Flux: Chapter Five - Survivors of the Flux

After being temporarily transformed into one of the feared 'Weeping Angels', The Doctor finds herself at the headquarters of 'Division', drifting somewhere in the null-space between Universes, where she encounters maternal villain Tecteun and an Ood (one of the franchise's better creations). Meanwhile, Yaz, Jericho and Dan are wandering the Victorian globe in search of a clue to Earth's future, the Grand Serpent infiltrates U. N. I. T, Bel searches for Vinder, and the sinister skelators Swarm and Azure extract power from captive humans. Like much of the Flux epic, I found this episode disjointed and needlessly cryptic. The previous installment's effective closing scene of the Doctor 'fossilising' into one of the menacing Angels goes nowhere and the 'light-hearted' scenes of Yaz et al playing at 'Indiana Jones' were painful to watch (especially the ridiculous and borderline tasteless encounter with a Tibetan lama (Indian guru?)). The teaser for next week, which shows the arrival of a Sontaran battle-fleet, more Cybermen and even the dreaded Daleks looks promising, so, like episode 3, this episode may be a bridge and will need to be reconsidered once the story arc concludes next week (but regardless of what happens, the shtick with Yaz (in her perky hat) and crew in 1902 will forever be cringe-inducing).

It still has the appearance of a good plot, the idea behind it can be glimpsed now and then and seems like it has potential, but the convoluted mess Chibnall made of it is just that, a horrible mess. Nothing is small enough to not blow it up completely.

I especially liked the part where Jaz and Dan broke into a sealed crypt where candles were already burning.

Or the part where the answer to everything was directly behind the Doctor and could have easily been taken and used, just for the Doctor to make a semi-passionate speech about saving the universe while doing NOTHING.

I enjoy it so much my keyboard has bitemarks.

This could've been an episode where I am on the edge of my seat throughout all of it, but it felt like reading a novel.

A lot of exposition, so little meaningful action, follows a very very boring journey for most of it, w some supbar humour sprinkled in.

Bishop Twankey, Yaz and Professor Yaffle go on an extended vacation, I mean holiday, looking for something unknown to stimulate their imagination, passing through a number of nations, with plenty a frustration, irritation, futility and aberration, especially for the viewer of a certain persuasion (you know who you are), but generally a pointless piece of timewasting. The Angels deliver the Doctor to wherever it is they're meant to deliver her, like stone chauffeurs, doing a transfer, a bit of a blur, did she leave a tip? Don't treat your audience like kids perhaps, this is a show for grown up men. There's some chit chat with mam and, for those with middle age and male characteristics, more hyperventilating and high blood pressure - stress, can't cope with change, why can't we go back to the good old days, alas they were awful that's why, those days not Doctor Who. The engaged couple provide more un-thrilling padding out to make it to an hour, bravo, and the most irrelevant serpent that ever slithered wastes even more time. All we need now is a turtle head with a chocolate fetish!

Chibnall destroyed everything.

He tried to put in everything from his talentless run of once one of the greatest shows in history of television and ideas from Marvel comics.

Everything we watched for so many years doesn't matter anymore, because it was all done by his "mother complex" character.

There is no way RTD can save the show from this.

But, Doctor Who faced much worse enemies than one unimaginative bad show runner.