After the finale to “Doctor Who” Series 12, “The Timeless Children,” I needed a break from the show. While I don’t think it was as bad as the internet made it out to be, I do think that it blew the show’s preexisting canon open a little too much, as it introduced potentially infinite past reincarnations of the Doctor and made her the genesis of the Time Lords.
Series 13, titled “Flux,” is as inspired as a lazy cosmic Marvel film. There’s a sentient antimatter vortex called the Flux wreaking havoc across the universe, gobbling up entire planets we have little to no connection to with bad CG effects. They are channeled by the aliens Azure (Rochenda Sandall) and Swarm (Sam Spruell), who have past beef with the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin), an incarnation whose memories the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) does not have access to.
The series consists of six episodes, with Episode 2 “War of the Sontarans” and Episode 4 “Village of the Angels” being the strongest thanks to the use of excellent classic villains in the Sontarans — which are reminiscent of Classic Who — and the Weeping Angels, which usually deliver strong episodes since introduced by former showrunner and frequent episode writer Steven Moffat in 2007.
Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) returns as the only remaining companion from Series 12 and she’s joined by Dan Lewis (John Bishop), a likeable middle-aged man from Liverpool, whom we are introduced to through his frequent incidents posing as a tour guide at a Liverpool museum (he really loves his home). Yaz has pretty much gotten the companion drill down, though her chemistry with 13 is still wooden and pedestrian. Dan does inject some much-needed energy into the show; the issue is that he’s just sidelined too much to really connect with the Doctor or anyone else, at least on-screen (he does spend some time with Yaz when the two are stranded in the past).
Professor Jericho (Kevin McNally) and Joseph Williamson (Steve Oram) are my favorite minor characters of this series, as McNally and Oram put on great performances. Jericho I think would be a much more entertaining companion than either Yaz or Dan and I think showrunner Chris Chibnall wasn’t able to get the most our of his character before he unceremoniously sacrificed him (spoilers).
We also follow Vinder (Jacob Anderson) and Bel (Thaddea Graham), a couple with a child on the way, help others survive and navigate the Flux, which I think was Chibnall’s attempt to ground the conflict. The issue is that both Vinder and Bel are half-baked as characters and he never fully develops any of the places outside Earth the Flux visits.
Throughout his run, Chibnall has really struggled to ground his main cast and all of the people and places they visit, making his iteration of the show forgettable and worse — boring. Past showrunners Russell T. Davies and Moffat did not have this issue, as they effortlessly found ways for the audience to care about bug-eyed aliens and people in the far future — often powering past through bad special effects and unconvincing budget costumes — to make for compelling drama. Moffat was arguably a little too good at this, frequently pulling at viewers’ heartstrings by killing off beloved characters when you’d least expect it.
Chibnall is a great example of a showrunner who doesn’t know how to write for science fiction or find the right people to write for science fiction. I found “Flux” to be a boring slog except for its last 15 minutes, when it injects interesting drama when the Doctor is confronted with possibly restoring her lost memories.
Does she clear up this mystery and learn of the possible crimes she’s committed, or does she realize that some secrets are best kept?
I watched this in order to get caught up to the 60th anniversary specials and I was better off skipping it. “Doctor Who” has been flattered by excellent writing in the Davies and Moffat eras; the scripts in Chibnall’s era range from terrible to mediocre, which “Flux” continues.
The greatest sin of “Flux” and the Chibnall era overall is that it gives Whittaker little opportunity to shine. Gone are the spectacular monologues Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi got to knock out of the park. They are replaced by forgettable but safe episode conclusions that don’t give Whittaker’s Doctor much room to grow and prove herself in her own right.
I has three more episodes to watch of the Chibnall/Whittaker era (the 2022 specials) and I’m optimistic that they’ll be able to close out their run on a high note. But even if that is so, it won’t make up for the fact that the bulk of 13’s run is uninspiring and boring.
“Doctor Who: Flux” gets a 5/10
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