More thoughts on "Lucky Day"
May. 9th, 2025 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverNew episode tomorrow and I still haven't written much about the last one. So, I figured I better do it before I lose it.
I really enjoyed the episode. My husband didn't. Not because it wasn't good, but because it was painful to watch. We've seen it twice, and the second time wasn't any easier.
In my opinion, this episode is unique in that it has an antagonist that the Doctor does not know how deal with: a sociopath. Conrad had no conscience, didn't care about anyone else, and did whatever he wanted to further his aims, including building an empire of lies. What those aims were wasn't entirely clear to me, though -- was he simply trying to take down UNIT, or was he trying to destroy the Doctor's reputation and good works, or was he trying to build his own power base and saw a way to do it through spreading lies on social media? On the other hand, the aims of sociopaths aren't always entirely understandable.
The Doctor confronted Conrad, chastised him, and even threatened him, to no effect. In fact, I'd argue that the Doctor did exactly the wrong thing: by singling him out, he inadvertently confirmed to Conrad that he'd succeeded in everything he'd tried to do and gave him the confidence to continue.
Yes, the Doctor actually lost this one and made everything worse, and the sad thing is, he doesn't even realize it.
But this isn't why the episode was difficult to watch. My husband summed it up in what struck me as a rather profound way, but unfortunately neither of us remember exactly what he said. I really need to learn to write this stuff down. But here's a paraphrase: It hurts to watch this episode because Conrad is such an unbelievable, unrealistic character, but then it hurts even more because you know that people like him really do exist.
We're seeing him all the time, sociopaths in power because of the greater reach their lies have with media and technology. This episode wasn't criticizing social media directly; it was pointing out that we, both individually and as a society, haven't yet learned how to deal with it. We can't tell what's the truth and what's smoke and mirror; we can't recognize sociopaths when we see them.
I'm reminded of whatpurplecat said about "Dot and Bubble" last year, which was, "This episode didn't tell us 'racism is bad'; it said, 'This is what racism looks like', which is arguably a more useful lesson." (I think this is almost exact; I found it profound enough to read it multiple times and commit much of it to memory. Too bad I didn't do that with my husband's statement.) I feel this episode does a similar thing, showing us the loopholes in a sociopath's lies (because yes, a lot of what he said didn't make sense) and how people get taken in by them, though I will say I think this episode was less successful.
A few more points:
* One of the things that didn't make sense was the original fake monster scene. There seemed to be monsters attacking the village, so UNIT showed up to deal with them. Revealing that they were fake doesn't retroactively make UNIT's actions suspect. Kate, Ruby, and UNIT didn't handle this well, so we're supposed to believe that Conrad and his podcast spun it to turn public opinion against them, but I think this entire situation could have been written more convincingly.
* I'm not exactly sure what Conrad was trying to do by breaking into UNIT Tower. He said he was trying to get in there to show that UNIT was one big lie, but he undermines everything by commandeering a gun. If he'd walked into the command deck unarmed and had all of the guns pointed at him, his point of UNIT threatening innocent civilians would have had more weight.
* My husband didn't like Conrad from the start, calling him sleazy and manipulative halfway through the first coffee scene. I didn't agree, and on rewatch, still don't agree. I thought Conrad played his part well, at least for charming an idealistic twenty-year-old Ruby.
* I find it highly unrealistic that public opinion turned all the way back towards UNIT after the showdown. We've unfortunately had way too many instances in real life where supporters got burned by their own celeb and still continued to support them.
* The cold open with Conrad's mother looked originally like it was trying to show that he'd had a bad childhood and thus this is why he turned out this way, but on rewatch, it was showing that he'd always been a sociopath, lying for attention and personal gain, and that it was likely his mother treated him that way after years of having to deal with him.
* Another smug note: I'd noted Kate and Colonel Ibrahim to my husband a while back, probably while watching "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"The Empire of Death", and he'd asked how I figured that. Well, from the hand-hold in "The Giggle", of course. Anyway, it was great to get confirmation on that here, and it is awesome to see Kate getting to have an actual life! (Also nice to see the development of a relationship over a year and a half, even if it's off-screen.) Thank you, Chibbycakes and RTD, for giving Kate a real character and a life!
* I didn't feel like Ruby's difficulties with adjusting to normal life was established all that well. She mentioned it a couple of times to Conrad, but she otherwise seemed normal and seemed to have a stable life with both her families. That should have been explored more. Also, why didn't Kate refer her to Mel or Donna, or to Companions Anonymous? They're far more equipped to help her than Kate is.
* This is not an episode that's going to be rewatched much.
I really enjoyed the episode. My husband didn't. Not because it wasn't good, but because it was painful to watch. We've seen it twice, and the second time wasn't any easier.
In my opinion, this episode is unique in that it has an antagonist that the Doctor does not know how deal with: a sociopath. Conrad had no conscience, didn't care about anyone else, and did whatever he wanted to further his aims, including building an empire of lies. What those aims were wasn't entirely clear to me, though -- was he simply trying to take down UNIT, or was he trying to destroy the Doctor's reputation and good works, or was he trying to build his own power base and saw a way to do it through spreading lies on social media? On the other hand, the aims of sociopaths aren't always entirely understandable.
The Doctor confronted Conrad, chastised him, and even threatened him, to no effect. In fact, I'd argue that the Doctor did exactly the wrong thing: by singling him out, he inadvertently confirmed to Conrad that he'd succeeded in everything he'd tried to do and gave him the confidence to continue.
Yes, the Doctor actually lost this one and made everything worse, and the sad thing is, he doesn't even realize it.
But this isn't why the episode was difficult to watch. My husband summed it up in what struck me as a rather profound way, but unfortunately neither of us remember exactly what he said. I really need to learn to write this stuff down. But here's a paraphrase: It hurts to watch this episode because Conrad is such an unbelievable, unrealistic character, but then it hurts even more because you know that people like him really do exist.
We're seeing him all the time, sociopaths in power because of the greater reach their lies have with media and technology. This episode wasn't criticizing social media directly; it was pointing out that we, both individually and as a society, haven't yet learned how to deal with it. We can't tell what's the truth and what's smoke and mirror; we can't recognize sociopaths when we see them.
I'm reminded of what
purplecat said about "Dot and Bubble" last year, which was, "This episode didn't tell us 'racism is bad'; it said, 'This is what racism looks like', which is arguably a more useful lesson." (I think this is almost exact; I found it profound enough to read it multiple times and commit much of it to memory. Too bad I didn't do that with my husband's statement.) I feel this episode does a similar thing, showing us the loopholes in a sociopath's lies (because yes, a lot of what he said didn't make sense) and how people get taken in by them, though I will say I think this episode was less successful.A few more points:
* One of the things that didn't make sense was the original fake monster scene. There seemed to be monsters attacking the village, so UNIT showed up to deal with them. Revealing that they were fake doesn't retroactively make UNIT's actions suspect. Kate, Ruby, and UNIT didn't handle this well, so we're supposed to believe that Conrad and his podcast spun it to turn public opinion against them, but I think this entire situation could have been written more convincingly.
* I'm not exactly sure what Conrad was trying to do by breaking into UNIT Tower. He said he was trying to get in there to show that UNIT was one big lie, but he undermines everything by commandeering a gun. If he'd walked into the command deck unarmed and had all of the guns pointed at him, his point of UNIT threatening innocent civilians would have had more weight.
* My husband didn't like Conrad from the start, calling him sleazy and manipulative halfway through the first coffee scene. I didn't agree, and on rewatch, still don't agree. I thought Conrad played his part well, at least for charming an idealistic twenty-year-old Ruby.
* I find it highly unrealistic that public opinion turned all the way back towards UNIT after the showdown. We've unfortunately had way too many instances in real life where supporters got burned by their own celeb and still continued to support them.
* The cold open with Conrad's mother looked originally like it was trying to show that he'd had a bad childhood and thus this is why he turned out this way, but on rewatch, it was showing that he'd always been a sociopath, lying for attention and personal gain, and that it was likely his mother treated him that way after years of having to deal with him.
* Another smug note: I'd noted Kate and Colonel Ibrahim to my husband a while back, probably while watching "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"The Empire of Death", and he'd asked how I figured that. Well, from the hand-hold in "The Giggle", of course. Anyway, it was great to get confirmation on that here, and it is awesome to see Kate getting to have an actual life! (Also nice to see the development of a relationship over a year and a half, even if it's off-screen.) Thank you, Chibbycakes and RTD, for giving Kate a real character and a life!
* I didn't feel like Ruby's difficulties with adjusting to normal life was established all that well. She mentioned it a couple of times to Conrad, but she otherwise seemed normal and seemed to have a stable life with both her families. That should have been explored more. Also, why didn't Kate refer her to Mel or Donna, or to Companions Anonymous? They're far more equipped to help her than Kate is.
* This is not an episode that's going to be rewatched much.
