Who Review: Flux Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse

It’s October 31, but while people are trick-or-treating, there’s trouble in the skies. On the edge of the universe, a strange cloud appears to be consuming everything it encounters: planets, stars, ships. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Yaz escape a trap set by a Lupar, Karvanista, who heads to Earth and captures a human, Dan Lewis. The Doctor and Yaz set off on his trail, but it’s not all as it seems. Karvanista’s on a mission. As also are some of the Doctor’s long-time enemies, including a mysterious prison-escapee called Swarm. But why can’t the Doctor remember him? And what is the Doctor hiding from Yaz?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

For his last season as show-runner, Chris Chibnall has decided to present a six-part story, each episode being a chapter that ends on a cliff-hanger. Kind-of like the Classic series. Kind-of. Sort of.

I won’t spend a lot of time rehearsing all the details of what happened. There are other reviewers who do that, or you can watch the episode by whatever means are at your disposal to do so.

Perhaps my most controversial opinion, especially given my thoughts on the previous two seasons of Chibnall Who, is that this doesn’t appear to be that bad of a story. At least so far, one out of six episodes in. There’s plenty of time for things to go belly-up, but I’m a little encouraged that, at least story-wise, this might not be a clunker. (Though I should never underestimate Chibnall’s ability to ruin a promising premise. See the last two seasons.)

Chibnall throws a lot at us in this first episode, which is a perfectly legitimate storytelling technique: show a bunch of story elements that don’t make sense now and hope you’re intrigued enough to keep watching to find out how it all comes together (or falls apart–NO! Let’s be optimistic here. I know it’s Chibbers, but let’s give him a chance to get it right). Among the story elements he throws at us are:

• the Flux (that cloud thing that’s eating everything)
• the mysterious Swarm who breaks out of the prison he’s being held in by the Time Lord Division–whoever they are
• Swarm’s sister Azure who was inhabiting the body of (or posing as) a human living on a base in the Arctic Circle until Swarm rescues her
• Vinder, the sole crew member of an outpost on the edge of the universe who narrowly escapes being eaten by the Flux
• the Lupari, who, for some reason, are sworn to protect the human race
• Karvanista, a Lupar who, for some reason she’s keeping from Yaz, the Doctor is chasing, and who has some connection with the Division he won’t divulge to the Doctor
• Dan Lewis, a random nice-guy from Liverpool who seems to be the human Karvanista is sworn to protect
• Diane, the woman Dan was supposed to be meeting with the night of October 31, but instead she ends up meeting Azure
• Claire, who claims to have met the Doctor and Yaz but they don’t seem to recall meeting
• A Weeping Angel, who chases and eventually captures Claire (she blinked)
• Sontarans, apparently excited about an encounter with the Flux–death, destruction, and mayhem make for fun Sunday night entertainment for Sontarans
• Joseph Williamson, a philanthropist in 1820s Liverpool who is building tunnels under the city for a reason so incredible he can’t tell anyone lest it blows their minds
• Various throw-away references to Who: aside from the Weeping Angels and the Sontarans, there’s the Doctor’s reference to Nitro-9, her wondering if she was Scottish when she set the voice control on her handcuffs, and also the name of Vinder’s outpost: Rose

Apparently, all that will make sense by Chapter 6. We shall see. In fact, it better had. There needs to be some payoff to all of these–including the throw-away Who references. Don’t just be tossing candy to the Whovians, Chibbers. We don’t all squee at the mere mention of Nitro-9. We got over the squeeing when Russell T. Davies brought back the Macra in Season 3, and even then they played a key function in the story.

While I maintain that there’s the possibility this might be a good story, I do have some issues with this episode.

First, why Halloween? Is it because the episode was scheduled to air on October 31, 2021? Unless I missed something, the story doesn’t have any connection with Halloween. The same story could have happened on any other day. At least with the previous Christmas stories, Christmas played a part in the story itself. One could argue that the Tenth Doctor story “Planet of the Dead,” which aired on Easter weekend, didn’t have much connection with Easter other than the Doctor’s reference to Easter eggs. But “Easter” wasn’t in the title, so it was understood to be coincidental and not significant to the story. If you’re going to put “Halloween” in the title, make it relevant.

Next, there’s John Bishop who plays Dan Lewis. I’d not heard of him before, but it seems he’s a footballer-turned-comedian in the UK who became popular sometime in the last 30-odd years since I’ve been in the US, which is why I’d never heard of him. He may be a good comedian, and perhaps a good actor in other contexts. But there’s something off about his performance here. He’s originally from the Liverpool area, yet his Liverpudlian accent sounds forced, as if he’s over-acting to make sure you understand he’s from Liverpool. Kind of like the Beatle impersonations in the movie “Yellow Submarine.” On top of this, he acts with either a smirk on his face or a smirk in his voice. Compare Bishop’s performance here to Catherine Tate’s in Season 4. There’s a qualitative difference. Tate is a comedian who can act and who really owned that part. Bishop plays Dan as if he’s borrowed the part, and it’s all a bit of a lark and a romp. Very unconvincing.

Then there’s Jodie Whittaker. As I’ve said before, she’s a good actor. You know this if you’ve seen her in “Broadchurch.” But I’ve yet to see her give a compelling performance as the Doctor, except a few times when she shows a brief flash of Doctorishness, and in the story “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” which is possibly the best story of the Chibnall era. In this episode she overdoes vulnerability. Yes, there are times when the Doctor can be vulnerable, but not this much. Then she bounds around, treating dangerous situations with a bravado that her personality doesn’t support. And why doesn’t she tell Yaz about Karvanista? Yes, I know the Doctor sometimes keeps things from his/her companions, but in this instance, the Doctor just seems to be being mysterious for the sake of it. Again, did I miss something?

The opening sequence was a bit odd. I understand we’re establishing the relationship between the Doctor, Yaz, and Karvanista. But it was all a bit too comedic considering they were in grave danger and the Doctor’s solution wasn’t working. The whole “It’s all your fault,” “Well, I didn’t know…” is old hat. Chibbers has this annoying habit of playing down to his audience, treating us like children. Unfortunately, this was one of those occasions.

I usually have few complaints about New Who with regard to special effects. Particularly over the last ten years, they’ve brought their CGI and other tricks and techniques up to a high standard. So what was the deal with Karvanista’s costume? It really looked like a costume, especially the mouth, where there wasn’t enough articulation to be convincing. I was with Dan when he thought it was someone dressed up as a dog for Halloween. And why a dog? Don’t tell me it’s a riff off of “man’s best friend.” Please no.

And finally, what’s up with the Sontarans? I don’t mean the new look–that’s fine, nothing wrong with that. I mean the whole “You’re filthy” and “old friend”? Sontarans are a race of clone soldiers. As I recall, they don’t do the whole “army buddies” thing. They live for the glory of war and hope to die an honorable death in battle. Friendships and playful put-downs were never in their psyche, let alone their vocabulary. This was very strange.

So, to sum up, “Flux” has the potential to be a good story when it’s finished, though I’m afraid key performances, and Chibnall, may let it down. But we’ll see.

Did you see this episode of Doctor Who? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments!