Throughout the Fifteenth Doctor’s era, Doctor Who keeps introducing members of the Pantheon of Discord, a collective of powerful gods, within its expansive universe. From the return of the chilling Toymaker to Maestro to last season’s big bad Sutekh, the Doctor has faced a lot of dark villains who love a deadly game. The defeat of Sutekh seemed to close the chapter on this saga; however, it is not quite over yet. Season two’s second episode, “Lux,” introduces us to another major Pantheon god in Doctor Who.
In this episode, we meet a ‘50s-era cartoon character called Mr. Ring-a-Ding. He’s a Cuphead-esque figure whose animated shorts are popular among moviegoers. But, one night in 1952 in Miami, a moonlight source beams into this character while on screen. It causes him to cross into the real world, and the people in the theater seemingly vanish. The Doctor and Belinda arrive a while afterwards to use this place as a landing spot for his vortex indicator (a.k.a. vindicator) to help build a “fishing line” of sorts to May 24, 2025. It will help them return to that specific time so Belinda can reunite with her family and start her new gig.
Now, why in the world would the Doctor, who presents as a Black man and is aware of this, and Belinda, who is of South Asian descent, be in Florida in 1952? The TARDIS does frequently take the Doctor where they need to go and we see that it bounces to that year. So I guess he didn’t have a ton of choice there. But still. Anyway, it is 4AM and the plan is to only stay briefly to allow the vindicator to gain some juice. But a weird locked theater complete with a mysterious caretaker pulls them into a Scooby-Doo mystery.
This theater is where they meet Mr. Ring-a-Ding, who is a rather diminutive cartoon who has come to life. He keeps repeating lines from the series, including “don’t make me laugh.” The Doctor asks repeatedly why they shouldn’t make him laugh and questions who this cartoon really is. Mr. Ring-a-Ding finally does his laugh and it is the same melody that the Toymaker hid in all screens. The Doctor realizes that this character is a harbinger of the gods of chaos. Mr. Ring-a-Ding fully drops the act and reveals that he is Lux Imperator, the god of light and the “dazzle at the heart of the Pantheon.”
The Doctor and Belinda narrowly escape him and end up in the projection room thanks to Reginald Pye, the caretaker who is playing films to feed Lux each night. He does this because Lux gave him a film reel that allowed him to dance with his deceased wife. Meanwhile, the people who were in the theater were turned into images on a reel and trapped. Lux enters the room and begins a line of questioning with the Doctor. Just like the other gods, Lux must answer the Doctor’s questions and play the game fairly. Lux says the Doctor is “the one,” the Enemy of the Toymaker, decomposer of Maestro, and the killer of the god of death.
A series of strange events takes place following Lux turning Fifteen and Belinda into cartoons. One unexpected part of them attempting to come back to reality and battle this Lux guy from the Pantheon includes meeting Doctor Who fans. The Doctor and Belinda believe for a moment that they are not real and perhaps characters on a TV show. It’s a random little meta moment in the midst of their adventure. Through this process, the Doctor knows that a swath of light to break the theater’s darkness can stop Lux. The character uses film strips to pin the Doctor down, intending to steal the light of his Time Lord energy to become bigger and stronger. Ya know, to destroy Earth and the universe and all that jazz.
The Doctor hints to Belinda that it is nearly daylight and, with the help of Mr. Pye, they burn all the film, causing an explosion and bringing sunlight into the theater. Lux feeds and grows so much that he becomes infinitely large and invisible among the stars. The people in the theater come back and are finally free. Belinda decides that she wants to spend time with the Doctor after their vulnerable moments together.
We don’t know if this is the last that we will see Lux in Doctor Who as a Pantheon god. But we know that all of these harbingers of more bad things to come have something to do with Mrs. Flood. She conveniently shows up on the scene when Belinda and the Doctor leave in the TARDIS. She tells a few people that the Doctor’s “show” is a limited run that will end on May 24. Uh oh. What happens on that date that changes everything? And who is Mrs. Flood in Doctor Who? Let’s see what happens as the season progresses.
Content shared from nerdist.com.