Doctor Who Series 13, Episode 1
“The Halloween Apocalypse”
Posted by Sage
*tap tap tap* Is this thing on??
Forgive me if I’m a little rusty. Aside from one festive special (which we did not recap, sorry about that), it’s been 20 months since our last new Doctor Who. And outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall did not take it easy on recappers, spending the first installment of this six-episode event series putting pieces into place for whatever’s to come. In addition, we’ve gotten little to no information in the form of promo from the BBC. Aside from a few episode titles, the series subtitle, John Bishop’s casting, and some returning monster confirmations, we know nothing about what’s to unfold over the next six weeks. And therefore, as many others have noted, we have nothing to be excited about. There’s a line between giving away the farm and keeping things so close to the vest that there’s no anticipation at all. Whatever combo of marketing and production defined the campaign for Series 13 (Jodie’s Doctor’s FINAL SERIES — surely that’s an angle??) was unable to find that line this time around, and the investment of even the most stalwart fans of the show (*raises hand*) has suffered for it.
But as for this episode, let’s start with the good, shall we?
Every modern companion is capable in their own way, but I live for the moments where the real ride-or-dies become so accustomed to TARDIS life that they’re almost the Doctor’s equal. What a DAMN TREAT to see Yasmin Khan co-pilot the old girl, count the exact number of booby traps on Dan’s laser pen, and otherwise be a total pro at traveling through space and time. We’ve come so far from Yaz being frequently sidelined in Series 11, through her somewhat reckless behavior in Series 12, and have landed on the kind of companion I’ve always been partial to: the one who would stay here forever if she could.
The first half of the episode felt like an olive branch to Yaz fans and Thasmin shippers. Many of us hoped that the departure of Ryan and Graham would mean a less crowded TARDIS and more intimate relationship between our remaining Fam member and the Doctor. And it did — though most of that evidently took place off-screen. The Doctor and Yaz we catch up with in the cold open, as we can tell from their bickering, have clearly been traveling together for some time as a duo. And the intimacy is certainly there, with the Doctor attempting to placate a still-curious Yaz with memories of their various space dates. But Yaz, dogged investigator that she is, won’t be distracted by the adventures they’ve shared.
Yes, this premiere reveals that the Doctor is still keeping things from Yaz, her sole travel buddy for the time being. And as it is for our friend from Sheffield, it’s getting old for us too. It seems, from the writing, that the Doctor isn’t telling Yaz certain pertinent facts (like why she’s sought out Kavanista or what the Division is) because we as the audience are not allowed to know yet. And without an actual narrative reason for that caginess, it just feels kind of deceptive and lazy. We’re also going back over the same emotional beats we did in Series 12 when the Doctor wouldn’t open up about Gallifrey to her friends. It’s the same argument — almost the same dialogue, even. It’s not progressing their relationship, nor is it telling us anything new about either character.
No, instead of deepening that relationship in any significant way, Series 13 is throwing a third wheel into the TARDIS in the form of Bishop’s Dan Lewis. The initial announcement smacked of fear that men and boys wouldn’t watch a series that was all-girl and of leaving the Doctor and Yaz in the TARDIS alone together, you know, *Dennis Reynolds voice* because of the implication. So it gives me no joy to report that…Dan is kind of a sweetheart? I couldn’t have been more prepared to be ambivalent about him, but his earth-bound intro, shockingly, made a case for his presence. And I don’t necessarily mean within the story. Dan may not be “special” beyond coincidentally being Kavanista’s assigned human. But he’s already pissing off the right people because he’s a nice bloke who volunteers his time despite not having much of his own. Class, at least on this planet, is a difficult subject for Doctor Who to tackle, considering it takes place mostly off of it. But surely many people watching could relate to the sight of Dan’s empty pantry and the unpaid bills tacked up on his refrigerator.
It also amuses me how Time Lord callous both the Doctor and Yaz are to him during his rescue. (“Nice to meet you, Dan. Run for your life!”) Yaz brags about her rescuing prowess as she frees him; the Doctor tosses him his miniaturized house with a flippant comment. I hope the show holds onto that difference among the new companion team — that Yaz has lost or suppressed some of her humanity, while Dan still has loads. (“What’s the point of being alive if it’s not to make others happy?”)
But what of our mission? What about the Flux of it all?
A premiere like this works for a season that’s dropping all at once. It would be a fine first chapter for an immediately binge-able event series. But that’s not what we have. We’re being asked to invest, week to week, in a series of vignettes that make little sense outside of the context that we’ve yet to be given. It’s the same mistake Chibnall made in the last two episodes of last series with the Ireland subplot. If your audience has to go back and watch something again to truly appreciate what you were trying to do with it, you’re making TV wrong! Let the mystery be and all that, but there’s nothing satisfying about watching an hour of television trusting that, one day, we’ll actually understand what’s happening. There’s too much content in the world for that. Our brains are processing overtime, and we’ve got collective trauma! Give us a break!
I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but I also don’t believe that many of us tune into Doctor Who based on the level of danger the universe is in. A cataclysmic event isn’t the draw Chibnall seems to think it is, and not only because we know that the universe will survive to be taken over by Russell T. Davies in Series 14. We need stakes that are rooted in character — it’s our people being in danger that we care about, since it’s not a given that they’ll all make it out unscathed. There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of that in the pacing and the marketing of this series. The Flux itself isn’t a draw, and it’s very bizarre to act like it is.
What we actually do see in this first hour raises plenty of questions, from the operational (Wouldn’t the Lupari be well aware that their bonded species is under the protection of the Doctor and therefore have some kind of plan for her?) to the bigger picture (Do Swarm and the Flux tie in some way to the Doctor’s timeless child origins?) to the budgetary (Will the CGI be less embarrassing when Bad Wolf is in the driver’s seat??). But for the most part, we simply don’t know what we don’t know. So while I can appreciate a dead-scary utilization of the Weeping Angels and the way that wardrobe and makeup went off on Swarm and Azure, without meaning, they’re just party tricks.
Timey Wimey Observations:
- The Doctor has two sets of handcuffs in her pocket and a king-sized mattress in the middle of the console room. I hope the Thasmin fic writers had a field day.
- I don’t know what’s up with the old timey top hat men and frankly, I don’t care.
- Dan Lewis would never ghost you, and if he did, even against his will, he would still feel really bad about it!
- That said, is “Halloween drinks” a thing?
- That shot of the Angel from the side where you can see her eyes behind her hands? Chilling.
- I don’t know with how big of a grain of salt I should take that Jacob Anderson’s Vinder was announced during the virtual SDCC panel. Does that make him a secondary companion this series or was that just the crumb we were allowed to be fed? Either way, he’s very cute and has a good head on his shoulders, as well as an enviable appreciation for the beauty of existence. We stan.
- Observation! Outpost! Rose!
- Of all the throwback references, one to “Orphan 55”?
- I miss the old Sontarans.
What did you think of the return of Doctor Who? Let us know in the comments!
Featured Image Source: BBC
[…] useless in the first five minutes of the next. (I must shout out and thank Sage who took on the Herculean task of recapping every episode of Flux, even when she had the same feelings about the series as I did. […]