Doctor Who: Flux - Survivors of the Flux (2021) - Review

One notable criticism levied at Doctor Who: Flux so far has that it's been too complex, and may well have alienated the show's more casual viewers. This is a bit of a double-edged sword. If Doctor Who plays it too safe, audiences will lose interest. If the show aims for something more complex, far out and cerebral, people turn it off because they can't understand it. Personally, I think that the show can strike a firm balance between the two, and Flux just hasn't quite managed this. 

For one thing, a large part of the story revolves around the Timeless Child revelations from the end of Series 12...which aired in March 2020. There's no recap in the "previously" segments, and expecting everyone to remember those revelations after a year and a half of...well, you know what seems a bit ridiculous. Also, The Timeless Children is only vaguely comprehensible if you've seen The Deadly Assassin - a four-part Tom Baker story from 1976. Chris Chibnall may have his strengths and weaknesses as a writer, but one key issue with the Timeless Child arc is that he hasn't established it properly within his run so that anyone who started watching (or only remembers) from The Woman Who Fell to Earth won't understand any of it. It's the same issue Steven Moffat kept running into - remember how The Magician's Apprentice was entirely based around Davros apparently having footage from a scene he wasn't even in from Genesis of the Daleks? Or how the Doctor's grand character moment in The Girl Who Died was just a weird reference to The Fires of Pompeii from 7 years before? One of the best creative decisions in this current era was to take Doctor Who "back to basics" in Series 11 and build the show from the ground up, but Series 12 onwards has just returned to the same continuity-obsessed days of the latter Moffat years. 

With all that out of the way, let me say that Survivors of the Flux did satisfy me as a fan - or at least as much as it could do, bearing in mind that I'm still a bit mixed on the Timeless Child revelation (perhaps if it featured in a much better episode, I'd be more positive). The Doctor finally confronts Tecteun, finally understands what the Division is, and we finally get to the big multiversal shenanigans I've been waiting for since the Series 12 finale. Barbara Flynn is an interesting choice to play Tecteun; she's not obviously evil, but has a certain menace throughout her seemingly friendly performance. Seeing her and Jodie Whittaker confront one another on screen was excellent, even if I'd rather have spent more time with them - especially given how the episode ended. Alas, Chris Chibnall's exposition problem seeps in yet again as the Division's origins and influence are simply explained rather than shown. There are no other Division agents in the ship, and the only other character is an Ood, who seems to be there more to work within the limitations of filming during a global pandemic than anything else. Still, nothing wrong with an Ood! It's also a bit of a shame that the Weeping Angels disappeared so quickly after their triumphant return to form last week.

Speaking of continuity with last week's instalment, it was an odd decision to reunite with Yaz, Dan and Jericho three years after we last saw them. I think the overall narrative could have benefited if the episode started off with their reactions to the Doctor's capture, showing them leaving the village (presumably it was returned to normal once the angels left?), and if we could have seen them all react to the Doctor's message for the first time. I liked the Indiana Jones-style stuff, although I think if it had been set-up properly, if we'd perhaps not had such a huge time-jump, and if it had been condensed down a little (their introductory scene has little bearing on the rest of their narrative), it would have flowed a lot better. Still, it's nice to see the various threads coming together, especially now that Joseph Williams' tunnels are actually a part of the plot rather than a set-up for later.

There may have been a distinct lack of Swarm and Azure once again (that's three episodes in a row now), yet we did at least start to see key characters coming together: Vinder meeting Diane inside Passenger, and Bel's stolen ship being drawn back to Karvanista and the Lupari fleet. Presumably the Sontaran invasion at the end of the episode is the same invasion we saw the aftermath of in War of the Sontarans a few weeks ago? If not, it's a curious inclusion. Next week seems to have the Sontarans, Daleks and Cybermen, so perhaps we'll finally get that big war teased back in Once, Upon Time.

Heading back into the dangerous world of Doctor Who continuity, at long last we got to see U.N.I.T in the Chibnall era! Not only do we get bits about the Doctor's backstory, but we see the beginnings of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, and vignettes across its history leading to the present day. There's some fun call-backs, it's interesting to actually see U.N.I.T being disbanded in 2017 and I'm glad that Kate Stewart seems to be getting a more active role next week. Alas, the big question remains: why exactly is the Grand Serpent here? Was he a substitute for another character? Does he have a grand plan we're not fully aware of yet? As great as it is to see Craig Parkinson back, I'm still none the wiser as to why he's back. As I've already seen suggested on Twitter, his role could have easily been filled by the Master.

Overall, Survivors of the Flux reminded me a lot of The Halloween Apocalypse, in that it threw so much at the screen without taking the time to showcase how everything was connected. It's very easy to miss key details, and the episode didn't feel particularly satisfying as a standalone experience. Needless to say, expectations will be high for the season finale next Sunday...