Survivors Of The Flux starts moving all the pieces into position for the final chapter, but it’s pretty thrilling setup as we follow The Doctor, trapped on a satellite in the boundary between universes by her wicked stepmother, Yaz Dan and Jericho on some globetrotting Tintin escapades trying to find a clue to the earth’s future extinction event, Bel and Vinder as they nearly meet, Bel being recalled in her Lupari ship to defend Earth, Vinder captured in a Passenger by Swarm, and the long game played by The Grand Serpent while posing as the human Prentis, inveigling his way into UNIT infrastructure from the very beginning so that he will be in a position to deactivate it by 2017 to allow the next wave of Sontaran invasion forces in 2021.

This is an imaginative, bold take on Doctor Who, and I really love it, pretty much top to bottom. There is one significant misstep, though, and it’s one that showrunners make occasionally in New Who, where they stumble across some really juicy idea that should probably have taken a whole season to resolve but they wrap it up by the end credits. Tecteun is so promising, so calculating and cold, consumed with her own sense of power and warped priorities, and she’s been pulling the universe’s strings since the very beginning, and her plan is hideously evil, what a great addition to The Doctor’s rogue’s gall…oh, never mind, she’s been dissolved. This is on par with the fumble of Melody to River in Let’s Kill Hitler, like I don’t know about you, but a back half of S6 where Melody, who has been trained since childhood to assassinate The Doctor, tries to hunt him through time and space with all River’s cunning leveraged for evil sounds quite a bit more sensible and compelling than what we got, but…oh, never mind, she’s back to normal River now, glad we made all that space for Night Terrors and Closing Time lol. So I do find that choice disappointing, but it is quite unexpected, and it does emphasize that Swarm and Azure are a significant threat, and there is something appropriate about Tecteun’s hubris being the thing that destroys her. Compelled to note what an absolutely amazing set the Division lair/lab is, gorgeous to look at.

But credit where credit is due, The Grand Serpent storyline has been seeded all the way back to the hilarious call center joke in Resolution, that UNIT has folded and can no longer be depended on. I don’t know if Chibnall always planned this specific reveal as to why, but I love this choice. You could ask “so The Brig and The Third Doc never noticed this alien hanging around the place,” but they do make it clear that he’s time-hopping through the latter parts of the 20th/21st Centuries, he’s probably avoiding The Brig and Doc on purpose, only surfacing when necessary to substantiate that he’s still around and make his next power grab. His attack is really pretty unsettling, I love it. And what a joy to have Kate Stewart back; because she’s a full recurring cast member in the 15 era, I had forgotten quite what a long gap it was between Zygon Inversion and this, and the show is better when she’s around (just maybe not for EVERY season finale lol). Jemma Redgrave is just a very credible actor, I like her standing up to The Serpent very much.

And so we move into the final chapter! Swarm advances on The Doctor intending to disintegrate her, a chameleon arch containing her whole lost past sits tantalizingly near, The Serpent lowers Earth’s defenses to allow the Sontarans to invade… 4/5

This isn't my first foray into talking about Flux, but my first taste of the real episodes. Some have some value and fun to them - this one really, really doesn't.

I had no issue with purging away UNIT or doing whatever they were going for earlier, but this episode handles that follow-through in a very vapid way. This episode, and much of Flux in general, is a bit of a master class in how NOT to handle a longstanding franchise. The fan service feels so cheap and transparent, the stuff around the Division is just boring, and the whole Tecteun reveal, which absolutely should be a big deal (are these the last surviving Time Lords? Why does Chibnall not seem to care?).

The Grand Serpent and Kate Stewart were pretty cool, and save this episode from being ranked at the bare bottom, but really, that content ultimately goes nowhere like the rest of Flux. There's some creativity to the production here and not everything feels devoid of value in that regard. Everything else is just so easy to forget as it is extremely lacking in substance. Oooh, the Division is all pouty so they're destroying the universe. Who didn't see that coming? Seriously, did anyone not see that coming?

Swarm had a cool introduction but Flux beats the intimidation out of him and by the point he starts making moves here I'm half-asleep.

Survivors of the Flux

Dan, Yaz and Jericho from last episode travel across 1904 doing detective work, discovering when the battle of Earth will happen. Thirteen also joins them after immediately reverting from an Angel at the beginning of the episode.

Kate is doing her own detective work in 2021 discovering why the Earth is defenseless against aliens.

This episode is the build up to the finale. Bel and Karvanista are attacked by Sontarans as the shield protecting earth has broken. Sontarans invade across time.

Again way to much happens in Flux.

The glimpses of something so new and unique for Doctor Who, makes this all the more disappointing when they are forgotten, and just run straight into something else with not a second to breathe.