Spoilers Survivors of the Flux grade and discussion thread

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by The Nth Doctor, Nov 27, 2021.

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How do you rate Survivors of the Flux?

  1. Brilliant!

    11.4%
  2. 9

    4.5%
  3. 8

    31.8%
  4. 7

    15.9%
  5. 6

    4.5%
  6. 5

    18.2%
  7. 4

    2.3%
  8. 3

    2.3%
  9. 2

    4.5%
  10. Rubbish!

    4.5%
  1. Serial thread killer

    Serial thread killer Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Who's looking after the little girl who ended up in 1901?
     
  2. CaptainWacky

    CaptainWacky More than meets the eye Rear Admiral

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    The best two episodes of Flux have been the Sontaran occupation one and the Weeping Angels one, because they both worked as standalone stories within the larger arc. This one was just a bunch of subplots that didn't crossover and I wasn't super into any of them. The Yaz, Dan, Jericho stuff was the best, until they managed to paint letters miles high in China that were still visible a hundred years later(?) The Doctor just stood around listening to exposition like in last series' finale and I just don't care about this timeless child stuff at all. But I guess it'll be hard to get out of it now.

    I do enjoy the camp performances from Swarm and Azure.

    I wondered that too. I'd assumed last week that Jericho was going to adopt her and stay in the past to raise her (she seemed to be fond of him) but apparently not!
     
  3. ThreeEdgedSword

    ThreeEdgedSword Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Claire.
     
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  4. ThreeEdgedSword

    ThreeEdgedSword Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yes!

    And that's so strange, because everyone kept saying how great Chibnall is with serial writing in his work outside of DW. I'll have to take their word for it, but here, the serialization does not work for me, at all. There's a reason that aspiring writers are often advised to master the short story first before they try their hand at a novel.

    I did enjoy it, up to this episode, on a superficial level. But throwing in plot (or subplots) for plot's sake doesn't cut it anymore at this point.

    Mostly I am missing what every good story has: an emotional core. And like or hate the TC, but here was a daughter meeting her very abusive adoptive mother, and they managed to make me feel nothing except for mild interest about some answers to plot points.

    Oh yes, I forgot! No way that would have worked. Try building walls along the letters instead, they will leave traces even when they're long gone. They could have done that instead of a sightseeing trip across the world.
     
  5. CaptainWacky

    CaptainWacky More than meets the eye Rear Admiral

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    Oh yeah I totally forgot about Claire.
     
  6. ThreeEdgedSword

    ThreeEdgedSword Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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  7. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I gave it a 7, but I feel that's being generous. This episode seemed to be so much set up and yet it is episode 5 out 6. It was just a mess of moving people around and set up. With a dollop of exposition.

    We've got Yaz and company wasting time (but having a grand old time) globetrotting only to end up back in Liverpool in time for the Sontarans to come busting in.

    The Doctor gets exposition dumped on her, which mostly reconfirms the previous Timeless Child bunk. We do learn that this involves the multiverse and the Division is between universes, which I accurately guessed awhile back.

    The Serpent on Earth is just setting up for the modern-day invasion.

    The Lupari sit around until they are attacked.

    Basically, this episode was just filler, marking time until the invasion starts on December 5. Pretty much a waste of an episode.

    I'm worried that Chibnall won't stick the landing. Seems like it'll be a rush to conclude the storylines.

    ETA: Oh, and the cliffhanger resolution was almost nothing! Really no point in being converted to an Angel other than the fleeting shock value.

    One question. The Doctor asks Tecteun, "Was what the Master told me the truth?" Tecteun replies, "Yes." But how did she know what the Master told the Doctor?
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2021
  8. Nightowl1701

    Nightowl1701 Commodore Commodore

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    I've got to wonder what RTD's feeling or thinking about this last episode. 'Flux' is feeling more and more like a series/Saga finale, and (as I've previously speculated) it looks like Chibnall's going to leave him no choice but to hard-reboot and start everything over from scratch. Even though we've still got three more 'episodes' to go after next week.
     
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  9. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I got to be honest, during the scenes with the Doctor and Tecteun, I kept thinking "Loki did this better."
     
  10. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    @Nightowl1701 I suspect that Chibnall will reboot the universe or something. Probably using the fob watch, thus preventing the Doctor from regaining her memories. Why? Because so much of the universe is gone along with portions of the solar system! I'm sure Chibnall is going to reboot those parts at least.
     
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  11. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Wouldn't be the first time the universe has been rebooted...second time in a decade!

    Yeaaahhh...that ran through my head, too. I guess the idea was Tecteun was watching from afar as she seemed to infer a couple of times in this episode.

    I thought the same thing. Loki and LOST. The Umbrella Academy, too.
     
  12. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    There has just been a change that ends the limit on privates who've become officers. Until now the highest rank a soldier-turned-offiicer could reach was Lt-Colonel.
    So the Brig would have been an officer from the start.
     
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  13. TimmyWl

    TimmyWl Commodore Commodore

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    I want to say that I really liked the whole angel episode. This was okay. I did like the small bits of the Serpent coming in and the reflections of the past. It was nice to see that. The rest of the thing - the child, the woman who found her, and the missing watch with the Doctor's memories - was half done. I guess, I'm not really getting 'Division' or anything related to that whole thing. In the earlier seasons of Doctor Who there was UNIT and at least there were some gestures to give the illusion that UNIT was a thing. Division is, for me, not really well constructed as a fictional device in the show (?). Maybe more stuff about the Division (or 'Division') in the earlier parts with a longer span of time would have made me care more about it.
     
  14. Sketcher

    Sketcher Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Surprised the Doctor didn't go off on Tecteun asking where she and Division were during the Time War, or if they were involved. Was waiting for that moment.
     
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  15. Saul

    Saul Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Too much going on in this episode. It was OK but it's like a child's imagination on the loose.

    So if Tecteun is the Doctor's adoptive mother then who was the lady on the TV talking to Wilfred during 'The End of Time'?

    How can they travel around the world in the 1900s? I thought the village they were trapped in was cut off from the rest of the world.
     
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  16. SolarisOne

    SolarisOne Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Maybe he just sucks at showrunning and writing for Doctor Who?

    Are you thinking of the scenes with He Who Remains or...?

    Because Division sees all? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
     
  17. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    The whole thing, while pretty enough, makes not one whit of sense in the context of the rest of DW canon. I agree that it really does seem like a fever dream that a child might have. However, people seem to think it's perhaps Chibnall's best work. I think I should probably give up watching the series after this season's finale. Perhaps I'll reconsider if RTD injects some life into this show but I suspect it'll be his same old schtick.
     
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  18. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Four observations/comments about this episode and next week's episode:
    * ScreenRant was more or less right about what happened at the end of Village of the Angels re: the Doctor

    * The Timeless Child haters have no choice now but to get used to, if not begrudgingly accept, the new lore it introduced because this episode and the preview for next week pretty clearly set it in concrete as the new status quo when it comes to the Doctor's history

    * I think there's a very high probability that next week ends on a cliffhanger heading into the NYD 'Special' and we get zero closure or resolution to the Flux story

    * There's almost zero chance that the universe our hero characters call home will actually be destroyed, even if it ultimately doesn't get saved until the 'Spring Special' next year

    You'll back out with the Flux story unresolved? I'm not sure that kind of a decision makes sense, but Ok.
     
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  19. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    Oh well, if it actually doesn't get resolved until the special then I guess I'm committed to watching that as well. It's only one more episode. I didn't think I'd get too old for this stuff but it seems I was wrong. I have plenty of other more coherent things to distract me.
     
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  20. DigificWriter

    DigificWriter Vice Admiral Admiral

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    There's a very strong probability that 8 of the 9 episodes that close out Jodie's tenure as the Doctor will end up having been dedicated to the story of the Flux given that the BBC only decided to hold back the broadcast of 2 of those episodes (and rebrand them as Specials) after they'd already been written and filmed.
     
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