Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Doctor Who episode "Arachnids In The UK." Read at your own risk!
Doctor Who has had plenty of notable guest stars names guest star in the past, and its writers are often aces at creating the perfect roles for the temporary talent. "Arachnids In The UK" carried on that tradition by utilizing former Law & Order and Sex And The City star Chris Noth in some wild ways. For example, Noth's Who character intends to possibly go head-to-head with President Donald Trump in the 2020 election! But let's pull back to start off.
Who Is Chris Noth's Jack Robertson?
From the jump, viewers could probably tell Chris Noth's Jack Robertson was not the nicest guy. He's a gruff, no-nonsense businessman who is quick to spew ire at anyone showing insubordination in response to his wishes. Robertson is the type that doesn't ask for forgiveness, because it would acknowledge he did something wrong in the first place. Perhaps above all else, he does things his way, and has no problems attempting to boss others around, regardless of the situation.
Fans knew Jack Robertson was a man of some wealth when they learned he owned the luxury hotel that had the unfortunate massive spider infestation. What wasn't known until about mid-episode when Ryan and Graham recognized him, however, was that Robertson was a prominent figure on an international scale. Robertson wasn't just the head of a chain of successful hotels, he claimed to have a massive business portfolio of several successful businesses he was in charge of.
If Jack Robertson's character sounds somewhat similar to any real-world leaders, the similarities didn't stop there. Robertson agreed with a suggestion that Russians might've been behind the episode's giant spiders, he also used the phrase "You're fired" to Yasmin's mom, and also uttered "How's this for fire and fury?" before unloading a round into a massive spider as it was slowly suffocating. The Doctor Who writers clearly weren't trying to cloak the inspirations behind Robertson's creation.
Despite such background, Chris Noth's muse definitely allow Jack Robertson to spin out into a Donald Trump parody. There were some hand gestures and things that were definitely inspired, but Noth was far removed from any performance that would be deemed comparable to Alec Baldwin's SNL run. That was definitely the right call, considering the Doctor Who universe doesn't tend to get bogged down with legitimate political commentary even when its adventures branch into the real world.
How Was Jack Robertson Introduced?
Chris Noth's Jack Robertson was spotted at the episode's beginning, attempting to handle a spider situation that was increasingly growing out of control. Unfortunately, Yasmin's mom was caught in his warpath, and Robertson fired her as the hotel's General Manager before it even opened. The fact that Yasmin's mother was only there to attempt to help get the hotel up and running didn't sway him, much to her dismay.
Jack Robertson returned to the action later on once Doctor Who had established that giant spiders were infesting Sheffield. Robertson almost fell victim to his own massive spider attack while in the bathroom, but was saved by his bodyguard, who was then killed instead. Robertson could've saved his protector, but instead chose to close the door and ignore the man's cries for help. Soon after, Robertson ran into the Doctor and friends, and he tagged along solely as a means to survive.
After some time together, Ryan and Graham reveal to the Doctor that Robertson wasn't just some businessman, but the Jack Robertson, the hotel mogul with ambitions that could take him to the White House. The Doctor, who thought he may be Ed Sheeran, was unimpressed and continued to work out a way to somehow defeat the massive spiders without harming them. Robertson was opposed to that idea, which of course is what rubbed the Doctor the wrong way.
That wasn't the only thing that the Doctor didn't like about Jack Robertson. The brusque character had been using an abandoned coal mine beneath the hotel as a landfill dump for another his businesses, which is how the mutant spiders came into existence. Robertson didn't assume responsibility for his actions, and nor did he care much when it was revealed the mother spider was scared and dying. Noth's character gunned the beast down and felt justified in his decision, despite the Doctor chastising him afterward.
Will Jack Robertson Return?
Jack Robertson survived the spider ordeal, and the news that he may run against President Donald Trump (whom he apparently dislikes) in 2020 seemed like Doctor Who was foreshadowing his return at a later date. A reference to a potential future event in a show about time-travel is almost always a clue that the story could head there at some point. Also, Doctor Who has featured future fictional and historical leaders before, so Chris Noth may return as Presidential candidate Robertson later on.
If so, Doctor Who just made it known that the Doctor won't be backing that campaign in any way, even if she could. Robertson's lack of mercy and unwillingness to listen to reason may put the two characters on a collision course, should Earth be in danger sometime down the road. Robertson was just a man with a gun this time around, so we can only imagine how much more deadly he'd be if he had an entire nation's army to command.
There are other possibilities for Chris Noth's potential return. Doctor Who could show the good guys sabotaging Robertson's campaign to keep him out of office, Or maybe this was a subtle way of the creative team saying the Doctor doesn't see eye-to-eye with President Trump, which seems pretty random.
At the time of this writing, we don't know if Doctor Who will feature more of Chris Noth or not, so we can't plainly assume Robertson will be returning. We're hoping he does, however, as we'd love to see Robertson and Doctor go against each other another time. Maybe some more Law & Order vets could come around, too.
Doctor Who airs on BBC America on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET. Keep tabs on all things coming and going on television over the next couple of months by visiting our fall premiere guide.
