#27 (13.6): The Vanquishers.

Azure and Swarm torment the Doctor.  Well, one of the Doctors...

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 60 minutes. Written by: Chris Chibnall. Directed by: Azhur Saleem. Produced by: Pete Levy.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor's escape from Swarm (Sam Spruell) and Azure (Rochenda Sandall) is successful... partially. Swarm touches her just as she transports back to her universe, and the combination of the Ravager's destructive power with the transport has the effect of splitting her in three. One Doctor ends up on Karvanista's ship just as the Sontarans assault the Lupari blockade. Another Doctor reunites with Yaz, Dan, and Jericho in the Williamson Tunnels beneath Liverpool.

A third Doctor, however, remains on the station outside the universe. As her other fragments of work to unravel the plans of the Sontarans and their ally, The Grand Serpent (Craig Parkinson), Swarm and Azure bask in the opportunity to torment their old enemy, taunting her:

"This is better than we could ever have hoped. We have everything we need. Division... The power to destroy your universe... And you!"


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Split into three personas, which she admits is confusing, exhausting, and frightening. That doesn't stop her from using it to her advantage - as when she deliberately sets herself up to be captured and interrogated, all so that she can be rescued after she's gathered needed information - rescued by another version of herself. Much like Amy in Steven Moffat's Space/Time sketch, she seems to fancy herself; she mentions having "a crush" on herself and, even when her form is adopted by a sinister entity, she pauses to note how good she looks in that variant's dark jacket (the dark jacket does suit her, by the way - Maybe we can get a wardrobe change for the specials?).

Yaz: The episode opens with her still emulating the Doctor, as when she thinks fast to open a particularly dangerous door to deal with a squad of Sontarans. Is overjoyed at the Doctor's return... until the Doctor begins rattling off technical terms with no explanation, leaving Yaz complaining, "normal service resumed." When the Doctor apologizes for shutting her out earlier in the season, saying she should have confided in her, Yaz doesn't fully let her off the hook; "Yeah, you should have," she says flatly, but makes clear that she's still willing to listen if the Doctor wants to start including her.

Dan: John Bishop continues to make the most of every small moment Dan gets... Which is fortunate, as for most of the season, small moments are all he does get. He's particularly sidelined here, with releasing a prisoner being the most significant moment he receives. There's a lot going on, so it's understandable that some characters end up underserved. Still, I'm left to wonder why he was even introduced if the season wasn't going to do anything with him.

Professor Jericho: At the opposite extreme... in a mere three episodes, Kevin McNally's Jericho has come to feel like an integral part of the series. He's emerged as my favorite character of the season: a mild-mannered, somewhat fussy academic with a core of steel. He gets some strong scenes here, thinking nothing of putting himself in danger to save his friends. I love his confrontation with a Sontaran who sneers that he's a "nameless human," to which he proudly declares himself to be "Professor Eustacius Jericho, scourge of scoundrels" - only to immediately regret not having written his autobiography, as that would have been such a good title.

The Grand Serpent: Has allied himself with the Sontarans as part of a long-range plan to install himself as Earth's ruler. He is unruffled when the Doctor points out that the Sontarans will inevitably betray him; he's already anticipated as much and plans to beat them to it. He is thrown, however, by how unbothered the Doctor is by his interrogation. When he realizes that she's actually getting information from him rather than the other way around, he tries to just kill her - but it turns out he's picked the wrong day to use his favorite parlor trick...

Swarm: Delights in inflicting pain, both psychological and physical. He teases the Doctor with her hidden memories, using his abilities to obliterate those memories - which manifests as physical agony. He literally disassembles the Doctor, only to rewind her to whole so that he can do it all over again. He and Azure boast that they'll do the same to the universe, rewinding the Flux until everything is intact and then unleashing it again, all to revel in the destruction. Not a smart boast, in this case, as this very plan provides the solution (although that solution is not very clearly communicated by the episode itself).

Azure: Every bit as sadistic as Swarm, as she dangles the Doctor's fobwatch in front of her. But she also has an inquisitive side, glimpsed in an excellent scene in which she asks the Doctor to explain why her valuing of life is better than the Ravagers' appetite for destruction. She doesn't seem to be sneering at the Doctor in that moment.  She is genuinely curious - and when she returns to taunting and tormenting her afterward, there's a sense that she's angry at how unsatisfactory she found the Doctor's answer to be. Rochenda Sandrall has been good all season, and I'm glad this episode allows her this one moment in the spotlight.

The Sontarans: Chris Chibnall again proves how good he is at writing the classic villains. He repeats the balancing act of War of the Sontarans. On the one hand, they are funny and even occasionally ridiculous, as when one Sontaran takes delight in raiding a convenience store's supplies of chocolate. At the same time, they have never been more ruthless. At one point, one gloats to Karvanista about ejecting Lupari out of airlocks to die in space, then mocks his prisoner's fury. Also, the Sontarans' plot to use their enemies to gain dominance over the Flux is genuinely clever, and it might well have succeeded.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart: The Grand Serpent ends up fixating on Kate, who announces herself as the head of the resistance against the Sontaran Occupation. I can't help but wonder if something was left on the cutting room floor, however, because Kate ends up doing very little - certainly nothing that should draw the Serpent's personal attention. At least Jemma Redgrave remains a welcome presence, making the most of her confrontation scene with the Serpent. I just wish she was a bit more central to the episode, and that she had more scenes opposite Jodie Whittaker's Doctor.

Karvanista/Bel/Vinder: Speaking of underserved characters... It's appropriate that these three end up forming a sort of group of their own; after all the setup earlier this season, none of them gets enough of a payoff. Karvanista at least gets a good scene opposite the Doctor, bemoaning that there was a time that he would have done anything for her, and that she rewarded his loyalty by leaving him. Bel and Vinder don't even get that much. On the one hand, their story doesn't go to the obvious ending I had anticipated (once the unborn baby was revealed, I fully expected them to end up being the Doctor's parents); on the other hand, it doesn't particularly go anywhere else. In the end, this season would have been much the same had they not been present at all.


THOUGHTS:

Appropriately enough for a finale, The Vanquishers not only concludes the Flux arc, it also more or less represents it in miniature. All the season's strengths are evident. The episode is fast-paced and well-acted, with a genuine sense of urgency. All three villains are effective: The Sontarans, the Serpent, and the Ravagers all work well, and each group has its own separate agenda. The Doctor is central and proactive, getting at least one good scene opposite each of the villains.

However, the finale's multiple underserved elements make clear that the season tried to do too much. Look at the characters that this episode failed to use. The Bel/Vinder plot comes to nothing particularly interesting; had it been excised from the season, the main thing we'd have lost would have been the Grand Serpent's introduction, which could have been fixed with a slight alteration to Survivors of the Flux. Maybe then, more could have been done to develop the antipathy between the Serpent and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, who is so little-used here that I'm not sure why they bothered. Even Dan, one of the season's regulars, has spent half a season being eclipsed by the more interesting Professor Jericho; why not introduce Jericho in Episode One and make him the male companion for the season, given that unlike Dan he actually does things to advance the story?

I like both season and episode as they stand. Across all six episodes, I've remained engaged and sometimes quite gripped.  Jodie Whittaker is in full command of the role at this point, and every episode has offered at least a couple of very strong dramatic scenes.

The Vanquishers is ultimately a decent finale to an overall pretty good season. I just can't help but feel that, had the redundant threads been removed, the arc might have been tighter and more focused - and the resolution (which I didn't fully catch until my second viewing) might have been a lot clearer.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Story: Survivors of the Flux
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#26 (13.5): Survivors of the Flux.

Dan, Yaz, and Professor Jericho search for answers while marooned in the early 1900s.

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 50 minutes. Written by: Chris Chibnall. Directed by: Azhur Saleem. Produced by: Pete Levy.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor has been taken by The Division, which leaves Yaz, Dan, and Professor Jericho (Kevin McNally) stranded in the early 20th century. The Doctor anticipated this, however, and left Yaz a clue: a hastily recorded message giving her friends a mission to find out anything they can about the invasion that she's sure will come. The search leads them from pyramids to ocean liners... until the answer literally walks through their door in the form of 19th century Liverpool eccentric Joseph Williamson (Steve Oram).

As Yaz and her friends work to unravel the coming plot, the Grand Serpent (Craig Parkinson) is already bringing it to fruition. Using time travel technology of his own, he infiltrates the latter part of the 20th century, nudging UNIT's development just enough to fit his own agenda - while leaving a pile of bodies in his wake.

Meanwhile, the Doctor finds herself on a space station where the mysterious Awsok (Barbara Flynn), leader of The Division, reveals that she unleashed the Flux to destroy the universe. Her reason for doing so? The Doctor herself!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Finally learns the reasons the Flux was unleashed. There's a decent moment when she is tempted by a promise to restore her lost memories... but since we never doubt that she'll refuse, the moment ends up being interesting more for its potential than its realization. Jodie Whittaker has been terrific all season, but this time she comes across a bit flat - probably because her role this time amounts to little more than "receiver of plot information."

Yaz: Takes charge in the Doctor's absence, effectively paying off the question she wrote on her palm: "What Would the Doctor Do?" Stranded in the past, with only a brief message from the Doctor to guide her, she focuses Dan and Professor Jericho on anticipating the alien threat. She also shows a hint of a ruthless side; after a would-be ocean liner assassin avoids questioning by killing himself, she coldly orders her companions to dump his body overboard, which briefly startles both of them.  Mandip Gill is clearly enjoying her turn in the spotlight - and at the same time, looks fantastic in her Edwardian Adventuress getup.

Dan: His Encyclopediac knowledge of Liverpool history comes into play, as he recognizes the name "Joseph Williamson" when the mysterious 19th century traveler (Steve Oram) mentions it. That leads him, Yaz, and Jericho to the Williamson tunnels. When they find Williamson, Dan talks to him "one Scouser to another" - which quickly leads to him being slapped by the historical figure and threatening to slap him right back. Dan's compassion also shows itself when he catches Yaz in a moment of sad contemplation. Knowing the reason, he immediately offers reassurance that they'll see the Doctor again.

Professor Jericho: At this point, Kevin McNally's professor has become a de-facto companion in his own right... and I have absolutely no complaints about that. He, Dan, and Yaz make an engaging trio as they travel around the early 20th century world, hunting down any clue they can find. He's mostly a light comic figure here, but he receives a few moments that remind us that there's more to him than that, notably when he talks about his awareness of the horrors of World War I, only a little more than a decade off from where they've found themselves.

Bel/Vinder: They appear only briefly, just enough to put them in place for the finale. Bel ends up with Karvanista, just as the Lupari shield around Earth reaches a crisis point. Meanwhile, Vinder is captured by the Ravagers - but he seems to have anticipated this, and he declares that he has a plan. At this point, I'm fairly confident about where the Bel/Vinder subplot is going, but I genuinely like both characters and am interested in seeing how they reach their obvious destination.

The Grand Serpent: The Yaz/Dan/Jericho scenes are the episode's most enjoyable, but the Serpent's thread is the most interesting. His infiltration of UNIT allows for a lot of nods to the Classic Series, including references to The War Machines and a very welcome voice cameo. Parkinson's villain is highly effective, his cold disdain apparent even to the men who have allied with him - all of whom eventually come to regret that alliance...

Kate Lethbrige-Stewart: Jemma Redgrave makes a brief return, as we learn the reasons behind UNIT's shutdown. Kate is unfazed as she confronts the Serpent, brushing aside his artificially pleasant demeanor with a cold, "I see you." When he attempts to add her to his list of victims, she "goes dark" - presumably putting her in place for a larger role in the finale.


THOUGHTS:

To get the bad out of the way up front: The resolution to Village of the Angels' brilliant cliffhanger is a gigantic letdown, on the level of "Sarah Jane falls to the safety of a previously unseen ledge." Earlier this season, War of the Sontarans ended on an edge-of-the-seat cliffhanger which was resolved in an unexpected but perfectly in-character manner in Once, Upon Time. Here, the resolution feels like a lazy hand-wave.

I generally enjoyed the rest of Survivors of the Flux. It's probably the season's worst episode - but it earns that title largely by default. It's a set up episode, all about putting pieces in place for the finale, with little real identity of its own. There are a few decent character moments for Yaz and Dan, but this is basically an hour of "plot, plot, and more plot," which leaves little room for strong emotional engagement.

This is also the closest to a Doctor-lite episode that the Chibnall era has delivered. I doubt the Doctor is on screen for more than twenty minutes (if that), and virtually all of her screen time is devoted to Learning What the Plot Is. As I indicated in the "Characters" section, it's as well that she's not in much of it; her thread, while vital in informational terms, is easily the least enjoyable.

Hopefully, all the information imparted here will keep the finale from being a repeat of The Timeless Children's tedious exposition-fest. That said, to me this is the least engaging installment of the season. It's a necessary episode, and perfectly fine for what it is. But taken on its own, it's no more than "OK."


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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