Thirteenth Doctor Era
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Flux Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time
She's baaaaack!~♩
The One With… the wibbly-wobbly timelines. Okay, we're being specific this time.
The third installment in the Flux story arc.
To save her friends from being destroyed by time, the Doctor jumps into a time storm with them to stabilize time.
Tropes:
- Aliens of London: Bel is an Asian-looking Human Alien who speaks with a Northern Irish accent.
- All There in the Script: Awsok's name is only revealed in the credits.
- And Then What?: Bel points this out to a disabled Cyberman, noting that their quest of conquest of the universe is pointless, since it's all falling apart anyway. Unsurprisingly, the Cyberman doesn't seem to care.
- And You Were There: Happens in various ways when the Doctor sends herself and her companions into the timestream.
- The Doctor sees her fellow Division members as Yaz, Dan and Vinder. The one she sees as Dan is actually Karvanista.
- Yaz sees her police partner and her sister as the Doctor when the Doctor tries to send a message to her. This doesn't happen to Dan and Vinder, who see the Doctor as a holographic projection.
- Vinder does, however, see his commanding officer and later his fellow guard as Yaz, who is after all the only member of the team he's actually met at this point.
- Animal Motif: The Grand Serpent is blatantly themed around snakes, as shown by his name, outfit, and private assassination request.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Bel seems slightly taken aback when she's asked, "What is your mission?", by a defeated Cyberman. She eventually gives it the answer "love", which it finds an insufficient answer.
- Bat Phone: While leaving Vinder on his devastated world to search for his family, the Doctor leaves a device which can be used to contact them if he needs to.
- Big Entrance: The Cybermen make their entrance onto Bel's ship by blowing the door and part of the wall open.
- Bigger on the Inside: The Passenger is used to keep millions Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can as hostages.
- Cliffhanger: The third in as many episodes, albeit more specifically linked to the Doctor and her companions: just as they're about to go off in search of the cause of the Flux, a Weeping Angel materializes out of Yaz's phone in the TARDIS control room, allowing it to hijack the TARDIS and begin steering it towards parts unknown.
- Connected All Along:
- Bel's scenes in the episode involve her looking for her husband, who is revealed to be Vinder towards the end.
- It turns out that the Fugitive Doctor worked with Karvanista to stop Swarm and Azure before, although Thirteen doesn't remember it.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Weeping Angels can manifest through video, as they did in "The Time of Angels". Only while Amy was able to pause the manifestation, Yaz isn't so lucky.
- The exterior door of the TARDIS still leads to the police box fused into the console room floor, as in "The Halloween Apocalypse".
- Swarm mentions the Division wanting to bring the Dark Times to an end; the Dark Times came up previously in "The Runaway Bride", "The Infinite Quest", and the Expanded Universe as a time of chaos early in the universe's — and the Time Lords' — history. Most recently before this story, it played a major role in the "Time Lord Victorious" multi-platform event.
- The Doctor throws herself and her friends into a time storm; these were first mentioned back in "Dragonfire", where one blew up courtesy of Fenric, whisking Ace to Iceworld. In the process, she ends up revisiting her time stream as she, Clara and the Great Intelligence did back in "The Name of the Doctor".
- Right before the cliffhanger, as a Weeping Angel attacks Yaz, the Doctor says, "The Angel has the TARDIS!", a clear nod to the in-universe Memetic Mutation "The Angels have the phonebox!" from "Blink".
- Cosmic Keystone: Going by this and "War of the Sontarans", the planet Time and the Mouri together keep Time, as a force in its own right, under control.
- Corrupt Politician: The Grand Serpent, who arranges the deaths of relatives of a political opponent as part of a deal.
- Crapsack World: The universe has become this due to the Flux, with much of it destroyed and powers such as the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans fighting over the remnants... and they aren't even the worst things!
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Like Donald Trump, the Grand Serpent refers to his political opponents as "losers".
- Foreshadowing:
- During the Doctor's scenes, one of the Division agents refers to "Dan" as a dog, which he takes offense at; this leads up to the reveal near the end of the episode that the agent the Doctor perceives as Dan is actually Karvanista.
- While talking to Diane while hidden in his timestream, Dan notices Passenger standing ominously at the bottom of the stairs, and turns to find Diane has disappeared.
- The Grand Serpent reacts with hostility to Vinder speaking out of turn when they meet, showcasing his selfishness before it became more apparent.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: An in-universe example: one of Yaz's scenes has her playing video games with her sister, only for Weeping Angels to start to appear in the game. Since the image of an Angel becomes an Angel, this quickly leads to one materializing out of the screen, scaring the bejesus out of the Doctor and Yaz. Even quitting the game doesn't stop it, as it simply rematerializes; only smashing the console is enough to finally make it disappear. And even that isn't enough; it pops out of her phone in the final scene and hijacks the TARDIS.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the First-Person Shooter game Yaz plays, the gun she's using is Deckard's pistol from Blade Runner. It appears most clearly in the pause screen when Yaz quits the game.
- Giant Woman: The Doctor encounters "Supersize Mouri" in the time storm.
- Guns Akimbo: Bel uses two laser pistols to defeat a squad of Cybermen on board the ship she hijacked.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the past, the Doctor defeated Swarm and Azure by hiding six Mouri inside one of their Passengers, then releasing them when the pair holed up inside the temple.
- Honor Before Reason: Vinder's reason for being Reassigned to Antarctica is revealed in this episode: He witnessed a high-ranking politician in his society ordering the assassination of the family of his main rival, and tried to blow the whistle on him, destroying his own career in the process.
- Hostage Situation: In the Doctor's flashback, Swarm and Azure stored millions of beings inside their Passengers to use as hostages against the Division.
- Hypocrite: The Doctor yells at Yaz for not understanding anything, but Yaz is only lost because the Doctor refused to tell her anything.
- I Have Your Wife: Swarm reveals, to Dan especially, that Diane is trapped inside their Passenger. However, it's mostly done to spite the Doctor, rather than demanding something of her.
- It's the Only Way: The Doctor leaps into the time storm, despite the risk as the only way to buy time to save her friends. She also drags Dan along so he isn't left Alone with the Psycho, being deemed the lesser of the two evils presented.
- Kick the Dog:
- Swarm shows Dan that he has Diane just to taunt him.
- Earlier in the episode, Swarm and Azure destroyed two Passengers, massacring millions of living beings at once, to make a point to the Fugitive Doctor.
- Laughing Mad: Williamson bursts into disturbing laughter when Dan wants to know if they are anywhere near Edge Hill.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The Grand Serpent arranges with allies to have four relatives of his political opponent killed, but makes it clear that it has to look like an accident.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: While Thirteen's in her flashback, she and Fugitive interact through their reflections; Thirteen sees Fugitive as her reflection, and, from what she says, Fugitive sees Thirteen as her's.
- Mean Boss: Established immediately with the Grand Serpent. He coldly dresses Vinder down for agreeing with him, making it clear that Vinder isn't to speak at all.
- Meaningful Name: The man who secretly arranged the assassination of four family members of his political opponent is called the Grand Serpent.
- Mind Screw: Easily one of the timey-wimey-est episodes of the entire series, with the story frantically skipping from one timeline to another as the Doctor attempts to keep the full force of time from destroying herself and her friends.
- Mysterious Stranger: Awsok, the old woman the Doctor meets before returning to the present, disapproves of the Doctor's attempts to set things right, informing her that "[her] universe is over", and clearly knows more about the Flux and the Doctor than she's prepared to tell her.
- Not Herself: The Thirteenth Doctor at the siege of Atropos acts more like a military commander than the Doctor we know, calling down an Orbital Bombardment before leading in a small strike force to rescue the hostages. Turns out she is actually the Fugitive Doctor towards the end of her service with the Division, with Thirteen being forced to relive the experience.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Implied: Vinder's commanding officer tells him that the Grand Serpent will be the one to read the report about him if Vinder actually files it. Said C.O. also unsubtly tries to force Vinder to change his mind, and reacts with subtle rage when he refuses.
- Obviously Evil: Vinder's boss, who arranged the murder of his political opponent's family members, demanded complete loyalty from Vinder, demanded no objections from him, and relocated him to the furthest and most isolated part of the galaxy after he tries to blow the whistle on his criminal activities, is called the Grand Serpent.
- Oh, Crap!: The Doctor understandably panics at the sight of a Weeping Angel in the TARDIS control room, especially when she realizes that its seemingly "random" movements are actually it steering the ship.
- Phrase Catcher: Averted; Vinder doesn't say "It's Bigger on the Inside!", because he already knows what a TARDIS is; he just wants to know if he's allowed to fly it.
- Pregnant Badass: Bel, though this isn't revealed until near the end of the episode.
- Reality Is Out to Lunch: After the Flux, time simply doesn't work right. Day goes to night in an instant, for just one example.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Apparently what happened to Vinder after he tried to whistleblow on the Grand Serpent arranging murders.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The corrupt politician Vinder once served is called the "Grand Serpent" and his chamber has a clear reptile theme.
- The Reveal:
- The Passenger is a sort of living container, able to hold the essences of hundreds of thousands of lifeforms. This also reveals what Swarm and Azure have done with Diane, and why they targeted her: She's trapped inside of Passenger, to be used as a hostage in the battle against the Doctor and her companions.
- The reason why Vinder was exiled also gets revealed: He was willing to speak out against the Grand Serpent, a high political figure in his society, and attempt to get him held accountable for having arranged the murder of his political opponent's family members.
- Rule of Symbolism: Time and Space are said to be at war with each other. TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, and the TARDIS is visibly falling apart as if they can no longer coexist.
- Shout-Out:
- The Doctor quotes the naturalist and author John Burroughs (whom she apparently met) saying "Leap and the net will appear."
- Swarm is questioned about his motives by the Doctor and declares, "To reign in Hell!", paraphrasing a line spoken by Lucifer in John Milton's Paradise Lost.
- The Cyberman Bel interrogates says that "the temporal centre cannot hold."
- The Doctor puns about the Super Size Mouri in the time storm.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Bel tells off a Cyberman for not understanding love. She also states the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans are fighting over nothing, as the universe is destroying itself anyway.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: The Doctor's coat is black because she's not Thirteen; she's the Fugitive Doctor!
- Slasher Smile: As is usual with her, Thirteen is enjoying defeating her foes a bit too much, while the Fugitive Doctor is stern about it.
- Time Is Dangerous:
- Time is described like a force in constant war against Space.
- Both the post-Flux universe and the decaying timelines that the Doctor and her companions are stuck in for most of the episode are beset by "time particles", glowing blue pieces of the "time force" that can utterly annihilate a person from existence; it's revealed that this is happening because the temporary removal of the Mouri from their seat of power is allowing time to "run wild".
- Jumping into the Time Storm is a ploy that the Mouri think even the Doctor cannot survive, and they force her out once the day is saved, despite her pleas to stay and find out more.
- "Temporyal hazing" is presented as a threat during the siege of Atropos, causing the Doctor to forget what she's doing in the middle of a hostage rescue mission.
- Wham Shot:
- During one of the episode's final scenes, we hear Vinder's final message to his family playing over a shot of the night sky post-Flux... and then the camera pans down to show Bel watching it, revealing that Vinder is the person she's been trying to get back to for so long.
- The Doctor looking at a reflective surface and seeing the Fugitive Doctor's reflection.
- A Weeping Angel appearing on Yaz's phone, which it then uses to surface within the TARDIS.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Bel tells a Cyberman that her mission is "love". The Cyberman doesn't get this; love is an emotion, not a mission. She responds that she's still standing because she understands that love is the only mission, then shoots the Cyberman dead.
NEXT CHAPTER: VILLAGE OF THE ANGELS
