It’s been a while since we’ve had regular Doctor Who! Not counting “Revolution of the Daleks” this past January, it’s been twenty months, more than a year and a half since the last episode -which of course aired just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. As I noted in the last review, we are in a different world starting series thirteen than we were at the close of series twelve. It’s been a lot, and it’s accounted for the delay of this series which probably would have come in the early half of the year if not for restrictions. Instead we’re getting it at the tail-end of 2021, which I would argue is not an ideal time.
In the interim, Doctor Who is undergoing some changes. Jodie Whittaker’s departure has been announced perhaps unsurprisingly -only two Doctors have ever stuck around past the three season mark. Chris Chibnall is leaving too though as showrunner, after a comparatively protracted time in the role next to Steven Moffat -he’ll be handing the reins over to, of all people, Russell T. Davies! The man who ushered in this revival way back in 2005, returning after what will be twelve years, is a prospect I have mixed feelings about -I have a sincere affection for his era of the show no doubt, it’s what made me a fan! But Doctor Who needs to move forward and I question if putting him in charge will achieve that. Before that happens though, Chibnall is taking a leaf out of Davies’ book and leaving the show on a series of specials to be dolled out over the course of 2022. Whittaker will leave at the same time, and it’s quite funny that due to this choice in tandem with the impediment of the pandemic, she’ll likely wind up being the longest-serving Doctor of the revival -exiting after roughly five years in the role. It’s curious too that given Mandip Gill is sticking around for it, Yasmin Khan will be the first companion since Rose (and the only companion whose Doctor lasted more than a year) to accompany a Doctor for the duration of their run.
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That’s all in the future though, and while this is a time travel show, the present is just as important. “The Halloween Apocalypse” is the first part in a truncated six-part series called Flux, the first Doctor Who miniseries since The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986. Obviously, classic Doctor Who was entirely made up of serials, storylines that ran typically from four to six episodes, but on occasion one would encompass a whole season. It happened just twice: season sixteen during the Fourth Doctor’s era was The Key to Time saga, and was quite good -The Trial of a Time Lord, which was season twenty-three in the controversial Sixth Doctors’ time (reflecting how Colin Baker was himself seemingly on trial by the higher-ups in the BBC) was not. Flux, I’m not sure where it will stack up against them, it’s difficult to say through only one episode that is almost purely set-up. For now I’d say with cautious optimism it’s between the two: curious and promising, but for the moment far far too cluttered.
“The Halloween Apocalypse”, like most Doctor Who holiday specials, has little to do with Halloween unfortunately, and struggles immensely with juggling multiple plot threads, the bulk of which don’t pay any dividends. Chibnall, who incidentally is the credited writer for the entire serial, stated that Flux is the most ambitious thing his team has done on the show, and I don’t doubt that. But he’s dumping a lot for the audience to keep up with, and seemingly without factoring in those loose ends left by series twelve (are we ever going to pick up on that mysterious rural Ireland plot thread from “Ascension of the Cybermen”?). Chibnall’s approach furthermore runs counter to the format Doctor Who is run on. As a Netflix style season drop, curated for binging, he could get away more with a starting episode that doesn’t accomplish much but lay groundwork -because folks can just follow it up with the next one, and the season can be judged as a whole rather than individual parts. But airing week to week on TV, that’s a little trickier, especially if so much complex plotting is needed. Because from a vantage point like mine, it’s not. And after all, the binge model is beginning to diminish in popularity, now would be a great time for more straightforward serialization.
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However you choose to contextualize it without any of its’ subsequent sequels, the episode is a bit of a mess -though within that mess are nuggets that do hint at something exciting. The eponymous “Flux” refers to a kind of anomalous disaster event, ripping its’ way through the universe in a way that for a time reminded me of the clever supernova plot device from the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation: a nebulous enigma that pervades the space-time continuum, growing larger and more threatening as it expands backwards through time. The Flux is less interesting, though in fairness, little time has been given over to it, but for vague portents of doom. We’ll have to see how it develops, and how it will hopefully connect some of these disparate threads.
Before touching on the meat of the episode, I’m going to go through these plot-lines that are introduced in the episode and connect only marginally, if at all, with the Doctors’ immediate concerns. I counted six.
The first concerns a busy excavation in 1820s Liverpool, where a pair of industrialists argue about its’ purpose -the one Williamson (Steve Oram) is putting a lot of folks to work digging for something he is adamantly elusive about, but is working off of an apparent foresight centuries ahead. It’s one scene basically out of Dickens’ Hard Times, only if Mr. Bounderby was likely an alien in disguise. That’s all you take away from it, some nineteenth century eccentric attempting to unearth something powerful and likely sinister in Liverpool.
The next sampling we get is one that does recur through the episode and certainly is impacting the Doctor personally. An evil alien creature called Swarm (Sam Spruell), who somewhat resembles the Sycorax from “The Christmas Invasion”, breaks free of a heavily secure prison, killing his guards by somehow imploding them and absorbing debris into his body, rejuvenating him. This is presented in a vision the Doctor has and Swarm addresses her directly, as someone who apparently knows her. In a later appearance, once again in a vision, he teases her with his identity, but she doesn’t ascertain it. All we know is he is apparently a foe who has a long history with the Doctor …so theories must naturally commence on whether he is the Master, Davros, the Valeyard if you’re feeling bold, or maybe even someone we haven’t met yet. There’s also a subplot buried within this subplot wherein a couple living in the far north for some goddamn reason are ambushed by Swarm, who kills the man but spares the woman (Rochenda Sandall) whom he either turns into or she was already his partner/Queen. The nature of these villains and the fact the Doctor has a psychic link them means they’ll probably be a priority undercurrent going forward. At the moment though they barely seem cognizant of the Flux.
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Then there’s Claire (Annabel Scholey), introduced in perhaps the episodes’ most awkward moment, stopping the Doctor and Yaz just as they’re about to leave Liverpool and bringing the pacing to a screeching halt. She stops them not to relay any information, but just to point out she knows them. Claire is someone from their future who they haven’t met yet. She apologizes for waylaying them and then is on her way, the whole moment transparently an effort to squeeze in a set-up that has no business being there. However Claire does show up again in one of the stronger beats, and indeed the best scene for a Halloween episode, where she is stalked by a Weeping Angel. I don’t particularly care why an Angel is there for no reason -we haven’t seen them in a long time and they’re one of the shows’ best monsters. And the scene of her trying to get into her house without looking away is appropriately scary; she can’t help herself a couple times and sure enough the Angel is right there.
Meanwhile in some distant corner of the galaxy is a guy called Vinder (Jacob Anderson) working a thankless job on a remote outpost, and is seemingly the first person to witness the Flux. Basically he’s our witness to the devastation of this anomaly, as he reports each of the planets that are wiped out by it, before barely escaping himself. At episodes’ end he seems to be on course for our solar system, and so will likely meet up with the Doctor soon.
In yet another part of the galaxy we see a couple familiar faces: Sontarans, and in the classic design too, indicating they’re to be taken more seriously as villains than Davies’ comic relief versions. Their conversation mirrors the one from 1820 and hints that the Sontarans both had a hand in that and are responsible for the Flux itself. One of them has aged, and is mocked for it -it’s a bad exchange but clearly foreshadows something. It’s cool to see these Sontarans again, and properly evil too, but with the next episode called “War of the Sontarans” I feel like they’re contributions could have just been shuffled there.
The last and briefest point that may just be a further extension of the Swarm plot is one scene where a woman called Diana (Nadia Albina) is lured into a house by Swarms’ Queen. She’s not killed but is told they will “have fun with her”. The way she’s introduced and shot seems to imply she’s of some importance independently.
I would argue though that the Doctor trumps that importance, and indeed one of the casualties of all these diversions is that they take away from key moments of character. Jodie Whittaker is a good actress and she’s established in this role enough that she overcomes it without much hassle, but still where the Doctor is concerned, things are significantly lacking. She has but a couple brief moments with Yaz where she yet again demonstrates an aversion to being open and honest, in spite of her growth in that department last series. Yaz is clearly frustrated by this, but it has no room to go anywhere, as the narrative moves from one action and exposition beat to the next.
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Another, arguably more important element that is left underdeveloped by the abundance of subplots is the introduction of a new companion: Dan Lewis, a mild-mannered Liverpudlian with a great affection for his hometown and a possible burgeoning romance with an old co-worker. He appears to have been let go from his job at a local museum and lives in a dull house -and that’s about all we know about him. He’s played by comedian John Bishop, who’s likeable and very natural in the role, which makes up in part for his underwhelming characterization. And I take glee in the fact that a lot of people in this part of the world who have complained about the Northern accents of the series’ leads as of late, are being introduced for the first time to John Bishop and his nigh incomprehensible Scouse dialect. He’s fun, but he’s yet to add anything new, functioning merely as a plot device for the Doctor
See, Dan is abducted from his home by Karvinista (Craige Els), a gruff alien with no-joke, the face of a shih tzu. He is hilarious to look it and even more hilarious to listen to with his voice like Ray Winstone, but he is on the Doctors’ wanted list having earlier captured and nearly executed her and Yaz (the episode opens in the vein of Thor: Ragnarok with the two hanging upside down about to be executed as Karvinista taunts them -no worries, they make a daring escape in one of the more thrilling action sequences Doctor Who has done recently). Of course the Doctor and Yaz catch up to him and rescue Dan only to discover that Karvinista is in fact part of a rescue operation himself. 7 billion of his species who have each been assigned a human to protect are coming to evacuate Earth in advance of the Flux -the invasion the Doctor thought she was thwarting a mere red herring. And not a bad one. This central story piece is actually pretty good on its’ own terms, it’s nice to see the Doctor proven wrong about an alien intent for a change. While the shield defence that she comes up with, wherein all the rescue ships (conveniently designed to withstand the Flux) link up over the planet to form a bubble is both very silly and kind of contrived at this point, the stakes have some real validity. It’s been a while since something this cataclysmic (to quote a few of the characters) has threatened Earth, and the fact the Doctor feels the full weight of it at her core makes it even more potent.
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But the impact is nonetheless reduced. It’s not even that the Doctor has little screen-time -she and Yaz are centrepieces, but mostly to service plot over emotionality or character. The episode is written as though we haven’t spent anytime away from these characters, it feels no need to reintroduce them or acknowledge any context. There’s one reference to Graham and Ryan’s departure and an even briefer one to Yaz’s family. Sheffield as Yaz’s home is brought up simply to provoke a joke of Dan being biased against Shropshire. The Doctor and Yaz’s relationship doesn’t undergo much inspection, Dan is as of episodes’ end just a temporary passenger on the TARDIS. This could be in part due to the nature of this miniseries structure, yet Romana was introduced for the first time through The Key to Time with little issue. Chibnall is clearly confident in his plan for Flux, but making it so dense at the offset I feel was a mistake that robs the series premiere of the vital functions it is supposed to serve. Maybe he thinks he’s being clever, but I don’t think that’s worth the sacrifice.
The reliable Jamie Magnus Stone directed, and the episode is as fine as any other he’s done on that front. The look of the show is still pretty consistent with the occasional visually enrapturing moment -some of the effects work though is notably poor -not uncommon for Doctor Who, but here it was clearly trying to be impressive. You can also decipher that this episode was shot during COVID: there are rarely more than a handful of people in any given scene. I’m curious to see what effect this will have in the rest of the series.
One thing that seems pretty apparent is that Flux is going to set in motion the swansong of the Thirteenth Doctor. By the end of these six episodes she’ll have but three installments left, and most of them have at this point been shot already. Chibnall’s got his plan in place for her exit, and this miniseries, her last continuous run, will surely factor in importantly. “The Halloween Apocalypse” does not set it off to a great start, but I hope it will improve and coalesce for the sake of this Doctor I quite like. With luck we’ll see a few breathers from the urgency of this crisis in the coming weeks, and a stronger throughline to drive it all. If this is the beginning of the end for this Doctor, let’s keep her the figure in focus.
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