2nd Opinion, Take 2 “The Vanquishers” – A Finale Flux Up

JC’s take on the sixth episode of Series 13.

As the credits rolled on the Series 13 finale, all I could think was: “what the hell did I just watch?” and “what was the point of all this?” and “can RTD hurry up and get here!”

I said last week’s episode was “peak Chibnall

,” little did I know he was just warming up. And again, that’s not a compliment. “The Vanquishers” had a lot of expectations attached, and unfortunately and unsurprisingly, it couldn’t deliver. Looking at reactions, it will likely go down as the most disappointing finale in Who history. I’ve even seen people that seem to love the Chibnall era let down by this one, and that takes some doing. It’s hardly surprising though. Not only does the episode fail to give a satisfying conclusion to both the Flux and Timeless Child arcs, it’s an unsatisfying episode in its own right.

One of Chibnall’s mandates for most of the episodes of Flux seems to have been to just throw a million things at the screen at a million miles an hour. So much that you’re given no time to process the information. In the finale, it’s only exacerbated with the requirements of attempting to tie up so much. On top of that, add the confusing edits, rapid-fire camera cuts, and it was like a hyperactive teen, or Michael Bay produced the episode.

So, as has become form for this serial, this week’s cliffhanger was another cop out. Thirteen is about to be disintegrated by Swarm… and she just moves away a little, while Swarm does nothing. Despite the fact, we’ve seen him disintegrate things from further away than that. But useless really sums up Swarm and Azure’s involvement in the grand scheme of things. In the end, the pair were well performed and certainly talked the talk, but they couldn’t walk the walk. We never learned enough about them and their plans, or motivations. The Doctor doesn’t even defeat them herself. It felt so cheap.

Anyway, it turns out the biggest threat in the finale in what’s left of the universe was actually the Sontarans, and I couldn’t think of a more disappointing outcome. It doesn’t help that the episode is conflicted on how to portray these potato heads. You have the stupid antics of the chocolate scene, and then you have them planning and later successfully wiping out two species. Speaking of, the Daleks and Cybermen are made to look like foolish idiots, and that is an achievement. Also, this Doctor is a willing participant in the genocide of three species. That’s our Thirteen! A shame that it goes completely against the Doctor’s very nature. Does Chibnall even remember the iconic “Do I have the right?” scene from Genesis of the Daleks?

There’s a lot more Jodie Whittaker in the episode, for better and worse. On the worse side, Jodie still has a tendency to over emote, and I thought the scenes where she plays off herself were poorly done (but part of the blame is the editing). On the better side, I think Jodie had a couple of scenes that worked quite well. It was nice to see her showing some empathy towards Yaz after being such a cow to her early on (shame Graham’s cancer didn’t get the same treatment). And what’s this? She actually shed a tear. Wow! I can’t recall a single moment that Thirteen has had like that until now.

Diane turns out to be the most pivotal person to the plot. Not only is she (seemingly) the sole survivor of a Passenger and works out how to escape, but she’s also a crack shot with futuristic weaponry due to Laser Quest (I’m really starting to hate this trope), and also basically responsible for defeating the Flux. She’s more important than the actual Doctor in this regard! And what a character arc she had. Average museum attendant, disappeared for several episodes, and then instant savior of the universe. Shame we missed all the middle section showing her actual growth into that character. Oh, and she also gives Dan the cold shoulder for… reasons. I mean, he legitimately had a good reason for not turning up to the date, and she knows that!

As for the rest of the companions, and associates:

• Yaz is great, because… she’s Yaz, of course! Repeatedly having another character tell the audience a character is “amazing” does not make them amazing. We actually need to see it.
• Dan doesn’t get much to do again. That makes the last three/four episodes. He has no real companion arc. He officially joins the Doctor in this finale, and only has 3 episodes left as a proper companion. Was he really needed if this is his overall contribution?
• Jericho was the one character who was genuinely great, so of course he had to die. But no one really seems to be realistically grieving, and he’s forgotten about far too quickly (Yaz and Dan should be most affected, having spend a few years together closely).
• Similarly, but worse, Karvanista loses his ENTIRE SPECIES, but it’s all back to business as usual as if nothing has even happened a few scenes later when he leaves. I guess it’s all okay because the Doctor said she’s “sorry” though.
• Vinder and Bel reunite, and… I feel almost nothing. Why should I? Chibnall never gave me enough reason to care.
• Kate turned up again for a bit, but was wasted. How did she even get in the TARDIS, let alone fly it? She also says she likes this regeneration of the Doctor. Why? She’s barely seen this Doctor do anything useful.
• Turns out, Claire was totally fine following her Angel “hijack” and was chilling in ‘67. OK then. And, as I assumed last week, Peggy was completely forgotten about.

While I’m glad Chibnall didn’t decide to expand on the Timeless Child, or do any more damage to the canon, I’m also left thinking, what was the point of it all? If the fob watch being hidden in the TARDIS marks the end of that arc, nothing really happened. Techeun turned up, reiterates what we already knew, and says the Master wasn’t lying. Then she unceremoniously dies, Thirteen decides not to restore her own memories and… end of story? It feels like another loose end. Of course, there’s a chance Chibnall will revisit for Jodie’s final episode, but it will be too late by then. As an arc right now, it went nowhere, so why even bother? You changed the Doctor’s origins and show’s lore for nothing.

Finally, let’s talk about the biggest plot hole of all in this serial: the state of the universe. How much is still destroyed? Why isn’t the Doctor bothered about this at all? Is Earth the only planet left? What about the sun and moon? If so, why does Earth look totally fine when we see it at the end in clear daylight? Further, the Daleks and Cybermen are supposedly wiped out from existence. But then the Daleks are back in the next episode. Does Chibnall even care at this point? I can let some stuff go in sci-fi, but this is hardly a small plot point!

In the end, the finale didn’t stick to landing. Flux had some intriguing elements and set up, but the execution frequently let it down. Ironically, the two episodes that ended up being the best were because they were more focussed and closest to singular storytelling (episodes 2 and 4). Overall, Flux is a bad example of how to do a serialised story in Doctor Who. Hopefully RTD doesn’t drop the concept because it is something that can be done well in the hands of a better writer.

Asides

• Why does the Grand Serpent not use his power when he needs it most? Instead, he allows Kate and Vinder to lead him to his apparent demise instead of attacking. How does Grand Serpent survive the vacuum of space on an asteroid? And if he doesn’t, why not just kill him with the gun?
• So the TARDIS malfunctioning plotline was completely dropped then?
• What was the point of introducing the multiverse if it went nowhere? I thought Chibnall might be opening up a clean slate for RTD, but it seems not.
• How many Division agents are still out there?
• Can UNIT come out of the shadows now? Or are they still gone?