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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Date: 2025-05-05 04:00 pm (UTC)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.