Once, Upon Time

It was by this point in Flux that I began to get worried that the story was biting off more than it could chew. Due to its short length and the large number of moving parts, it was inevitable that some parts were going to end up feeling a little bit cluttered. This episode ended up feeling more like a fever dream.

There are some individually interesting elements, like the Doctor's flashbacks to a siege of Atropos that she cannot remember. I was hopeful at this point that we would get a full accounting of who Jo Martin's Doctor really was and her place in the timeline, something which was never fully borne out, but at the very least this episode did not disappoint me. Getting flashbacks for characters where the incidental characters are replaced by visions of their friends acting not quite themselves was an interesting choice which I did enjoy. As a final happy note, I did think Bel and Vinder's pining was cute, even if the dialog was a bit off, and Dan and Diane's scenes were too.

Aside from those aspects, I didn't enjoy this one very much. It's a story where, paradoxically, so much goes on, but it doesn't feel like much happened. It develops the mystery hooks of the season without seeming to have anything particularly new or unique to say for its own sake. Spinning its wheels and waiting for Village of the Angels to come along.

All in all, a bit of a mess, which was enjoyable on broadcast but with the benefit of hindsight now just seems kind of pointless.

very stylish and cool with a few great individual scenes but so hard to follow. SO much new information is introduced here. please. my brain is only so big.