Something Chris Chibnall does really well is setting up a story, and this episode is no exception. There’s a lot going on, but it’s interesting.

The Halloween Apocalypse starts off with a burst of chaotic fun as the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz are already in the middle of an adventure.

Then we meet Dan, who gets a pretty charming introduction as he tries to pass himself off as a tour guide at a museum. He flirts a bit with Diane, who actually works at the museum. It’s cute.

Next up is the main villain. He comes across as powerful, but I hope we’ll get more insight into his motivations, right now, he just seems generically evil.

Karvanista (a dog-like alien) makes a sudden appearance at Dan’s house, which is one of the episode’s funnier moments. It's still unclear exactly what's happening, but the sheer strangeness of it all makes it fun. It ends with Karvanista kidnapping Dan.

One moment I really liked was in the TARDIS, where Yaz confronts the Doctor about keeping secrets. It’s rare that Yaz gets to show this much personality, and it adds tension to their dynamic.

We're also introduced to yet another character, Inston, who witnesses the destruction of a planet. At this point, it feels like a bit too much. The episode is crowded with characters, and it’s hard to connect with them all.

We later see the villain reunite with his sister. I’m not a fan of their design — they’re just kind of ugly, and not in an interesting or scary way. Plus, their “Thanos snap” trick of killing random people doesn’t have much emotional weight because we haven’t had time to care about those people.

We meet Diane again, and this time she seems to know the Doctor in some way. Her later scene stepping into a creepy house and meeting the villain’s sister adds to the intrigue, even if we don't fully understand her role yet.

Back to Yaz: I’d forgotten how angry she was at the Doctor in this era, but I liked that tension. It gives Yaz more depth, and their conversations feel more emotionally grounded.

Dan and Yaz’s first meeting is also a fun moment. Their banter works well and gives both characters some levity.

One twist I liked was the reveal that Karvanista isn’t kidnapping Dan he’s saving him from the Flux, whether Dan wants to be saved or not.

Meanwhile, Inston pops up again, still worried, while even more planets are destroyed. It’s all very dramatic, but a bit relentless.

I also enjoyed the gag where the Doctor returns Dan’s house in miniature form a nice bit of weirdness.

Then we get even more characters, including a couple of Sontarans. They seem pleased about the Flux. I know it’s a controversial opinion, but I prefer the Sontarans' look during the RTD and Moffat years. Being a clone race, it made more sense that they looked nearly identical.

The Doctor and her friends investigate the Flux itself, watching as it devastates world after world. It looks impressive, but it’s not that interesting though to be fair, large-scale threats are rarely the thing I enjoy most.

We meet the villain again, and apparently, he’s encountered the Doctor before but she doesn’t remember. I really like this kind of mystery being set up.

In the end, Karvanista and his people save Earth by forming a protective shield. Interestingly, the TARDIS doesn't hold up as well as his ships some parts of it start breaking down, adding to the sense that something’s seriously wrong. But it feels weird that the TARDIS is worse at protecting itself from the Flux than Karvanista’s ship, especially since we’ve heard so many times before that it's indestructible.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the mysterious bearded man who shows up with no explanation. He appears at both the beginning and end of the episode.

Overall, this is a pretty solid setup for the season. There’s a lot of promise here, and I’m curious to see where it’s all heading. That said, the episode tries to do too much at once. It might’ve worked better if they had delayed the introductions of Inston, the bearded man, and maybe Diane (after her first appearance) until later episodes. The constant stream of events leaves little room to breathe, making the pacing feel rushed and uneven.

Still, it's an engaging start, messy, but ambitious.

Halloween Apocalypse

You've been eagerly waiting for 3 months, I'm back to finish the job with my final Jodie TV reviews. make sure you read all the previous ones leading up to this.

Evil Dan is here, a top 5 companion of all time. The comedy duo of Ryan and Graham have sadly not returned this season.

Karvanista is so cute, not P'ting cute but still cute. He shouldn't of kidnapped Dan though.

Poor Dan gets his house minaturised and gets kidnapped by a dog in the same night. He is actually the most depressed companion ever. No job, no food and now he doesn't even have a house. Justice for Dan.

This was, in retrospect, a decent start to the Flux, but given how much a waste of a time this six-part story is, The Halloween Apocalypse is ultimately kind of wasted for the fun atmosphere it kicks off with. It is also a bit annoying in how it just doesn't really follow up on anything meaningful from Series 12 here. Dan is fun, and that helps salvage an otherwise waste of our time a bit, but other than that it is really hard to value an episode I had fun with at first knowing that none of these plots points are going anywhere fun.

It's a shame too, because the Swarm has a cool start to him, I feel. It was a welcome moment of colour and energy that felt sorely missing from Jodie's first two years on the show, and at the time it came out I was excited to hopefully get something meaningful to get with Jodie before her time with the show was done. As it stands though, it is just a slightly memorable moment from a terrible time in Doctor Who history.

I genuinely love this story; it gives Dan a great introduction as well as the many side charactersthat are going to contribute throughout the season. I also love that it’s a Halloween episode. There are a few things introduced that I would like a better explanation of, though. All in all this gets a 4/5 from me.

The Halloween Apocalypse is SO GOOD. What a great opening ep to Flux, it’s fun when they tease things like the Angel or the Sontarans, because those later episodes are really great! Can you even imagine, a tease that pays off? In modern Doctor Who?! Dan is so instantly lovable, it’s clear that Chibnall has latterly realized what I did near the beginning of this rewatch: Graham and Yaz was all the TARDIS team you realistically need for storytelling purposes, in hindsight it might have been nice if Graham were Yaz’ grandad instead of Ryan’s, just collapse those character elements into one (but retain the granddad bit for Hartnell vibes). But instead a different funny but brave older guy plus Yaz will do, and John Bishop does a great job making Dan real. Love a proper working class companion too, the poor guy! How’s he supposed to live in that tiny house?! Swarm and Azure are fantastically threatening here, really love their design and their performance. And Karvanista is awesome! A great new edgy ally who is very cute but mainly works because the performance is so fun and grumpy. I also like Inston-Vee Vinder, there’s kind of nothing I don’t like in this opening chapter! It looks fabulous, the Flux CGI is really great, excellent cliffhanger. 4.25/5

For some people, a bad finale can ruin an entire series - I am not one of those people. This has been the case both within this show (I adore Season 8 despite Death in Heaven, and Season 14/15 despite their middling to bad finales), and with other shows (see: Lost, GoT). I think, sincerely, that Flux retrospectives are hurt by the fact that the final two parts frankly aren't very good.

While I understand that, to some, Flux is meant entirely in earnest as one six part story similar to old classic greats like the Talons of Weng-Chiang - but to me, it's simply a more compressed six episode arc. When I view it through that lens, I can't see The Halloween Apocalypse as anything but excellent. It's genuinely exciting, beautiful, well shot, hilarious, enthralling and horrifying all in equal measures. Seeing the Doctor bond so much with Yaz gives us the humanity and character led moments I feel were often lacking in previous seasons - and, while I admit my own potential bias for a companion so intrinsically linked with my home town, Dan exudes a certain realness and realistic core (while being incredibly funny) that allows me to connect to him in a way I'd so desperately wanted to connect to Graham or Ryan.

Karvanista - and, frankly, the Lupari as a whole, is a fantastic addition to the show too. It's something that feels so obviously great as a concept that it's a mystery that it hadn't been attempted before, and the effects work here (and Craige Els' acting) bring it entirely to life. I really, really hope we see more of him in Big Finish - especially with the Fugitive Doctor.

In just one episode that's frankly overstuffed with concepts, they all manage to be fleshed out in a way that provides them with sufficient narrative purpose and fulfilment in of themselves, while fully posessing you with the need to learn more about them all. It inserts that mystery into the show that the Cartmel Masterplan desired to do, with the drive of a showrunner who actually wants to see it all through. In the introduction to this review, I already alluded to the fact that I (and many others) do not think Flux sticks the landing - but I feel that is in no way the fault of this episode, and I feel the questions asked are still doors wide open for the Whoniverse to answer in equally enthralling ways in the future. I adore the Halloween Apocalypse, and I adore the idea of Flux - and, to me, the two are intangible, with The Halloween Apocalypse cramming the planting and germinating of the seed of that arc into just one fourty five minute episode.

I understand how it could be overwhelming and too fast-paced for some - but for me, it works. For me, it's a fast paced drama that matches the stakes with the vibe of the entire episode, landing the punch of a universe ending threat that the show ill-fatedly aims for so often. For that, I can never praise this episode enough.