Once, Upon Time
Doctor Who Season 13 Episode 3 is a disappointing installment that falls short in its attempts to be clever. It’s unnecessarily convoluted and feels like it’s trying too hard to be something it’s not. ..
Bel is a woman on the run from the Daleks. She’s determined to get back to her lover, who she left behind in Dalek space.
Meanwhile, The Doctor and her companions are thrown into different scenarios from the past. Dan is back on Earth, surrounded by those swirls of blue smoke, while he talks to Diane about his past. When he starts to become self-aware, he’s thrown back to Edge Hill in the past, temporarily.
Yaz and the Doctor are investigating a series of murders that seem to be connected to an angel. They find that the victims have all been killed with a particular type of mirror. The Doctor is able to track down the angel and stop her before she can kill any more people.
Vinder is one of the few people aboard Outpost Rose who are aware of the Grand Serpent’s true intentions. When he witnesses corruption during a secretive meeting, he takes a stand and is exiled. Despite his best efforts, Vinder is shunned by everyone on Outpost Rose for his actions. ..
The problem with this time storm is that it’s incredibly volatile and seems to be breaking down. It doesn’t help that there’s a lone Weeping angel on the hunt for…reasons? Anyway, it’s a race against time and the Doctor does her best to try and save the day. ..
Bel tells the cyberman that her mission is simply “love.” She explains that she was born to a family of scientists who were researching the use of cyber-men in war, and that she decided to become a cyborg herself in order to help them. She tells the cyberman that it is through her love for it that she has been able to survive and fight against the Daleks.
The Doctor and her companions are thrown out of the time stream after everything is fixed, partly thanks to four Mouri being returned to their posts. The Doctor though, is spat out before a strange old woman who appears to know what’s going on. She mentions that the Flux event was planned and that the Doctor apparently caused all of this. Before the chat can continue though, the Doctor is thrown back into the citadel with the others.
The Doctor repairs the citadel and finds that Azure and Swarm are behind it all along. They were planning to use the Particles of the Time Force to erase any who got in their way, and laugh as they disappear. The Doctor takes them back to safety.
Vinder is dropped on his home-planet, determined to find his long lost love. And that woman is, of course, Bel. Will he find her? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Doctor is alarmed as a Weeping Angel projects itself out of Yaz’s phone and begins messing with the controls. “The angel has the TARDIS!” The Doctor cries, as the episode comes to a close. ..
The Episode Review
The Sontaran detour was a nice way to reintroduce the Sontarans and actually make them a credible threat – even if their aim was horribly inconsistent. The episode actually gave a purpose to the Doctor and did a pretty good job with its run-time to make her a competent character, determined to try and do right by both sides, especially her shock over the Sontarans being killed. This episode though? It’s back to the usual Chibnall mess.
The Doctor and the companions jump into this time stream, get lost, and relive past memories. Unfortunately, Weeping Angels are there – somehow – and end up disrupting everything. ..
The episode starts with a scene where the Doctor and his friends meet Bel’s long lost love, Vinder. It doesn’t serve any purpose beyond the reveal that she’s involved with Vinder. What purpose do either of these characters have to the main flux storyline? By the end of the episode, the answer is “nothing.” Hopefully this does get some sort of pay-off in the future but right now it’s just wasted screen-time. Screen-time, I may add, that could have been used to develop Dan further.
We are given a limited amount of information about the protagonist’s past and how his girlfriend left him, but we are not given a scene with his ex. We are also not given images of Diane to show her fears and worries about her relationship with him. This could have been a great opportunity to develop the protagonist and give us a more complete picture of his character.
Dan’s final lines don’t feel consistent with his character. He’s been established as a pretty positive, upbeat guy who always tries to see the positives in every situation… so why would he tell Vinder “mate, it’s a lost cause.” Would it not have made more sense to say something along the lines of good luck and keep the faith? ..
This episode felt messy and while some people will absolutely love the way all our favourite villains return, the script also returns to classic Chibnall era mayhem. A real disappointment.
