Doctor Who: Flux

Page will be updated as the episodes continue to release.

The Halloween Apocalypse by Chris Chibnall

Reviewing the Halloween Apocalypse seems absolutely monumental in terms of a task, and I'd probably feel like I had a better chance of reviewing it if I had any clue what the hell it was doing. I'd say it was like reviewing part one of a particularly crazy serial like the Happiness Patrol or an episode of a modern serial like Killing Eve, Loki, or maybe even Children of Earth. The difference is that those aren't shows that haphazardly bounce about and are trying to tell a very focused narrative, Flux in constrast, is huge, and is also clearly going to go back and frick around with their own timeline of events. It's including an absurd amount of characters that are clearly designed to recur throughout the series. It actually feels like The Halloween Apocalypse sets out to be confusing and monumental, in the hope that people don't recognize any flaws it may have til the end of episode Six. That's not to say the episode is devoid of charm, and it's got a handle on Thirteen and Yaz especially, who have a level of confidence in them that really makes me happy. Yaz interrogating Thirteen in the TARDIS made me go, "WOO HOO DRAMA," because honestly she and Graham and Ryan, even in series Twelve where the writers seemed to wise up to this, were a little too willing to go along with whatever insanity Thirteen decided on this week. The style, presentation is gorgeous - big budget and incredible where it needs to be, and yet knowing when a big rubbish looking monster needs to look rubbish (Karvanista doesn't look great, but I kind of love that.) The Weeping Angels are back, and they're shot exquisitely - they seem to be more at home with the time bullshit the series is setting up than the Sontarans who basically are a cliffhanger cameo. There's a lot of good stuff, and like I said, especially with the regulars, Mandip Gill's Yaz being the highlight of the runtime, from her interrogation of Thirteen to her snarky chemistry with Dan when letting him out of the cage. I'm still not convinced on Dan, whose character amounts to "hello yes I am nice person." I mean, honestly, John Bishop tries to sell him, but I am completely unconvinced when he's given trite lines like "what's the point of being alive if not to make others happy??" I'm not a cynical fuck, it's true, but jesus christ is that just a hard line to sell organically, especially when he's a guy who volunteers at a food stamps facility. I always get cautious when TV tries to make someone too nice. Hell, I'm not convinced on pretty much anyone outside our main duo of Whittaker and Yaz, and perhaps the Swarm, who are really cool and intriguing for episode one, but I'm hesitant to jump on their hype train yet. I do like Vinder. He's not done much, but I like him. Perhaps Chibnall's past series in running the show are to Flux's benefit, as it's got a level of confidence to it, and it builds off several past mistakes nicely, but in other ways, I'm unsure. Scenes like the one of the 1820 Liverpool prospector's feel a bit like if Loki's first episode opened with an inexplicable cut to He Who Remains or Crocodile Loki or something. I mean. Like, a prospector digging secret tunnels for strange and unknown reasons is a peak Doctor Who idea, but why is it here now? They'll make sense later on (I hope) But as of now, why even include them in the first episode if they aren't relevant to future episode's narratives? I have a similar feeling on the Sontarans appearing later in the episode. I know that this is part one of six, and it's got good bits, but I'm not entirely sure if I vibe with this particular kind of storytelling for Who, even if it has potential. It's a weird mixture of Prestige TV and utter bullshit. As of now, it reminds me of the BBC's Dirk Gently series with Samuel Barnett, which had so many characters in it and so many threads that it was genuinely confusing to watch in a first episode to the extent I hardly had an opinion of it. Which was arguably the point of Dirk Gently, which ultimately aided both it's comedy and serious moments, but Doctor Who takes this and comes up with something deranged in terms of plotting, but somehow not deranged enough for me to just go along with the ride. I was always wondering how it would all fit together, and not on the funny alien dog man. Flux could benefit from Dirk Gently's more ridiculous moments. It could also be like Dirk Gently and gradually make sense after a few episodes, but as it is now, I'm in the same zone. I can't help but struggle to form an opinion on it other than I'd rather watch it than a lot of other Doctor Who. Which is nice. 

Yeah, if you can't tell, the absence of Doctor Who on television has enhanced my cynicism. I will give it a cautious 7/10, but for the record, I'm very excited for next week.

War of the Sontarans by Chris Chibnall 

I'm always cautious about good Doctor Who that has just premiered - the very fact that I'm getting Doctor Who at all tends to color my opinion in quite a positive light because honestly my starving little Whovian soul subsists entirely on Big Finish these days and I can get excited over new Doctor Who that is good and overlook any flaws that It may have. This is a problem for me as a reviewer, so I try and remain cautious about these sort of things. Every fiber of my being is saying that War of the Sontarans is one of the best who episodes in years, but yet the still cautious side of me wants to avoid another series 12 scenario where I proclaim Nicola Tesla's Night of Terror to be like a 10 or something. Because at the moment I rate War of the Sontarans incredibly highly. And honestly I'm unsure if it's draught and I'm an unreasonably happy child or if the episode is genuinely good. It's not got shit pacing like the Halloween Apocalypse for one, so that's good that the story has a fucking through line and not disjointed scenes. It's the bare minimum, but I'm quite happy about that. Though it does make The Halloween Apocalypse less good in retrospect slightly because if all the disjointed introductory mayhem was a one-off that only makes it's poor execution slightly more evident. Not by much, but going into War of the Sontarans I was sort of expecting the episode to be more ridiculous bullcrap, and so the logical plot progression truly surprised me. What further surprised me was the immense focus on Whittaker - while Yaz was the MVP of the previous week, this time it's entirely the Doctor really nailing it. Whittaker nails her performance even more than usual this episode in my mind, and it's such a damn shame we've only got seven more episodes with her, as in a way she still feels like "the new Doctor" after series 11 kind of was just ten random episodes and series 12 was a cavalcade of continuity (and by continuity I mean only the RTD era because god forbid Chibnall take anything from Moffat that isn't the Weeping Angels.) Which is odd as the atmosphere surrounding Flux really feels Moffatian or at least Chibnall trying to be like Moffat, even if he's not. Swarm and Azure especially feel like the classic Moffat mystery box, waiting to be opened, (most likely to disappointing results as anticipation is always better than the real thing.) But honestly, it's strange, because War of the Sontarans is such an episodic tale that kind of just handles the Sontaran stuff from the plot, it doesn't feel like a continuation of last week as much as it might ordinarily. There's a lot, and I mean, a lot of stuff I like in this episode, the Sontarans especially are given the perfect balance of humor and actual bombast and threat to them - while I love Strax I've disliked NuWho's tendency to deliver the Sontarans as a joke and this story actually makes them proper villains who shoot things, whilst not sacrificing the "Strax" energy. Mary Seacole, a historical figure I knew absolutely nothing about because god forbid US schools teach about anything that's not America, was really really fun. The effects varied from shot to shot, but when they were good, they were excellent, and while they are mystery boxes and I am annoyed with mystery boxes, Swarm and Azure still vibe with me. There are still problems, and not just with my mental state, the finale of The Halloween Apocalypse poses a horrifically scary cliffhanger that's kinda impossible to get out of which this episode completely ignores, and this episode's also quite good cliffhanger I hope isn't ignored too. I'm so fricking unsure what to think of this - I'm loving it, but I also feel like I'm in some kind of surreal pocket dimension where nothing makes sense anymore. 8/10

Once, Upon Time by Chris Chibnall

And we’re back in the Halloween Apocalypse!! Granted this episode has a better meta textual point for using what I will politely call the “batshit” form of storytelling, but all the same, It suffers horribly from Chibnall trying to do something that quite plainly is too clever for him. He’s trying to deliver the Moffat episode here, and I just *know* the internet and all of the people who dislike this era (most for valid reasons, some are jackasses, but most have valid reasons) are going to have a *field day* with this episode. Because quite honestly, although I liked what it was as someone deep in the Who rabbithole, I can’t imagine what my Mum and Dad thought of it. Really the majority of the thing is really trying to be clever and ends up pretentious and disorienting. The initial effect makes you think “oh, that’s really cool, I’m going to love this!!” But everything about the time nonsense that makes up this episode does get grating. I like that it tries to characterize Dan and Vinder (funnily enough the instant there’s a third-ish companion Yaz is irrelevant again, holy shit) and once again, Whittaker is killing it, really taking her performance into a different direction here. She’s so fucking pissed here, especially at the end, that it really almost feels like a different portrayal for her. The plot threads range from intriguing (The Doctor’s past, Vinder and Bel’s story) to absolutely infuriating (that stupid man with the top hat and sideburns that has done NOTHING in the three episodes he’s been in.) Not to mention Chibnall can’t keep his hands to himself and stop himself from throwing the Daleks and Cybermen into an already crowded series - it’s genuinely maniacal. The scope and special effects of Flux continue to impress but at this point I am starting to tire. Minus Whittaker, there’s not really anything like Swarm/Azure or Yaz content or Karvanista to attract my joy. Even Jo Martin’s part in the episode is slim as fuck (likely to hide the surprise, which I was still instantly spoiled about because I live in America plus don’t have Network TV and so have to watch the episodes a day late when they arrive for purchase online.) There’s supposedly a lot to like in this episode, the trouble is, I don’t like any of it. For an episode so painstakingly wrapped up in explaining mythology, I come out of it feeling like I know nothing. There’s enough “oohs,” and “aahs,” for it to be entertaining at the least and it’s far from the worst thing this era has shat out, but I can’t rate it highly at all. 5 or 6/10