Am I surprised that people are treating this like the best episode ever? No. Does it deserve that? Probably not. Maxine Alderton’s “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” despite my disposition away from horror-centric episodes of Doctor Who, was better than a majority of series 12. Maxine Alderton’s “Village of the Angels,” coming only several episodes later, is the best episode of Flux. I know it might sound like I am sticking my neck out, but it will be at the end too. A solid understanding of writing, function, imagery, and more importantly, how to tie things together, slightly ruined by a boring 51-year-old man whose name rhymes with Dumpster Fire (that or he is one).

None of that is to say this was a perfect episode. I have some notes, but like most, the episode was engrossing enough that I didn’t take as many compared to others in this series. Let’s ask the important question: What is the Flux doing? We saw the old woman tell the Doctor that she’s the reason for it, not Swarm and Azure. In fact, this was the second time we didn’t have them or they played a small part, and it was a better episode all-round. For a series named after it, the Flux has only appeared in one episode, and its aftershock seems to be what we’re dealing with. The “Next Time On” even suggests the Lupari can’t stay around Earth much longer, but it was only a three-minute eclipse anyway, and surely the Flux moved on?

Yaz had some character this episode, remembering for once in her lifetime that she is/was a cop. Who knew a competent writer could do that? Though I must say, the reference back to Villa Diodati about the flat structure: That was a nice call-back, but it shows Yaz hasn’t learned a thing. In fact, a majority of my criticisms are clunky, unnatural, stupid, or downright nonsensical lines. I genuinely loved the “space is empty now” followed by a whole star system in the background. Additionally, in the foreground was a half-broken planet that somehow still has an atmosphere.

While we’re at it, Jamie Magnus Stone and the other one from this series, could you both report to the center of the sun? If you can’t understand the Angels, don’t direct one of their episodes. Multiple times, not only in this episode but this entire series, the blatant lack of understanding of their central premise is forgotten about. The Doctor, Yaz, and Dan had lights flashing on and off, with an angel terrorizing them. For some reason, The Doctor tells them both not to blink. You need light to see, I don’t think blinking was the biggest concern at that moment.

As we’re still on nonsense that makes no sense, Claire’s “Oh, but this hasn’t happened to you yet” from the first episode makes no sense. If the vision of the TARDIS, Angel, and everything that has happened before is just a premonition, we don’t need those five minutes with Claire. If it was an Angel that dragged the TARDIS to the village, Claire hasn’t met the Doctor yet, and the Doctor has had no reason to come and save her so it was an entire waste of time. This is what I mean when I say Chibnall needs a script editor. Take that out, give the first episode room to breathe, and it might not have been as bad.

Can we take a minute to talk about the good bits of the episode, just so I can remind myself why I like it? The crawling of the Angel reforming after being ripped up, it projecting itself out because an image of an Angel becomes an Angel and the Doctor balling that up and setting it on fire, only for its return as the same projection but on fire? That, right there is pulling on the string the whole time and tying it to the thread of jeopardy we’re in later on. It is something that is missing so desperately throughout this era because Chibnall either doesn’t understand that or doesn’t think that’s a good idea.

I like the dog collar having to count the gravestones in his own church graveyard, and really I think the character work on Professor Jericho was well done. He used his experiences to fuel his actions and his emotions were drudged up from what he has done and who he is. I liked the majority of the cold-open because it was a cold open that moved along swiftly, set up things for later in the episode, and didn’t take up too much time. That said, the broadcast once again had issues with the audio mixing. When it sounded like a demon came into Claire, it just became inaudible nonsense.

Back to the annoying lines. “If we are” made me want to put my fist through the script. It is just one of those lines, like the overdramatized pause for “or when we are;” Yes, Jodie does say that before the IF line, but it is done so quickly you don’t focus on it. I think it is the time that is given before and after that, which makes it punctuate exactly how crap the line happens to be. Though to counter that, the dog collar saying “I don’t subscribe to superstitious folklore” while wearing his little white band around his neck made that line actually well-placed for once. Again, I have to remind myself that for all the nitpicks I have here, I actually really liked “Village of the Angels.”

I like Bel, as I said last time, but the “your as-yet-unborn child” being in the Previously On segment wasn’t as inconspicuous as Chibnall thinks it is. We have two characters who have shakey backgrounds. There is Dan with his so-called parents who are 10-years older than him, or the one chasing herself around in circles like a cat with its tail. While we’re on what might turn out to be Comrade Chibnall’s unfired guns, does anyone want to tell me when Flux ends? This series ends on the 5th of December, but we’re back again on the 1st of January, we rise again in Easter, and once more for Jodie’s last episode late in 2022. We might see this out a little longer than we all hoped.

Once more I’ll say I like the imagery, but there are two things about that bathroom shot: I knew as soon as we saw the two actors, it was going to play funny with your perspective. Those wings looked rubbery. Maybe it was the lighting or maybe it was the material not blending with the set and actor since we’re used to seeing them on similar colored figures. It just looked odd as soon as I saw it and I can’t unsee it as anything like that. I also liked Dan doing something I don’t believe we’ve had stated outright, “walk backwards, keep your eyes on it.” It is the Angel’s weakness and how to defeat them in The Edge of Reality.

So when Jericho opens his front door, looks away and suddenly the Angels have moved, why do they do that? The Doctor is only a few feet behind him and he’s not that big, surely by most measures that means they are being observed and thus can’t move. Ok, let’s say we ignore that and once Yaz and Dan are flung back to 1901, Yaz mentions that they are in the early 20th century, Dan’s response is “What? So a hundred years before you and I are alive?” A 50-year old man and a 20-something woman born in the 20th century weren’t alive in 2001? I’ll take “What’s a Script Editor” for control of Doctor Who, Alex.

Ok, just a couple more gripes before I stop. I am going to make a rule that if you are going to show someone literally fading away from the touch of an Angel, I never want you to direct another episode of Doctor Who. What makes them good, interesting, and fun is the quick and fast-paced nature of every one of their episodes. Just showing the person fading away destroys that a little. It makes it feel less special and interesting. You can still do the slow shot pulling away from the angel, but have it focus on the old woman. Have her yell, whip the camera back, we see he is gone, and we continue on as you did. Fading away felt wrong, I don’t care if that is meant to be what happens, we aren’t supposed to see it.

I don’t like the whole Passenger thing, but that’s mostly because it is out of order. Take Claire’s few minutes out, put that in the first episode, and it starts making sense. This is why I say Chibnall’s bits of this episode were crap, while Alderton’s are full of engaging and mostly well-thought-out pieces to the puzzle. The trouble is the fact there was no ending and nothing distinct. This was the fourth time we’ve seen it, but we’ve had four episodes of set up and no payoff. There is no reward for sticking with it, just more and more To Be Continued. Really, this just feels like an episode dissected by Chibnall to fit into the episode written by Alderton, though I could be wrong.

To return to my point, Passenger being filled with this almost American church-like thing is interesting. It provides a nice visual of the masses looking for salvation and it gives weight to the hundreds and thousands dead once the Passengers were being knocked off one-by-one last time. The trouble is, that should have been before we saw Passengers being killed, because now I don’t care since I know that they die. It will be interesting to see a fan-edit of this series done in the correct order, but that’s what makes series 13 or Flux so annoying. Also, I think everyone’s feet were left behind.

As much as I hate the clunky lines, the fact Dan was told to stop questioning things, and pretty much everything to do with Bel and Vinder, it was a good episode. It was a solid episode that could have been in any other showrunner’s tenure. Maxine Alderton is one of the few I want to continue beyond Chibnall’s run. That list consists of her, Malorie Blackman, I’d like to see what Joy Wilkinson can do, Ed Hime doing more Douglas Adams would be nice, I’d like to know what Charlene James could do on her own, and I’d like to see more from Vinay Patel. Those voices with producers that care, with scripters that can edit, and a showrunner that knows what he is doing, could be Doctor Who at its greatest.

Instead, we have Chibnall taking micromanagement to the nth degree, and him just wanting to recreate popular things in the most B-movie way. We got confirmation that he has seen at least one Marvel film with that sign-posted mid-credit scene. I’ll say it again, this was a great episode ruined by Chibnall forcing this Flux nonsense as if that was the interesting thing, it is not. This was paced well, the direction left something to be desired, and a majority of the writing was well done. Yet it ended only in a deflating fart instead of something solid.

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Doctor Who: Flux "Village Of The Angels"

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Great imagery throughout.
• Character, proper character.
• Connecting threads and fun additions.
• Peggy saying Gerald deserved it. She's right.
• Eustacius Jericho! I love a Eustacius.

Cons

• Clunky or stupid lines.
• Can I just say all the Chibnall bits?
• Does no on listen when told about the Angels?