After almost two years away, and with very little advertisement or fanfare Doctor Who finally returns to the screens with the first of a six part series long story that, despite seeming to really try to do a lot, feels like a rushed, jumbled mess of parts with no clear connections so far.
This isn't the first time that there have been bigger stories in the Doctor Who universe. Even if you discounted the fact that every story before the revamp in 2005 was a multi-part story, there were things like 'The Key To Time', and more recently the third and fourth series of Torchwood were longer form storytelling. Of these mentioned examples the one that's easily my favourite is Torchwood: Children of Earth, a five part series that I think is still some of the most emotional and affecting things in the entire shared universe of Doctor Who.
One of the ways that series worked so well is that it didn't rush with it's storytelling, yet managed to cram a lot into its five episodes. By the end of the first episode there was indications that big things were coming, that there was a threat on the horizon, there were new characters added, developments made with existing ones, a few mystery threads left hanging, and an explosive cliffhanger. The first episode of Doctor Who: Flux is very much not this, however. There are some similarities between the two, there's a threat established, a new character added, and a cliffhanger ending, but despite that this new episode feels very messy and confusing in comparison.
Now, I'm sure there are already going to be people yelling that this is only a first part, and that a lot, if not all of this, can get resolved in future episodes; and I very much hope that that's the case. I want this to be looked at as the set-up of a great series long story that is not only well received but lets Jodie end her tenure with a huge bang. But as something that I've watched without those other episodes yet, as something that I've experienced on it's own and have had to watch as a single episode I feel kind of dejected by the whole thing.
For starters, The Doctor didn't seem particularly good in this episode. There were times where there is clearly, obviously something bothering her, yet she never allows herself to open up to Yaz about it. There's the moment when the Tardis seems to be breaking down, leaking some kind of fluid and she just goes 'It's nothing, it's fine', or the few times where she experiences a psychic connection with one of the many villains of the piece yet won't talk about it even when prompted. Now, I understand that The Doctor doesn't always tell their companion everything, that sometimes they hide things so as not to seem like things are hopeless, or that they occasionally don't know answers, but it happened so often this episode that it felt like The Doctor either dislikes Yaz or didn't trust her. Even a simple 'I'm not sure' would have sufficed in response rather than acting like Yaz was some kind of child asking stupid questions.
Dan, the new companion for the series, was definitely the one cast member of the main three who actually felt like he got any kind of care or attention given over to him. His introduction was nice, and the scenes where he's helping out at the food bank and giving out sweets to trick or treaters were great because they showed he's a deeply kind and warm sort of person. He has a kindness to him that shows he's a decent and caring person, one that might be needed if The Doctor and Yaz continue to have this semi-antagonistic relationship develop over the course of the series.
Outside of Dan there are a number of other characters introduced. There's Claire, a woman who appears seemingly at random to tell The Doctor that they're going to meet in the past, then goes off and gets sent back in time by a Weeping Angel. The scene where the Angel appears is pretty good, but like much of the episode it feels like this inclusion is a scene where we're going to be waiting for it to mean anything. There's also another woman from Earth who's supposed to be meeting Dan for a date and gets grabbed by one of the villains for the series.
As for the villains, there's the already mentioned Weeping Angel, who appears for one scene, some Sontarans who make a few appearances setting up their inclusion in the next episode, a strange being who appears to have been prisoner of 'the division' of millennia but escapes and causes havoc, as well as his sister who was posing as a human woman living in a house in the Arctic circle with a human man; she may have been under some kind of chameloen circuit, but no answer to that has been given yet. And there's a kind of but not really villain in the form of a dog alien who kidnaps Dan. All of this on top of the giant energy wave thingy that's tearing the universe apart that may or may not be connected to some of the other villains in the show.
It's lot of stuff, most of which isn't explained in the episode, and adds to the sense that things feel bloated and crammed in. Surely some of it could have been saved for later; like the Sontarans. Did we need to see them in episode one for their appearance in episode two to make sense? The flashback towards the beginning of the episode that shows construction in 1820's Liverpool will probably be important at a later time, but again, did we need that established here for it to work later?
I'm really hoping that the series goes well, and there's a lot of promise here, there are small parts that I found genuinely enjoyable and intriguing; but I'm just not completely sold on it yet. Let's hope that episode two helps to improve things. Though I will say, the line 'You look nothing like four bears' might be one of the best things in the Chibnall era.
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