Doctor Who: Flux has reached its climax with an incredibly busy finale and the best finale Chris Chibnall has produced.
The proverbial has hit the fan. The Grand Serpent has orchestrated an invasion of Earth with the Sontarans and the Doctor is being held captive by Swarm. Making the situation worse is Swarm having control of the Flux and Swarm and Azure threatening to destroy The Doctor’s memories. The Doctor is able to project herself into three places at once, but this dangerous move means she only has a limited amount of time to save the universe.
“The Vanquishers” shares a lot with the opening episode of Doctor Who: Flux because both were chaotic episodes that were spinning many plates at the same time. And like “The Halloween Apocalypse,” “The Vanquishers” made for its messy presentation with a manic energy. The best way to experience these episodes is just to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Chris Chibnall avoids his usual pitfall as a writer: having people standing, talking, and explaining. “The Vanquishers” had drama, action, and high stakes which is more than can be said for the finale of Series 11. The episode opened with the Sontarans going into areas guns blazing and The Doctor avoiding being disintegrated by Swarm and the episode continues at a breakneck speed.
“The Vanquishers” had the same issues as “The Halloween Apocalypse.” The pace was so fast there wasn’t much time for things to breathe or for explanations but considering what Chibnall’s writing when he explains things it’s a blessing that he didn’t slow things down. The episode had a lot of moving parts. The Doctor was literally in three places at once. Because of this, some characters were not given as much to do, like Yaz and Dan in the climax.
Whilst Flux was telling an epic story, it left some questions which were left unanswered. The motivations of The Great Serpent were unclear, even in the finale. All that was shown was he wanted power and had the power which gave people a gruesome death involving a snake. Swarm and Azure ended up being weak villains and the scenes where they were meant to be torturing The Doctor were underwhelming.
Chris Chibnall seemed like he was influenced by the Series 4 finale “The Stolen Earth”/”Journey’s End.” That two-parter saw Earth being invaded by the Daleks and the main villain was threatening to destroy reality. “The Vanquishers” and the Series 4 finale saw many characters being brought back for the great threat and they even had multiple Doctors working together.
The episode also set up the Thirteenth Doctor’s regeneration story. The Doctor gets a message that her time is nearly up, similar to the Tenth Doctor getting prophesies from a psychic and the Ood. The Doctor’s memories from the Fop Watch are likely to play an important role with it buried in the TARDIS and her mysterious past within The Division.
“The Vanquishers” was a messy finale with its interconnected storylines and its need to set up the regeneration storyline. But it managed to be exciting and entertaining which was a massive improvement from Chibnall.
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