User Reviews

I don't believe it's possible to take a fundamentally broken story and save it in the final Act. At least, I feel like audiences have been burned with this promise a couple of times now (GOT, Star Wars)...and yet. I held out the hope that in 59 minutes, DW Flux could possibly complete the Hail Mary.

Alas, it does not. The fundamental issues of this series remain with this final episode. It's a convoluted, quick moving, ridiculous story where plot elements get picked up and dropped off. We have TONS of unanswered questions, confusing villains, lots of contrivances and conveniences. We get no moment to breathe or let anything sink in. Most of the dialog is Jodie talking to herself (literally) about absolute techno-pseudo science nonsense. The companions are completely useless for the majority of the story. Most of the plot lines sort of poof their way out of existence (Vinder had literally no point of being here). To fix this, we get a lot of exposition and characters "telling us" how problems are fixed or how characters are supposed to be.

A key example is how Dan's random museum friend is somehow capable of dealing with advanced aliens and literally COMES UP with the plan to save the universe. Now, Doctor Who is no stranger to empowering ordinary people to recognize the potential in themselves and do extraordinary things. But it's a little odd that this character we've only seen in brief moments is given this role in the story.

Another one is how it's essentially confirmed that the Lupari (who have been with us since the first episode), have been exterminated by the Sontarans. This huge plot development is LITERALLY given 10 seconds for the audience and characters to take in, before we move on. (By the way, I actually rewinded and counted)

This story is full of stuff like this; there's no build up, no drama or tension. We know some BS will get the Doctor out of this predictament, and how this happens isn't particularly interesting.

The show looks quite good at times; impressive, epic visuals sort of fool you into thinking you're watching something that deserves awe. But there's no substance to anything happening on screen.

I also have to mention...Whittaker is not a good Doctor. I'm sorry. She's made out to be this all powerful, God like being whom the entire universe revolves around, yet, there's nothing particularly interesting about her. She has no wisdom behind her eyes or anything that would warrant this grandiosity. She comes off as skittish, impatient, and self-absorbed at times. Yaz and Dan are barely there and we have to be told how "great" they are time and time again for us to register it.

I know there are a few specials left, but I don't see how Chibnall can save his run. Now that we all know it's going to be over and RTD is coming back, I suspect this era of Doctor Who will be the odd step child that no one really wants to talk about.

The season started with such promise, but by episode 5 it was clear it was going to fall flat.

Yaz has been around so long that she has become a caricature of what little character she originally had. Dan is a poorly written, near flawless human being, portrayed by a man who is either not right for the role, or simply cannot act. Jodie's performance, whilst better than most others in this season, lacks the "spark", charm, and charisma of her predecessors.

The main villains of this season just bloody disappear. You spend the entire season wondering how the Doctor can defeat them, just for them to vanish. The Flux is trivially overcome after 5 episodes of us being told it's impossible. A villain with no back story is defeated by being left on a rock.

Chibnall wrote himself into a corner, too many characters and plotlines for a 6 episode season, and used every lazy tactic possible to get out of it, including genocide which is okay if the Doctor does it.

I started this season thinking there was hope for Chibnall, but it's clear now, this man needs to go NOW.

I've tried my best to keep an open mind since Chibnall became showrunner, but really the whole "timeless child" BS should've been the final nail in the coffin for me.

All in all, the show just doesn't feel like Doctor Who anymore.

+1 star for not ramming the fact that they have a woman missing an arm down our throats, like they did with Ryan's dyspraxia.

Extremely Anticlimactic is the best way to describe this finale. Chibnall unfortunately bats 0 for 3 on his finales. This is probably his best but it isn't saying much. Everything gets resolved but it's either unsatisfying a blink and you'll miss it conclusion, or poorly resolved. The Doctor wants her memories back and then at the end she just says "Nah. Hide this Tardis". But you'll whole goal during the series was to get information about your past life. It's stuff like that that doesn't make sense. There are some bright spots though. Karvanista was the best part for me and I hope he returns before Jodie's end and even into Series 14 and beyond. Jericho was great as usual and his death was impactful until none of the characters reacted to it. You spent 3 years with him and all we got was a "Confused face" face from Yaz. The Doctor is all over the place. She's really fun with the 3 versions of the currant incarnation running around before she chooses to commit genocide on the Sontarans. She got mad at humans 4 episodes ago for doing the same thing Also, the universe reset itself back to normal in a throwaway line from Swarm and Azure that you wouldn't catch on a first viewing and then they die anticlimactically. Kate Stewart was good in this but so underused and I forgot about the Grand Serpent till I was writing this. He was defeated I guess and exiled to a rock. Props to Jodie though for giving a good performance. Overall, it's a step up from Series 11 and 12's finale but still not good.

So, the purple dude and his blue lady friend end up getting disintegrated by someone we know not who, with no explanation of who THEY were in the first place. There were three doctors just because. That serpent fella got put on an asteroid and that's that. And the big end of the universe cataclysm.....got put in space jail.

I'm really sorry. I'm not one of those ranters, but this was absolutely abysmal. Oh, and just to try and get our interest back up, the somebody at the end that NOBODY knows who it was went and mentioned a "master". My days, I'll be glad when all this is over and maybe, just maybe we can get back to some semblance of coherent and entertaining stories.

So ends the infamous Chris Chibnall's final season as executive producer of "Doctor Who"... And I bid so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen & goodbye to the ever thinning patience I had with him & his god awful writing. If the finale has achieved anything, it has at least proven beyond any reasonable doubt that I am certainly ready to say adieu to this showrunner's current, divisive (get it?) tenure & can take solace in the knowledge that there are only 3 more installments left before he's gone for good. Roll on S14 in 2023. Honestly can't come soon enough.

Maybe I'm just lethargic (or simply exhausted by the continuous, unrelenting disappointment experienced whilst watching his irredeemable era - can't believe I actually got my hopes up this year) but tonight's pathetic excuse for an episode's left me feeling physically fatigued - more tired than how Harriet Jones looked in "The Christmas Invasion". There's a numbness caused by the mercilessly onslaught against our senses & since this overwhelms us with painfully mindless spectacle for 60 long minutes, the installment's a draining, incoherent slog to endure... Roland Emmerich on steroids.

Genuinely, what are we supposed to even make of the CGI, lacklustre mess that is "The Vanquishers"? I'm curious. What was the point? Moreover, what emotion did they wish to elicit in the fans - other than dismay at the massive nosedive in quality? There's a list of stuff I can't comprehend. What purpose did the fugitive incarnation serve, in hindsight? Furthermore, what possible justification could they offer to excuse her frustratingly poor utilisation? Have they really just squandered the first black, female Doctor in the show's history & offered no explanation as to why she's neglected? Surely she deserves better as both a character (what she represents) & an actress? Don't minorities warrant more consideration regarding the standard of their inclusion? I do hope Jo Martin's regeneration wasn't reduced to an offensively tokenistic plot device, existing solely to deepen her white counterpart's iteration / story arc? That can't be it? Not to mention, what about villains Swarm & Azure? Who / what were they? Since they have a rich history / pre-existing relationship with Jodie Whittaker's protagonist, have those at the helm of S13 legitimately failed to realise their potential, inexplicably dispensing with the two of them prematurely & without hesitation? Why shift such a profound emphasis on altering the lore of "Who" if it never contributed to anything sufficient enough to warrant those new amendments? Has this all been about emblazoning Chris Chibnall's name on the 50+ year mythology - for no other reason than to create a shallow legacy for himself? Additionally, has years of build up honestly culminated to form this - or shall there be further expansion of the plotline established in "The Timeless Children" - in the next 3 specials? Plus, what's left of the galaxy to save from hereon in? Hasn't the cataclysmic event shattered most of reality & wiped out the vast majority of the universe? No idea. Haven't a clue. Your guess is as good as mine because upon completion, as a viewer I remain totally oblivious & nonethewiser. The grand master plan's unfolded before our eyes & it turns out there was no clear sense of direction to begin with... We've just been led on a meandering, wild goose chase. Still left wondering as to what Chibnall's motivations were when crafting the scripts & I seriously question what he hoped to achieve with "the Flux"... The only discernible answer seems to be (yet again) he's just shamelessly baited fans & alluded to mysteries regarding the Time Lord's past with no intention of making good on the promises he's made (& had us fooled in to thinking he'd keep) as a storyteller, which to me is the worst mistake you can make because the symbiosis between a franchise & its supporters is sacred & unbreakable; breaching that unspoken contract - reneging on your side of the deal - can do untold damage to a brand in the long term, stymieing people's faith in your dependability. His lack of respect & entitlement, taking the audience for granted? Unforgivable.

Chapter 6 is like crafting a murder mystery except in the finale, rather than revealing the identity of the killer (mindfully rewarding the investment of valuable time people have imbued in to watching your drama - sustaining its longevity - when they could be tuning in to something else), the showrunner's continued to withhold that information in order to retain a sense of "AmBiGUiTy", arguing that crime is instead a subjective concept to different civilizations & thus, not real / recognised universally; consequently, there is no killer! Let me disabuse him of this fantasy; it's not a clever twist, it's not a "subversion" of our expectations (shares more similarities with Game of Thrones' unpopular S8 style - throwing away seasons of set up for shock value), it's not deep or philosophical & neither is it satisfying to sit through. No, sir. It's pretentious, tedious, irksome & renders the tale you're attempting to tell utterly inconsequential & meaningless. The only lesson I've learned is to stop giving this man chances... Though in all fairness, as homosexual male, I of all people should theoretically know better than to trust a fellow who relies so heavily upon grandiosity & materialistic, superficial expenditure by this point. My own fault.

Jokes aside, by all means, if you wish to disclose information regarding the backstory of a character in a narrative, then do so freely - but if you won't, then don't. However, don't TEASE people for the sake of teasing. It's a waste of your time & theirs. Save your breath. The cheap writing equivalent of telling everyone "I've got a secret but I'm not going to let you in on it!" Okay, why do I need to know you have one then? Keep it to yourself & don't bother me. Move on to something else that's interesting. "Oh, but this is fascinating, trust me!" No, Chris. I'm not biting. Move on. The game's repetitive, monotonous predictable - & it's being played on us, not with us. I'm done.

I just can't believe the BBC spent actual money for this to be made by a professional production crew who are clearly so talented, they'll have had far better things to be doing than frittering away their time on this illogical, anti-climactic nonsense. Quite frankly, I'd be demanding a refund. Utterly unjust how he's been able to pay bills with the revenue from this screenplay. Not worth a penny, let alone a pound...

We just saw the extermination of - at least - 4 species including the Daleks with the Doctor gleefully watching multiple genocides. Whoopsie. Cut to the teaser of the next episode: the Daleks are back.

Does anything make sense anymore? Does DW now include the infamous revolving door of Arkham Asylum?

What exactly is left of the universe and what is the mission now? Getting it back? Adjusting? What about the Doctors old lives and all the massively important information saved inside the fobwatch? Well, the Doctor doesn't care. Byebye watch, until some mysterious crisis unites us again.

The villains? Dusted in the blink of an eye. No explanation. Division? Nope, gone, stop asking. Did the Ood make it? Do they ever? What about the Angels? What Angels?

No questions were answered. Only thing that gives hope now is that Chibnall is finally gone. Fingers crossed for a return to the old ways.

Right, it may not have been perfect, but it was enjoyable! There's no need to give it 1 star, when you know yourself that it is undeserving of that.

I'm giving it a nine because it was thoroughly enjoyable, well balanced and funny!!

It loses a mark from me just because of the ending with Swarm and Azure. They were extremely scary and chilling throughout the series but their ending was just a bit rushed.

Overall series: 8.5/10.

This is a weird one for me. My first episode was World War Three (2005), when I was 5. I've grown up with this show and have watched every episode countless times since its broadcast. The same goes for 13's era, however I've definitely found myself less inclined to rewatch a number of episodes from this era (which can't be said for anything 2005-17), despite there being a dozen or so that I'll happily go back to. While there's some great ideas, nice stories and moments where it feels very Doctor Who, the overall quality just isn't there like it used to be - in every department. But fundamentally, I'll still tune in every week because it's 45 mins of escapism in my favourite universe.

'Flux' was weird, but personally, good weird. It was refreshing, did some great things with the Sontarans and Angels and genuinely had me excited for the next episode for 6 straight weeks (something which the last 2 seasons failed to do). Dan was an entertaining and harmless addition, while Yaz felt quite fresh and had a lot more character. I was really impressed with the guest cast and thought everyone did a great job, even if their scenes were brief. The Ravagers were a fascinating idea, felt genuinely menacing at points and looked great, even if their plan felt somewhat insignificant by the end. As for what was explored regarding the Timeless Child twist - which I don't love, but am happy to accept - I appreciated the development and the scenes with Tecteun, given that the pandemic chaos behind the scenes probably meant Chibnall had significantly less time to explore this thread (giving him the benefit of the doubt, I know). It's a shame we won't get to see this explored further as I'd love to know more about the crooked house and see what impact the knowledge that they're technically immortal has on the Doctor. Alas, what we got amongst the otherwise entertaining 'Flux' story was satisfying enough. Overall, you could tell that despite the difficult circumstances that it was conceived and produced in, a lot of hard work and passion had gone into the project and everyone really was doing the best with what they had.

In another universe, 'Flux' might have been a true television epic in the hands of another writer, under a studio with a bigger budget, in a different situation with no pandemic etc. And admittedly, what we got was a jumble of plot threads, characters, monsters and randomly interlinking locations. This finale, in my opinion, didn't successfully tie everything together into one satisfying conclusion: the Grand Serpent/UNIT plot should have been a full-season thing as this was a great concept; the Sontaran invasion felt like it came out of nowhere and left with little impact; the scenes in the Passenger with Vinder and Diane were bizarre and weirdly edited; the Williamson tunnels were a brilliant way to tie everything together, but glossed over far too quickly; for what purpose did Jericho and Claire head to the Sontaran ship?; it felt like the Ravagers didn't really have anything to do with the Doctor and seriously, is most of the Universe just in bits now?

And yet, having said all that... this is the most re-watchable episode of 'Flux' for me. Since it aired I've watched it about a dozen times (by comparison, I haven't revisited 'Legend of the Sea Devils' once in 2 or 3 weeks and don't intend to anytime soon). It's full of Chibnall's worst tropes and inconsistencies and it feels like 4 or 5 episodes worth of story crammed into an hour. But it's weirdly fun. It looks really, really great. The Sontarans are plain fun but still dark as anything, wiping out the Lupari fleet. I quite like the resolution with the Passenger and Bel felt like a surprisingly natural fit to the TARDIS. The Daleks and Cybermen getting wiped out was a cool touch, if a bit brutal on the Doctor's part (to be fair it seemed like a long day). It's campy in all the ways DW actually should be. It feels like Doctor Who! And personally, this is one of my favourite performances from Jodie. She really sells the character here and is a joy to watch, bringing life to every scene she's in - which is most, thankfully. I'm not her biggest fan but I've come to appreciate her take on the Doctor and this episode was her tour de force.

So yeah, overall it's not great. You'll have to watch all of 'Flux' and probably know the entire intricate and messy history of the show to maybe understand it, and even if you do you probably won't be satisfied with the conclusion. But personally, it's good fun. It made me excited to watch and I'm still going back to it. That's all I need from Doctor Who.

Did Chris Chibnall stick the landing? I think so.

It was always going to be a sprawling cinematic epic as the Doctor is split into three.

This is not a show you could watch and text on your mobile phone at the same time. I know many people do this as they later go online stating they were confused.

If you have a show that can travel in both time and space, then it can and should be sprawling. I can always watch Star Trek: Discovery if I want to see minor characters have their little moments.

There were nods to previous Doctor Who stories such as The Three Doctors.

It looked great, there was fun, action and tragedy. The Sontarans had a plan to conquer the universe and vanquish the Daleks and the Cybermen. They also had a weakness for chocolate.

So long to the Lupari and Jericho. Karvanista was once the Doctor's companion.

I've no words other than all the buildup for the dr to find out about her past and regain her memories wasted. Just for her to chuck it away the end.

Some alright humor, some okay scenes but i just feel bad for jodie, she really has been a great dr. The writing has just been poor.

Overall, flux storyline wasn't the best, only one good episode out of the whole storyline and that was the Weeping Angels episode. I can't wait for chibnall to go and for RTD to be at the helm! Too bad jodie has to go :(