![]() The Grand Serpent is on Earth, going by the name of Prentis and cosying up to none other than the founder of UNIT, which can’t mean good things for the planet’s future. Since this is not an episode that likes to sit still, we then take another time-hop to 1958 to meet, rather unexpectedly, Vinder’s former sovereign gadding about on a country estate. (Tropes like fizzing sticks of dynamite and assassins disguised as waiters don’t hurt, either.) As is Doctor Whotradition, some of the sets may be slightly wobbly – the chamber Yaz raided wouldn’t look out of place on The Crystal Maze– but Azhur Saleem, in the director’s chair for three episodes of Flux, does a fine job capturing the look and feel of a classic adventures. Yaz, Dan and the Professor have travelled to some sort of bazaar to get the pot’s inscription translated, and it’s worth calling out that each of these locations are presented and framed in a way that feels really authentic to old swashbuckling serials. ![]() ![]() She’s reunited with the mysterious old woman from ‘ Once, Upon Time’ and welcomed back to what turns out to be the Division’s HQ – which makes sense, given all the talk of her being recalled to Division, but still seems to catch the Doctor by surprise. Having being dropped off by the Angels, the Doctor comes face-to-face with an Ood (Jodie Whittaker’s woozy line-reading of “Ood…!” made me laugh far more than it should) and appears to have arrived in a kind of arboretum. Maybe they ransacked the empty village and made a few trips to the nearest pawnbrokers? This cross-continental excursion has apparently kept them busy since the last episode, though given that the trio arrived in 1901 with nothing but the clothes on their backs, some hint at how they’ve been surviving would have been appreciated. (This year’s stories have really made a point of emphasising how cruel the Angels like to be, and I’m all for it.)Īs for the Doctor’s companions, we re-join them after a full three years trapped in the early 20th century along with Professor Jericho, with Yaz going full-on Lara Croft as she rappels down into a tomb in search of a particular pot. It’s only going to last for as long as it takes for the Angels to ferry her to their final destination, and they really just did it to mess with her. When we last saw the Doctor, she was involuntarily recruited into a stony squadron of Weeping Angels, which made for a corker of a cliffhanger, though her transformation turns out to be entirely temporary. Did the Angels bother to return the village to its place in time and space? They must have done for UNIT to recover the TARDIS, but we don’t get to hear about that, nor do we learn the fate of young Poppy. The breakneck pace, unfortunately, means that there’s little or no attention given to wrapping up some dangling plot points from last week’s episode and we’re left to infer what happened for ourselves. This week, we’ve gone from the creeping horror of Weeping Angels in misty Devon to an Indiana Jones-style, globetrotting adventure that’s heavy on banter and physical comedy. ![]() A selection box rather than a king-sized Toblerone, in other words. It also means members of the audience will appreciate some episodes more than others, depending on which flavour of Doctor Who they prefer. For better or worse, each chapter has worked to establish its own tone and tempo, which has helped add to the sense of scale the story possesses. If there’s one thing you can say about Flux, it’s that no two episodes have felt quite the same. Warning: this Doctor Who review contains spoilers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |