Thirteenth Doctor Era
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Flux Chapter Five: Survivors of the Flux
No, the Indiana Jones theme isn't playing.
The One With… Flux Rounds Rapid.
Our heroes are facing a desperate situation. The Doctor has been turned into a Weeping Angel and captured by the Division. Yaz and Dan are stranded in the first decade of the 1900s, with no access to the TARDIS and Professor Jericho as their only ally. Vinder arrives on a desolate spaceborne relic, where he finds Swarm and Azure in the midst of their plans. The Lupari continue to shield the Earth, the last line of defence against the ever-encroaching horror of the Flux.
And as it turns out, the universe's Darkest Hour has only just begun...
The following tropes are the only ones to survive the Flux:
- Abusive Parents: Tecteun gaslights the Doctor that they're the same, calls her a virus, and acts like she's just a brat who stopped calling Tecteun mother. The Doctor takes her to task, but is still deeply wounded by the blatantness of it.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Not actually archaeologists, but Yaz, Dan, and Jericho have essentially become this during the three years they were left stranded.
- The Ageless: One thing that gives Prentis away to Kate is the fact that he doesn't age because he's using time travel to orchestrate events across decades.
- Agony of the Feet: Invoked by Dan, who tries to get information out of the fake waiter by threatening to bite his toes while he is holding down his legs.
- Artistic Licence – Military: In his audio-only cameo, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (the future Brigadier) is referred to as a Corporal. While it is possible in the British Army for a non-commissioned officer to be promoted to a commissioned rank (known as "soldier commissions" or "late entry commissions"), it is not especially common, and a person who had taken that career path would probably be older than Lethbridge-Stewart was at the time of his early appearances as Colonel and Brigadier.
- Asshole Victim: Tecteun shows utter disregard for the universe and wants to wipe it clean with a final wave of the Flux, and is implied to be a brainchild of the Division who stole a chunk of the Doctor's memories. She appears to be kind on the surface, but her agenda is repugnant, as the final Flux event would kill everything in the universe. When Swarm dissolves her with his power to scatter beings into temporal oblivion, Tecteun is only missed by the Doctor because there was more information that could be pumped out of her.
- Awful Truth: The Doctor really wanted to believe that the Master had been lying to her. If anything, he was being kind, as Tecteun turns out to be all he said she is and worse.
- Been There, Shaped History: It turns out that the Grand Serpent was instrumental in the founding (and subsequent shutdown) of UNIT, having been present at its inception and being involved in its administration up to the present.
- The Bus Came Back: Kate Stewart makes her return to the series after having last been seen in the Twelfth Doctor's era.
- The Cameo: Nicholas Courtney returns as Corporal Lethbridge-Stewart through archival audio.
- Continuity Nod: Back when it was first glimpsed in "Resolution", the dissolution of UNIT served as a brief joke about Brexit, as well as an excuse to have the Doctor and her allies standing alone against the Dalek. Here, it turns out that event was part of a greater plan by the Grand Serpent, in order to more easily facilitate an invasion of Earth by his Sontaran allies in the aftermath of the Flux.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: No mention is made of what became of Peggy from the previous episode. Given that we know she eventually grows up to become Mrs. Hayward, it could be presumed the heroes had no choice but to leave her there to grow up in the village and fulfil the Stable Time Loop.
- Cliffhanger: Yet another one, on all fronts: Vinder has been captured by one of the Passenger forms; Yaz, Dan, Jericho and Williamson are trapped inside the Williamson tunnels as the Sontarans burst in; Bel and Karvanista find themselves facing down Sontaran raiders; the rest of the Sontaran army is pouring through the shield onto Earth; and Swarm begins closing in on the Doctor.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Post Office Tower incident from "The War Machines" is mentioned in a scene set in 1967.
- Tecteun accuses the Doctor of using her companions as "experiments". The theme of the Doctor manipulating her companions and being a bad influence on them has been brought up many times in the revival, such as in "Journey's End", where Davros claimed that the Doctor molded people into weapons.
- After narrowly evading an assassination attempt at her house, Kate phones Osgood to tell her that she needs to go dark.
- Cyanide Pill: The assassin who attacks Yaz, Dan, and Jericho aboard the ocean liner has one of these, and takes it in response to being subdued and interrogated by Yaz.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Yaz feels bad about stealing an artefact from a Mayan temple, while Jericho just regards it as a great discovery.
- Description Cut: After murdering his superior, Prentis shouts at the soldier who comes to investigate to "Call a doctor!" Naturally, we then cut to the Doctor.
- Dragon Ascendant: Swarm and Azure, previously described by Tecteun as useful — if unpleasant — agents of her will, use a psychic link with the Doctor to infiltrate the Division headquarters, seizing control of it and disintegrating Tecteun herself, cementing themselves as the true Big Bads of the season.
- Earth Is the Centre of the Universe: A very literal example as a result of the Flux: The compression of space as a result of the Division's interference has caused Earth to become the central point of whatever's left of the universe.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Prentis, the returned soldier doing a spot of shooting with General Farquhar, turns out to be none other than the Grand Serpent.
- The Final Temptation: Tecteun offers the Doctor the chance to restore her memories and will even spare her friends, but only so long as the Doctor rejoins Division and helps build a new universe. The Doctor dismisses it out of hand.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The politician in the car who complains about the heating making it feel like the Reptile House right before he is killed by Prentis's serpent.
- Forgot About His Powers: A non-superpowers example. You would think Yaz, a former cop, would know to put a suspect in a joint lock instead of just her and Dan awkwardly grabbing at his arms and legs and brute-forcing him down. Not doing so allows him to pop his poison pill.
- Forgotten Fallen World: Tecteun is one of the three major founding figures of Gallifrey, with Omega and Rassilon. She's also the head of Division, originally founded to serve the glory of Gallifrey. The Master comes up in conversation and Tecteun knows enough about him to know what he told the Doctor. She has an extensive discussion with the Doctor about why the current universe is going to be destroyed... in which the Master's destruction of Gallifrey was not mentioned at all.
- Hannibal Lecture: Tecteun postulates that the Doctor does the same things she had done; pick people up and adopt them! Judging by the Doctor's Death Glare, there is some truth to this.
- Hermit Guru: Parodied with the legendary Nepalese guru consulted by our heroes. He complains that they took so long to climb up to him, wants to know the latest gossip, and gets annoyed that they didn't bring something to eat or the latest Conan Doyle novel. Turns out he's just trolling them — because he doesn't have the opportunity to do that much either. And then he only grants them three words of wisdom, which turn out to be "Fetch your dog." Fortunately, Yaz and Dan actually know what that means.
- Hollywood Torches: After Yaz, Dan and Jericho first enter a tomb, Yaz walks up to a table to look at the artifacts on it. On the table is an already lit candle.
- Invading Refugees: Thanks to the Lupari, Earth has survived the Flux, but that only makes it a target for those looking for a safe haven or a new empire to replace the one they lost.
- Island Help Message: Yaz, Dan and Jericho leave one around the Great Wall of China in 1904 for Karvanista. He sees it in 2021, but there's not much that he can do for them, since he can't travel through time.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Tecteun lectures Thirteen (who has been keeping her companions in the dark like she has been with Division, and only basic facts could be forced out of her in "Spyfall") on treating her companions like experiments.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The ancient prophecies which Yaz, Dan and Jericho are able to decipher reveals that the end of the world will apparently occur on December 5th of an unknown year. December 5th of 2021 happens to be the same day that the season finale will be broadcast.
- The Man Behind the Man: Subverted: Tecteun is introduced as The Man Behind the Man to Swarm and Azure, but then they kill her and reclaim their Big Bad Duumvirate status.
- Mayan Doomsday: Yaz, Dan and Jericho are introduced breaking into a Mayan temple to find out when the world will end. It turns out to be 5 December 2021, the broadcast date of the Season Finale.
- Missed Him by That Much: Bel is about to investigate an abandoned spacecraft that's sending off a distress signal. However, Karvanista detects her stolen Lupari ship and forcefully recalls her back with a hyper jump. Mere seconds later, Vinder arrives at that same spacecraft.
- The Multiverse: Tecteun explains that the Division is located between universes as a way to avoid being detected, and shows the Doctor a map of the multiverse, while calling their reality Universe One.
- Nerves of Steel: Kate faces off against the Grand Serpent, and she remains as unflappable as always, even if she knows that he might kill her.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Tecteun makes one to the Doctor: superficially, she's correct — Tecteun and the Doctor both pick up travel companions, and both withhold information from them — but the differences beyond that is telling: Tecteun found the Doctor when she was a child and didn't bother to investigate into her origins or try to get her home, then kept her locked up and experimented on her once she saw her regenerate, and withholds information from her child because it would inconvenience her, never seeing the Doctor as her own person outside of what she can do for Tecteun. The Doctor warned all her companions of the potential dangers of their travels, would gladly give her life to protect them, and cares about them as individuals. It remains ambiguous why Thirteen is so secretive, but it seems more likely that she was either still trying to protect them, or wanted a clean break from her past.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Tecteun ramps up the abusive parenting from "The Timeless Children". Needless to say, few tears are shed when Swarm vaporizes her at the end of the episode.
- Psychic Strangle: The serpent used by the Grand Serpent to suffocate people is some kind of psychic manifestation, as Kate is able to block it through the use of a psychic shield.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Professor Jericho, previously established as an investigator into the paranormal, also designed/constructed the pulley system that him, Yaz and Dan use to descend underground at the start of the episode. When the others complain that it isn't working perfectly, he reminds them that such contraptions generally fall outside his wheelhouse.
- The Reveal: Several of them in quick succession:
- The reason the Doctor hasn't been able to find any sign of the Division anywhere in the Universe? Because they're not in the Universe; their headquarters is located in the Void, the space in between the show's universe and another in the multiverse.
- The reason the Flux is occurring? The Division is using its equipment to compress space and destroy the universe. Having come to view the entirety of spacetime as an experiment, and the Doctor — their rogue agent — as a virus in that experiment, they've decided to dispose of the old universe and move on to a new one; this new universe happens to be the same one on the other end of the wormhole that the Timeless Child was found near.
- The real reason UNIT was dissolved was that the Grand Serpent has infiltrated it since its inception, setting himself up as an authority figure within the organization; he dissolved it in order to render Earth vulnerable to an attack by the Sontarans, with whom he is allied.
- The woman who the Doctor briefly spoke with two episodes ago, who claimed that the Flux was the Doctor's fault? That's Tecteun, who really orchestrated the event. What's more, she verifies everything that the Master said about her and the Doctor being the Timeless Child.
- Why has Joseph Williamson been showing up in places and times where he has no business being — including the Temple of Atropos, a ship at sea, and even Dan's personal timeline — over the last few episodes? Apparently space has (for reasons yet unknown) become damaged within the Williamson tunnels, creating a network of portals throughout what's left of the universe.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The Weeping Angel who betrayed the Doctor was not allowed to escape, regardless of any deal.
- Room Disservice: One of the Grand Serpent's lackeys tries to assassinate Yaz, Dan and Jericho by posing as the waiter on an ocean liner, having failed to blow them up in Constantinople. He fails this time too, and takes a Suicide Pill so he can't be interrogated. Jericho is a bit disturbed about how readily Yaz proposes throwing his corpse overboard.
- Rule of Threes: Prentis is shown killing two UNIT officials who get in his way before Kate proves his match.
- The Slow Path: Dan, Yaz, and Jericho have been stuck in the past for at least three years since the last episode, and Dan expresses concern about them not getting back to their own time.
- Subspace or Hyperspace: The method of Faster-Than-Light Travel that the Lupari ships use is called hyperdrive.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The message that Dan, Yaz and Jericho sends to Karvanista doesn't lead to him pulling a Big Damn Heroes when he sees it, it just irritates him: he doesn't have a time machine, what do they expect him to do?
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Implied to be the case, when Farquhar allows Prentis to look over files on the setting up of UNIT just because he claims to have experience with threats not of this Earth. Partially Truth in Television, as 1950s British intelligence had notoriously poor security.
- Sympathy for the Devil: The Doctor has plenty of reasons to hate Tecteun, but still tries in vain to prevent Swarm from disintegrating her.
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: No, Thirteen's hologram didn't know that Yaz would say the things she was saying, she just expected Yaz to say things like "I miss you" and "you're a bighead." Lampshaded when the hologram states that she just said "I miss you too" not knowing Yaz would say she misses her, so when the Doctor records the words, and Yaz does not say the words she expects, she is just standing in the TARDIS talking to herself, and she wouldn't be making any sense otherwise.
- Tempting Fate:
- The Grand Serpent speaks to Millington, a senior member of UNIT who is soon to be retiring, and expresses an interest in replacing him, only to be told "You'll get this post over my dead body!" Plans are promptly made for his assassination.
- The fake waiter asks Jericho if he wants "one lump or two" with his tea. When Jericho asks for one lump, he obliges.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Unlike previous episodes wherein changes to the past are already present in the future, here Yaz and company write a message in 1904 and only then does Karvanista see it on his computer, as though it appeared at that moment in 2021.
- Virtue Is Weakness: Tecteun has contempt for the Doctor's sense of morality, considering it to be an inconvenience to the Division and their experiments.
- Wham Episode: The Doctor is taken to the headquarters of the Division, which turns out to be located outside the Universe itself. The woman she met previously — who turns out to be none other than Tecteun, the Timeless Child's adoptive mother — reveals that the Division is responsible for the Flux, having decided to destroy the old universe and move onto another one because the Doctor kept interfering. And just in case that wasn't a big enough reveal, Tecteun is then disintegrated by Swarm and Azure, who are now fully in command of the Division facility.
- Write Back to the Future: Dan, Yaz and Jericho write a message to Karvanista, visible from orbit, around the Great Wall of China so he'll notice and hopefully do something to save them. He's rather annoyed: How do they expect him to get to 1904 without a time machine?
- Zeerust: General Farquhar proudly shows off the white heat of British technology — a cabinet-sized Master Computer that can detect aliens. The Grand Serpent fails to hide his smirk and doesn't offer to replace it with a mobile phone from the year 2021, but it turns out the device really does work and he has to dispose of the General on the spot.
NEXT CHAPTER: THE VANQUISHERS
