So here we are, two episodes into Chris Chibnall's grand experiment for Doctor Who Series 13.
Whether or not Chibnall is succeeding with this Flux storyline, Doctor Who is interesting and engaging in a way it hasn't been in a long time, dramatic and fun at the same time.
Episode 1 was a collection of sub-plots in search of a story. Episode 2 is a bit more focused and benefits greatly as a result. After the break, we'll do a deep dive and as, always, spoilers' sweetie.
War of the Sontarans
by Chris Chibnall
The Doctor, Yaz, Dan and the TARDIS have escaped being eating by the Flux but wind up on a battlefield of the Crimean War circa 1855. But British troops are not fighting Russians like it says in the history book. There is no Russia like it says on your maps. In place of both Russia and China is the super nation of Sontar and there are a gazillion Sontarans ready to kick British butt.
Suddenly, Dan and Yaz glow blue and disappear into their own parts of the plot. The Doctor can't follow in the TARDIS. The fuckery happening to the interior of the TARDIS last episode how extends to the exterior: there is no doorway.
The Doctor is not completely on her own.
Mary Seacole is doing her damnedest to heal l those injured in the war. Mary Seacole is a real person who gave all to help those in need during the Crimean War.
Including one Sontaran who is pissed off about not dying in combat. The Doctor sees this as an asset to get through to the Sontaran commander. The Doctor tells the soldier to relay a message that the Doctor, President of Gallifrey and sworn enemy of the Sontarans, is on the planet and demands a meeting.
The whole "President of Gallifrey" is a reference back to the classic series "Invasion of Time" where the Doctor usurped the Presidency to repel an invasion of Gallifrey by the Sontarans.
Chibs loves his classic Who.
Hell, we get a reference to "The Time Warrior", a Jon Pertwee era story that introduced the Sontarans (and also Sarah Jane Smith).
Why did the Sontarans come to the Crimean War? Lots of opportunities for bloodshed on a massive scale.
Oh and the Sontaran commander wanted to ride a horse.
The Doctor gets her meeting with the Sontaran commander and whether or not she's going to talk a Sontaran out of fightin' (eh, probably not), the general of the British forces (all full of himself for representing "Queen and Country") said his army will meet the Sontarans on the field of battle. The Sontaran commander agrees to the general's terms... for a massacre.
Which is what it is. The Sontarans mow down the British troops and their general only survives by cowardly playing dead.
With some handy dandy intel from Mary Seacole, the Doctor conceives of a plan to force the Sontarans off the planet. It works only because the Sontarans all collectively regenerate in their pods at the same damn time.
Meanwhile in the 21st century, Dan is back in his own beloved hometown of Liverpool fighing off Sontarans with a frying pan.
Since we just met Dan one episode ago and he's barely been introduced to the world of the Doctor in only a few short hours, it seems a little soon for Dan to be on a solo mission bashing Sontarans on their probic vents with his frying pan.
Well, not completely solo. Karnavista shows up to save Dan's bacon and giving a whomping to the Sontarans.
Whose a good boy?!?
The Doctor turns up, tells Karnavista she's not done with him and takes Dan to go find Yaz.
The TARDIS is looking really bad now, crystals growing every which way and black goop everywhere and it's harder to pilot than ever.
The Doctor and Dan manage to make to the Temple of Atropos where...
Well...
Stuff is happening.
Quantum locked in the temple are the Moirai through whom all time flows. Without the Moirai, time is naught but chaos.
Swarm, Azure and a being called the Passenger (OK, that's new and I have a bad feeling about what happened to Diane last episode) have arrived at the temple and dusted two of the Moirai and replaced them with Yaz and Vinder.
Which is bad because, well, Swarm tells us it's bad and the Doctor seems upset about it.
Chibs does love his exposition.
Time flowing through humans instead of the Morai is a bad thing and will happen in 5, 4, 3, 2...
To be continued.
Followed immediately by scenes for next week's episode and oh, look. Yaz and Vinder will be fine.
The main part of War of the Sontarans with the Doctor in the Crimean War era is the strongest past of the episode. Jodie Whitaker has gotten too few chances to be the Doctor out on her own, cut off from her companions. Her predicament in 1855 is a good one and provides a showcase for why the Doctor is a unique hero in pop culture, preferring to out think and out talk while all others around her want to fight.
The section with Dan in present day Liverpool has its moments, showing Dan's wit and resolve in the face of danger. We get to meet Dan's parents which is kind of nice. (It's where Dan gets the frying pan from.)
Still, it seems a bit soon for Dan to have this kind of showcase but I guess Chris Chibnall working with a compressed time table has to move things along faster than they normally would.
The section with Yaz in the Temple of Atropos is disappointing, mostly owing to confusing techno babble and too much Chibnall brand exposition. We get a cute moment when we see what Yaz has written in the palm of her hand: WWTDD?
What would the Doctor do?
Well, act like you own the place. Yaz tries to bluff her way past the robot sentries that guard the temple but finds herself quickly outclassed when Swarms shows up. Swarm knows all about the temple and also, it seems, about Yaz.
I'm gonna guess that the Temple of Atropos on the planet called Time is central to the mystery of the Timeless Child. If the Time Lords came from the Timeless Child, where did the Timeless Child come from?
There's a lot about this episode that is fun and engaging but it also feels like Chris Chibnall is cribbing from better stories told by Russell Davies and Steven Moffat.
One third of the way, the Flux storyline has at minimum energized Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who in a way that is long overdue. But will all this strutting and fretting across the stage deliver a significant, well remembered chapter in Doctor Who history or ultimately, signify nothing.
I'm still willing to give Chibs some benefit of the doubt.
But he has hurt me before.
No comments:
Post a Comment