So things are gonna get more confusing before they become clear. After last week’s episode which I reviewed as spectacular and possibly the best episode of Doctor Who with Jodie Whitaker as the famed Time Lord.
This episode had a lot to follow, and whilst we did get some steps closer to some long standing mysteries, it does look like they’ll make us wait until next week’s finale to get everything answered…if not longer.
After the end of last week’s episode where the Doctor was transformed into a Weeping Angel we learn that this was a clever way to transport the Doctor back to Division, the mysterious organisation which it would seem has been pulling strings in the universe since the dark times.
We are introduced there to an Ood, which like pretty much all Oodkind we have ever met in Doctor Who is being used like a slave to do an evil person’s bidding. In this instance the evil person is a regenerated version of Tecteun, who was the person who discovered the Doctor when they were the timeless child and experimented on them until she could learn the secrets of regeneration.
Throughout the episode they have lots of back and forth conversations, but the biggest points were that she had a fob watch which contained the Doctor’s lost memories within, and that the Flux was created like a virus with the purpose of getting rid of the Doctor from our universe. Oh and that there are multiple universes and that Division is somewhere in the cracks between them…I said this episode was easy to follow.
There’s a lot of theories of what secrets may be revealed and what will happen next, but the biggest theory ties into Bel and Vinder’s unborn baby being the timeless child. The Doctor complained to Tecteun that when she took the child it may have come through a worm hole, or have been waiting to be collected by someone, and that by taking her, Tecteun may have robbed the Doctor of her intended life. Of course, the comparison was given that the Doctor has always picked up strays as their companion, which can indicate the Doctor has just done to others as she is now unhappy about.
But if The Doctor sees that the child shouldn’t have been taken by Tecteun, she may see to put this right, and at the risk of creating a paradox, The Doctor could prevent herself from being taken as a child. If this was to happen, it could potentially soft reboot the whole show as this would change the entire course of the Doctor’s life and in theory prevent them from ever becoming the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell. Of course the knock on effect would be that none of the following Doctors would exist as we know them.
Strangely, before we could learn more from Tecteun, Swarm and Azure arrived and killed Tecteun (or so it would seem) so whilst we may still get answers to the Doctor’s past form the fob watch, a huge lead on the truth of the Doctor has just been lost.
Elsewhere in the episode we got some capers with Yaz, Dan and Professor Jericho (who is an instant favourite) who being trapped in the past in the last episode are going here there and everywhere to get a message to the Doctor, including painting a sign at the Great Wall of China that can be seen from space for Karvinista to see in the future… as he doesn’t have time travel. All these adventures have the feel of an Indiana Jones style adventure with secret baddies trying to take out the heroes along the way.
Eventually they meet the old guy who dresses like a Dickens villain who it turned out had discovered time holes under the streets of Liverpool (because of course).
And let’s not forget that this episode follows the Grand Serpent a lot and shows how he infiltrated UNIT since it’s very creation. This gives us a voice over cameo of the Brigadier, which is a cool addition to the show for long time fans, although there’s a lot about this inclusion which messes with the already hazy timeline of UNIT. In the more modern era we have the return of Kate Stewart, the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart who looks set to tangle more with the Grand Serpent in next week’s finale. They got a good back and forth scene, but then Kate narrowly misses being killed in an attack on her home.
Conclusion
There was just so much going on in this episode, including catching up with Vinder who is now trapped in a Passenger and other subplots with Bel and Chewie…I mean Karvinista. There’s always the chance that science fiction shows can get caught up in their techno talk and deep lore, and Doctor Who Flux is definitely doing this. I’ve said this before with the latest series of Doctor Who, but I feel like how well some of these episodes will be remembered may depend on what their end goal is. This had a lot going on, but was instantly better than the confusing third episode. That it brought back UNIT, Kate Stewart and started answering some of the mysteries of what the Flux and Division is, but there’s still a lot to answer in next week’s finale. Most importantly, an answer to the timeless child storyline, as well as Bel and Vinder’s story, who Swarm and Azure are and tie up stuff with Yaz, Dan, Jericho and Karvinista…it’ll be challenge to cover it all, but we can look forward to what they have in store for us!
