***The following is a detailed recap of the episode “The Robot Revolution,” and it contains major spoilers for the episode. You can also read our spoiler-free review here.***

Seventeen years ago, Alan Budd (Jonny Green) sits with his girlfriend, Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) looking at the stars. He gives her a birthday gift, a certificate for ownership of a star. She questions if it has to say “Miss” with her name. He asks her if she’s married, and she tells him she’s not, so he says then it is miss and asks if she likes it. She tells him it’s the nicest thing anyone has done for her, and they share an awkward kiss.

Seventeen years later, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) arrives at the hospital in his TARDIS. He goes inside where Belinda is working as a nurse. He’s looking for someone. A doctor tells Belinda on her way out that there is a doctor looking for her, but she leaves. The Doctor asks the woman at the front desk (Belinda Owusu) for information, but she is not allowed to give that out. He distracts her and then uses his sonic on her computer, and it knocks out the power in the whole building. He apologizes.

Later, Belinda lays in bed when her room starts to shake and the star certificate, which is framed on the wall, falls down. She goes to the window and sees a rocket ship land outside.

Large red robots smash their way into the apartment through the wall. One points a ray gun at her. She says they can’t be actual robots, because it’s ridiculous, and scolds them as they wreck the apartment.

One asks if she is Miss Belinda Chandra, and calls her “your majesty,” saying she will come with them. She asks what happens if she doesn’t, and it vaporizes the cat.  The robot tells her they come from the star Missbelindachandra and need her as their queen. She asks what it means by the star Belinda. It pulls out the framed certificate from her wall saying she owns the star. It pulls it from the frame and the corner rips. They take her outside.

The neighbor – Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) – comes out. Belinda tells her to tell her other neighbor that her cat has gone to live on a farm and that apparently she’s the queen of outer space if she could tell the police. She adds to tell her parents robots are kidnapping her and she loves them. Mrs. Flood just says to take care and waves good bye.

Mrs. Flood watches as the ship takes off with Belinda. The Doctor comes running out of the apartment yelling after her. Mrs. Flood turns to face the camera and says “You ain’t seen me,” and goes back in her apartment.

The ship flies off and the Doctor follows in his TARDIS.

Meanwhile, Belinda yells from her seat on the ship that they don’t even have the right person. Mr. Alan Daniel Budd bought her the star and they should get him. She hasn’t seen him in sixteen years. She sees the TARDIS outside the window, and time starts to glitch.

In the TARDIS, the same thing happens, and the Doctor says it complicates things.

They arrive at Missbelindachandra, and the robots lead her into a futuristic city. A human woman, Sasha 55 (Evelyn Miller), welcomes her to Missbelindachandraville. Belinda tells her to ask the robots to lay off, but Sasha says that they obey their Robot Overlords in all things, the MissBelindaChandrabots. There are ships firing in the distance. Sasha explains that the rebels in the North Zone started a riot, so the robots are unleashing Missbelindachandrabombs. Belinda questions they are killing them, but Sasha just says they must be obeyed, but then she whispers to Belinda for help.

They all enter the building. There is a little sweeper robot that says “polish polish” and sweeps the floor in front of Belinda. One of the robots says that the pathway must be cleaned and polished for her and then has her proceed towards the throne of the queen.

There are humans lined up in procession to the throne that Sasha joins and looks to one of them: it’s the Doctor. He is dressed as the others in plain linen clothes.

Belinda sits on the throne and the robot says that Missbelindachandra One will celebrate her royal wedding. She questions if she’s marrying a spark plug, and the robot says she will marry the great AI Generator. The video screen shows her future husband, a different odd looking big robot. It says that no help is coming to them, and they will surrender to him. It knows no pity or mercy. It says that her binding contract of the stars may yet save the people and holds up a copy the certificate. It says that the robots will bring her to him so metal and skin can weld within Miss Belinda Chandra, combining queen and machine. She says no, but the robot says that enforced wedlock will commence.

She asks why everything on the planet is so stupid, and Sasha 55 says that their designated historian will explain. The Doctor steps forward.

He talks to her, highlighting certain words.

“Once upon a time the planet was united. Listen. The robots and people lived together in peace. To. But then ten years ago, it all changed. Me. Because on that day the robot revolution arose. Please. Thank you for listening attentively to my story. Careful. The AI generator evolved and achieved perfection. Robots. It told its soldiers to conquer all life. Faulty. No one knows why. It remains a mystery. Cannot. So, the mighty Robots marched across the world. Hear. People fought back, but they are week flesh. Every. They begged for kindness and hoped for peace. Ninth. But then the AI Generator conquered them. Word.” (Listen to me, please. Careful. Robots faulty, cannot hear every ninth word).

Getting the message she thanks him counting words.

He continues: “I’m very grateful for your infinite wisdom. Good. With the people subjugated, the Generator looked out. Rebels. It sought for the original Miss Belinda Chandra. Fight. And so, it looked for the planet Earth. Back. It beheld the creator and brought you here. Very. It knew metal and flesh must finally unite. Soon.”

She asks him when, and he says, “I can confirm, your highness, the time…is. Now.”

The Doctor helps her hide as the humans attack, and both sides shoot at each other. As robots fight back, many of the people get vaporized. The Doctor tells her he will get her out of there, and she says he’s not doing a very good job. Sasha tells her that he came in a stranger, and in six months, she’s learned to trust him with her life, and then says, “Take her home, Doctor, then take me to the stars!” He tells her it’s a date, and he and Belinda start towards the exit.

Sasha covers them with fire as they run, but she gets vaporized. The Doctor hesitates in shock, but Belinda pulls him out the door.

The Doctor charges a teleport. Two men run up saying they lost everyone else, and the four of them teleport out. He destroys it with the sonic so the robots can’t follow. The one male rebel, Manny, (Max Parker) tells her she better be worth it, and she tells him none of it is her fault. She tells the Doctor as he cries that she’s sorry about his friend and that Sasha was nice to her.

The little polish robot starts polishing, and he picks it up, apologizes to it, and says that the robots could track it down, so he powers it down. He says that now they have a world to overthrow.

They are in an underground refuge, the North Zone. He tells her that her diploma from Star Register (the certificate) is interesting. He says if he’s right, it’s dangerous. He hooks his sonic up to a monitor.

Belinda, wanting to help some of those that are hurt, asks a woman about the IVs, and tells the Doctor that she’s supposed to be starting a new shift on Monday.

This triggers a memory for the Doctor of Mundy Flynn, the ordained Anglican marine from the episode last season, “Boom.”

As he just stands there, Belinda says that somethings don’t change: a doctor stands back while the nurses do all the hard work. She asks him what his name is, and he says “just the Doctor.”

BELINDA: You’re actually called “the Doctor”?
DOCTOR: Yeah.
BELINDA: All right, then. I’m called the Nurse.
DOCTOR: Doctor and Nurse. Good team.

She helps a man with a dislocated shoulder. She asks the Doctor if shoulders are the same on this planet as Earth, and the Doctor says more or less so she pops it back in. She covers him with a blanket, and it shows his x-ray.

The Doctor comes over and he looks at the man’s organs and talks about the differences between humans and Missbelindachandrakind. They have an organ called the pasculum. She asks if that is better or worse than humans, and he tells her that if you start deciding which body is best, you’re going down a very dangerous path. She says that’s the truest things she’s heard all day. He uses the blanket on himself for her, and she sees he has two hearts. He tells her he’s an alien from a different planet.

She asks him why he’s there, and he tells her that he came for her, because he was told about her by someone. It’s a long story, but he was told her name like she would be important, but that he has to be careful what he tells her because of timelines.

She questions why she’s important, and he has her take out her certificate and shows her the video from the AI Generator. It’s not a copy, because it has the same tear. It’s older, but it’s the exact same one.

BELINDA: You mean it’s literally the same diploma, like in a time-travel way?
DOCTOR: Timey-wimey.
BELINDA: Timey-wimey?
DOCTOR: Yep.
BELINDA: Am I six?

The Doctor asks how long ago it was for her that she was taken from her house. For her it was two hours, but for the Doctor it was six months ago, and he followed her. He asks her if she had a blip on board, if she felt a “schwup,” which she did. He tells her it was a fracture in time. Everything is out of sync. The border between that world and Earth keeps jumping about in time. She left earth May 24, 2025, and he followed her, but when he landed, the robots impounded his spaceship and he’s been living in the Undercity for six months. That’s where he met Sasha, and she looked after him.

Manny interrupts and says that she died helping her. The Doctor defends her, but she tells him she doesn’t need him to fight her battles. The Doctor apologizes for Manny but says he is good.

The Doctor says that he’s been living there with the rebels for a long time trying to get promoted to historian so he could be in the throne room when she arrived. He asks if she’s always had the diploma.  She tells him it was on the wall and didn’t mean anything. He realizes that the robots must have gotten it from the future, and when they brought it back to this planet, it went “schwup,” back to the past, but it traveled further than six months. It went back about five thousand years and became a foundation myth. She says she’s seen films and questions that if you get two versions of the same thing crossing over in time, don’t they explode. He says the Laws of Time says you can’t have the same atoms in the same place twice or kaboom. The Doctor says he will take it and keep it safe. She asks if his job is some sort of time detective, and he just laughs.

The place starts shaking and they take cover. Manny blames her again.

Belinda takes the polish bot and turns it on.

The Doctor says that they need to get to the memory banks, but Manny says it’s guarded by a full robot phalanx. The Doctor says that they will have a record of what went wrong, because the people and the robots have a long history and have been friends for centuries until it all changed one night ten years ago, and they need to figure out why.

The robots have found them. Everyone rushes, and the Doctor tells her to go with one of the others, but she tells him she did this. They come in, and she tells Manny to put his gun down. Manny yells she betrayed them, but she tells him she’s a saving them. She tells the Doctor she’s sorry, but people are dying, and it is her fault. Her name is Miss Belinda Chandra, and it’s about time she owned it. The Doctor tries to stop her, but she tells the robots to leave them alone and take her.

She is brought in to see the AI Generator. The Doctor comes in and tells it that if it leaves her alone and welds with him it will get a better result and that she won’t survive the process. She tells him it’s okay and that once she’s part of the machine, maybe she can talk to it and lead it towards peace.

The AI Generator tells her that conversion will be a world without sadness or pity and that she will achieve serenity, peace, and joy melding with it. The Doctor is counting. She tells the root that she is doing this for them, and once she’s gone, to stop the war. The robot says they will honor her and remember her sacrifice, and it calls her Miss Belinda Chandra again. She tells it that they can drop the “miss”; she never liked it anyway. She says that she said to Alan that night, “Who says miss?” The AI Generator asks, “Are you married?” Belinda says those were his exact words. The Generator says she knows him and opens up and inside is a man completely fused in metal. It’s Alan. The Doctor says it’s not “AI” as the camera pans and shows the sign on the Generator actually says “AL.” She asks if he’s okay and he tells her he is “supreme.” She questions it must hurt, but he says he is beyond pain. She asks how he’s there and he says that they came for him in the night. She realizes it’s her fault, because she told the robots about Alan. The Doctor explains the robots went to get him but went through the time fracture and went back ten years ago. He landed before The Robot Revolution. She questions he’s been killing people, and the Doctor says he loved it.

The scene flashes back to when Alan arrived, questioning it’s like a game with robots and cities and lasers, and it’s his. He can make up the rules and win. He hooked himself up to the chair of the AI Generator he’s now part of. A man tells him they welcome him, but the robot technology he came with seems in advance of theirs by a good ten years. Alan tells the robots to destroy him, and they vaporize him.

The Doctor says that Alan started the revolution. He asks Belinda why she ended it with Alan.

In another flashback, after giving her the certificate, Alan proposed to her and then told her that when they are married, she shouldn’t wear clothes that tight anymore, and no more texting after 8:00 pm. She tells him she won’t marry him.

She tells Alan in the present that all he ever did was correct her and roll his eyes and tell her off. He’s taken coercive control and made it complete control of the whole planet. She asks how he can live with himself.

The Doctor interrupts and says that that’s the point, he can’t. He realizes that every ninth word his brain interfaces with the machine on an eight-part loop, and every ninth word his mind is free. Every ninth word he’s been telling them the truth. (Help me. Save me. Pain.)

Alan says that she was destined for him and to say yes or the rage will go on forever. The Doctor says he can help him and separate the bio links, but Alan won’t listen. She tells the Doctor she’s got no choice, but he tells her that Alan won’t stop; his anger will go on and on. Alan tells her to face him and hold the diploma and join with him in ecstasy and freedom (diploma freedom). Alan is holding out his version of the diploma.

The Doctor takes out the diploma and drops it. The little polishing robot brings it to her. She looks back at the Doctor and takes it. She says she’s sorry and touches her diploma to his. It creates an explosion of sorts. The Doctor runs at her and pulls her away. There are weird flashes including herself and Alan at different ages. He’s able to pull her back, but Alan is gone. The Doctor tells Belinda she needed a Time Lord to take the kaboom. He says he went through her entire life like a bullet. The Time Fracture sent him through it. He tells her she’s amazing. They go back years now. She asks where Alan went, and he scans the floor with his sonic and says he’s microscopic, sperm and an egg. The little robot polishes it up. He says “goodbye, Alan,” and they laugh.

Later, outside, the robots say they are now free from Alan Budd Generator. They will make reparations and live in harmony with the people to rebuild the world. They give him back his TARDIS. Belinda, seeing it, says that it’s going to be a tight fit for both of them. He tells her there’s still a bit of mystery left, like how the robots get ahold of the certificate in the future. She tells him he can solve the mystery after he takes her home. He reluctantly agrees. He tells them to forgive and rebuild and maybe change the name of the solar system. Manny says that they are starting with the building, naming it the Citadel of Sasha 55 in honor of those they lost. He praises Belinda, and the robots bow saying the same.

Belinda enters the TARDIS and looks around amazed. She walks out and back in saying it’s mad. He says it’s bigger on the inside than the outside. She tells him now to get her home. He puts her certificate in a sealed pneumatic tube.

DOCTOR: Yeah, but we don’t need to rush ‘cause Time Lord. Time Machine.
BELINDA: This is a Time machine?
DOCTOR: Boom.

He tells her that there is something already connecting them way beyond robots. He says he’s been to the future and met her descendant on a planet in the 51st century named Mundy Flynn. When asked, he confirms she looked like her. She asks if it’s supposed to be a coincidence. He tells her that is what he is worried about and scans her with his sonic, putting it on the screen. He says that the generic link is amazing and asks if it’s just chance or something more. He can’t help thinking that maybe they are meant to be connected. She asks him if he means like destiny and if that’s what he says to all the girls. He laughs, and she asks if that’s what he said to Sasha who trusted him and died. She says that he tested her DNA without even asking her permission, and he’s dangerous. He tells her he’s sorry and admits that it was inexcusable. She says she’s not one of his adventures, and she’s asking him to do the right thing. He says he will take her home.

He starts up the TARDIS and they hold on. She goes to leave, but something is wrong. He tries again and again. He says they are being repelled, bouncing off of May 24th, which is impossible. He opens the door, and they are in space. He says it’s wrong. They are halfway between Missbelindachandra and planet Earth. She asks if it’s because of the time fracture, but he tells her it’s not; he closed it. He says he doesn’t know what it is and starts messing with dials and buttons on the console trying again and again. The cloister bells ring. Something is stopping them, bouncing them off of planet Earth on the day they met, but he doesn’t know why. She wants him to take her home, and he says he will, but it might be the long way around and to hold on, because it’s going to be quite a ride.

The camera shows the TARDIS disappear and the space around where it was. There are a lot of debris floating in space, including a car, part of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, her certificate, a pyramid, and a calendar with all days before 5/24 marked off.