Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, John Bishop, Barbara Flynn, Jo Martin, Kevin McNally, Craige Els, Steve Oram, Nadine Albina, Sam Spruell, Sarah Powell, Jemma Redgrave, Craig Parkinson, Rochenda Sandall, Jacob Anderson, Annabel Scholey, Blake Harrison, Dan Starkey, Robert Bathurst, Jonathan Watson, Barbara Fadden, Paul Broughton, Gerald Kyd, Sue Jenkins, Nicholas Briggs, Bhavnisha Parmar, Alex Frost, Vincent Brimble, Jemma Churchill, Penelope McGhie, Nicholas Blane, George Caple.
The strict progression of time is a falsehood we seem keen to embrace, perhaps it is down to the way we perceive the moment in which we experience our greatest downfall, or relive the expression of triumph, or maybe our collective minds cannot fathom the intimacy of time, how the spirals of individual presence are mutated by the cause and effect of others involvement in the great circle of life.
Whatever the cause, the fluidity of existence is such that a person could lead many lives and yet still not master the ability to live as each one of them was connected, that what they witness in one moment cannot have anything to do with what they see two hundred years hence; connected by time, disconnected by the human inability to change beyond a reasonable expectation; and as such the Flux of Time will forever strip us bare until there is nothing in the Universe that will either inform us, save us, or comfort us.
Flux, the great leveller, the open door of truth, and maybe for Jodie Whittaker’s time at the helm of being a face of The Doctor’s many incarnations, a redeemer of sorts, for whilst the six-part series which, aside from a couple of specials in 2022, will be the last chance viewers will have to watch a long arc unfold as the 13th person to don that character’s many personas, it has always thrown up more questions than answers, and whilst some find that idea frustrating, it at least gives Ms. Whittaker a moment to really get under the skin of the Doctor, to inhabit some of the mania associated with David Tennant and Matt Smith, to feel the depth of sorrow that hung around in the background of both William Hartnell and Christopher Eccleston, and to have some fun in the way that Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker had during their stint as the renegade Timelord.
A final series for Ms. Whittaker, but also for Chris Chibnall, and between them have taken on perhaps more words of insult than any other in their position, not even the genial and likeable Colin Baker suffered as much when it came to how his character was perceived, and whilst perhaps everyone has their opinion, and rightly should be allowed to express them in such a way which demonstrates thought and understanding, and in Flux, for all the ‘timey-wimey’ that last stand is to be seen arguably as a success.
Six episodes, all connected, but seen to be as separate entities, a confusion to some, but in others it works really well, and when you factor in some of the extended characters and devilish monsters and foes faced, it is a smorgasbord of illumination that carries the series onwards.
With the involvement of the superb Kevin McNally, Barbara Flynn, Sam Spruell, Jemma Redgrave, Jo Martin, Steve Oram and John Bishop, as well as Mandip Gill finally given the opportunity to show real force as Yasmin Khan, and the finest ever representation of the creepy and forceful Angels to be captured yet on screen, Flux will stand out in Jodie Whittaker’s time in the Tardis.
It won’t suit everyone, nothing can ever truly appeal to all, but as the sun begins to set on the 13th Doctor, as Time starts to corrode even her vision on the Universe, so it shall surely be noticed that in the flux must come the start of stability, in revolution must come consistency.
Ian D. Hall