficult to not default to conspiracies. It was implied that his mother mistreated and possibly abused him, so combining that with not being believed about seeing The Doctor when he was a kid may have warped his mind a lot.
I think he's more of a grifter taking advantage of people than a true believer, and his story keeps changing to fit the current scenario. I see that a lot out in the real world these days, from the Big Lie of voter fraud where they changed their tune in court when there's real consequences (but keep tellling their followers the lie), to the "med bed" folks, where they keep changing why this miracle cure all still hasn't been released to the public. I've seen reactions to news stories evolve in realtime, where people are throwing out all kinds of possibilities, then once they get the story from their "news" sources that's the only version they've every known.
But back to the rest of the plot. :) I liked this better than I expected for a Doctor Lite episode, especially since Ruby didn't really grab my interest at first, but I do enjoy her family dynamic. Really like Kate, Shirley, and Ibrahim. It would not be important to the plot, but I can see this incarnation being absolutely delighted to see Kate involved with someone, and possibly tease her endlessly about it.
I think Conrad asking about Belinda Chandra is definitely what made the Doctor start looking, so it's wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. Though he did say "again" right? The Doctor hadn't met her yet, but asking about meeting her again implies he'd met her, lost her, then met her again. Wonder what that bit means, if anything?
Though it reminds me... this incarnation does seem to have a lot of nicknames for people, and frequently calls Belinda "Bel", but I have noticed he seems to introduce her by her full name. I can't recall if he did that with Ruby, but past incarnation would have just used their given name or nickname. Not sure if it means anything, or if it's just a character quirk.
I hope they wrap up the Mrs Flood stuff this season. The reboot pulled off a season long story arc surprise, so they keep trying to chase that high. This is dragging into two seasons, which is unusual. The breaking the fourth wall bit was amusing at first, but if she keeps showing up everywhere and everywhen, it's going to get old. I've seen fannish theories that she's somehow related to River Song/Melody Pond, due to the name. No idea, but I hope we get at least some answer.
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I think Conrad's a grifter up to a point, but when he's actually standing in front of the Doctor saying "I reject your reality," what kind of mind are we talking about here? I think he might believe what he's saying when he's saying it. I think I have a colleague who does that, and then a week later, they'll say something totally different; they're either lying about not remembering, or they've rewritten it in their head already. He's absolutely profiting off this, but I think he rewrites things in his head and was trying to do so at the time he was in the TARDIS.
I don't think I need to see him again!
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I've been seeing MAGA folk essentially rewriting things in their head all the time. It was something described in 1984, but I'd never thought I'd see it happening at this level. Major event happens, MAGA folk are all over the map for a day or two with conspiracy theories, until they get their "reality" from Fox News or similar news media. Then all of a sudden, those theories are quickly forgotten like they never existed, and the new story is now the story.
Maybe Conrad is a grifter, but has been marinating in that mindset for so long, he can't remember his own objective reality? We might not see Conrad again, but I wouldn't be surprised if the concept is revisited, as there's supposedly a UNIT series in the works.
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I've occasionally seen MAGA people rewrite stuff almost in real time. I've also seen a colleague repeatedly misrepresent things that happened in a way that messed with my head. I'm not sure I can call it "gaslighting," because I think gaslighting is intentional. I think the colleague believed what they said at the moment they said it, but I found myself after meetings digging up emails and minutes because they were so earnest that I felt I was losing my memory or my grip on reality!
That's where I think Conrad is: as you say, "marinating in that mindset for so long, he can't remember his own objective reality."
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There's an interesting bit of "I can't be wrong" threaded into being able to warp objective reality. I see so many people who just aren't very educated on a topic who suddenly think they know more than people who studied it all their adult lives. If something goes against what they think it should, then it's wrong, not them. No facts, just vibes.
If you've been watching Andor, Mon Mothma has a banger of a speech where she talks about "The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous." Reminded me of this conversation about Conrad, as well as... other things.
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And SF tv has too much in common with reality these days.
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I know SF is supposed to be allegory of the future, whether near or far future. I didn't expect to be living it live.