User reviews

Well, it didn't last long.

The premise of this episode was interesting and although it was meant to be jumbled about and confusing, all the dialogue was just random statements about time and timestreams, none of which had any logical sense and I'm fed up of the Doctor having sudden revelations about what's going on, and then explaining it to herself.

Also, the acting from Jodie, Mandip and John seems to be getting worse. The poor dialogue doesn't help but there is no emotion and it's like they're reading their lines out from a screen in the distance.

Tonight's episode of Doctor Who is surprisingly difficult to review because "Once Upon Time" is essentially the vague punchline to a joke we haven't actually heard yet. Thus, our proper reactions will verge heavily on whether the said joke ends up being funny... Which is something we'll only be able to know for certain in the future.

Hence, as of yet, our opinions of it ironically remain in "flux".

Until then (when we finally have more clarity), all the story does is continue to tease things still yet to come, secrets which will later be revealed & plot developments that'll be addressed in "Village of The Angels", the penultimate installment "Survivors of The Flux" or the (currently unnamed) final chapter.

The narrative is specifically designed & constructed for one sole purpose: to keep us (the viewers) watching - like an advertisement for the show existing within itself - urging us to stick with the series, making promises we're unsure it's intending to keep.

The Doctor is face to face with Swarm and Azure, and time is beginning to run wild.

The first half an hour, I honestly didn't know what on Earth was happening, I found it confusing, over complicated, messy, and sadly some of the most cheap looking special effects I've seen since about 1988. Way too many characters and villains, too many strands.

The second half of it was better, it somehow looked sharper, the content had a bit more meat on the bones, Dan was great, and I thought Yaz way more interesting.

The trailers for this quite literally showed all of the best parts, last week's trailer was a bit too much of a spoiler, this went off before they showed it.

I'm a big fan of Craig Parkinson, he's a cracking actor, can't say I found this Zoolander type bad guy particularly good though. The quality definitely came from Barbara Flynn, although she's another character we know nothing about.

I really wanted to love this, especially after last week's, I just found it too frustrating, 5/10.

Hansel and Gretel have lured the Time Lord and Bishop Twankey to the Temple of Atropos where Yaz and Vinder are already statuesque (comes quite naturally). The Doctor gets to delve into past and future and somewhere in-between with a bit of role play, when you're not quite sure of the day, or night, but where unrevealed secrets are brought into light, and probably misinterpreted. There's also an introduction to Bel, who at the moment we're not that interested in, and if I'm honest I don't think we'll ever be that bothered. What is of note and was unfurled, was that the Mouri are not from New Zealand and not of this world, definitely not from New Zealand because I've been there, but like Atropos, it's all Greek to me, but I prefer the salad and raki, ah yes, some Angel activity, enough to make you weep, ball your eyes out and cry yourself to sleep (just be mindful of those mucous monsters from what seems like a long forgotten twelfth Doctor though, now that was awful! That moon egg still haunts me too!!! So it's not just this clown making us frown).

This episode seems to be convoluted and confusing for sake of it. Chibnall thinks he is being clever with this and failing.

CGI is also pretty poor. The scenes of Doctor being trapped in time are almost embarrassing to watch.

I actually quite enjoyed this. I usually wouldn't bother writing a review but I kinda went ham on the last episode so it's only fair ig. I was gripped right the way through and even though the pacing was choppy and there was quite a lot happening, i still like the way the plot developed. It also seemed to really tone down the usual issues, although they were still present to an extent (people not talking and behaving like normal people, relentless action etc). This wasn't amazing by any means, especially considering this is supposed to be the biggest story Who has ever done or whatever, but all the same this was a step in the right direction and probably the best episode to come out of the Chibnall era, or maybe second to fugitive. Im on my knees for it to not revert back to the quality of the last two episodes.

The Doctor flicks around time, apparently hiding her friends in their past, or present, or future, while trying to figure out what is temporally wrong with the Universe. Meanwhile, side-plots feature a Who's-Who of the Doctor's more famous adversaries just in case you have forgotten what you are watching (unfortunately they also introduce even more trite and uninteresting characters into an already crowded storyline). The problem with open-ended time travel plots is that anything can happen and I find stories where there is no mandate for 'rules' and internal consistency to get boring fast (once the novelty of the imagery fades). This episode may turn out to be a clever, imaginative, and essential linker in the season 13 story-arc otherwise, it's a loud, boring, confusing, self-indulgent morass of Whovian imagery mined from earlier, better storytellers. I will amend this review if my opinion is altered by Flux's remaining three episodes.

I see many viewers considered this chapter too confusing. Note that even in the earlier 1963 episodes, time loops were too confusing for viewers where we see those as trivial these days.

The concepts introduced in this chapter and added multiple layers of flash back-and-forwards might strain thr mind a bit. To see the value in those, just keep focused sharp, do not fiddle with your phone and breathe calmly. Pay attention to the environments and accents. It shall become clear to you and you will LOVE it.

I strongly believe that this episode/chapter leads to invaluable future expansion of the Doctor Who lore.

A delight! An unexpectedly complex episode with some wonderful surprises, not least the appearance of Barbara Flynn, who, to people of a certain age, is associated with some of the greatest tv drama of all time - though quite who her character is is a mystery.

I have always wanted Dr Who to aspire to episodes which are pure mystery and strangeness. I've been watching since 1963. Why should they be explained? Of course this is, but it suggests an ideal of strangeness.

It's the only because this series is a six part whole that it can go so far - and the frantic tone might lead to a fourth chapter in a very different style. Yes, Who needs change and challenges. It's not a cost soap or escapist fantasy for people who want a safe artificial world, it's a mad romp that reflects the real world and allows itself to be imaginative.

I will say no more to avoid spoilers.

The story is a bit of mess although it messes up there storyline including the doctors so there sort of in one place and then the next. Does it work on a character level yes, but in general it's too quick as they're isn't a good enough reason as to why there their but maybe we will get that in Episode 4. The Cybermen and the Daleks have very little screen time. Although those poor Cybermen who get miss treated. The wheeping Angel's also have a bit of an appearance as they also had an appearance on the end of the first episode as well. The story jumps from realitys to realitys and then ends way to quickly. The story is also not very enjoyable to watch as it has nouthing really that special going for it. Apart from the ending which was really good but apart from that it's just fine.

I had high hopes for this episode. The Halloween Apocalypse was, though average, still enjoyable, and War of the Sontarans was pretty good. This, however, was an absolute mess.

This episode was all the bad Chibnall habits put into a blender. Random cold open that has nothing to do with anything, way too many characters and subplots that we have no reason to care about, the Doctor being a glorified narrator instead of an actual character, a deus ex machina ending, and EXTREMELY cringey dialogue. Even the CGI and visuals, which are typically some of the better parts of this era, got a huge downgrade.

At least the next episode looks pretty good, and it's co-written by Maxine Alderton, writer for the best episode of the previous season.

I haven't really been enjoying this season. It has been confusing to me, with all the muddled up stories. After this episode, I increased my rating from 5 to 6 - not that much better, but it is still maintaining my interest.

But there were a few little things that spoiled it for me. For example, there was a line in the previous episode when the Doc asked Swarm "What do you want?" to which he replied, "All in good time..." I don't know if that was a pun or not, but I found it to be weak. The same question was asked again in this episode, and the reply was that he wanted to "reign in hell". Really? Hell? That one line annoyed me so much and I am not sure why. Maybe it's because I was thinking of the "Satan Pit" episode, which so cleverly handled the subjects of Satan, hell, etc.

And maybe it's just me, but the Bel character's narration gave me (unpleasant) flashbacks to Clara. I guess her love story was okay, but a bit too soppy for my liking. Dan's love story not so much.

Anyway, next week's episode looks like it might be interesting. Who knows? Maybe my rating will increase again.

Ok so I had high hopes going into this episode.. and all I can say is.. I shouldn't have.

It's gimmick is fun, I like the non traditional pacing. Even if I'm beginning to think the massive mistakes is a problem. I don't like 13's characterisation as a bit of a dick... But not an "I'm arrogant because I'm smart" dick like 6 or early 12. But more like she's immature.. and almost like she's the least competent person in any given scene. Although that's more of an overall problem with Chibnall's writing of the character that's just particularly bad in this episode. Furthermore I dislike how Chibnall has doubled down on a particular plot element from the ending of s12 that I was personally hoping could be somehow retconned.. which is annoying but I'm enjoying Dan's arc but it's not the most original. And I don't rlly like Vinda and his backstory in this episode felt very.. Chibnall. You know why if you've watched it.

Overall I have little to say about this episode. It kind of deflated the little bit of good will Chibbers had developed so far, though an ok series so far.

[3.5]

Once again I didn't enjoy this episode that much. There's still a lot of unnecessary sections, poor acting and writing. As much as I enjoy Doctor Who episodes where the characters are jumping about in time, this one felt like it had been done multiple times before, but this was not executed as well, like a deliberately confusing timey-wimey Stephen Moffat episode but worse. It was too overly confusing for my liking, though I think my main problem is that this series just doesn't feel like Doctor Who. (Most of Chibnall's episodes don't, but this series especially).

However, like some Chibnall episodes, there were bits that I really liked about it. The scene with the Cybermen was good, and my favourite part was probably when a Weeping Angel jumps out of Yaz's video game. Next week's trailer looks brilliant but because of the fact that these three episodes have been quite frankly awful, I'm not going to let myself get my hopes up.

I liked this episode. I liked the inception theme behind it, i didnt Understand which is great because that means the exposition wasnt everywhere. The "do no lecture me, doctor" line was funny because of previous episodes. This was clever and entertaining.

At first this episode is incredibly confusing but it becomes clear what is happening quite quickly. We learn more about The Doctor's past with The Division and instead of it being just exposition it's actually part of the plot. To offer a break from the manic pacing of the episode there's a delightful subplot with one of my new favourite guest characters. Overall this episode answers a lot of questions but also crucially introduces some even more intriguing pieces of information. And to top it all off - that cliffhanger!

It's not an episode for everyone. I think for the most of it, it was the most confusing thing I've ever watched. But it shouldn't be reviewed as a standalone because it's obviously a vital part of a whole. And we can't really judge its quality before we've seen the whole series 13.

It was very well-acted, props to all actors.

Good job on the weeping angels, Chibnall really managed to make them extra creepy and scary which makes me really excited for the next episode.

New confusing details are being introduced which is making it kinda hard to keep track of. I would most definitely need a rewatch and a sheet of paper to take notes.

Yet more elements and characters are thrown into the mix here, in perhaps an episode that is a step down from the first two 'chapters'.

I'm willing to go with it all and embrace it, but really do hope the pay off is worth all this set up.

Good overall.

What is going on? The what is happening? Who are these people and even more who the F is this doctor?

This has nothing. Like kicking a deflated football. There is no plot no content. And the characters are so damn dull and unintresting and they just are for the sake of it.

God there was a time I loved this series. Like really loved it. Well that's gone. Hopeless.

2 stars for.. i don't know. Color? Moving picture?