Synopsis
‘Time is beginning to run wild.’ On a planet that shouldn’t exist, in the aftermath of apocalypse, the Doctor, Dan, Yaz and Vinder face a battle to survive.
If you thought the first two episodes of Doctor Who: Flux were confusing, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Azhur Saleem, “Once, Upon Time” takes the concept of a “time-wimey” episode, turns it up to an eleven, and runs wild with it. It’s a jam-packed episode with a few too many subplots and a majorly disjointed feeling. But when it finds its stride, it turns into quite an enjoyable – if experimental – episode. Plus, we finally get a few answers – though, those answers mainly result in new questions.
This review features spoilers for episode three of Doctor Who: Flux, “Once, Upon Time”.
Into the Time Storm
When we last saw the TARDIS Team, Swarm (Sam Spruell) and Azure (Rochenda Sandall) had replaced two of the damaged Mouri with Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Vinder (Jacob Anderson) and were about to send the full force of time through them – likely destroying them in the process. But, as always, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) has a plan. Or, at least, the beginnings of one. She and Dan (John Bishop) quickly replace two more of the Mouri, and the Doctor flings all four of them into their respective timestreams, where they can safely hide while she figures out a way to save the day. What results is a journey up and down the Doctor, Vinder, Yaz, and Dan’s timelines. And, unfortunately, it’s all a bit disjointed.
For the first twenty minutes or so, the episode jumps from storyline to storyline without any real structure. I didn’t find it particularly difficult to understand how they were connected, per se. But it was disorienting. To be fair, there were plenty of visual clues to help audiences figure out what was going on. And through each flashback/flashforward, we see our main cast – Whittaker, Gill, Bishop, and Vinder – filling in a variety of roles, standing in for various figures that are relevant to each character’s storyline, and minimizing the need for a confusingly large guest cast. It’s just that the combination of all four storylines, and the way they intermingled with each other, never quite landed. That being said, though, there’s still a lot to like, and things do come together pretty well by the episode’s end.
The Doctor’s Story
The Doctor finds herself back on the planet of Time. Back when the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin, appearing in brief flashes intercut with Whittaker) worked for the Division. This is the day a Division team led by the Doctor, Karvanista (mainly represented by Dan), and two unnamed agents (represented by Yaz and Vinder) originally captured Swarm and Azure – aka the Ravagers. The Ravagers are trying to free Time from the confines of Space. Swarm suggests the Division created the planet and the temple to stop Time from destroying the universe. And the Ravagers believe that’s a heresy.
It’s all still a bit vague, and the specifics of how/why Time and Space are at war with each other don’t quite make sense yet. But it’s never so confusing that the story stops being captivating. And it’s nice to finally have some of this clarified, especially after last week’s episode. Honestly, the idea of Time and Space being forces constantly at war with one another is quite compelling. Even more so when you think about the Time Lords trying to conquer time, and the Ravagers trying to undermine space. It definitely forms the beginning of what could be a cool conflict.
Yaz and Dan’s Story
Meanwhile, Yaz and Dan both end up in their pasts. But something funky is going on. Dan briefly interacts with Diane (Nadia Albina) and Joseph Williamson (Steve Oram) in increasingly erratic time jumps that leave him – and the audience – quite disoriented. Through his conversations with Diane, we learn a bit more about his past – he was engaged, fifteen years ago, to a woman who ultimately left him. And Bishop’s performance as he relays that story is devastating. Meanwhile, Yaz is stuck “reliving” events she never lived through in the first place – a result of Yaz’s timeline somehow being corrupted (potentially by the Weeping Angel that’s stalking her), the Doctor later guesses.
Both of these plotlines are cool ideas, and they’re executed fairly well. But I wish there’d been more time to explore them – like something more along the lines of “Turn Left”. It would’ve been nice for Dan and Yaz to have the time to properly react, and potentially come to terms with, their altered and funky timelines. Instead, Dan and Yaz don’t register much. The other storylines easily overshadow theirs, and they kind of just fade into the background for much of the episode. Still, I’m hopeful future episodes build on what’s set up here – Dan’s unhappy past and Yaz’s “corrupted” timeline.
Vinder’s Story
As for Vinder, we see him forced to relive the events that got him sent to Observation Outpost Rose. It turns out he used to work as some kind of government agent on his planet, serving underneath the Grand Serpent (Craig Parkinson) – who I’m guessing is the leader of the government. Vinder witnesses the Grand Serpent make a shady, off-the-record deal, and decides to make the deal public. His immediate superior subsequently sends him away to the Outpost, presumably as some kind of punishment. Though, it remains unclear if he successfully blew the whistle on the Grand Serpent’s activities. Anderson is excellent in these scenes. He’s the kind of actor who can communicate an entire internal conflict through just a series of subtle facial expressions. And I’m so happy to see him given more to work with this episode.
And Introducing… Bel
Perhaps more intriguing, though, is Bel (Thaddea Graham), who appears in vignettes throughout the episode. She’s a survivor of the Flux, fleeing from the Daleks and the Cybermen alike. The whole time, she’s looking for someone, narrating her adventures for them. The episode tries to keep who she’s looking for a secret. At times, it almost seems like she could be looking for the Doctor. But she’s not. She’s looking for Vinder, who she hasn’t seen since he was sent away to the Outpost. She knows he’s out there, and she wants him to know she’s pregnant. Bel makes an immediately endearing impression. She’s quick on her feet, unafraid to embrace the absurdity of her situation, and a lot of fun to watch. I hope she’s able to find Vinder at some point because I think the two of them would make quite the compelling pair.
A Quick Detour
Eventually, the Doctor comes up with a plan to save her friends – with the help of the Mouri (voiced by Amanda Drew). Like she did in the past, she uses the Passenger (Jonny Mathers), a living prison, to hide the Mouri in the present-day temple, allowing them to reclaim it. And this works. But before she returns to the present, something whisks her away to a strange room, where she meets Awsok (a mysterious woman played by Barbara Flynn). Awsok tells her the damage to time has already been done. And the universe is destined to end. As if that’s not enough, she also suggests that the Doctor is responsible for the Flux. That it’s a man-made event created because of the Doctor. As usual, it’s a bit vague. But Flynn is immediately captivating, and the ambiguity about whose side she’s on (and if she’s maybe the ultimate force behind the Flux) makes me eager to see more of her.
After the Storm
But before she can get any answers, she’s whisked back to the present. It turns out that Swarm and Azure not only knew the Doctor would save the day, they were planning on it. In fact, this whole affair was just an excuse to make her examine her forgotten past. To learn the truth about what’s going on. And when she asks Swarm what he truly wants, he simply tells her he wants to reign in hell. Honestly, it seems like the pair just really enjoy taunting the Doctor and her friends. As though they’re not necessarily causing anything related to the Flux, but are simply reveling in the chaos. They even tell Dan that they’ve kidnapped Diane, trapping her inside the Passenger, and threatening to make her their toy.
But before the Doctor can act on that, they disappear. With no leads, the Doctor, Yaz, Dan, and Vinder return to the TARDIS and take Vinder to his (now-destroyed) planet, where he hopes to find Bel. And almost immediately afterward, they’re attacked by a Weeping Angel that’s found its way onto the TARDIS. As far as cliffhangers go, this one is probably the weakest of the three. While the Weeping Angel is set up throughout the episode, its appearance in the cliffhanger feels quite random when viewed in context. Much like the cliffhangers that used to tease the Christmas specials during the RTD years felt. I’m ready for a Weeping Angel episode, and the idea of a Weeping Angel taking over the TARDIS is actually quite frightening. But this particular moment felt a bit out of place instead of breathtaking.
Final Thoughts
There’s a lot about “Once, Upon Time” to enjoy. Jodie Whittaker delivers one of her best performances to date here. It’s nice finally getting to see how rediscovering all of these lost memories affects her. And how it affects her relationships – most notably with Yaz, with whom she acts even testier than usual. I also appreciated how much world-building this episode has. For the first time in a long time, the Doctor Who universe feels properly big. There are all of these other civilizations just hanging around out there, with varying amounts of knowledge about the Time Lords. And it’s fun. It feels very “Classic” Doctor Who. Plus, it feels like some of the disparate strands of this mystery are finally beginning to converge. And I’m looking forward to how future episodes continue combining them.
“Once, Upon Time” is not without its problems, though. Given how much was crammed into this episode, it could’ve stood a longer runtime. That extra time could’ve easily beefed up all of the storylines, and added some much-needed structure. As it stands, much of “Once, Upon Time” feels like a collection of scenes haphazardly thrown together. They do coalesce into a satisfying whole by the ending, but the first half of the episode is frantic to the point of near-incoherence. And much of what does work continues to rely on the remaining three episodes paying off what’s been set up. But still, it’s an undeniably captivating experiment that ultimately pays off. And I always appreciate an episode that takes risks. I just hope the rest of the season sticks the landing.
Rating: 4/5
New episodes of Doctor Who: Flux premiere Sundays at 8pm on BBC America.
Part-time writer, part-time theatre nerd, full-time dork.
