Doctor Who: Flux Review: Chapter Two: War of the Sontarans (Season 13 Episode 2)
The Tardis makes contact with the flux and throws the Doctor and her friends into the Crimean War on Doctor Who: Flux Season 13 Episode 2, “War of the Sontarans.”
Overall, this installment of the six-episode event feels a lot more like an episode of Doctor Who. We have one specific situation dominating the episode, but the overall mythos that was brought up on Doctor Who: Flux Season 13 Episode 1, “The Halloween Apocolypse,” is still addressed and present.
This is a move in the right direction with the episode focusing on one part of the overarching story. It allows us to follow the characters in one particular situation instead of getting thrown between all the different timelines introduced in the premiere.
While the episode quickly separates Yaz, Dan, and the Doctor, we get to watch each of them work out what’s going on in their own way.
Seeing the Doctor with Mary Seacole was an appropriate storyline. Putting the Doctor against another doctoress is a strong juxtaposition that continues the Thirteenth Doctor’s run of encountering influential women in history.
While a lot of the storyline echoes moments from Doctor Who that we’ve seen before (see: blowing up a retreating alien ship), the characters involved are fleshed out enough that the audience can lose themselves in the story.
Looking at the episode overall, the focus is on the Doctor, but Yaz and Dan are still off doing things that contribute to the overall arc of the season.
This allows us to get to know Dan a little bit more. Having him be on earth with his parents who witnessed the Sontaran invasion feels like a good first–er, second go?–for a new companion.
The way that Dan records his observations tells us a lot about his character, and his puns with the wok didn’t hurt either. I was skeptical about adding another member to the Tardis team after the departure of Ryan and Graham, but he’s proving to be a refreshing addition to the team.
This matters because it feels like Yaz got lost in the mix when it came to the team dynamic. Now Doctor Who: Flux is trying to set up a relationship between her and the Doctor that doesn’t feel entirely genuine.
Yes, Yaz has always been a capable character. She had a very rich storyline that tied her to Earth, but when it came to her bond with the Doctor it never felt as strong as some of the other companions before.
Yaz still has a place in the Tardis. She’s known the Doctor longer, and she can tell that something is up. If anyone is going to put the pieces together and force the Doctor to put her cards on the table it’s gonna be Yaz.
This is part of why the Temple of Atropos storyline works on this episode. Not only does it bring in one of the side characters, and let us start connecting the dots, but it also puts Yaz in the line of fire.
It’s hard to recall when any of the Thirteenth Doctor’s companions were genuinely at risk, and so this setup with Swarm and Azure feels long overdue.
Do I still have questions about the Temple of Atropos? Yes.
Do they need to be answered on this episode? Absolutely, not.
“War of the Sontarans” makes it abundantly clear that this is not something that can be solved in a few episodes. While it’s clear that Swarm and Azure hold all the cards it’s not entirely clear how everything comes together.
The Crimean War was a strong storyline that gave us some information through an enemy the audience is already familiar with, but it’s clear that there’s more at work and more that we have yet to see.
Stray Thoughts:
- I managed to get through this entire review without making a “wok this way” joke! I am very proud of myself.
- How is the reaction to Dan having a wok, “Why do you have a wok?” Does the Doctor not recall when Amy Pond creamed them with a cricket bat?
- I am starting to think that on a rewatch we’ll have to make anyone who comments on the Doctor’s gender a drinking game. Seriously? The Sontaran’s didn’t get the memo?
- Never leave the house without your wok! You never know if you’ll run into aliens.
- I have thought about how a planet called Time means that time as much of a construct as we think it is. Especially considering its material and Yaz is about to be a conduit. But I don’t think there’s enough there to make the argument coherent yet. And it’s funny that this came about the day we moved the clocks back in the United States.
What did you think of this episode of Doctor Who: Flux? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Doctor Who: Flux airs Sundays at 8/7c on BBC America.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.