Doctor Who review: “Flux: Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse”

Doctor Who is back, ladies and gentlemen, and it does not disappoint. Season 13 is off to a riveting start as Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor) and Mandip Gill (Yaz) return with a new companion by their side in the form of John Bishop’s Dan.

There are no adjectives to describe how perfectly Bishop fit in with Whittaker and Gill, almost as if he had been there all along. The team dynamic is still a work in progress, but it’s only been one episode and things are off to a wonderful start! The Season 13 premiere featured some familiar villains presenting themselves at the perfect time: Halloween night. Who doesn’t want to face Weeping Angels on All Hallow’s Eve?!

I have so much to rant and rave about the Doctor Who Season 13 premiere, so I will get right into it. And in case you haven’t had a chance to watch it, be aware of SPOILERS ahead!

Doctor Who is back!

Right off the bat, things are chaotic as we find the Doctor and Yaz hanging upside down from a gravity bar…right above some boiling acid. You know, typical Doctor Who stuff. This sets the exciting and fun tone of the season 13 premiere, which is executed flawlessly by showrunner Chris Chibnall and the cast. Just when we thought the show couldn’t get better.

The first chapter in the six-episode story, “Flux,” ropes in Bishop’s character, Dan, in the most Whovian way possible. And while this is a story we’ve seen time and time again, it never gets old. The Doctor and companion(s) are in a sticky spot, get out of it, have to rush to another planet, and somehow end up bumping into someone that joins them for the ride.

Bishop is an instant success as Dan Lewis, who is struggling to find work and isn’t having much luck in the romance department. When he’s not pretending to be a museum guide, Dan is working at the food bank, but not for long.

Karvanista

Doctor Who is the type of show that never ceases to surprise you. In the season 13 premiere we are introduced to a dog-alien named named Karvanista. He’s not exactly a villain, although at times he seems like one. He belongs to a a species known as the Lupari, each of them assigned a human to rescue from the impending doom of the “Flux.” This is why Karvanista breaks into Dan’s house and kidnaps him — man’s best friend indeed!

He looks like an adorable Wookie-esque creature that you just want to love and adore for all of eternity. I literally couldn’t get enough of Karvanista. And that’s a good thing, because the real villains, the Ravagers, are frightening beyond belief. They’re almost like a half-Voldemort, half-Night King hybrid; more on them below.

The Flux

The Doctor struggles to keep it together during the season 13 premiere; her mind is feeling scrambled. Throughout the episode, she has strange visions of an alien trying to break free of a prison and then sucking out the souls of the guards to revive himself. It’s weird and uncomfortable and we’ll probably be seeing more of it.

Known as “Swarm” (Sam Spruell), this particular Ravager has some sort of history with the Doctor, although she doesn’t remember it. I think this is going to play into the idea of her trying to remember her forgotten lives, which we learned about last season.

In any case, the TARDIS finds its way to Earth, and then to Dan’s house on account of Karvanista having been there. But Dan is gone and they run into yet another dead end. However, they come across a woman named Claire (Annabel Scholey) who recognizes the Doctor and Yaz, but clearly they haven’t met her yet. This is another one of those weird “the future before the past” type situations that we’ll learn more about later.

The Doctor is too frazzled to care about Claire, so she whisks Yaz away and heads to Karvanista’s ship. During their journey, it becomes clear that the TARDIS is acting up. The inside of it is topsy-turvy, but there is no indication as to why.

Once on the ship, Yaz breaks Dan out of the cage Karvanista put him in while the Doctor learns that there is a cataclysmic event known as the “Flux” heading their way. It is going to destroy the entire universe as they know it. Cue the entrance of a new character named Vinder (hello, Game of Thrones star Jacob Anderson). He’s alone on a base somewhere and his only job is to monitor the “Flux.” I hope we’ll see more of Anderson in the coming weeks because he simply did not get enough screen time this week!

Watching the “Flux” attack different planets is frightening. It just devours its prey, turning them into Infinity War-esque dust. I don’t know where they’re going with this new threat, but I have to say it’s pretty dang awesome.

Return of the Weeping Angels and Sontarans

My favorite part of the season 13 premiere was hands down the return of some of the franchise’s scariest and most iconic villains: the Weeping Angels and the Sontarans. Even though it was a brief glimpse, it’s clear that they are going to be playing a big role in this six-episode storyline.

As the episode wraps up, the Doctor works with Karvanista and his fleet of ships to protect the Earth from being consumed by the “Flux”. A protective shell is formed by the ships, and somehow it works; I had my doubts there for a bit.

We end on a cliffhanger as the deteriorating TARDIS’ door opens and the inside is exposed to the “Flux.” Are they going to survive? (Duh!) Is it going to impact them in some capacity? (Probably.) Are we super excited to find out how? (Heck yes!)

I absolutely loved the Doctor Who season 13 premiere. Every single minute of it was fun, exciting, and at times frightening. It’s a great start to Whittaker’s final season, and while I had my doubts about them adding a new companion at this point, it was the best thing they could have done.

Bishop is amazing as Dan Lewis and has great chemistry with both Whittaker and Gill. This trio works so well together and I’m pumped to see more in the coming weeks. Something else I’m excited about is all the loose ends that the premiere left us with: Claire’s identity, her encounter with the Weeping Angel and Swarm, the matter of Azure (Rochenda Sandall), and of course, the Sontarans.

Luckily, we still have five episodes of this storyline to enjoy!

Grade: A

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