War of the Sontarans

A lot of people seem to like this episode but this is where Flux already lost me completely on first viewing.  Revisiting it, I can better understand what was going on and what they were going for.  It doesn't improve much for me because I know these plot threads have little to no actual pay-off either within this episode or by the end of Flux.  At least War of the Sontarans had some neat visuals being the Crimean War.  That's a neat idea with a lot of potential.  I would love one day to see Sontarans in other historical settings because that plays well with the warmongering ways of these aliens.

So that stuff was pretty well done but feels like a teeny-tiny part of the episode.  The Doctor gets the Sontarans to leave and that's that.  They appear to have only invaded during the Crimean War for the fun of it so the main feature of this episode feels barely touched on and very pointless.  No, instead we have to deal with Vinder, the purpose of whom I still am unclear on but whatever the case it is weak pay-off down the road that doesn't justify the screen time he gets.  We have whatever is going on with Mouri, and again, I don't think I could coherently explain what these beings added to the story other than them just being used for some cool visuals.  Flux does have some cool sights and sounds but without any meaningful story to accompany them so many of these episodes just feel like noise.  Joseph Williamson is digging some tunnels and I remember Flux eventually telling me the purpose of that but it clearly doesn't matter for the larger story.  I think it gave the Earth some protection against the Flux event?  Either way, it's yet another mystery box with absolutely nothing inside of it.  An empty way of allowing for more cryptic dialogue.

WILLIAMSON: Ah. Ah. All our fears made true. All is porous. All is broken. I must retrace. There's so much work to be done.

TRIANGLE: Time is evil, and it will seek its own.

DOCTOR: Stop. You don't have to do this. Tell me what you want.
SWARM: All in good time.

It's all just so... tiring.  Everyone is being vague or unclear because the story feels so thin.  For a six-part extravaganza, it's so very simple when you peel back all the bells and whistles.  Swarm and Azure are two bad guys who need the Mouri to get Time free.  Time is also bad - maybe? - but it doesn't really matter because Tecteun was behind it all.  She wants to unleash Flux to wipe out the universe, start over, and maybe teach the Doctor a lesson in some convoluted way.  So everything else - Dan and his dog buddy, the Sontarans, the Daleks, the Angels, the companions, whatever is going on with Williamson - they're basically irrevelant to the actual story.

Dan's actor John Bishop reminds me a lot of Jodie Whittaker.  Both seem supremely talented individuals who were routinely handed these scripts that gave them so desperately little to work with.  Neither of their characters, nor Yaz, do anything that really gets me to care more about them.  It came across to me as a wholly vacuous experience.  Devoid of thought or meaning.  To me, Flux just sucks.