We’ve arrived in an unlikely place and the universe is still breaking. It’s time to learn about Division.
Recap
The Doctor is transported by the Weeping Angels to a station of sorts where there is an Ood taking orders from the same woman she briefly met in “Once, Upon Time.” That woman explains that this station is an HQ for Division, and exists in the realm between universes—the current universe is dying, due to the effects of the Flux, and she is porting over seed samples to transplant to the universe next-door. This station is responsible for causing the Flux event, and is about to send out another wave, obliterating our current universe entirely.
Meanwhile in 1904, Yaz, Dan, and Jericho travel the world searching for clues to its ending, something that Yaz was instructed to do via a private video message left in her pocket by the Doctor before they were separated. The trio get a message from a hermit (Kammy Darweish) who tells them “Fetch your dog,” so they write a gigantic message to Karvanista around the Great Wall of China, telling him to come “fetch your human” and advising when in time they’re stuck—but Karvanista doesn’t have time travel tech and is currently busy trying to fix a hole in the Lupari shield around Earth. One of their ships got damaged so he’s recalling the only one that didn’t make it to the planet… which unfortunately happens to be the ship Bel nabbed to go looking for her partner. Vinder just misses her arrival at an ominous spacecraft where Swarm and Azure are gathering more survivors onto Passengers. He gets himself captured in hopes of finding her, and meets Diane on the Passenger that absorbs him.
In the 20th century through to the present day, the Grand Serpent is on Earth infiltrating the foundation and development of UNIT, murdering several prominent officials within the organization. This all works easily until 2017, when Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) tells him that she knows he’s up to something and won’t let him have the organization so much of her family history is tied up in. In retaliation, he has her home bombed, and Kate calls Osgood to tell her she’s going dark, running just as a Sontaran invasion force appears over Earth.
Another chance run-in with Joseph Williamson gets Yaz and co. to realize that he might be the key to everything they’re looking for, and Dan knows all about the tunnels he created that were being unearthed in present day, so the trio head to Liverpool. Once they arrive, they find Williamson again and he is beyond relieved to find out that there are other people who know that time and space are collapsing and twisting about. He shows them his tunnels, and where they’ve led, but admits that they’ve all recently changed. (One door is marked for never entry because “death” is on the other side of it.) As they’re talking, the ground begins to shake and Sontarans enter in through the tunnels.
The Doctor learns that Division was started on Gallifrey, then expanded to the whole universe, including all species, and that it worked to keep ordering things and planning out the moves of the universe. The Doctor eventually decided that she wasn’t happy with the way things were running, and so her memories were removed by this woman in charge… who turns out to be Tecteun, the Gallifreyan who found the Doctor as a child. According to Tecteun, the Flux is ending the universe because the Doctor’s influence is too strong to be countered any longer—she inspires people, and that inspiration has made it too difficult for Division to do its work. They will end the current universe and start over elsewhere.
The Doctor promises to stop her, but hears whispers nearby; a chameleon arch pocket watch containing all her former memories. Tecteun promises to give her the watch in exchange for her cooperation, but the Doctor won’t stand for it. She plans to defend this universe to the end and stop her mother’s plan, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, her connection to Swarm leads the Ravagers right to them, and he dissolves Tecteun in front of her, planning to do the same to the Doctor and then hop to a brand new universe…
Commentary
Well, I did say that woman seemed like that Doctor’s mom.
The threads are starting to intertwine a little more clearly, which makes sense, as this is our lead-up to the finale. The purpose of Division is revealed, and the Doctor’s role within and then without it. What we’re missing currently is a little more context that I’m worried we might not get.
The conversation between the Doctor and Tecteun is a handy sort of microcosm of everything that New Who has been discussing about the Doctor’s character and purpose since the show’s restart in 2005. On the one hand, Tecteun notes that the Doctor inspires people to rise up against preordained narratives about their futures, to take action and be better than they were yesterday. It’s relevant that the Doctor hasn’t even done this knowingly since having her memories of Division erased. She does it simply by virtue of being who she is.
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But when the Doctor tries to take Tecteun to task for stealing her, experimenting on her, and robbing her of the life she might have had, the woman responds that this is exactly what the Doctor does to her own companions. We’ve heard similar versions of this argument from the Doctor’s enemies before, particularly from Davros, in his insistence to Ten: “You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons.”
These are big ideas that the series has been grappling with for some time. The Doctor is a meddler and a hero and an inspiration, but she can also be a harbinger and a storm and a forger of sentient weapons. She isn’t always fair to people—something that is beautifully highlighted in her mission to Yaz, a mission that she entrusts to her alone and forces her to carry, just like Martha Jones walking the Earth, or Rory waiting for Amy for millennia, or Bill Potts living on a Monk-invaded world and waiting for aid in defeating them.
The Doctor is kind and full of love, which makes her different from Tecteun no matter what the woman says. But that doesn’t mean that the Doctor is unassailable, and this moment with the woman who claimed ownership over her as a child is powerful in its understatement. It’s beautifully acted from both Flynn and Whittaker, and painful to witness. And then it’s over, and Tecteun is dead before the Doctor can get any proper closure.
I’m fascinated by the prospect that creating this whole unknown background with Division might actually make sense of some Steven Moffat’s goofier story conceits, particularly this idea that the Doctor is a feared figure in some cultures across the universe, that their name comes to mean “warrior” and the like. We now know that the Doctor probably has done some horrifying things on behalf of the Division, and it would make more sense if that’s where those labels originated. What if River Song actually came close to uncovering that in all her research, and was just missing the relevant information to put it all together?
But we’re missing all the big pieces, and I fear we may never get them before the season’s end. Specifically, why did Gallifrey create Division and to what purpose? Did they ever regret its creation or try to stop it? Did Division engineer the Time War, perhaps? Maybe those are questions best answered at another time.
I’ve got no idea where the stuff with the Grand Serpent is going (aside from giving us weird Alien/Goa’uld vibes), but it was fun watching Kate Stewart sit toe-to-toe with that guy and tell him that he would wrest control of the House the Brigadier Built over her dead body. Also, I missed Kate and UNIT, so I’m glad to see her back again.
Yaz, Dan, and Jericho are a fun team (but also who’s taking care of poor Peggy, there was no one left in that town), and it’s great watching them Indiana Jones their way around the world. My only question is, would the amount of travel we see them do actually have been possible in 1904? They genuinely pop all over the world, mostly by boat and foot, which takes a while and wasn’t quite as frequent over a century ago in terms of passenger liner schedules.
But it all comes back to Joseph Williamson and Dan’s obsession with Liverpool history, which is adorable. Williamson was a real life historical figure and those tunnels have seemingly never been explained to anyone’s satisfaction, which makes them great fodder for a story like this. Using fun historical mysteries for storytelling inspiration is something that Who does better than most, so it’s always fun to see where that goes.
Unfortunately, where it goes is potentially getting murdered by Sontarans, and we won’t know how that turns out until next week.
Stuff and Things
- I really do love that Yaz makes the point that it’s not okay to steal cultural artifacts from places, and that she intends to put them back.
- The Doctor’s habit of leaving video messages where she talks back to people who aren’t there is a long-standing tradition (one that Ten participated in semi-frequently), and one that we’ve already seen from Thirteen in particular in last season’s premiere with the plane video she set up for Ryan.
- Kumar’s performance from Kammy Darweish was delightful, and he deserved his newspaper. Dan’s right, it was rude of them not to bring him anything.
- As far as I understand, the whole “you can see the Great Wall from space” thing is essentially a myth? (I think the point is that you can see it from very far away, but not from orbit without aid.) They maybe needed to come up with a slightly more creative way of getting that message to Karvanista, though I’m not sure how that message is appearing across time anyway, since you know that wouldn’t get left there once it was discovered.
- We’ve got this space between universes, which are presumably not parallel ones, but actually whole different ones. So this space that the Division HQ resides in is probably not the Void that the Daleks hid in? But then again, it could be; they also required a special ship and tech to keep them safe while hiding out there in not-space/not-time.
- Thirteen may be the Doctor who has most frequently called back to the Third Doctor’s fondness for saying “reverse the polarity of the neutron flow,” and in this season in particular. It’s very cute, as technobabble nonsense goes.
See you next Monday to talk about the season finale!
Oh God.
I believe Kate’s story was set around 2014, not currently, because UNIT had already been shut down in some recent stories. So, I’m guessing Kate has been busy rebuilding her own version since then and will be ready to strike in the finale. And it was really, really awesome to see her and hear the mention of her dad and Oswald.
The WHOverse is being destroyed in this story arc, and I can’t see how they can’t hit a reboot button for the next show runner. It will be interesting if they do so.
Tecteun and Division have gone so far beyond the Time Lords’ arrogance it’s scary. An iron fist of control over the universe for perhaps millions of years, and now they are happily destroying it to get rid of the Doctor. Catch her and kill her, dudes. You don’t need to toss away so much life.
Then Swarm shows up and offs her and Division with minimal problems and undercuts everything that the Doctor and her chat was setting up. Sarcasm–> Great writing, Chibnal.
A friend and I were discussing the current disaster that is this miniseries, and we decided that Chibnal is pretty well destroying any regret, even from his fans, when he leaves. I’ve not heard anyone who thinks this is well done. I’ve heard nothing about the new Doctor so I’m assuming there will be a Christmas or New Year show to off this one and move on to the next.
I think you are being overly harsh Mbyerly. While Flux is no master piece, it is the best series Chibnel has done. Both episode two and four were really strong in my opinion. Also the 13th Doctor has three specials next year before 14 appears
I still don’t think all is lost for the universe. This is Doctor Who and I’m sure she’ll pull something out of the bag at the last minute (even if it means losing something else in exchange. The Tardis ain’t looking in good shape in the image the BBC released for the new year special.
I’m a bit worried about the return of the sontarans as it feels an extra thing for already a ton of story threads.
Well, we finally get at least one of the answers I was hoping for last week: Division are the ones who caused the Flux, destroying the universe as a reaction to the Doctor. So, Division are the big enemy that the Doctor will have to defeat in the last episode? Well, er, no, because suddenly Swarm turns up and kills them all and takes over. He even mentions that Tecteun was the one who released him, which seems like a big miscalculation.
Meanwhile, the Sontarans, who seemed to be dead and buried three episodes ago, are back in force, and for some reason appear to be working with the Grand Serpent. I wasn’t expecting him to be anything other than part of Vinder’s back story. The part’s well-acted but the extent of his character so far seems to be “He’s bad”. (Which is pretty much all we know about Swarm, come to think of it…) His meeting with Kate was definitely set in 2017, prefiguring UNIT having been recently shut down in “Resolution” (did Chibnall having second thoughts about blaming Brexit?). 2014 wouldn’t work, since they were still active during the Twelfth Doctor’s era. I assumed the Sontaran invasion took place in the present day (ie 2021) though. I was actually worried they’d kill Kate here so was relieved they didn’t: We need to see her react to the Thirteenth Doctor!
My joy at the episode exploding the fan myth that the Brigadier formed UNIT (even though he said otherwise in “Terror of the Zygons”) was slightly tempered by the absurd suggestion that the Brigadier was a corporal in 1967, less than ten years and possibly mere months before he’s a colonel in “The Web of Fear”. A captain, maybe, at a pinch, but a corporal? Would someone who’s been to Sandhurst even be a corporal in the first place? That’s so completely at odds with the character we know, I’m forced to wonder if Chris Chibnall’s knowledge of military command structures came from watching JJ Abrams’ Star Trek and thinking going straight from a cadet to captain of a starship is a logical career move. In fact, it’s so nonsensical I’m left wondering if the actor got the line wrong and no-one corrected it. On the plus side, Robert Bathurst as General Farquhar must be pretty high on the “Why has he never been in Doctor Who?” list, so great to see him here!
I was not expecting Jericho to still be with Yaz and Dan, so a delight to see him as well. Please don’t kill him.
I was wondering where a lot of the plot threads in this series were going until this episode grabbed them like reins and yanked them in a common direction. I loved seeing the history of UNIT spin out with that Serpent guy in the background. And the adventures of Indiana Yaz and her companions were great fun, including their travel across maps via red dotted lines. And it is about time we got a reveal of DIVISION, which I felt played out in a pretty satisfying manner. Now all our heroes have to deal with is the Serpent gut, the ugly blue siblings, and oh yeah, a Sontaran invasion. Piece of cake!
Lots of plates still spinning in the air. Some may land and some may shatter…
One question i haven’t seen asked is “Where is the Master in all this?” How is he absent from the end of the universe, especially if it involves the Doctor? Is the Grand Serpent really the Master?
Tecteun: Division is deliberately destroying this universe because we cannot control the Doctor. “We are jumping to the next one to avoid you. Would you care to join us, Doctor?”
That is hilariously atrocious writing. Also, it suffers from what some current science fantasy shows (see Discovery) seem to be infected by: the complete lack of believable scale and consequences. It is not enough to go universal; it must be multiversal. It’s ALL EXISTENCE or NOTHING; it must be EVERYTHING! It’s absurd. Tecteun could just leave this universe if it bothers her so much. Ending it makes her the biggest psychopath in history.
If indeed the universe is ending, why does a Sontaran invasion matter? It doesn’t; the smaller stakes do not matter in a story sense at all. Though after the ridiculousness of a seven billion space dog fleet, whose ships can interlock to cover the entire surface area of the Earth… I guess either you’re in or you’re out.
I did like the atrium of Tecteun’s station: it looked like a much bigger version of a TARDIS control room. Division/Gallifrey/Time Lords have some amazing storage media: one fob watch stores memories of thousands, potentially millions, of lives.
Unresolved story threads: if indeed Vinder and Bel are the original Timeless Child’s parents, maybe the Flux does destroy the universe and it all resets and reboots in the next when the Child crosses over. The theory that Bel is communicating with lil’ fetus future Doctor with the tamagotchi may prove to be wrong. But who knows with this crazy wacky sloppy show…
@6. The idea of Vinder and Bel being her parents is cool! The Timeless Child was dark-skinned so that may fit. How the Child became a Time Lord is really problematic, though. The only “Time Lord” that fits that is River Song.
Personally, I’m glad the Master has nothing to do with this. He’s so annoyingly ubiquitous.
I have a vague memory of the Daleks in the promo of the finale, too, so nothing would surprise me about the final big war.
The whole Flux story has a real series finale feel. So many callbacks, characters, and monsters in the mix.
sigh… well almost over with this nonsense unless it extends to the specials. count me in as one of the people who hates “Division”. the ONLY thing that would’ve made it good, imo, is when Tecteun said she was the Doctor’s “mom” was mention that the Doctor also knew Tecteun by another name, either Rassilon or Omega. but instead we got Swarm come & dust her. well, we’ll see…. hope they can pull this off or wait & see if RTD can save Who again.
I am finding it moderately enjoyable if somewhat hard to follow.
The biggest problem is the scale. I grew up with classic Who which for the most part was “let’s have an adventure for 4-6 episodes then let’s do another one and maybe there’s an overall theme.” This business where everything is a Big Cosmic Story has tended to spiral upwards, where every season has to out-big the last and that cannot be sustained.
cap-mjb@@.-@: No need to assume that the Sontaran invasion takes place in the present day, that scene was clearly labeled “2021”. We’re given a date of December 5 for the final battle, and the final episode is broadcast on December 5, 2021. Also note that the Third Doctor UNIT stories were meant to be set 10-15 years later than they were originally broadcast, so if we assume that “The Web of Fear” was likewise then the Brig being a corporal in 1967 works.
I hadn’t thought of Bel’s child becoming the Doctor, but now that’s been mentioned it seems all too plausible.
David Goldfarb@12: It really doesn’t, you know. Even if you place “The Web of Fear” in the mid-to-late 1970s as per the reference to 1935 being “over forty years ago” (and ignore the continuity issues with “Mawdryn Undead”), then that’s far too small a time period for him to go from corporal to colonel. (Ignoring the fact that he didn’t appear to be in UNIT in “The Web of Fear” anyway.) Also, he mentions going to Sandhurst in “The Invasion” (and being there at the same time as someone who was a general by then), which is an officer training school, meaning he probably wouldn’t have been a corporal in the first place, he would have entered the army as a commissioned officer. (Lethbridge-Stewart does not sound like the name of a corporal!)
You can come up with a rationalisation if you try really hard but it doesn’t stop it being a monumentally stupid line.
Regarding being able to travel by ship, train and other means, was not only possible, but proven by Nellie Bly in 1890 when she went around the world in 72 days. (and Elizabeth Bisland made it in 76 days, and lost the race.)
So, seeing as it is 1904, I do believe that the trio could make the journeys they are making.
Some of the companions listed above are not performing missions given to them by the Doctor. 11 didn’t tell Rory to guard Amy for 2000 years, he tried to talk Rory out of it. Rory was absolutely determined to guard her if there was the slightest chance she would be safer, and he did that because he loved her so much. Bill wasn’t given a mission to wait 10 years for the Doctor, he just knew the way time was being warped on that ship would mean a really long time would pass before he could get to her, and he didn’t want her to give up. She certainly understood how long a wait it would be; she spent an entire month just watching him raise his eyebrow!