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| The Doctor's companions become unstuck in time... |
THE PLOT:
"You don't mess with time. You don't put yourself and your friends in the midst of a time storm... Unless there's no alternative."
In the Temple of Atropos, Swarm and Azure have placed Yaz and the astronaut Vinder (Jacob Anderson) directly in the path of a time storm, prepared to unleash the full force of time through their frail bodies. To rescue them, the Doctor does the unthinkable. She grabs Dan to keep him out of the way of her new/old enemies and hops into the storm, taking the burden on herself while hiding her friends within their own time streams.
It's not called a "storm" for nothing, however, and none of them are able to remain at any fixed point. Dan finds himself in Liverpool, reliving his not-quite relationship with Diane (Nadia Albina), in a city that feels not quite right. Yaz experiences moments from her past, but details are not quite right - and she's somehow being stalked by a Weeping Angel.
The Doctor is also thrown into her past. Specifically, her past with the Division, on the day that the Division Doctor (Jo Martin) confronted Swarm and Azure at the Temple - the beginning of the current conflict tucked within a memory that's been hidden from her...
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: Earnest in her concern for her friends, but at the same time desperate to learn more about her past. Once she realizes that she is reliving the actions of the Division Doctor, she stops resisting. Jodie Whittaker gets to vary her usual performance, adopting the cold swagger of Jo Martin's variant while threatening her enemies with "execution... erasure of identity... (or) isolation prison terms for the infinite duration of the universe." Once the crisis has passed, her secretiveness reasserts itself, and she snaps at Yaz twice in short order for pressing her for information.
Yaz: Really needs to get the Doctor alone for a full, uninterrupted conversation. Not just about the secrets, but about the frankly shabby and disrespectful way she's been treated. The Doctor has been either dismissive or hostile on almost every occasion that Yaz has attempted to get information from her. In this episode, she yells at Yaz: "You don't understand anything!" Well, how can she, when you refuse to tell her anything? At this point, the friendship/relationship between Thirteen and Yaz feels exponentially more toxic than the one between Twelve and Clara ever did; at least with Clara, I felt the mutual affection, whereas here everything seems to be flowing exactly one way.
Dan: Mostly sidelined this time, though I did enjoy the scene in which he gradually realized things were "off" while reliving conversations with Diane. Dan remains positive and enthusiastic. Of all the people gathered in the Temple, he's the one who comprehends the least. But when Swarm gloats, Dan is the first to insist that they will stop him.
Vinder: We learn exactly why he was stationed alone at the edge of nowhere. After receiving a commendation for heroism, he was granted a prestigious assignment at the side of the Grand Serpent (Craig Parkinson), a high-ranking political figure. The Serpent proved to be as cold and untrustworthy as the title implies, and when Vinder attempted to do the right thing... Well, it didn't go well, hence both his isolation and bitterness in The Halloween Apocalypse. Given his best material so far, Jacob Anderon delivers his best performance in the season to date.
Bel: A separate thread follows the adventures of Bel (Thaddea Graham), a survivor of the Flux. She narrates her thoughts to "Tigme," a recording device, as she evades Daleks, Cybermen, and strange blue particles that devour everything in their path. Her goal is to be reunited with her lost love. That person's identity is no particular surprise, but it is withheld until the final moments - likely create a sense of pieces of falling into place in an episode that otherwise resolves fairly little.
The Division Doctor: Jo Martin is only briefly glimpsed, just long enough to establish that the Doctor is reliving the events of this incarnation. In her short screen time, she manages to again project both intelligence and toughness. In both her moments and the scenes in which Jodie Whittaker re-enacts her confrontation with Swarm, I'm left with the same thought as in Fugitive of the Judoon: This may be the Doctor's past, but there is a coldness and ruthlessness here that doesn't really feel like our Doctor. I'm both suspecting and hoping that consistent thread is leading somewhere.
Swarm, Azure, and Passenger: "Ravagers." That's the designation given to them during the raid on Atropos, and it seems a fitting title. In the past, we again see the older form of Swarm (Matthew Needham). He and Azure gloat before their downfall, just as they do in the present, with the rejuvenated Swarm (Sam Spruell). We also learn what "Passenger" is: Basically, a plot device, but one used to good effect in two different scenes.
THOUGHTS:
Readers of my reviews likely know by now that I have a particular affinity for shows that nod at the surreal. Sudden jumps in time and space, rapid shifts from day to night, things that are askew and even confusing... For whatever reason, I tend to respond to these types of elements.
Which is to say: Once, Upon Time is a perfect fit for me. I also think it's largely well-constructed. There are three main threads: The Doctor reliving the raid on the Temple; Vinder's backstory that led to his assignment; and Bel's attempts to evade danger in a post-Flux universe while searching for her lover. Vinder's thread is purely focused on the past, on finally letting us know who he is. Bel's seems to be in the narrative's present, showing us the devastation caused by the Flux. The Doctor's links past and present; she's reliving events from long ago, but they are connected to the current conflict and experiencing them provides her with a solution. All three storylines are effectively paced, and the ending leaves them feeling all of the same piece.
On a less positive note, I've become impatient with the recurring appearances by Steve Oram's 19th century character. His scene at the start of The Halloween Apocalypse intrigued me. But his scenes since have done nothing to flesh out his role; he just seems to be popping up for a minute each week to make sure viewers don't forget about him. In a busy but otherwise well-controlled episode, his appearance here briefly throws the structure off-kilter for no good reason.
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of this installment. For the most part, this was delivering exposition, but it did so vastly more enjoyably than The Timeless Children did, carrying the same sense of momentum that has been the highlight of the season thus far. Oh, and it ends with another good cliffhanger.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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