Doctor Who: Season 13 finale

  

Created by: Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber, Donald Wilson

Written and Produced by: Chris Chibnall

Starring: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yaz), John Bishop (Dan Lewis)

And the story lived up to the expectation! 

I always prefer a series/season that has a concise story or at least that has a core plot that continues to progress through a season, even if there are a lot of filler. Doctor Who is sadly episodic most of the time. (Yet it continues to be one of my favorite shows.) A few seasons of the reboot (2005 onward) have had core season-long stories, and usually most companions have their own season-long story. The strongest one in my opinion was season 6 which had the Silence, Amy, Rory, and River, all of whom had their own individual stories which intertwined beautifully. This "Flux" season was advertised as being one long story, so I knew that I would probably enjoy it more than usual. 

I loved that Flux brought back old aliens and introduced new ones. I usually think that's the best way to move forward with old shows like this--using old, proven-successful pieces and introducing new, interesting components. It doesn't seem possible to have an era (era defined by a regeneration) of Doctor Who without bringing back Daleks once or a dozen times, but it was also nice to see the Silence referenced, and to have an entire episode focused on Weeping Angels, with a unique twist to it. That was quite a treat. And the new aliens were very nice, too: notably Swarm and Azure, two heavily make-up'd agents of destruction and death. 

I also enjoyed the newest companion. Dan was introduced a little oddly.... the show never explained while an alien from a race claiming to represents all humans (men?) only swooped in to rescue him, when theoretically his entire race was present. It's very possible I missed something there. But regardless, I really enjoyed his character, and I felt like I got to know him more in this short season than I did Graham and Ryan in their two full seasons. I got a much better sense of his personality, which was silly and quirky but brave, and I'm excited that he's slated to return at least for the upcoming two specials. I hope that he remains in the TARDIS beyond Whittaker, who has been confirmed to leave. I also hope Yaz stays; she was the strongest of 13's companions before, and she maintains a strong presence of confidence, bravery, and intelligence that I really enjoy watching. Plus, I don't remember any companions of the reboot staying in the TARDIS for multiple regenerations besides Rose, the very first one. After Rose, each regeneration has brought its own new set of companions. I find this to be sad because it can be jarring enough to switch Doctors without having to learn about a whole new set of companions simultaneously. I suppose I should amend that to Clara also--but she was barely exposed to Matt Smith before he became Peter Capaldi. 

As for the Flux's finale, I did feel that it was a bit rushed. Well, "rushed" might not be the most accurate word, seeing as they only had six episodes to tell the story and I did think that the story breathed. Maybe my feeling is more that the problems were "fixed" a bit quickly. The titular flux refers to a massive wave of antimatter sweeping across the universe, destroying everything. The solution to this was proposed and enacted very quickly without a whole lot of explaining (or my understanding) in between. And those antagonists, Swarm and Azure, were also dealt with pretty quickly. They basically went from thinking they'd won in one moment to being killed in the next and I was barely aware of the tables turning before they already had. Still, both events did make sense, even if they felt sudden. 

The season as a whole was very good and very enjoyable. No episode felt boring and every character, even the side ones, felt interesting and (mostly) necessary. This is a great ending for Whittaker's era because the writing she's had to mostly act under has felt sadly limiting. I'm really happy she had more of a chance to shine, and hopefully the upcoming specials--her last two stories--will continue that trend. 

PS- I really want to see more of Jo Martin's fugitive Doctor and Sacha Dhawan's Master. And I really want to know more about this Fugitive Doctor! Which was hinted at in the finale of this season, thankfully.