The third episode of Doctor Who: Flux certainly piles the revelations upon its audience as it begins to answer a lot of the questions raised in the first couple of episodes, yet manages to keep an air of mystery going into the second half of this shorter series.
The episode begins by introducing a new character, Bel, played by Thaddea Graham, who is surviving in the ruins of a universe wrecked by the Flux. We see that whilst he Flux has created destruction on a scale we've never seen before it's not erased reality itself, which seemed to be the implications early on in the series, but left few alive and much of the universe in ruins. We keep going back to Bel over the course of the episode as she makes her way from planet to planet, trying to find a way back home, dodging some of the bigger Doctor Who enemies along the way.
These breaks from the main story are great, they show us what's happening in the universe, how bad things have gotten because of the Flux, and why it's important that the Doctor saves everything. It feels like the final days of reality, and that those who remain are fighting to be crowned rulers of the dust before it all goes away. This also means that we get an appearance from the Daleks, as well as a couple of scenes with the Cybermen. If these prove to be the only moments with these iconic villains this series I'm absolutely fine with that. They got to make an appearance, their inclusion showed the impact of the story as a whole, and their scenes were good. This is how you get certain monsters into the series without it feeling too bogged down.
Outside of Bel's story the main focus of the episode turns to the Doctor and her companions. We pick up where the last episode left off, with Swarm about to pour the full power and fury of the time-stream through the mouri and into Yaz and Vinder. In order to save her friends and buy them more time the Doctor throws herself and Dan into the time-stream too, allowing her the opportunity to try and fix things.
This begins a series of scenes that were really interesting. Things essentially become dreamlike from here on out, as the four good guys get thrown through their own timelines, pasts, present, and futures, to hide from the villains. But because time is broken things don't run quite right. Scenes can change suddenly mid sentence as they find themselves in new places, people from their memories have been replaced with other people they know, and they're able to try and challenge and change what was said and done. Rather than being simple flashbacks, they play out like nightmarish dream sequences; though ones that matter as we learn a surprising amount from them.
Yaz is probably the one least served in these scenes, possibly due to the fact that we've already gotten to know her so well over previous series. Instead of getting insight into her we get to see her being slowly pursued by a Weeping Angel that has invaded the time-stream. These make for some fun, and tense moments, and help build towards the final moments of the episode.
Dan, in contrast, gets a little bit more character development, as we learn more about his relationship with Di; getting to see him chatting with her and the growing romance between the two. This really helps to reinforce that the two of them were close, as we only got them in one scene together at the start of the first episode, which helps us to understand his reaction to learning she's a prisoner at the end of the episode. We also get some insight into things to come as Dan finds himself in the Williamson tunnels with Joseph Williamson shooting a laser gun at some unseen foe. With these moments all being from people's timelines this is pretty much telling us that this scene is something we're going to get in a future instalment.
The character who gets the most work out of the three companions is Vinder, someone who began as a pretty blank slate, but who feels very well rounded and fascinating by the end of this episode. We get flashbacks of him on his home world, as a reckless but heroic pilot who gets the opportunity to go and work alongside The Grand Serpent, played wonderfully by Craig Parkinson. Whilst at first this seems to be a respectable promotion it very quickly becomes apparent that The Grans Serpent is a ruthless and evil man, one who genuinely oozes threat in every scene he's in. Having been witness to corruption and a plot to murder innocents Vinder chooses to do the right and honourable thing to report The Grand Serpent's actions. This is what led him to be in that remote space station at the start of the series.
Thanks to these insights into Vinder he's quickly grown to become one of the more intriguing cast members, and once his connection to Bel is revealed it becomes pretty clear that despite how things might seem at the end of the episode this surely won't be the last time we see either of them. I doubt that so much time and attention would be given to building either character up this much if they're never to return.
The biggest revelations of the episode, however, come with the Doctor, and her jaunts through her timeline. We find her, along with her three friends, preparing to assault the Temple of Atrapos, presumably to take the fight back to Swarm and Azure. However, the fact that her friends are all dressed like Division operatives, and armed with Time Lord weaponry gives away that this isn't what we first think; and we soon learn that the Doctor is living through the first assault on the temple in one of her forgotten lives. And it's an absolute joy when we discover which one it is. That's right, she's back.
The Doctor sees her reflection in the mirror and realises that the version of her in this memory is non-other than the Fugitive/Ruth Doctor. I was genuinely over the moon to see Jo Martin back, even if it was for some very brief scenes. However, this begins to fill in a lot of the details for stuff that we need to know. We discover more about what that version of the Doctor was doing, see her connection with Karvanista, Swarm, and Azure, and we learn more about the very nature of this conflict and what the villains are trying to do.
And that's what this episode is really all about, giving the audience a lot of answers. This is probably one of the most lore heavy episodes in a long while, and easily the most lore heavy one this series. And I kind of love that. I like that the first episode was non-stop things happening that didn't give you a chance to think, that the next episode slowed down the pace and told a good stand-alone feeling episode that still moved the plot forward, before jumping into a big revelatory episode that addressed a lot of the plot. It seems like the next episode will be taking a similar approach to the second, slowing down the main plot a bit to focus on some bad guys, allowing the stuff we've learned here to sink in a bit before moving towards the conclusion; and I'm down with that approach.
Obviously, there are still a lot of questions that need answering, there's a lot of stuff that we still don't understand, and this episode did throw more mysteries into the mix; but it's clear now that this entire story is going to be attempting something big, something that is tied to the history of this universe, and the Doctor, and that's hugely exciting.
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