Doctor Who kicks off 2022 with a stellar time loop episode
A self-contained story inspires one of the best episodes of the Thirteenth Doctor's run
TV Reviews Doctor Who
Happy New Year, indeed! After sort of biffing it with the Flux finale, writer/showrunner Chris Chibnall kicks off 2022 with one of the best episodes of his era to date. It’s a distinction I’ve given to a few other hours before, including, most recently, the Weeping Angels installment of Flux. But “Eve Of The Daleks” almost plays like a best-of tribute to the highlights of the Chibnall era. It combines the quirky weirdness of “It Takes You Away” with the emotionally fueled pyrotechnics of “Resolution” and the sort of fantastic guest casting that elevated “Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror” and “Fugitive Of The Judoon.” Watching a stellar episode of Chibnall Who can be as frustrating as it is exhilarating because it makes you wonder why the show can’t just be this good all the time. But in the optimistic spirit of the New Year, let’s celebrate the present rather than dwelling on the past.
A big part of the reason “Eve Of The Daleks” works so well is because it starts with a great, simple premise. Time loops have long been fodder for some really fun sci-fi television (I’m looking at you Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Cause And Effect”). And while “Eve Of The Daleks” doesn’t reach the heights of “Heaven Sent” (what could?) it’s still a masterful use of the form. One of the first things this episode does right is to let its characters in on the time loop as quickly as possible, so we don’t have any of that annoying “waiting for our heroes to figure out stuff we already know” period. And the other thing it does right is to mix up each loop, not just with how its characters act within them but also with a ticking time clock that sees the loop get shorter by one minute each time it resets.
I’m sure there are no shortage of nits to pick with the time loop’s internal logic, which does seem to bend to whatever the episode needs it to in the moment. But where “Eve Of The Daleks” elevates itself above much of Chibnall’s previous output is the way it prioritizes character over exposition. Instead of getting bogged down in lengthy technobabble monologues that only ever serve to make plot holes seem more prominent, “Eve Of The Daleks” breezes past the time loop details in a way that makes it easier for the audience to breeze past them too. The point here isn’t to hash out every how and why, it’s to use the episode’s self-contained setting to force its characters to do some serious self-reflecting.
“Eve Of The Daleks” smartly realizes that a time loop provides a perfect metaphor for people who feel stuck in their lives—whether they’re bogged down by a job they hate, like storage facility owner Sarah (Aisling Bea). Or weighed down by an unrequited crush they’re too afraid to act on, like her sole customer Nick (Adjani Salmon). And while this episode likely still would’ve been a success if it had relied on its two incredibly charming guest performers to carry all the emotional weight, Chibnall elevates the hour by bringing the Doctor and Yaz into the fold too.
The Doctor is stuck in a loop of denial about the pain of the past and the consequences of her actions. Yaz, meanwhile, is finally explicitly revealed to be stuck in her own unrequited love story too—one she’s only just coming to realize herself. Like many a Doctor/companion pairing before them, Yaz and the Doctor are caught in that nebulous space of deeply felt but unacknowledged emotions. And that’s been coloring their actions for longer than either of them have been willing to admit.
It’s wonderful to see Doctor Who present a same-sex Doctor/companion romance as casually as it has with male Doctors and female companions in the past. Indeed, everything that unfolds in “Eve Of The Daleks” feels incredibly true to who the show’s characters are, which is a basic tenet of storytelling that Chibnall has really struggled with in the past. Thanks to the four years Dan and Yaz spent traveling the 1900s together in “Survivors Of The Flux,” he knows her as well as any two companions ever have (Dan is really more of Yaz’s companion than the Doctor’s). And coupled with his own experience being stuck in unrequited love with Diane, he becomes a much needed outside influence for forcing his two traveling partners to take stock of how they actually feel.
It’s great, great stuff, elevated not just by the propulsive thrill ride of the episode’s timey-wimey plot, but also by how genuinely funny “Eve Of The Daleks” is too. A big part of the humor comes from the genius of casting Aisling Bea, an Irish comedian who could wring a laugh out of reading the phone book. But Chibnall also writes solid jokes here too, from the way layabout employee Jeff is deployed as an unseen influence over the entire episode to funny lines like Nick’s uncertainty about whether a killer robot time loop is more unbelievable than three people from the council working on New Year’s Eve. (Equally great is the bit where Yaz, Dan, and Sarah all silently try to work out whether Nick is a serial killer who keeps trophies of his victims.)
Also intriguing are the thematic threads this episode sets up for the final two specials of Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as the Doctor. The fact that the Daleks arrive to hold the Doctor accountable for sacrificing millions of their kind to the Flux at least implies that Chibnall knows what the Doctor did was wrong, even if the Doctor herself still seems weirdly chill about doing a triple genocide. On the other end of the spectrum, the Doctor’s big monologue about humanity’s power to learn, improve, and come together after failing is perhaps her most inspiring moment to date; a guiding philosophy that feels distinct to this iteration of the Doctor.
More than anything “Eve Of The Daleks” winds up being a tribute to “good-hearted weirdos”—a sentiment that allows the episode to be sweet without falling into full-on treacle. Sarah and Nick’s love story is all the better for how quirky and specific it is, just as the time loop structure is all the better for how many unexpected detours it takes. (I especially like the “decoy loop” the TARDIS team deploy as their second-to-last go.) If Chibnall can keep up this energy for his final two specials, 2022 could turn out to be a really great year for Doctor Who, indeed.
Stray observations
- This is a fantastic episode for Dan. I love how long he was able to stay alive against a Dalek just by getting close enough to spin ahead of its gunstick. And John Bishop is really great in all his more serious, dramatic scenes with Whittaker and Mandip Gill.
- It’s a great little detail that Sarah can’t put her phone on silent, but I was expecting it to come back somehow—like as a way for her the team to find her or something.
- At one point Dan says that the Doctor “saved the entire universe last week,” so maybe we’re supposed to think she undid the catastrophic initial Flux wave somehow?
- The guy who enjoys the private fireworks show is Karl the crane operator from “The Woman Who Fell To Earth.”
- Doctor Who will return in the spring with Whittaker and Chibnall’s penultimate episode, “Legend Of The Sea Devils.”
153 Comments
This was good. I enjoyed this.
It’s a shame Jodie Whittaker’s run is almost over. Given enough room to breathe inside of the episodes, she’s really lovely as the Lady Doctor.
Instead of manic and edited to death.
Hoping the 14th doctor is a brunette Jodie Whittaker
Ginger, surely?
I’m beginning to wonder if Jodie is a problem and it’s not just the writing. She still hasn’t been able to project any sense of gravitas to her role as the Doctor, no sense of command or authority. Not even a dark side unless you see not telling your companions anything as a dark side. You get the sense from the other Nu Who Doctors that they could just blow everything up within seconds if they wanted to. That was part of their struggle, their guilt in doing so in the past and awareness of how easy it is to do. Is it the writing that causes her to have none of the Doctor’s strength or is it her?
I think it’s possible she didn’t fight agressively to define her character and give a better center to her Doctor.To be fair, I don’t know if she came in with the clout of some of the other actors, like Capaldi, and it may still be part of the Doctor Who/BBC DNA that even a fairly high status actor like Eccleston can’t get away with much, so she may have been warned off.But ultimately I suspect a big part of her problem was pushing Chibnall with character ideas was like pushing Wolf Blitzer to be a better journalist. You can’t push a rope up a hill.I can believe Davies or Moffat might have responded to at least some ideas from Tennant or Smith about defining traits of their Doctors. I think Chibnall wasn’t really sure why his Doctor needed any defining traits in the first place.
I think her ‘dark side’ is precisely her breezy obliviousness and refusal to engage with anyone at any more than the most superficial level – or even to examine her own actions and impact.
Remember Graham opening up to her emotionally about his illness and her just…not really having listened to him or understood anything he’s saying? And of course her absolute (and not particularly convincing) refusal to understand what Dan meant about Yaz?
Whether deliberate or not (and I honestly can’t tell) it’s ended up as a rather clever subversion of the gender essentialist expectation that the first female Doctor would somehow be a more friendly and nurturing presence, whereas in fact she’s Colin Baker levels of brutally detached.
The writing during Chibnall’s run has been uneven, but I think the issue here might be you, not the show. I think Whittaker’s performance entirely captures the conflicting strands of The Doctor as a fun, charming, curious, compassionate goofball with an iron will and vast experience with horror and mayhem. There are moments when it doesn’t entirely work for me however, and I think it’s because her accent and vocal range aren’t what we’re used to for authoritative figures saving the day, either on Doctor Who, or in TV in general.This is why ‘first whatever’ representation matters in art, because it expands our sense of what’s possible.
I completely see what you are saying and am aware that it might just be me as I’m seeing a figure traditionally presented as male but being portrayed by a woman. I also think Chibnall wrote her to have more feminine attributes than the others. Still, there seems to be something missing with her Doctor that I and others have raised issue with. While Chibnall hasn’t given her much to chew on plot wise, I wonder if she is able to elevate what she has been given. I do really like her and see a lot if potential in her character, I just feel like she’s not fully hitting that potential
I agree that we could be getting better stories with Jodie Whittaker, and I am wholly unqualified to judge exactly where things fall short, but my impression is that when the stories are strong, like most of her first season, she’s excellent, and when they aren’t (like the season 1 finale), she’s still likable. I would really love to see her bouncing off of Tenant and Smith for the anniversary.
Doctor 13 has different demons and questions than 9, 10, & 11. #12 would also burn it all down, too.Whittaker may have also decided to something different considering the four performances that came before her. But flightly is not my favorite look in a Doctor.
I like my doctors to be the smartest guy in the room and glad to let you know it, which is why I like classic Doctors 3, 4, and 6 the most. For all that, 11 was downright bipolar.Chibnall seems to like the Doctor fairly manic and the show itself to be manic, too (like RTD did) .
Definitely one of Chibnall’s best episodes. Love Aisling Bea, and good to be back to a mostly stand-alone format.It’s a shame we probably won’t get any episode next holiday special, given that they’ve said Chibnall’s last episode will be in Autumn 2022, and RTD’s first episode back will be the 60th Anniversary in November 2023.
It’ll be the first time without a new Who at Christmas/New Year’s since it came back in 2005.
Aisling Bea was remarkably funny in this, loved her intensity going at it with the doctor too, and briefly Dan before Yaz told her to back off, Dan was her mate, so insulting him was her job. Also loved her calling the Daleks who annoyingly kept murdering her “robots,” and when corrected with their actual name only conceding by calling them “robots with a stupid name”
“Robots with a stupid name” felt a lot like Aisling playing herself in the episode, but it did make me laugh.
I suspect Aisling improvised or rewrote much of her dialogue & I’m not sorry
She reminded me a lot of Emily Hampshire, which is a plus in my book.
Emily Hampshire is a better actress but Aisling Bea is even funnier, yeah that is a good comparison
I liked it too, although I damn it with faint praise in that while it was a good episode and possibly his best, it felt like a better than average regular season episode under RTD or Moffat.
Is it really that long until the first RTD episode? So we’ve got almost two years to wait until the first episode with the next Doctor even though Jodie’s only got two episodes left?
Oof. I know Covid has everything a mess, but it seems like these constant long layoffs have been an issue since even before that was a factor.
Chibnall is much better when he sets rules for himself and sticks to them. He has this tendency to move the goalpost to whatever new idea he has and you just don’t know when anything is actually important to the story anymore. Say what you want about Moffat but he only changed the rules when it made for a good story and was usually good at justifying it
Honestly thought it might be one of Chibnall’s worse if I’m honest.- We had a side character in Nick who frankly just comes across as a creep who not only stores his exes’ stuff for years almost as trophies but uses it as a reason to have any contact with Sarah in a “confusing retail courtesy for interest” way, who in turn is stomped on for finding such a situation a massive red flag.- We had tedious monologueing that may not have been on how the time loop worked but was about everything else as the Daleks go from shooting first to such examples as randomly letting Dan badger on about “speaking to the manager” as a distraction for a good minute or so before Dan then for some reason just stops distracting the Dalek and let’s himself be killed.- The timeloop logic being broken near the end where suddenly the Daleks no longer remember the events of previous loops… despite previously being shown to do so.- And worst of all we had a return to the worst aspects of companion writing from the previous eras of NuWho, which is confusing “companion stares longingly at unreciprocating Doctor” for a character arc. The fact Chibnall’s literally only introducing these “feelings” of Yaz with two specials left (and no, them being friends in prior series and that being assumed to be romance isn’t the same) comes across as “fuck, we need to make it seem we had anything planned for her given we shitcanned the whole “I want to be a cop” thing.”
Agreed, I thought it was rubbish. Didn’t make good use of the time loop concept at all. The Nick/Sarah stuff was so weird and poorly handled.
I’m pretty ambivalent on the “Companion falls for the Doctor” trick myself. I actually never had a problem with Martha or Rose (or Amy, though that was mostly subverted), but I do think it’s a weak character device especially when it’s so repetitive. But it has been a long while since it happened, and I don’t think that this one sprung out of nowhere exactly. It certainly wasn’t built up properly, but you can see in Yaz’s frustration with 13 all through Flux that there’s perhaps a little more than a friend getting a cold shoulder. I definitely gave it some thought a few times before this episode, but I had figured it was my imagination since nothing actually came of it.
It’s been a gap of exactly one companion, Bill, as you’re forgetting Clara Oswald and her thing for Eleven.Only feels like a longtime because Chibnall’s been so bad at putting out episodes.
I’m not forgetting Clara, who was if anything way less of a romantic option than Amy, who I think was only intermittently used that way to subvert the expectations built by Rose and Martha.
Yeah, it’s not subversion when the show openly admits she was into the Doctor. It’s just the same trope again.
Sure whatever
The thing with Amy and 11 was weird and it felt like Moffat started with the plan of having some sort of romantic plot but changed course a few episodes in. I also felt it came out of the undeniable chemistry between Karen and Matt.You could be generous and say it’s actually some character building and have it show how immature Amy is when they first meet but that feels generous
The scripts were probably written before the casting, so I doubt it was that. It’s probably more just one weird scene that even Moffat regrets putting in.
I think that is part of the Doctor’s neuropsycopathy—he or she keeps doing what he/she does in the way that he/she does so that a naive young companion will become infatuated and ultimately obsessed, only to be dumped (or killed) so the Doctor can start the whole sick cycle over again.
A bit harsh, but yeah. That most companions become initially infatuated with the Doctor is a given because of the way that they live their lives. The mistake some people make is thinking that this infatuation is always some sort of romantic plot device, and not an almost necessary result of a person leaving home to go frolicking through space and time with an alien (especially an alien who is usually quite easy on the eyes).
I think the Doctor intends for it to happen, and makes his (or her) choice of companion primarily based on the likelihood that it will happen. Notice it’s always the young and pretty girls that wind up falling for him in a fanatical sort of way, and all of them have a certain obsessive nature. It’s not just about the adventures. The men and the less conventionally attractive women aren’t the companions who develop that sort of obsessive feelings for him, only to be abandoned or killed. It follows a pattern. The Doctor isn’t the good guy that he’s made out to be. He’s kind of a mind-fucking psycho.
I’m not sure I follow you here, since — given that Doctor Who is, well, a scripted fictional television show, not real life — it pretty much is a plot device. And it’s one that only really applies to the modern series at that; for better or for worse, the classic show went twenty-six years without feeling the need to have every companion fall obsessively in love with the Doctor (Sarah Jane doesn’t count, as that’s a pretty clear retcon in the modern series). Outside of fan-subtext, most of the classic companions were pretty clearly just intended to be “mates having space-time adventures” in the Donna mould, except with less loudly asserting that they were just friends to make it clear to the shippers (with a few exceptions, granted; Romana II being the big one, though that’s arguably in large part because the actors themselves were having a relationship and it came through in the performances rather than necessarily being intentionally written that way). There’s nothing fundamental about the show that states that the Doctor and the companion have to have romantic tension; like it or not, the classic series clearly demonstrates that the dynamics between companion and Doctor don’t have to operate purely on romantic or sexual interest. It’s arguably there in large part because fans like to engage in shipping main characters, and a certain amount of unresolved romantic / sexual tension is accordingly an expected trope in modern television, even outside of Doctor Who. And, of course, it’s there to facilitate plots and subplots.
Sorry, I was unclear. I’m not arguing that it’s not a plot device, but that it’s not the same “companion falls in love with the Doctor” plot device every single time. While both Rose and Martha did actually fall for the Doctor, I don’t think any companion actually has since, even though they flirt with the idea pretty much every go around, including a lot of one-off or intermittent companions. Actually, I think Donna had the same sort of infatuation, since she did upend her entire life after meeting the Doctor in an attempt to meet him again. It’s just her personality (and metanarrative considerations) that kept it from manifesting into something overtly sexual.You’re right that there’s nothing fundamental about Doctor Who that requires romantic tension, but it is something fundamental to NuWho. A lot of other criticism follows the way the Doctor is written in the reboot, including being overpowered and facing too many universe ending threats. But while RTD and Moffat get plenty of criticism for NuWho, the people who tend to hate particular companions always heap their criticism on the way the companions are written or played, not on the way the Doctor is. The Doctor is a pretty wizard who can do almost anything. As a cishet male, I’ve been in love with the Doctor since I first saw him. It’s not a surprise that everyone the show puts in their vicinity feels the same way, at least for a moment.
Ah, right, I get you now.
The Daleks have many flaws, and one of them is needing the last word, which has often led them into silly arguments and digressions in the past. Remember the Dalek/Cyberman ‘identify yourself/no, you identify yourself’ argument from Army of Ghosts? Correcting Dan for treating it like a sales clerk is just as important as exterminating him.As for the time loop logic, the Doctor’s plan was to make the Daleks think they were going in one direction when they actually went in another, and the Doctor would spoof their sensors so the Daleks would fall for it. It’s what she said and it’s what they did. It’s actually unusually straightforward for one of the Doctor’s plans, and it happens, for once, exactly as outlined.
Thing is though that in RTDs day remained consistent. Here one moment they’re just shooting immediately and the next monologueing because they need to stretch the run time.Also the problem with the time loop is that Chibnall got cocky and had one loop where the Daleks work out if they take out the power the humans are easy prey only in the next and final loop not do it for no reason (probably because he wrote himself into a corner).
Baddies on Doctor Who are always as chatty as the story needs them to be, so I don’t share you disdain for how it played out in this episode, and yeah, they could have made things harder by cutting the power every time, and then the Doctor would have to restore it, and I suppose Mr. Chibnall just decided not to bother with those bits to keep the run time on target. Sorry you didn’t like this episode that I enjoyed.
There was a lot of romantic subtext to Yaz’s actions in the previous season. But I agree with you, as soon as it was actually talked about and made real, I rolled my eyes because here we go again. Thus meaning Donna is still the best single companion, followed by Billie with the combination of Amy and Rory bringing up the rear. They’ve did some good stuff with Yaz this past season but this is the one thing her character didn’t need.
I hated the Yaz reveal. Hated it. For three seasons. Everybody complained about Yaz not having enough character development or any sort of motivation for being with the Doctor. In this episode, she’s finally given something-she has a crush on the Doctor. That’s it. There’s your character development. So, yeah, that was the same thing with Martha except Martha was a more fully realized character who added other things to the show. Yaz was pointless.This is the third (fourth?) time they had either the Doctor or the Companion have a romantic interest in the other. While it sort of worked with Rose (and River), it dragged down other seasons. It put a damper on Martha’s run. It also hurt 11’s time with Clara as it held back her character development. If the plot has been done with almost every Companion and the fans hate it and it hurts the show, why continuously go to that well? The show works so much better when there is no romantic plot line at all- like 10 with Donna or the entirety of 12’s run.Ugh (says person who believers it’s totally okay for characters on a show be platonic friends and hates how they always have to pair characters up)
Fifth. Rose, Martha, Amy, Clara, and now Yaz.Donna is the lone NuWho companion with a compatible sexuality to their Doctor who hasn’t wanted to fucked them.
This is Jack Harkness erasure.
Ryan and Graham didn’t want to bone 13 as far as we know.
True. Also the 1st Doctor’s companions. The rest in Classic Who I’m not so sure about…
I think sometimes it works. The chemistry between the 4th Doctor and Romana II is one of the most enjoyable parts of Seasons 17 and 18, for example. Whereas at other times, as with Martha, it just consumes the character (and the season around it), preventing her from receiving any deeper characterization.
Intellectually I agree with all of your complaints and I think they’re well made but I still liked this episode. Idk maybe it was just nice to have a self-contained smaller scale episode after how ridiculously over the top “Flux” got but I thought it was one of the better Chibnall episodes, which of course isn’t saying much. But I agree with your criticism of the “time loop”. The rules of it weren’t explained and it seemed to be inconsistentAnd I really hated the Yaz thing
For me it being less terrible than the absolute mess that was Flux isn’t enough to give it a pass. There are plenty of great time-loop stories out there, many told in a far shorter runtime because those shows have to work in ads, so the fact he managed to balls it up by bloating unnecessarily during the first two acts (to be honest, if they didn’t have Nick would it have been any different if it’s just Bea’s character stuck on a crappy night shift and discovers the Tardis and events unfold) only to then drastically cut things short in the final act, seemingly going against its established logic, just to end things.Did they even explain why they had to escape the building to begin with and couldn’t just have waited out the timeloop?
I think Flux might be the worst season of Doctor Who ever. That doesn’t make this episode good, because, as you noted, it really bungles its central concept, which had lots of potential. It’s a shame.
I don’t know if it’s the objectively worst series ever because it’s extremely different but it’s definitely the most wasted one.
Well, it’s got a lot of competition. It’s hard to be a worse season of tv than one that has Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe in it, or Timelash, The Mark of the Rani, and Attack of the Cybermen. Chibnall did make a valiant effort, however.
The fact Chibnall’s literally only introducing these “feelings” of Yaz
with two specials left (and no, them being friends in prior series and
that being assumed to be romance isn’t the same) comes across as “fuck,
we need to make it seem we had anything planned for her given we
shitcanned the whole “I want to be a cop” thing.”
I dunno given the natural chemistry that Jodie and Mandip have and the one or two references we’ve had in previous episodes (Yaz’s mother asking if the Doctor and Yaz were dating in Arachnids in the UK), I’m actually happy with this development…even if it feels late in the game.Fans have been shipping 13 and Yaz since their first season, so I think it’s nice that the show is acknowledging that a F/F pairing is a possibility with this Doctor….especially cause each of the previous Doctors had at least hints of romantic stories. So it would’ve been a bit awkward if after having years of doing M/F pairings between a Doctor and a companion, they decided to avoid the topic completely with a female Doctor when the first chance to have a queer relationship came up.
I can’t say it’s one of Chibnall’s worst just because he’s had so many awful ones. It was one of his better ones, I guess, but definitely a lower tier new run episode, though.The big problem is that it was just too slack — scenes that dragged and lacked urgency to match the setting, poorly thought out character mechanics, trouble writing efficient dialogue, the usual Chibnall problems.I think he was a little better than usual putting together a puzzle box, but the solution seemed pretty simple, like solving a 32 piece jigsaw instead of anything more clever.The character mechanics were increasingly bad — I noticed it was about 36 minutes in to a 48 minute episode before Dan had anything to do, and as many have said the big Yaz reveal felt stapled on, like a lost pet flier on a crowded coffee shop bulletin board.The Mary-Nick piece might have been OK if the companions weren’t there, but I think writing for five stretched Chibnall past his breaking point — juggling four humans and the Doctor was just too much for him and he couldn’t keep that many balls in the air.And the time loop introduced enough complexity that he ended up wasting a bit too much time sorting it out that he needed budgeted for other purposes. Now, Chibnall has managed to make a bigger mess of stories where he didn’t even have these constraints. I think he managed to get across the finish line without a complete foul out. But it wasn’t more than an OK effort, and considering it’s almost a wrap up for a big piece of the franchise, it’s a disappointment. Just not as much as the end of the Flux.
I thought it was pretty good, better than the last New Year special, not quite as good as the first one (Resolution). Seems a bit late in the game to be exploring Yaz’s feelings for the Doctor (though it has been hinted at in the past), seeing as they only get two more episodes together, unless Yaz sticks around for Doctor 14, which I highly doubt. Better late than never, I guess.
I agree with the Daleks about as often as I agree with Fox News, but in this case they were correct: the Doctor was responsible.
That’s nothing new. In The Doctor’s Daughter, Ten said, “Then you need to get yourself a better dictionary. When you do, look up genocide. You’ll see a little picture of me there” and every Who fan shouted at the screen: “Because you keep doing it, you idiot!”
“The Daleks do not have friends”“Well you really have no one to blame for that but yourselves”
There were some great Dalek one-liners in this to add to the pile.
“The Daleks do not have friends”“Well you really have no one to blame for that but yourselves”Well, if this is how they treat people who offer to help them, what do they expect? Bit of an own goal there Davros, wasn’t it?
If this is true then that means all of those dangling threads from the Flux episodes, like the total destruction of the universe, is still out there as a thread. Meaning that the universe is still destroyed and nobody seems to notice or care
Technically the Santorans set the trap of having the flux destroy both the Darlek and the Cybermen armies. She is only guilty of not warning them and given their natures I consider her decision a valid option. It also appears there are some Daleks who didn’t die in the flux and are still “exterminating” anything that is not them. Now when it comes to the Santorans… she did plot to highjack the Lupar shield leading to their genocide so they have a valid reason to want revenge. Provided there are any left.
Or weighed down by an unrequited crush they’re too afraid to act on, like her sole costumer Nick (Adjani Salmon). They must be cutting the budget on Dr. Who if Salmon had to act and be the costumer as well.
Well, we definitely know who’s been cutting the budget for proofreaders if nothing else!
Frankly I’m not surprised that Thirteen has closed herself off to Yaz, or at least tried to; besides (probably) remembering how things went down with both Rose and Martha, she could still think of herself as River’s widow. And man, did John Bishop leave me eating crow after being skeptical of his casting. Dan is proving to be a worthy addition to the team.
I’m glad that Yaz is going to admit her feelings for the doctor, to herself finally & presumably to the doctor. I think the doctor feels the same but I am a bit mystified why she is so closed off, maybe like you say because these things have in the past not proven to be a good idea, or maybe more specific to her current identity crisis, or because she knows she does not have much time left.
I think it makes sense when you consider her previous incarnation had quite a string of painful experiences relating to “having friends whatsoever” haha
I would hope that if there’s a reason, it is to do with her having some sort of identity crisis, and not because of River or past companions. Each iteration of the Doctor seems to be distinct enough that they don’t usually seem to carry much baggage from their past selves beyond their general ennui or whatever the Timelord equivalent of ennui is. I think it would be weird if she decided that she couldn’t be with anyone because of past relationships, especially since humans rarely seem to let that sort of thing stop them.Whatever the reason is, I’m absolutely ready for her to at least stop treating Yaz like shit and then immediately apologizing for being a jerk. I don’t need a romantic kiss on the moonlit beach of whatever planet they were supposed to be going to in this episode (though let’s not rule anything out) but I would really appreciate her just stopping for like five minutes to figure out how to stop that whole cycle entirely. I suspect that won’t be coming in the next special though.
But you have to admit there’s potential comedy value from the Doctor having to admit to Yaz that she’s already got a wife, don’t you think?
She also said she wouldn’t be so closed off at the end of the last episode. So, goodbye to that big character development
When Dan and Yaz were talking, I remembered River’s line “You don’t expect a sunset to admire you back” and thought there’s no way Chibnall comes close to that.
I like Bishop but like every companion in the Chibnall era he has astonishingly long stretches of screen time where he does and says nothing to move the story. It’s a mystery why he’s here. But then it’s often a mystery in the Chibnall era why the Doctor is in an episode.
I’ll give this one some credit in at least making it clear by halfway through what her presence was doing to drive the plot.
I’m enjoying Dan’s attempts to arm himself against hostile aliens. Although at least a wok proved a more useful weapon against a Sontaran in Flux, than his steam iron and ski against a Dalek here.
Not even a bat!
One of my favorite hints something might be up with the doctor & Yaz, from “Arachnids in the UK,” when Yaz’s mum observantly wonders if they are dating. Yaz defensively denies it, but the doctor isn’t sureIn this episode I loved how excited Yaz was to have time on a beach with the doctor to have personal talk & yet of course that was cruelly dashed
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this stellar, but it was surprisingly good. It was entertaining and funny, and it actually kept my interest throughout, which very little of Flux was able to consistently do. That said, the whole framework of the episode is a mess. Is Nick really Sarah’s only customer at the business that she’s somehow been running for three years without seemingly checking to make sure her boyfriend(?) hasn’t cordoned off half a floor to live in with his tens of thousands of cans of expired canned beef? I’d fall into a hole questioning any part of the why any of this happening.
Also, I disagree with the idea that it’s better to just breeze past time loop details. It might be that all time loops end up with some bootstrap paradox or plot holes or else get way too bogged down with the rules, but I think the fun of these stories is how well they define the rules and then work within them, and this time loop had very few rules. I couldn’t really follow why they kept appearing in different locations, nor how one of the only rules (that Nick had to survive past 12:55, because he died at that time so he wouldn’t come back if time started later than that) was suddenly not a problem in the next cycle when Nick and Sarah seemed to die as soon as they respawned. As a story using a time loop, this episode was good, but as a time loop story I thought it was a terrible example of the form.
Did she not mean “only customer on New Year’s Eve”? I thought that’s what was implied, not the only customer ever. That’s what I took from it anyway.
I guess she might mean that, but it sure doesn’t clear up why she’s getting to work at midnight on New Years when she knows only one person is coming. I don’t actually know how storage places work, especially old and outdated ones, but I just assumed Nick should have his key on him.
The Doctor is, for all intents and purposes, an infinite being. They have steadfastly refused to date companions because companions have such fleeting lives. Even Rose only got a human-ish mortal clone. So, if DW wanted an LGBT relationship, they would have River re-manifest herself, which would have been nice. Especially since there has been a lack of continuity with the past when Captain Jack got himself banned. I’m sad for JW because of the lack of ambition, imagination and commitment to character the writers have shown.I like JW and suspect there is a lot fan fiction out there better than what ended up onscreen.
Oh please, the entire reason the second season of the reboot was pretty bad was because it was all about how Rose and Ten were totally “twu wub”.Rose was a complete bitch to Sarah Jane because she thought someone was going to take Ten away from her.
That did allow for a pretty good gag when they were trying to outdo each other about their adventures, and Sarah-Jane’s Loch Ness Monster finally impresses Rose.
I think Thirteen might end up like Eight with their best work being dubiously canonical (even by Doctor Who standards) Big Finish stories.
I normally like the timey wimey concept episodes, but this one was just so poorly handled. It either failed to set up its rules, or set them up and seemingly ignored them. I don’t want to sound nitpicky, but it’s like they kept everything so vague I was constantly wondering what was actually going on. Like, -What exactly was the goal? Just getting out? Living past midnight? Living until the loops ran out? All of the above? -How was the mom calling every loop if the loop was contained to the building?-They said Nick would be permanently dead if he died before 5 to midnight, which I assumed meant anything in the first minute was permanent, but then Sarah died in like 30 seconds during the loop where the power got cut and was totally fine?-And then after that the Daleks never cut the power again? A game changer that gave the Daleks a huge advantage, and the ultimate expression of the Daleks learning after every loop, but then they just… Don’t anymore? Not only do they not repeat this, they stop doing anything new at all?-How did getting out of the loop solve the Dalek threat when the two things were explicitly unrelated?And is that really it for the TARDIS problems? It’s just fixed now?
As soon as the boxes of fireworks appeared I knew it had to somehow be a “Chekhov’s Gun” that would ultimately tie it to New Year’s celebrations. The real villain in the story is the guy near the end recording the fireworks on a vertical video.
They were never going to top the ultimate Chekhov’s Fireworks Factory.Definitely no questions about when they were getting there as they were already in it!
Oh… so you’re just obsessed with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D?
I honestly haven’t even thought about it in over a year at least. Also, excluding this comment, I’ve only mentioned it twice with examples relevant to the subject at hand which reminded me of the show (time loops in general and foreshadowing with fireworks).
“Are the two fire guys fighting in a fireworks factory?”“You had to have seen that coming.”I’m butchering the quote but still a fun bit, mainly remembered cause I visited the AV Club comments page more than once where that exhcange was highlighted.Shame we never got any follow-up with Hellfire, might have been nice to give him a chance to redeem himself. Although, Vijay is definitely the biggest lose end.
I legit thought that Karl was Jeff. Mainly because they spent the entire episode talking about Jeff then they cut to Some Man We’ve Never Seen Before. They could have at least clarified who that dude was. I also agree that I found the main male love interest super creepy incredibly an inconvenience because imagine if I went to The AV Club Home Office whenever you worked just to linger and put something in for an excuse to put something in. I legit believe he murdered all of his exes. It’s like Black Christmas (2019) or La La Land when they cast this creep as the love interest.Finally why not call the episode “Happy Dalek Day” it’s Happy Death Day with Daleks, c’mon. But yeah I kinda feel for Yaz, the poor lass is finally going to explain her unrequited love and then Jodie Whittaker’s gonna turn into That Gay Man Off Years And Years. Oli Lincolnson? Oli Robinson? Oli Whittaker???
I also assumed Karl was Jeff. I even scanned the credits to make sure, but had no idea who Karl was before coming here. It was a really weird callback. He looked a little familiar, but it’s not like having Russell Tovey’s ears show up again as Alonso when 10 was doing his goodbye tour.
Post your favourite time loop stories here!“I died?! Again?”Agents of SHIELD, still sorely missed. Come on Feige, there’s a multiverse now. How about giving at least some of our favourites agents a go now?Probably the best film featuring a Hemsworth brother too with this film:My brother who usually hates my choice in most things said this one was “all right”, which is high praise indeed when it comes to anything I suggest, so hopefully most of you who haven’t seen it will think it’s pretty good. I’ve seen people putting together very elaborate spreadsheets tracking everything that happens just for the fun of it but the big points aren’t too complex to follow, I highly recommend this one!And of course …
That AoS episode is fantastic, and I thought of it at least half a dozen times while watching this episode thinking how much tighter the time loop mechanics could be.
AoS turned into such a good show that we were also lucky enough to get 7 seasons of, at least the best few of which I still think matched if not beat even the best MCU had to offer.A few more:The short lived Day Break with Taye Diggs. I hear it was very good. I’m not saying episodes including the first one are on Youtube, just so I’m clear.Fringe – OF COURSE:(Such a great episode. On top of the usual suspects in the cast, Peter Weller is of course a fantastic guest star. His final scene with John Noble was superb.)Obligatory reel of Tom Cruise being killed whenever this subject concerning time loops comes up. They may still have missed a few here:(Yet another film that was much better than a lot of people expected.)
One season of Day Break was perfect, and they gave it an actual ending which I’m glad of. I’d hate to have seen what they would have had to come up with for season 6’s time loop. This was back when the networks were experimenting with new shows for the summer so I suspect the showrunners gave it an ending just in case.Sometimes all a show needs is one season and I wish more networks and streaming services would embrace that. Under the Dome and Wayward Pines would have been perfect at one if they had decided to write them as self-contained seasons.
I cannot recommend Palm Springs enough!
Daisy/Sousa in that episode is the ultimate example of how to do romance in a timeloop story perfectly. Chibnall shoulda taken notes
Sousa in my view is the main redeeming element of the latter seasons of SHIELD (S7 was the best of the last 3 but it still has a tonne of issues). It was great to have him around.
Season 5 was great.
I would disagree. It was way too dark for it’s own good and was convoluted as heck.
Some of the future portion was bleaker than it needed to be, but it was hardly convoluted.
When you factor in all the stuff with the time loop/paradox, all of the enemy factions and all the group drama that wasn’t properly resolved I would say it was.
Zari’s “Here I Go Again” episode of Legends of Tomorrow was one the best along with “Cause and Effect”…
Legends of Tomorrow, “Here I Go Again.” Nuff said!
When Dan referenced “Groundhog Day” I thought of Zari messing up the reference & calling it “Hedgehog Day,” but Nate knowing what she meant anyway
Just remembered this one and that it was pretty good!I seem to remember it was back to back with their take on The Poseidon Adventure and their escaping from an upside down galley which was also very good as well.
The SG1 ep is such a classic!
One addition for the list: The X-Files “Monday” – Mulder’s fight against the leaking bed always had me in stitches and the twist was as gut wrenching as you’d expect for the show.
Sadly, that season of Agent sof S.H.I.E.L.D isn’t on Disney+ yet, but I definitely hope it’s better than the first, fifth, sixth or middle of the second season. But season three and four were pretty damn great.
I’d say S7 is better than S5 and S6 at least mainly because it’s not as miserable as the former and a little more focused than the latter.The main thing bringing it down is some of the non-sense of the overall plot when you look back on the whole thing and weird pacing stuff (and also having to follow-up from the previous two seasons which were pretty dire).The first season I think holds up a lot better in retrospect both now that we know where it was leading to and in comparison to some of the later stuff. My main beef with S2 is mainly with the Real SHIELD stuff which was kind of flimsy and didn’t get the most satisfying finish (but it at least served it’s purposes in getting other plots where they needed to go so t left there’s that).
SG-1Though the whole “grabbing your subordinate and kissing them” bit hasn’t aged well.
Apart from the technicality of him resigning first (which isn’t a justification in any way in and of itself), one of the running gags in the show is that just about every alternate version of Jack O’Neill and Samantha Carter that the SG-1 team meet are married to each other or at least in a relationship except the universe of the show. It might be playing on the fact that the feelings are presumably there but this is the universe where they never quite joined all the dots unlike the others for whatever reason.
Easily “Mystery Spot” from Supernatural.“Heeeeeeeat of the moment!”
“As I Have Always Been” is a pretty good episode but it’s unfortunately undercut by the whole conceit of the FitzSimmons/Enoch failsafe set-up that’s ridiculous and doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. The idea that they had no back-up plan in case they needed that implant removed for some reason and that Enoch is so powerful it takes multiple loops to outmaneuver him despite another Chronicom/LMD and a vibration manipulation superhero being against him is really hurts the credibility of the plot.But I would agree and would very much appreciate if Daisy were to come back some day.“Mystery Spot” from Supernatural deserves a shot-out. A solid character piece for Sam while still being really damn funny.EDIT: Oh I see someone mentioned that one. Well, to throw up another I believe “Monday” from X-Files deserves a shot out. Pretty solid with a decent ending.
okay Flash Forward was not a time loop, but can you really begrudge me one more chance to type:
Joseph Fiennes: I WAS LOADED!
A good episode but I have questions. The storage building has one paying customer, who uses their unit at 11:55 on New Years Eve so the owner needs to be there to give him the key, in what crazy world in that a thing? I can accept time loops, Daleks, and all of the other stuff but I can’’t accept that business model. The one customer rents a storage unit that is about 10′ wide and at least 30′ deep because he lives in a tiny one room apartment and can’t store the stuff there, how much rent is he paying for the storage unit? how much rent for the apartment? Get a bigger apartment with closet space and save a tome of money! As to the time loops, such fun but how did they get the combustibles and the fire works together in the minute of the last loop? Didn’t everything reset on each loop or could they move things in each loop and they stay where they left them for each reset? Never explained. Even the best Chibnall episodes have so many plot holes and logistical inconsistencies.
Everything about the storage unit business was absurd. I don’t know why they felt the need to make him literally the only customer, which is so ridiculous. Couldn’t they have just said they were doing badly without making it so cartoonish?
It’s to pre-empt the complaints about the Doctor and company blowing up the possessions of all those innocent bystanders who used ELF Storage. No, it’s just Nick and Jeff.
My storage unit has 24 hour access with a PIN for the gate and all lockers are alarmed. No need employees to be there outside working hours so they go home at 5pm.
I guess him being the only customer meant she wouldn’t be sued for destroying the belongings of other customers? The absurd business model really took away from the story.
[Two weeks later, finally saw this ep]— she complains (to her mother, I think) that yes, in theory she could computerize but doesn’t have the money to do so.
A year later, finally saw the episode, she actually complains to Nick when he asks about access codes.Also, Aisling Bea is just generally awesome.
Some big self storage buildings operate as nothing more than placeholders for big real estate investment firms waiting for a swing in prices for big parcels of land in redevelopment deals.
It’s not crazy that one might exist almost unrented — but they fumbled the explanation. It could have just been she was stuck behind the desk and left at that.
Wait, he was literally the only customer? I thought he was the only customer that comes in on New Years Eve.
People can argue about the quality of the Chibnall era. However, I don’t think it can be denied that he managed to make Daleks a threatening villain for the first time since the RTD era.
The only time the Daleks have felt genuinely threatening to me in the revival were in S1, particularly the Emperor-worshipping Daleks from Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways. Evolution of the Daleks is practically a Dalek sitcom at times.Chibnall tends to play concepts straight. Given that, it’s not particularly surprising that he’s semi-competent at Dalek stories. I don’t think any of them have really lived up to their potential, though.
The best NuWho Dalek episode remains the first one “Dalek.” Nine’s reaction when he’s told he would make a good Dalek is why he’s still My Doctor.
Nine’s great!
When they give Mandip Gill a chance to actually play emotional beats it unfortunately makes it clear how much potential they have wasted by giving her almost nothing to do.
One of the defining faults of Chibnall is how much he thinks not doing things is at the heart of drama.
The Doctor is constantly frozen in confusion and bafflement. Companions don’t say things to each other or the Doctor. Characters are left lingering, following, needing activation that never comes.He doesn’t understand that drama is about development — establishing challenges, overcoming them, and then seeing what new challenges arise from the immediate resolution.His characters have had all of the fun of a bunch of clams in a wet burlap sack. His plots consist of shaking up the sack from time to time to move them around. But he has no idea that characters who never, ever open up and move about on their own with a purpose and in relationship to one another will always be a soggy mess.
Yeah they’ve completely wasted Mandip’s talents here.
Let’s be absolutely clear here:Nick absolutely, 100%, was a serial killer keeping trophies of his victims. I guarantee Sarah’s not making it back from that vacation.
I liked the overall story.I’m
not sure what to make of the Doctor being so snippy at Aisling Bea’s
character and then having Aisling call the Doctor out on it. I don’t
know if they are going anywhere with that or not. I’m not a Chibnall
hater so I’m not willing to chalk it up to bad writing yet.I also didn’t like Aisling’s character fall for the customer. She calls him a stalker and then goes out with him anyway? Weird.
Apparently I have not been paying close attention to the show or it’s been way in the background (or maybe I’m just kind of burned out on the show and watch it out of habit) because I have never picked up on any romantic tension between Yaz and the Doctor so that bit caught me by surprise.Still, good episode all around and probably the best one Chibnall has written.
I have not either but it’s both a huge fan theory and object of fan fic so some people must have thought that way. I was hoping it was just a platonic thing but it goes against the TV trope of having two attractive people on a show be paired up because attractive people on a tv show have to eventually be paired up
I feel the same way. It felt like it came completely out of nowhere. I liked this episode otherwise but I don’t think the writers did a good job (or did anything?) to lead up to this moment and make it believable.
This has nothing to do with the episode but one of the worst parts of the Chibnall era is the interior of the Tardis. It’s dark and lit with led lights, making it look like some badly lit club. All they need is a bucket of champagne on ice and some chill music in the background to complete the vibe. Why would anybody want to be in a place that’s dark all the time? It’s unhealthy. Worse, there’s no seats and the control panel is elevated, which is normal, but the l effect is to have the Companions just sitting awkwardly sitting on stairs staring up at the Doctor.
I was watching some Capaldi era episodes and seeing how great the TARDIS looked and I thought the exact same thing!
Because that TARDIS looks like something an eccentric time traveler might actually live in. This TARDIS looks like a beehive.
I love the idea of a beehive TARDIS but it really lacks some cosy corners and a bookshelf or something. Capaldi’s TARDIS was so great because it reflected his Doctor’s personality and interests. It was an extension of the character with his more professor/teacher thing going on. The chalkboard was genius as a prop!
It’s all blue and orange and I hate it.
Capaldi’s TARDIS was gorgeous, cathedral like. My favorite, and clearly the inspiration for the Lego version.
I was initially intrigued by Jodi’s TARDIS (grown crystals, biscuit dispenser, and all), but it just always looks dark and cramped.
Time Loop episodes are nice but I always like the “Asylum” episodes. You know where the main character wakes up in a psychiatric hospital and told everything they’ve experienced up to that point has been part of their delusion.
I wake up in psychiatric hospitals all the time!Presumably because I work in one and do a lot of night shift. Like tonight for example.
I think it is funny that Yaz-Thirteen fans/shippers including me were a bit lukewarm on Dan joining the TARDIS as we were hoping for more focus on their relationship. But now Dan is their #1 shipper & is making it happen! Well done, Liverpool
I thought this was a pretty good episode—definitely one of Chibnall’s best. But then, that’s not a fantastically high bar. Still, it was fun. I really liked how it focused more on Sarah and Nick than on the Doctor. Yes, Nick was a little creepy, using his storage bin both as means of hanging on to old relationships and as an excuse to see Sarah every Dec. 31. As for Sarah, Ahe could have closed the storage business if she really wanted to, so she was basically using doing the same thing.As for the relationship between the Doctor and Yaz, it will have to be resolved in the next two episodes before the Doctor regenerates again. Who knows what form the Doctor will take next, and what effect it will have on Yaz’s feelings?
So Nick’s a serial killer right? Either that or he has such serious game he wouldn’t have the time to be crushing on the girl in the storage office
I liked this episode. But truth is… At this point I am unsure if I liked it because it was good or because I have stockholm syndrome to the point where anything not totally horrible out of Chibnall makes me clap.A couple things I didn’t like – Dan should not have outed Yaz. That’s really uncool and it’s wrong. But beyond that… Yaz has a crush on the Doctor and the Doctor doesn’t respond? I am clinging to it like every other fan because… Yaz is getting a bit of characterization! Yay! And… it’s the same characterization Martha got. When we are clapping for something as weak as a retread of a prior character that is a problem. It’s like we were drowning and this is the first bit of floating wood that came by – Great, we can cling to it. But it’s not something to cheer as if it were an actual ship that saved us.
I think if we assume that Dan assumed that the Doctor already knew about Yaz being into her and was denying it that could be a bit more justifiable but otherwise it’s a bit of a crappy thing to tell someone about their secret crush to said crush even if it was with good intentions.
It’s one of those thing that, in the space year 2022, we ought to all know is the wrong thing to do : Outing another person is wrong. Only that person has the right to out themselves if and when they choose.Considering the hot water other past actors are in right now for sexual harassment I’d have hoped that at least the show would model correct behavior in terms of the characters.
What the fuck? Where and when was this supposed to be on? I completely fucking missed it, and now I’m pretty goddamn angry at everything.
Good: Aisling Bea was great. And it was fun to see Daleks actually murder everyone, that was new and refreshing.Bad: The rules of the time loop weren’t consistent or sensical. They clearly didn’t do any build-up for the “Yaz has feelings for the Doctor” revelation and just pulled it out of their asses to spice things up for the remaining 2 episodes. Definitely a top Chibnall episode, but Chibnall overall has sucked and the flux and his rewriting of the show’s cosmology were dumb. Every showrunner seems to do it, but he did it in a more extreme and stupid way.
Not one mention, in the review or the comments, of Dan saying, at the 8:05 mark, “What’s a Dalek?” How could he not know, after the events of Flux? Ridiculous.
Chibnall had the chance to be the story of Yaz wanting to be a coequal partner with the Doctor…instead of trying to BE the Doctor which got a certain previous companion killed by a crow. Instead, because he has no handle on character development, she has to be IN WUV.Nick was a serial killer.