Survivors of the Flux
The Doctor is freed from the stone and her friends are lost. When she awakens, she finds an Ood scanning her down. She’s in Division.
Yaz and the Professor are in Mexico, where they find a pot that can decipher the date the world is going to end. It’s been 3 years since they’ve seen the Doctor and after finding out a date (5th December) they’re forced to flee from a rogue explosion. Yaz and Professor are in Constantinople, where they find out about an explosion that will cause the world to end on December 5th. They’re forced to leave before it happens.
As they board a boat and head off, the trio are blindsided by an assassin. After thwarting him, an adaptive hologram (aka exposition dump) from the Doctor helps to understand a little of what’s going on. Apparently there’s going to be a big battle for the Earth, off the back of the Flux destroying the universe, and they need to find out the date that will occur. If not, then things are going to get very ugly.
The gang eventually makes it to Nepal, where they meet a hermit with three words for them: “Fetch your dog.” The gang realizes what this means and leaves a message for Karvanista. He inexplicably manages to see this same message from his console, and growls that he’s not able to time travel. So how is he seeing the message? And what was the point in this whole mission then? ..
In 1958, a man named Prentis is offered the opportunity to set up a task-force by a mysterious guy we later find out is colloquially called “Grand Serpent.” This task-force happens to be UNIT, which we see in another individual scene in 1963. ..
The Division seem to have invaded UNIT, as this slippery serpent continues to influence UNIT from the inside, killing off key members of the group. Kate though realizes they’ve been invaded as the year reaches 2021 and confronts him, promising to get payback and call in a favour to the Doctor if he’s not careful.
Gallifrey is home to the Time Lords, a race of powerful beings who have been protecting our galaxy for centuries. Division is a group of Time Lords who were created to protect Gallifrey from any threats. ..
The Operatives are a group of creatures that have infiltrated our world and interfered with it for centuries. Apparently, they have all different species and creatures, but they all share one goal- to save this Universe from being destroyed. They’re moving onto a new universe, which is about to be destroyed. They kind of like that big speech in The Matrix Reloaded where the Matrix character says “I am the Matrix.”
According to the Doctor, the Flux is converging onto Earth. This means that the Flux will end soon, and it’s the final place where it will end.
In episode 1, the Flux wave showed up moving from outside the solar system through the planets. So that means Venus and Mercury would be hit after the Earth right?
Anyway, the Doctor and Tecteun return to the dying Universe and try to save her friends. The Doctor chooses to save her friends of course.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Karvanista tracks down the rogue Lupari ship which happens to be Bel. Vinder meanwhile, starts talking to himself, finding all the missing townsfolk. Swarm and Azure are there, using them as a power source to increase the time-force. When Vinder is spotted, Passenger arrives and blasts him with a teleport wave, transporting him to a strange area where Diane, Dan’s date, happens to be.
Back in 1904, Dan, Yaz and the Professor head back on the boat and find themselves bumping into Joseph Williamson, the tunnel-expert from the opening scenes in episode 1. They believe he’s the key to all this so off they go, to Liverpool in 1904. They head there, reconvene with Joseph and descend into the tunnels. ..
According to the source, the player has found a number of different doorways that lead off to different places. He outright mentions the Flux and what it’s caused, with Tunnel 9 in particular a no-go zone. ..
The Lupari ship is suddenly boarded by Sontaran forces, who also board the ship. The Sontaran promise not to stop the mission this time.
A scene with Azure and Swarm is how this episode ends, as they show up at Division, kill Tecteun and prepare to go after the Doctor.
The Episode Review
The Flux feels like a drunk Chris Chibnall trying (and failing) to emulate a Stephen Moffat script. I’m actually quite shocked at how bad this episode is. Now, forget the Timeless Child stuff for a second, the entire episode bounces around like a hyperactive child, exuding exposition across a 50 minute time-frame with very little rhyme or reason.
The Doctor’s separate story with Tecteun needs exposition, I understand that. Yaz, the Professor and Dan just randomly pop up in 1904 and travel across the world to find a McGuffin pot with a random, inconsequential date and painting the floor for Karvanista…who can’t even jump back and find them is pure nonsense.
The story jumps around a lot and it feels like the author was trying to cram too much into a small amount of time. The characters are not well developed and there is not enough development of the plot. The ending feels rushed and incomplete.
The UNIT storyline is riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies. ..
If the Grand Serpent’s plan involves the Sontarans taking over Poison Sky, why not get involved in the story-line? The Sontarans have pretty much won at that point and all it would take is some smarts to keep the Doctor away. ..
The episode starts with the Doctor and Pertwee going to the TARDIS to fix it. However, they find that the TARDIS is broken and needs to be fixed. The Doctor then goes back to his office while Pertwee stays in the TARDIS. The Brigadier then comes in and tells them about the Grand Serpent, which has been running around for a long time. The Doctor then goes back into his office and Pertwee comes out of the TARDIS.
It feels like the show is going in the wrong direction and I’m not sure where it’s going to go from here.
Russell T. Davies is almost gone, and when he finally disappears, let’s hope he can rebuild this show from the smoldering ruins that have been left behind.
