Doctor Who Series 13 - Flux Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time (Review)

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, John Bishop & Jacob Anderson

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Azhur Saleem

It feels strange to think of Episode 3 as the mid-point of a Doctor Who series, but here we are. I haven't got much to say here for an introduction, other than I have a feeling we're in for a fair bit of exposition with 'Once, Upon Time'. This is all well and good, but after such a build-up of momentum last week, I hope we don't lose that level of energy, or quality for that matter. So let's dive right into Chapter 3.

To save Yaz from being torn apart by the full force of the time, the Doctor stalls Swarm and Azure by hiding Yaz, Dan and Vinder in their respective timestreams. Whilst Dan recounts his past with Diane, Vinder relives the incident that led to his exile, while Yaz finds her own timeline distorted, being stalked by Weeping Angels. As the Doctor tries to save her friends and prevent time itself from running wild, she finds herself reliving her own past - memories hidden away from during her time in service of the Division. Although the temptation to stay and learn more about her forgotten past may have deadly consequences...

If there's any common consensus about 'Once, Upon Time', it would appear to be that this is a mindf*ck of an episode. In my review of 'The Halloween Apocalypse' I said that the large number of random characters and constant location shifts resulted in it having way too much going on. With 'Once, Upon Time' we've circled right the way back to the same problem. In some ways I can appreciate that the fractured, disjointed nature of this episode being down to all the timey-wimey business going on, but I still don't think that it needed to be this cluttered. With a bit of refining, this could've been vastly improved. When you're going timey-wimey with four different characters, including constant location shifts and even actor changes, something had to give and it's no surprise that the episode has been so criticized for being confusing. I try not to offer "How I would've done it" segments in these reviews, but in this case I might've opted to make this a companion-lite story. Ultimately the screentime dedicated to Yaz and Dan's pasts don't really add up to much. Sure it's nice to see a bit more of Dan and his romantic interest, Diane, but when we're pressed for time I'd really cut it out. As for Yaz's subplot... well the only purpose it seems to serve is setting up the Weeping Angels for next week, and I don't feel like you need all of that time to do that. This might have felt far more digestible if we divided up time just between the Doctor's forgotten past, Vinder's exile, and newcomer Bel's quest. 

Speaking of Bel, while I wouldn't have thought Flux was in need of introducing anything else new to the table, Bel is a surprisingly welcome addition. In fact, her journey across a ravaged universe was probably the highlight here. Maybe it's me being sentimental, but I found myself endeared to Bel's mission to find her lover across the wilderness. As busy as Flux has become, a character like Bel is necessary really to get across just how devastated the universe has become. Dodgy CGI Daleks aside, Bel's portion of the story adds some much-needed context and a human touch to this ongoing tale. Thaddea Graham plays the character with real warmth too, and sidenote: even though the Cybermen literally cannot aim to save their lives, their shootout with Bel was still a fun little action bit. And as we learn at the end, Vinder is the one that Bel is searching for. After being pretty cold towards Vinder for the last two weeks, 'Once, Upon Time' does justify his presence a little better. The flashbacks to his exile and his time with the Grand Serpent are fine enough, but the introduction of Bel and where Vinder is left by the end of the episode leave me a lot more welcoming to the character.

Elsewhere, we get to witness some pre-Hartnell material from the Doctor's stolen memories. The highlight of these segments for most people will likely be the very welcome return of Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor, and though her role is brief it does address a few potential gaps. Firstly, it seems pretty concrete by now that any possibility of this Doctor being a future incarnation is mute, and that she is pre-Hartnell. So we have that cleared up, but as for the Fugitive Doctor's role in this episode, the impact of her appearance is fairly minimal. Due to the constant swapping between Jo Martin and Jodie Whittaker, it's Whittaker that receives most of the screentime. While I do like the subtle altercations to her performance while she's acting the part of a different incarnation, it would have been nice to see the Fugitive Doctor carrying these scenes. However, we do at least get more of Swarm and Azure's history with the Doctor. I'm still absolutely in love with these two villains, and I'm glad we got to see just how they ended up imprisoned and exiled as they were at the start of the series.

While 'Once, Upon Time' is messy with regards to its structure, my bigger issue lies with its resolution. I've not really had anything substantial to say about the Mouri, who appear to be gatekeepers that maintain control of the timelines. They're not that interesting really, but the crux of the episode comes down to restoring balance and substituting the Mouri killed by Swarm and Azure. Now I may be getting this ending completely wrong, and losing it among everything else going on, but did we just fix the problem by having the Doctor go back along her own timeline and getting a few replacements? As far as I can make out, that seems to be the resolution here. I'm still confused about this and might be wrong, and honestly I hope that I am because if it really was that easy to solve, that's a very weak ending.

If I somehow haven't made it clear, I definitely found 'Once, Upon Time' to be a substantial downgrade from the last two episodes. I might even say this is the weakest Chibnall-penned script so far from his time as showrunner. It's made me worry about where we might be going in the next three weeks. We might only be halfway through, but given the track record of the last series, I'm getting worried about how much we've got left to tie up and address. I've seen some theories floating around that Bel and Vinder might turn out to be the Doctor's parents, given Bel's pregnancy, and that to me is a troubling possibility. It's the kind of thing that's twee and generic enough that it might actually happen and I pray it doesn't. Having Bel and Vinder just be two lost souls trying to find each other is far more profound than having them be the Doctor's parents. For the third week in a row, Joseph Williamson also shows up to do... nothing. I really just want this guy to start popping up in other programmes too like Bake Off or the news, like a drunk guy who's wandered on to set. Williamson's implementation into the series is laughable by now, and I'm torn over whether to embrace its badness. Towards the end of the episode, we introduce another player as well named only in the credits as "Awsok". Her role is deliberately vague for now, but she imparts that the Flux wasn't a natural event and was planned by something. It doesn't sound like the work of Swarm and Azure, and again all this information has done is make me worry that we're going to undercut two fantastic villains if we go introducing something else above them. 

So yes, 'Once, Upon Time' is a miss as far as I'm concerned. I don't think it's bad, nor do I think it will tank Flux as a whole, but it has made me more worried than optimistic for the future. As with the the opener to the series, I watched it with my parents and they were again left very confused. Unlike 'The Halloween Apocalypse' however, they weren't enjoying it in spite of the confusion - they were just confused. I can imagine that reaction being pretty common among the wider general audience too, and this might be the episode where people decide to abandon the series. As for me, well I'll still be back next week for 'Village Of The Angels'.

Once, Upon Time

5/10