Review of Flux: Once, Upon Time
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

Regardless of one’s opinion on how the series-long story as a whole is shaping up, one can’t deny that Flux is an ambitious project. And I appreciate the fact that every episode so far has felt like a different beast.

At the beginning, we had a “meet the new Companion in the midst of an Earth-based crisis” episode. Then we got an alien historical. Now it’s a futuristic mind-f***. Whatever the flavor-of-the-week is, it’s been different than the week before.

I am also impressed, as a fellow storyteller, at how Chibnall has woven so damn many plot threads together. After last week, there were only two from the first episode that still needed to get tied back in, but before we even got back to any of those eight, he introduced a ninth with “Bel’s Story.” And by the end of the episode, not only that thread and one of the two previously pending ones, but also a thread from the previous series had been incorporated into Flux. Now we just have Claire’s story to connect into this mess (and it looks like that will happen next week—but I’m getting ahead of myself).

More than any other Chibnall-penned episode, this one felt like it could’ve been written by Moffat. It was packed with plot points, and switched among the various threads so quickly a viewer could barely get their bearings before needing to change focus. Moffat has often used that method to great effect to keep the audience from noticing plot holes, but there is still so much of this story left to tell that it’s impossible to make a judgement yet about how well it all holds together.

And there’s a lot to keep together. Now along with last week’s Sontarans (who get name-checked here again), we have both Daleks and Cybermen. (I know Terry Nation’s estate requires the Daleks to be used in every series in order for the BBC to retain the rights to them, but I would give a lot to have them just go away for a few years.) Then you add in the Weeping Angels and the new villain Ravagers (Swarm and Azure), and you have to start to wonder when Chibnall will just throw in the kitchen sink, too.

That’s probably my main comment about Once, Upon Time: even though several threads have been pulled together, there are still almost too many to track. It switches gears so rapidly and so often that it kind of makes one dizzy. We learn more about Vinder’s history. We learn more about Dan’s history. And we learn more about the Doctor’s history—as does she. Meanwhile, Yaz has a different experience.

While each of the others is at some point immersed in their own timestream, only occasionally breaking out to realize this is something they’ve lived before, Yaz doesn’t ever buy into the illusion. Instead, she greets each experience with confusion, a “what am I doing here?” feeling, until she confirms the strangeness as the Doctor appears long enough to talk to her. And since it is Yaz to whom the Angels appear, it seems likely that they have something to do with her differing experience within the time storm.

Although my personal favorite threads were the Doctor’s peek at her own history (I literally gasped at that particular reveal—loudly enough that my husband called from the next room to ask if I was okay) and learning how Bel’s Story tied into the rest (though I have some questions about procreation methods, gestation periods, and the frequency of the reports Vinder was required to file before the Flux hit Observation Outpost Rose), they didn’t come without drawbacks.

For one, I find it somewhat alarming that the Doctor is being so prickly towards Yaz. (Also: wow, did I ever misread the potential Yaz/Vinder relationship last week!) If the Doctor’s been acting this way for the past who-knows-how-long, then it’s no wonder Yaz has been begging her to open up. That’s why I find it so frustrating, given how desperately Yaz clearly wants to know what’s going on, to have the Doctor bark, “You don’t understand anything!” at her. Whose fault is that, Doctor?

I suppose that’s the point, though. We, the audience, are not meant to understand anything at this stage. We have just enough of the pieces to keep us engaged and guessing at what might be going on, without having enough to figure it out for ourselves yet.

But we’ve reached the midpoint now; we’re about to begin the downward narrative slope toward the climax. I’m looking forward to finding out how Claire’s journey fits into the rest, and to beginning to form an understanding of the big picture. We’ll just have to wait and see how many more new elements get thrown at us next time.