Who Review: Flux Chapter Two: War of the Sontarans

The Doctor, Yaz, and Dan find themselves transported away from the Flux and to a battlefield on Earth. From the soldiers’ attire and the fact that Mary Seacole appears, telling them they’re in Sevastopol, the Doctor concludes it’s 1855, toward the end of the Crimean War. But the British enemy is now the Sontarans, not the Russians. What’s more, neither Mary nor the commander of the British army knows what Russia is. The word is just a faint echo in their minds with no meaning. Then Yaz and Dan are mysteriously transported away, and when the Doctor tries to get into the TARDIS to follow after them, she finds the TARDIS no longer has doors. Stuck in the Crimea, she needs to figure out what the Sontarans are doing here, and how to stop them. Then she needs to rescue her friends…

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!

The resolution to last episode’s cliffhanger involved the TARDIS coming into contact with the Flux and the Lupari ships shielding Earth causing it to bounce off in time and end up in the Crimean War. I’m not exactly sure how it worked out, but we understand that the Flux is doing some strange things to the universe, and time itself is in a bad way which is causing the TARDIS to behave and appear strangely. Is it by chance that they manage to insert themselves into the Sontaran plan for world domination, or is it by design? I hope for the latter, but I guess we’ll find out in a few chapters.

Let’s start with some general comments. This was a good episode. Yes, it had some issues (as we’ll see), but there was actually a plot, some tension, and a dramatic conclusion that wasn’t totally pulled out of thin air. By Chibnall standards, that makes it virtually Shakespearian. There were moments of real danger, and both the Sontaran motivation and the Doctor’s solutions were believable. This was, in short, an entertaining and engaging episode. Not classic Who, but certainly one of Chibnall’s best. Perhaps the best episode he’s written so far.

Another plus: The Sontarans behaved very Sontaranly, unlike the pair at the end of the previous episode. I’m not a fan of the way the Sontarans are almost treated comically by New Who (a criticism that goes back to their re-introduction during the RTD era). The reference to Linx, the first Sontaran on Earth, was nice and appropriate. Linx had crash-landed in medieval England and supplied modern weapons to the natives in return for help with materials to fix his ship. While his was not an intentional invasion, clearly the Sontarans look at this early incursion as a claim to the planet, which they have long wanted to make good on but for the Doctor’s constant interference. Slipping through the Lupari ships as they were assembling around Earth, they made their base at Liverpool docks and are building time ships to visit various points in Earth’s past so they can establish themselves in Earth’s history. The map used by the British commander at Sevastopol shows Russia and China both as “Sontar.” Already, the word “Russia” is a shadowy echo in people’s minds.

John Bishop, who plays new companion Dan, is a little better in this episode, but his performance is still wooden and lacks conviction. When he’s sneaking through the docks to board a Sontaran ship, lumbering around waving a wok, I’m surprised he survived. He did better when he encountered the Sontaran firing squad as they executed three people for “spying.” He hid behind boxes, unable to watch, and knowing any attempt at rescue would be futile. The look on his face was appropriate, which is not always the case with Mr. Bishop.

Including Mary Seacole in the story could be seen as more Chibnall woke pandering. However, in this instance, there does seem to be good reason for including her. She was active during the Crimean War, and her “British Hotel” is a fact of history. Using that “hotel” as a base for the Doctor while she’s there is useful for the story. And while she includes Mary in her plan to fight back against Sontarans, the Doctor uses her in ways that are consistent with her skills: she spends the night staying awake, making detailed observations about the Sontarans. This information proves critical to the Doctor’s attack strategy. Mary doesn’t suddenly become a Sontaran-fighting warrior with mean ninja skills.

Meanwhile, Yaz is having quite a different adventure in the Temple of Atropos where a small floating pyramid wants her to conduct repairs. I’m sure this temple is at the heart of the story, especially since Swarm, Azure, and their new friend Passenger are likewise drawn there. Yaz joins with Vinder, who found himself here after escaping the Flux at the edge of the universe, in trying to fix whatever’s wrong at the Temple. However, the problem is beyond their capabilities since it involves restoring a couple of the Mouri gatekeepers whose appearance is proximity-activated (i.e., they appear when you draw close to them).

The pyramid gives them some backstory: This temple is on the planet Time, and all of time passes through this temple. Time is, apparently, evil, wild, and reckless. These Mouri keep time in check. If the Mouri are damaged or destroyed, time will wreak havoc on the universe. It seems the Flux and all the damage to the TARDIS are side effects of the Mouri being damaged.

Speaking of the TARDIS, after dealing with the Sontarans, the Doctor and Dan end up at the temple, which is just as well since they’re looking for Yaz. However, Swarm, Azure, and Passenger are waiting for them. As a nice surprise, they’ve installed a temporary fix to the Mouri by making Yaz and Vinder replacement Mouri. And Swarm is about to fill Yaz with more power than she can handle in order to take control of time.

That’s the cliffhanger, and it’s not a bad one. The stakes are certainly high, and it’s hard to see how the Doctor and friends might escape this. Perhaps Dan will whack Swarm on the head with his wok? Who knows… we’ll have to see! But let’s also not forget the vision the Doctor had before waking up on the battlefield: a large dilapidated house out in the middle of nowhere. What is that? And why did it come into the Doctor’s head? We await answers…

As I said, this is a pretty good story–excellent by Chibnall standards. However, I have some issues:

WWTTD

Yaz has written “WWTDD” on her hand. Of course, this might play a more significant part in the broader story arc, so I have to allow for that. But assuming it doesn’t, this doesn’t speak well of Yaz and her relationship with the Doctor. If, as we’re led to believe at the beginning of the first chapter, Yaz has been spending a lot of time with the Doctor, she shouldn’t need to remind herself to think about how the Doctor might handle a situation. She should be picking up the Doctor’s influence by osmosis. Steven Moffat once said (and I’m not sure if this is original with him, but it certainly reflects an idea that has been at the core of Doctor Who for a long time) that he’s The Doctor because he makes people better–not necessarily physically, but as people. Generally speaking, the Doctor’s companions end up better than they were when he found them. They’re braver, more confident, more self-aware, wiser, etc. Not because the Doctor taught them, or they read a book, or wrote notes on their hands. Rather because they had spent so much time with the Doctor they began to think and act like the Doctor. Yaz having this written on her hand suggests she hasn’t really learned anything, or her relationship with the Doctor is superficial. Or she’s a really bad student!

“I always wanted to ride a horse”

When the Doctor asks the Sontaran leader why they chose the Crimean War, he replies that it seemed like a good, violent skirmish. That’s fine. But then he adds that he always wanted to ride a horse. Sure, that’s a nice laugh line, but it is so out of character for a Sontaran. Unfortunately, though, this is an example of the kind of humor New Who has given the Sontarans which makes them look a little ridiculous. Maybe they do seem ridiculous, but is this light-hearted edge right for a clone race who would happily mow down an entire field of soldiers for the fun of it? I think not.

“Tempura offensive”

When Dan and the Doctor are talking to each other over the Sontaran ships’ communication system, Dan tries to tell the Doctor what he’s learned so far about the Sontaran’s intentions. He tells her they seem to have some kind of fixation on Chinese food because they keep talking about a “tempura offensive” and “tempura” this and that. The Doctor suggests they might have been discussing a temporal offensive, which, of course, they were. I’m sorry, but this was lame humor that just made Dan look stupid… -er. No offense to John Bishop. It’s his character I’m talking about.

“I’m going to need a pointy stick”

When the Doctor presents her plan to the British commander, Mary, and the other soldiers, she says she’s going to need “a pointy stick.” This is because she’s going to do a military-style, classroom presentation, and they’re all going to sit like school children while the Doctor explains and asks questions and praises Mary for getting questions right. This is a classic example of Chibnall treating Doctor Who like a Disney kids’ show, and it’s very annoying, and one of the reasons Jodie’s Doctor lacks credibility.

I’m also curious as to how the imprisoned Sontaran was able to replenish his suit when he wasn’t connected to his ship. Also, why was it okay for Dan to blow up the Sontaran ships in Liverpool but the Doctor was upset with the British commander for blowing up the Sontaran ships in the Crimea? Sure, the Crimean Sontarans were retreating, but a) there was no truce or formal peace agreement, b) these Sontarans had just wiped out the commander’s army, and c) the Doctor knew the Sontarans would be back.

To sum up, this was a good story with some issues. It gives me hope that Chibnall may be able to end his tenure with a season that’s worthy of being called Doctor Who. So far so good. But we have four more chapters to go…