Doctor Who: Flux – Chapter Four: Village of the Angels Review

After this confusing mess that was “Once, Upon Time,” Doctor Who: Flux returns to form with one of the best episodes of the Chris Chibnall era.

A Weeping Angel has taken control of the TARDIS and The Doctor and her companions end up in a small English village in 1967. The villagers are searching for a 10-year-old girl who has disappeared, whilst Professor Jericho (Kevin McNally) performs psychic experiments on Claire (Annabel Scholey). Both events seem to be linked to The Weeping Angels.

Since their first appearance in Series 3, The Weeping Angels have become incredibly popular. Readers of Doctor Who Adventures and the Radio Times have voted them as the scariest Doctor Who Monster. They’re the most popular and iconic monsters introduced in Nu-Who, so their appearance is often an event. After “Blink” the Weeping Angels’ appearances have become more elaborate because their schemes and motives got more complicated. “Village of the Angels” was no exception because The Weeping Angels’ involved sending people to 1901 and the monsters being linked to The Doctor’s mysterious past.

Before getting the Doctor Who showrunner role Chris Chibnall was best known for making Broadchurch. Broadchurch was a crime mystery set on the Jurassic Coast. The idea for “Village of the Angels” fitted the Broadchurch mould because both stories showed extraordinary events affecting a small English town. This ended being a perfect fit for Doctor Who because it is often about the ordinary meeting the extraordinary. “Village of the Angels” did have some similarities to “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood” from Series 3 because of the period village setting and both stories following on the villagers as much as The Doctor and the Companions.

“Village of the Angels” also had similarities to the Series 5 episodes “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone.” That two-parter was the big follow up to “Blink” because it brought back the Weeping Angels and expanded on their mythology. Both stories have shown the Weeping Angels to be more organised as they attacked as a unit, had a mine filled with Angels, and brought back ideas like an image of an Angel becomes an Angel and one person starting to turn into an Angel.

“Village of the Angels” added to the mythology of the Weeping Angels. The episode showed one Weeping Angel had gone rogue and requested the Doctor’s help. The rogue Angel told the Doctor she was a part of a secretive organisation called The Division and it’s linked to the Doctor’s mysterious past. They are going to play a major role in the rest of Flux. One character mentions the Angels were sadistic because they set up a time field and people from 1967 could watch people who were transported to 1901 and watch them grow old.

Being a Weeping Angels episode there was a lot of effective scares. The episode brought back the classic effect of the lights flickering on and off and the Angels moving closer between each flash. This was done at the beginning of the episode and when The Doctor was in the mine full of Angels. The Angels moving closer when the characters looked away was also brought back to great effect. A new vision in the episode was an Angel appearing out a TV like Sadako from Ring. It was great horror when The Doctor, Claire, and Jericho were locked in a basement and The Angels were banging on the doors.

“Village of the Angels” did have to continue the wider story of Flux. This was shown with Bel meeting Namaca (Blake Harrison), a survivor of The Flux. In this storyline, Flux survivors believe they found a saviour who can take them to safety. But the saviour was someone who had their own agenda and Bel crushes Nacama’s faith when she saved him from sudden death. This storyline was the weakest part of the episode because it was added to out of series obligation.

“Village of the Angels” was a great standalone episode within the Flux storyline. It was effectively a creepy episode that brought back a great modern monster. It showed The Weeping Angels at their terrifying best.