Holistic Review: Par for the course with a Chibnall episode — it's fast-paced and engaging, and full of excitement and interesting character moments, if you can rationalize away the ginormous plot holes — but it does set up some really intriguing plot threads for the story arc, and has me on the edge of my seat to see how it follows up the revelations of series 12.

Long time no see, umbrella title! Turning a Doctor Who season into one long story arc has only ever happened twice before, in seasons 16 (the Key to Time) and 23 (Trial of a Time Lord), and neither of those were quite as serialized as it appears that season 39 (aka series 13) will be. Honestly I questioned whether I should continue to review each episode as they air, or wait until the whole season ha3s finished. (I was sort of hoping that the season would be more loosely connected!) But because each story has an individual title, I figure I should just dive in, and review it like everyone else does with TV shows that have ongoing storylines: evaluate it based on what we know thus far, and where it looks like the series might be going. Anyway, it's possible that only parts 1 and 6 will be quite so interwoven; the intervening 4 episodes may each tackle one plot thread at a time, as next week's title suggests. (Please please please could the War of the Sontarans include a return appearance by the Rutans? I mean, who else are they gonna be at war with, right???)

With that in mind, I feel like the way to tackle this review is to examine each distinct plot thread in turn. At this early point, some are much more successful than others, whereas some are barely even cameos, but let's give it a whirl.

the Lupari

The episode's main plot thread involves the doglike alien Lupari, one of whom — Karvanista, self-proclaimed Vanquisher of the Thousand Civilizations — is positioned as the Doctor's main adversary... or so it seems initially.

As his title would suggest, Karvanista seems to be a very very bad dog. In his attempt to shake the Doctor off his trail, he condemns her (and Yaz) to certain death with a triply-guaranteed execution (involving a boiling acid sea, "kill disc" death-bots with whirling blades and laser cannons, and a supernova), and leaves behind a booby trap that nearly miniaturizes them to death. Meanwhile, he breaks into the home of ordinary bloke Dan Lewis and forcibly abducts him from Earth, with the strong implication that some unsavoury fate awaits him.

And then it turns out that Karvanista is actually just grumpy. No really, he's one of the good guys! He was just annoyed that the Doctor was trying to weasel information out of him, and his gruff act with Dan was all hot air, just a way to vent his irritation about how annoying humans are whilst selflessly saving Dan's life.

...Huh?

I'm sorry, but nothing about Karvanista's characterization adds up. You can't look back over his previous actions and statements and realize "Ohhh, we just misinterpreted him the entire time." No, it's pretty clear that he was a through-and-through villainous baddie. For goodness' sake, he threatens Dan's life not once but three times, with statements like "Be silent, or face execution at the hands of Karvanista, Vanquisher of the Thousand Civilizations. Submit, or die!" Not exactly the words of a rescuer. Why not just tell Dan that his planet is being destroyed and you're saving his ungrateful life, rather than trapping him in a holding pen and sharpening blades in an extremely threatening manner right in front of him?

Yet, despite that massively annoying about-face in character motivation, what was my reaction when the Doctor realized, "Seven billion ships, seven billion humans... man's best friend!"? I literally went "Awwww!" Pardon me a moment while I roll my eyes really hard at me. But honest to goodness it's a really cute moment. (I say, despite myself.)

And then there's the Lupari's role in the episode's dénouement. Once we learn that they're humanity's appointed guardians — who are apparently really falling down on the job, given that we've never seen them show up to rescue humanity from a planetwide catastrophe before — they seem pretty harmless and we instantly trust them. Which is just as well because they turn out to be key to the episode's resolution.

For starters, it turns out that the Lupari -- who were planning to ferry all of the humans away from Earth, in one spaceship per person (?!?!?!?... How much room does each Lupari-human pair need?!) — have never considered that they could simply interlock their interlocking-design ships around the Earth. Now, maybe there's a valid reason why they never thought of that solution — the potential snafus that immediately occurred to me were that (a) the ships probably weren't designed to interlock in a spherical shape, and (b) if there are any gaps at all in this formation, the Flux will surely be able to slip right through it and devour the Earth from the inside — but it does seem like the most obvious plan to me, and by far the least inconvenient.

But what's worse is the reason why this plan is sure to succeed. You see, the Lupari aren't the slightest bit concerned about the Flux damaging their vessels because — despite the fact that the Flux has only just been unleashed upon the universe, and most people don't even have a clue what it is or even that it's coming — somehow, the Lupari have already managed to design ships that can withstand it. Um. How exactly do you design (much less large-scale manufacture) anything to withstand something that you've never seen or even heard of before, and which is destroying literally everything in the universe through some completely unknown mechanism? Especially when the Doctor isn't certain that even the TARDIS can survive the Flux. Please, explain to me how you defend yourself against that, especially when you only have a few hours, or at most days, to prepare. Yet we're supposed to buy that the Lupari survival battalion ships — and possibly only the Lupari survival battalion ships, in all of the universe — can. (And even if we can swallow that, where are the Lupari and the humans supposed to go once the Flux has devoured the entire rest of the universe?)

Still, even though his character, and the Lupari plot thread, are completely inconsistent, Craige Els is enjoyable in the role. Now that I think about it, I'm getting major Glitz vibes from Karvanista: on one hand, he's a hardened criminal who threatens to kill people willy-nilly, but on the other hand he's a softie who's really just trying to do the right thing (despite himself). Els' performance leans into this duality well, with Karvanista defaulting to a gruff angry delivery that hides his more vulnerable, amiable side. Whether or not this characterization is entirely believable is a separate question, but Els sells it. I really enjoyed his delivery, as if to a child, of "We're travelling away from your planet, through space, on my spaceship!" and the way he keeps checking malfunctioning objects by sniffing them.

Swarm

For my money, Swarm is the ingredient of this season-arc stew that has me the most excited. And that's a really fortunate thing, since he appears to be the season's primary villain.

For starters, he presents a very convincing threat. Though the mechanics aren't yet totally clear, he demonstrates an ability to kill people not only by a single touch, but even remotely, presumably with the power of thought. Not the kind of guy you want to have on your bad side.

But what really grabbed my attention was when it was confirmed that Swarm was an archvillain from the Doctor's pre-Hartnell days. Naturally it's a little bit convenient that she's never before (as far as we know) run into anyone else who knew her in that era, but this is exactly the kind of plotline we need to delve into the Doctor's mysterious past and wiped memories. I know I've mentioned in the past how we've never had a full-on 'amnesia' plotline on the TV series before — like when the eighth Doctor's memory was wiped for a string of novels from 2000 to 2005 — so it's really exciting to be able to explore a similar concept in the TV series, without actually wiping the Doctor's memory (again).

Along similar lines, En Sentac (Sarah Amankwah) and "the child", aka K-Toscs (Charlie Oscar), are also revealed to work for the Division. (Both actors are great; Amankwah exudes weary confidence, and Oscar is convincingly wide-eyed.) So, though the Doctor has only been able to track down ex-operative Karvanista, it's clear that the Division is still alive and well, even though Gallifrey currently isn't. Which is interesting. My curiosity is so very piqued and I am absolutely in love with this entire plotline.

A particularly interesting point is that Swarm has a mysterious psychic connection with the Doctor — not at all unlike her connection with the Matrix in The Timeless Children — which was reestablished evidently the moment Swarm was released from his prison. On further consideration, let's pin this as Point #1 to be revisited.

Point #2 is one that I should've twigged from the credits, but it wasn't until after my third viewing that I ran across a post in the Doctor Who Infinity Facebook group which clarified that when Swarm absorbed En Sentac, he rejuvenated. (It's even right there in the script: "Renewed at last!" he proclaims.) There's so much continuity between old and young Swarm that I didn't even realize they were played by two different actors, but indeed they were: Matthew Needham portrays Old Swarm for two and a half minutes, before Sam Spruell takes over for the remainder of the episode. One assumes, therefore, that we're likely to see Needham again in a flashback down the line, which also implies the upcoming appearance of another pre-Hartnell Doctor (or, should we be so lucky, a return for Jo Martin?).

Azure

Late in the episode, we discover that Swarm has a sister, who (according to the credits) is named Azure. At this point, she remains a complete mystery, though the fact that her punishment was to be memory-wiped, living out her life as someone else but otherwise free, suggests that her crimes, or her involvement in Swarm's crimes, were less extreme. But she certainly seems to be a willing, even eager, accomplice.

For most of the episode, Azure (Rochenda Sandall) is subsumed within the persona of a woman named Anna, who lives in a remote Scandinavian house with, presumably, her partner Jón (Gunnar Cauthery). Right from their first scene, it's implied that Anna and Jón are aliens, given that they're half-expecting this emergency signal which is clearly not from Earth. This, of course, raises a whole host of questions which The Halloween Apocalypse chooses to defer, but which I've added to my list below. Poor Jón is swiftly doomed (though I feel sure that, like Old Swarm, we'll see him again in the past, either by flashback or time travel), which is a shame although Cauthery gives by far the best death scene in the episode, being the only person to imply that dissolution-by-Swarm is painful.

At the episode's end, we learn that Azure's plot arc is interfacing with, of all people, Diane (Nadia Albina, who I enjoyed in The One), the museum docent with whom Dan appears, potentially anyway, to share a sweet (albeit likely doomed) romance. It's still early days to say much about Di, who's in the awkward position of having to shoo away from her workplace the kindhearted guy on whom she evidently has a bit of a crush. (Is it reciprocated? Dan is playing things very cool, but he seems eager enough to go for Halloween drinks with her.) Naturally, the moment Dan assures Di that he won't be late for their not-a-date, we know that he'll be unavoidably detained. However, I did not expect Di to be equally waylaid. What on earth do you suppose Azure has in store for her? "We're going to have fun with you," cooes Azure, so it doesn't sound like it's going to be pleasant. (My first instinct, of course, is that Di is going to be possessed, but Azure and Swarm don't seem like the kind of beings who require host bodies. Anyway, Azure just got free of one — though in that case, maybe technically she was the one being possessed! So I think their plan must be deeper.)

This is also an opportune moment for me to mention how delighted I am that, in the grand tradition of Buffy, Doctor Who now finally has a Halloween episode to call its very own! Not that it hasn't had timely stories in the Halloween spirit before, of course; just look at Image of the Fendahl and The Stones of Blood. But The Halloween Apocalypse is the first story to feature the holiday itself. I do wish that The Halloween Apocalypse had a little bit more to do with Halloween specifically, though setting the story on October 31 does more smoothly enable the funny sequence in which Dan naturally assumes Karvanista to be wearing a convincing dog-man costume. More pertinently, I was sort of hoping that it would actually be, you know, scary, as befits a Halloween story. Alas, it is not... mostly. One of the major exceptions is the final scene of Di being telekinetically piloted into a spooky overgrown old house; why she's waiting for Dan in such a creepy out-of-the-way location I'll never know, but it makes for a fantastic setting as she's forced inside its spectrally glowing doorway.

the Flux

I guess I should include a section on the Flux, too, given that it is, after all, the story arc's main threat, after which the entire season is titled.

However — and I feel like a broken record here, which is why I don't love reviewing stories that haven't concluded — there's not a whole lot to say about it yet. We know that it's incredibly powerful, apparently dissolving and maybe absorbing literally everything in its wake (with the one peculiar exception of the Lupari fleet), and that's about it. Still, this is a great start: what it reminds me of the most is the entropy that swallowed up Mettula Orionsis and Traken, so this is tapping into a deep well of Who-related pain.

Otherwise, at this point, all we have are a whole lotta questions and a whole lotta intrigue. There's an implication that the Flux might be expanding like a sphere from a central point, but then again that might just have been directorial license; we really don't even know that much for sure yet. But The Halloween Apocalypse does a great job of establishing the threat it poses and whetting our appetites to learn more.

The only reservation that I have about the Flux is this: it seems like this season absolutely must be setting itself up for a massive reset button. I mean, the Flux has just consumed Earth's outer solar system, and is about to eat away the inner planets and the sun. We know that Earth's solar system is intact in the future, and even if this event changed future history, there'd be no point in shielding the Earth from the Flux if the Sun were going to be devoured. The planet would die a little more slowly, but just as inevitably.

Observation Outpost Rose

This remote observation station in deep space is where we meet recurring-character-to-be Serving Commander Inston Vee Vinder, played by the smashing Jacob Anderson, who was so incredibly good as Grey Wolf in Game of Thrones. In interviews, Anderson has rather sweetly said, "I really hope people like Vinder," and I am here to tell him that I very much do. Even though Vinder doesn't get much at all to do in this first chapter — he seems to be one of the few surviving witnesses to the Flux's power, along with the TARDIS crew and now the Lupari fleet — his opening monologue is extremely endearing. He seems chill and good-humored and glass-half-full, with a welcome dash of devil-may-care attitude (which hints that perhaps he's not on this station, observing who-knows-what, entirely by choice). And I love that, even after 21,754 reports, he still hasn't gotten tired of his outer-space view. Honestly, this nebula where he's stationed doesn't seem quite gorgeous enough to merit the praise he's heaping upon it, but his heartfelt appreciation for the natural beauty of the universe is a winning character trait, and certainly a fitting one for anybody who might be spending any period of time in the Doctor's company. I already sense I might wind up clamoring for him to join the TARDIS crew in some official capacity.

the Sontarans

Well, it's a true delight to have the villainous Sontarans back for the first time in 13 years, and for only the second time since 1985's The Two Doctors. As much as I adore Strax to bits, when the only Sontaran you ever see is a funny Sontaran, it does threaten to defang the menace of the entire species, much like how the Ferengi morphed into the comic relief of TNG and especially DS9 by their sixth appearance. However, speaking of Strax, it's only fitting that Dan Starkey — the Nicholas Briggs of Sontarans, who himself hasn't graced our screens since 2014's Deep Breath — returns to portray Kragar. I'm also enjoying Jonathan Watson as the rather petty Ritskaw.

Here again, it's too early to have any clue what role the Sontarans will play in proceedings, but their excitement for the upcoming conflict hints that perhaps they have something to do with the Flux being released... or, of course, their reaction could just be because they crave conflict in general. But I guess we'll find out next week!

While I really love the new Sontaran costumes, I regret to say that Doctor Who still seems to be chasing the success of Linx's original 1973 headpiece, with its realistic hairy texture and anatomical shape. The new masks look perfectly fine, and I appreciate the attempt to give the Sontaran faces more dimension, but alas, they aren't a patch on the original; the forehead creases are a bit too deep, the skin texture looks airbrushed, the cheeks look skeletal, and the extra-wide mouths look a bit less natural than Linx's. But this is the mildest of criticisms possible, because no subsequent version of the Sontarans has ever looked anywhere near as convincing as Linx.

the Weeping Angels

Well if you're gonna do a Halloween story, you couldn't pick much better monsters than the Weeping Angels. They're just making a cameo appearance here — you might even say "blink and you'll miss them", har har — undoubtedly in advance of a future episode in which they'll feature as the main antagonists. But boy howdy do they make an impact. When I said that this story was mostly un-scary, this scene was the other major exception that I had in mind, as Claire slowly backs away from the Angel in her street while blindly hunting for her door keys. Taking the Weeping Angels right back to their straightforward roots reemphasizes that they haven't lost one iota of their classic fright factor.

This thread introduces us to Claire (Annabel Scholey), who's instantly likeable. As Karvanista reminds me of Glitz, I immediately got strong vibes of Sally Sparrow from Claire, whose interaction with the Doctor and Yaz has strong echoes of Sally meeting the tenth Doctor and Martha. (In fact, when Claire first appeared, for a moment I dared to hope that she might be an unexpectedly returning classic companion.) The moment Claire says, "I was just... taking the long way home," I knew she must have been a victim of the Weeping Angels. But now I think I've got it the wrong way around; she becomes a victim of the Weeping Angels, and we know the Doctor will meet her in the past, so is the implication that the Doctor then forewarns Claire in the present day with some cryptic clue about what route to take home on Halloween? This is the most Moffat-y script element that Chibnall has yet included, and it's Blink Moffat, not The Wedding of River Song Moffat, so I'm again full of anticipation.

My only slight criticism of this nascent plot point is that, after all that not-blinking, Claire finally gives in once she's safely inside her doorway. Instead of slamming the door shut in the Weeping Angel's face the very moment she's inside, for some reason Claire decides to stare at it — for 5 whole seconds!!! — before, inexplicably, allowing herself to blink. However, having said that: Claire seems to know that this is the day she vanishes, given her reluctance to go home; might she have additional foreknowledge that would explain why she practically lets herself get time-zapped? But if that's the case, why not just let the Angel take her the moment she sees it in the street? If you're planning to give in, why put up a fight at all, unless you're trying to make it look convincing for some reason? (I might also criticize this particular Angel for being about as slow as molasses, but I can more than forgive it because it's clearly trying to milk as much tension out of the audience as possible!)

Liverpool 1820

201 years in the past, an eccentric entrepreneur (of sorts?) by the name of Joseph Williamson seems to have been forewarned that a "cataclysm" is coming, which is presumably a reference to the Flux. I'll wait to evaluate Joseph Williamson (Steve Oram), his assistant (who I presume is Wilder, played by Richard Tate), and his evident patron James Stonehouse (Paul Leonard) until we've seen more of them; but I do really like Oram's performance thus far. He initially comes across as a mutton-chopped villain, but his conversation with Stonehouse reveals a deep vein of genuine concern and righteous passion, which makes me think he's actually on the side of good.

As I mentioned at the start of this review, it's pretty difficult to accurately judge this story without knowing how the various plot threads are going to turn out, but one thing I can do is track which questions are left dangling, and eventually evaluate how well they were resolved. So here are the big questions for which answers are as yet forthcoming:

1. What project is Williamson working on, and for whom? (At the Doctor's behest, surely?)
2. Why are the allegedly-pointless tunnels so important? They're flagged as a major plot point; will they somehow save the Earth from the Flux? (This seems unlikely, since the Lupari ships appear to have co-opted that plot function already. But if they do, I hope it involves Tractators steering the Earth to safety.) Otherwise I can't yet imagine what purpose they might serve.
3. Swarm is still a fairly unknown quantity. What exactly is it that he wants?
4. How does Swarm's containment chamber malfunction? Had he recruited an ally to help him escape, or did he somehow manage to disable it himself?

5. How does he kill people? His touch (or, sometimes, gaze) appears to dissolve people into clouds of ash, and — judging by Jón's reaction, though not everyone's — it hurts. But Swarm's first kill involves him not only disintegrating En Sentac, but also apparently consuming her particles. This seems to reinvigorate him — and perhaps restores him, given the effect of his skin glowing as crystals protrude from and (mostly) get reabsorbed back into his body — and enables him to break free of his bonds, but he never again absorbs anyone's essence after deconstructing them. Was it a one-time deal?
6. How was the psychic connection between Swarm and the Doctor established?
7. Why wasn't Azure imprisoned in a containment field herself?
8. How are Swarm and Azure connected to the Flux? At least I assume they must be, given that the Flux appears to have begun devouring the universe when Swarm was released, and both Swarm and the Flux have the power to disintegrate whatever they touch. In fact, I'd initially assumed they were completely linked, until I realized, to my great confusion, that Swarm wasn't travelling along with it. Aside from their possibly-random commonalities, in all other respects, they operate independently of one another.
9. Where is the Flux from?
10. What's causing the TARDIS to malfunction? So far it's begun leaking black goo from the crystalline struts, manifesting multiple doorways in unexpected parts of the console room, growing cobweb-infested protrusions, and failing to dematerialize. Is the Flux affecting it somehow?
11. Was Jón an alien too? Was he at all aware of Anna's secret (even to her) identity, and if so, is that why he was with her? What were he and Anna doing on Earth, living so remotely all by themselves? I sense a flashback episode coming.
12. Who sent the emergency signal, and why did Anna and Jón ignore it?
13. What exactly is Claire's timeline with respect to the Doctor?

Following the massive revelations of The Timeless Children, I really, really like that the Doctor is now on the hunt for answers, surreptitiously dragging Yaz with her much like she kept secretly popping back to Gallifrey last season, whenever she could steal a few moments away from the fam. This plot thread continues to keep me absolutely rapt, and I can't wait to find out what the Doctor discovers.

Along with her unexplained-but-apparently-ancient psychic connection with Swarm, the Doctor also seems to have developed the mysterious ability to feel the suffering of everyone in the Flux's path across the universe. (Oohhh is the mental anguish gonna lead her to eliminate pain by raising a statue of Proserpexa and trying to kill everyone???) This seems subtly different to her connection with Swarm, but it might just be further evidence that Swarm and the Flux are linked.

The deeper these scripts dig into the character of the thirteenth Doctor, the juicier the part gets for Whittaker. I love the way the Doctor shuts down and gets surly whenever her companions try to pry personal information out of her. These scenes add such an interesting depth to the thirteenth Doctor, not only in that they bring out a usually-hidden prickly side to this most sunny of Doctors, but also because most Doctors are willing to share bits and pieces of their past with their companions, but the thirteenth Doctor, for whatever reason, is just not into sharing. Which is interesting, because it suggests that, despite their unusually close friendship and familial bond, her relationship with her companions is actually much more surface-level than it appears. For that matter, her reluctance to discuss their problems — due to her social awkwardness, or so she claims — only reinforces that interpretation. A great example is this exchange with Yaz, which promptly turns very sour when Yaz flat-out refuses to let the Doctor either change the subject or guilt her into dropping it:

Yaz: "What sort of glitch? You didn't mention it."
Doctor: (snarky) "Y'know what, Yaz? I don't mention everything."
Yaz: "No kidding."

Love Whittaker's delivery of "We are friends!", and her 'distracted' acting as the Doctor notices the species-recall signal.

Finally, finally, I feel that Yaz is beginning to come into her own as a companion. First, I'm beyond thrilled that, not only do the Doctor and Yaz spend a good chunk of The Halloween Apocalypse adventuring one-on-one, but it's also clear that they've spent a considerable amount of time together since Ryan and Graham left. Having some solo time with the Doctor, even if it's only for half the episode, really does Yaz a favor. (And how awesome is it that she and the Doctor have taken a high-gravity circus workshop together?! They'll be well prepared if they ever happen upon the Psychic Circus again!) Plus, it's wonderful that the series' first all-female TARDIS team gets at least half an episode together (with more room in which to slot dozens of missing adventures). Interestingly, Yaz is now describing herself as "formerly" PC Yasmin Khan of Hallamshire Police, so I guess that answers my question from Revolution re: whether she was still on the force. I admit I'm a little saddened by this revelation, mainly because I don't want Yaz to give up on her fulfilling career, but also because it happened offscreen, and maybe she had a really awesome reason for it but we haven't yet learned what that was, so it feels like a stark loss rather than a gain of any kind. Still, maybe she was speaking metaphorically, and only means that she's not currently a police officer because the Doctor hasn't dropped her off back on Earth yet...?

Second, she gets multiple opportunities to prove how capable she is, culminating in her very Doctorish rescue of Dan: she swiftly identifies how many booby-traps his holding pen has, and handily disarms them before releasing him. I'm loving her confidence: "Not if I've done it properly, which I'm pretty sure I have." This is making me muse that I hope she's being set up for a Steven-style departure, wherein she can use her newfound confidence and expertise to really make a difference in people's lives. (Which would be a much more positive spin than Clara, whose newfound confidence and expertise basically got her killed because she was A Little Too Cocky For Her Own Good.)

Perhaps best of all, Yaz' understanding of the TARDIS controls is coming along by leaps and bounds. I love that the Doctor now considers Yaz to be her TARDIS co-pilot! (Maybe that was the true purpose of Yaz' dead-end attempt to make sense of the TARDIS console in Revolution; setup for this episode.) When was the last time we saw a companion skilfully operating the TARDIS? Aside from Kamelion, and not counting the Doctor-Donna, probably Nyssa?

Delightfully, Yaz' evolution into this capable, seasoned time traveller has been (up until this point) very gradual. She may have levelled-up between Revolution and Halloween Apocalypse, but foundation for that increase in skills has been laid over the past two years. Loved Gill's delivery of "Oh, you know, life's a gamble.", and "Nothing here... except an amazing view."

And now we get to talk about the brand-new face onboard the TARDIS: Dan Lewis of 37 Granger Street, Anfield, Liverpool. What we know about him thus far is that Dan enjoys football, both playing and supporting Liverpool FC, so he and Yaz will at least have sportiness in common, if not sports teams. He's deeply proud to be a Scouser, to the point that he very unofficially poses as a museum guide in order to wax poetic about his city for "the punters". (I hope this is a hint that series 13 will be delving into just what makes Liverpool so special; that would be a super cool way for the series to teach, and celebrate, British history.) I'd heard rumors that Dan was a plasterer (which Di's mention of his "trade" half-confirms) but we see no evidence of it here. And he's a single bloke, though there's a hint of a crush between him and Di. In terms of his personality, he seems to be a generally jovial guy, but he's quite comfortable with confrontations and with speaking his mind. He certainly comes across as extremely pragmatic, given how readily he believes that he's in space once Karvanista unveils the viewport, and how matter-of-factly he accepts the TARDIS' interior dimensions. I would expect no less from a Liverpudlian. Perhaps relatedly, he seems to be resistant to Karvanista's hypnotism, which surely points to some mysterious innate ability rather than to Karvanista being a rotten mesmerist. He's also considerate, empathetic, and giving, if his volunteering at a food bank is any indication, and the fact that he doesn't feel right taking any of their food for himself, though that might point more toward him being proud. Because, for reasons which are as-yet unexplained, Dan is down on his luck, with a barren fridge and barely even a few pieces of dried spaghetti in his pantry.

I will say that, despite all these details, I don't have a great sense of Dan as a person yet. In particular, I feel like we need more context around why a presumed plasterer on a non-pandemic Earth (because, again, no masks and the museum is wide open!) is having such great financial difficulties. It's a good start, but Dan doesn't quite feel like a cohesive character yet. (Thus far, Jack and Donna remain the only companion who felt fully formed and unique after their début adventures, and even Donna underwent a character revision for subsequent stories. In terms of companions, it occurs to me that the revival has always most closely resembled the mid- to late Hartnell era: a string of somewhat generic characters, hewing closely to the same basic template, distinguished mainly by the actors' performances. Susan spawned surrogate granddaughters Vicki and Dodo and to some degree Polly, whereas Ian inspired fellow level-headed action-man Steven and to some degree Ben. Dan, likewise, fits the same general 'hapless likeable English everyman' template into which you could (more or less) fit Mickey and Ryan, and to some degree Rory and Graham. That's a really broad generalization, of course — every one of those companions is unique with their own distinct charms and skills, especially future girl Vicki and nurse Rory — but they don't veer too far from the desired archetype, and thus far neither does Dan. I still long for a companion with a unique backstory and skills that will help them contribute to storylines beyond the usual "ask questions and get into trouble" ways. Still, I do feel like we've been given a lot of little details about Dan's character that will eventually help paint a broader picture of his personality.

But I'm really liking his vibe with Yaz. In Earth terms, Dan may be older and wiser, but Yaz is by far the more experienced time traveller, who gently leads him by the hand (metaphorically speaking) through all these strange wonders of the universe, while the Doctor just gets on with things! In a way, they're already developing a sort of older/younger sibling type relationship (with Yaz being the older one!) that somehow reminds me a bit of Jamie and Zoe, and that's a very good template to aim for.

Dan also introduces us to Wilma (Heather Bleasdale), who runs the community food pantry and is therefore one of the awesomest people in the whole story. She has a lovely maternal vibe, especially when she tries to convince Dan to take some food for himself. Bleasdale is only given a few lines, but she hits them all out of the park, so my fingers are crossed that she'll recur throughout the season. Less likeable, but also very well-portrayed, is drunk trick-or-treater Kev (John May), who seems mostly harmless but maybe also vindictive; one almost gets the sense he's gone trick or treating equally for the candy and for the excuse to egg some people's houses.

Four viewings and I don't have much to say about Segun Akinola's score, other than: it blends well into the onscreen action.

The sets this week as as good as ever, with my favorite being the vaguely Japanese design of Karvanista's ship exterior and interiors. I appreciate that the director emphasizes how lavishly the Observation Outpost Rose sets have been dressed. I'm sure we'll be returning to several of these sets in future episodes!

The effects this week are nearly all stunning. The opening sequence, featuring a bubbling geysering acid-sea planet, looks incredible. Have you noticed the way the nearby rock formations intermittently illuminate with blue light as Karvanista's hologram flickers? The asteroid where Swarm is held prisoner coruscates with veins of blue light (could it perhaps be part of the system binding Swarm's powers?), and the floating machinery that holds Swarm in place with a cage of blue energy also looks great. I love the effect of Swarm executing people, dissolving them into — what? their constituent particles? some form of primal energy? — which, interestingly enough, is similar enough to the effect of the Flux dissolving planets to support the hypothesis that they're connected somehow. The first instance is particularly memorable, when Swarm absorbs En Sentac and glows from within as his body rejuvenates. Big fan of the stun cube, and the glowing blue goo that it leaves behind on Dan's rug. There's a creatively clever crossfade between the Doctor's iris and pupil to the Flux. And the effect of the Flux consuming planets is appropriately grand-scale and affecting. Other great effects: the line-drawing image on Dan's TV crossfading into the Lupari fleet approaching Earth, Dan's house miniaturizing, and the practical effect of the emergency beacon shattering into pieces.

Less-successful effects include the shot of the alien civilization being devoured by the Flux, which looks a bit cheap for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. However, it's exactly the sort of shot that we need to drive home the fact that the Flux isn't just destroying random uninhabited worlds, but entire civilizations. And it's only onscreen for a few seconds, so I don't expect them to have spent boatloads of money on it!

However, the major exception to my "stunning effects" rule is, I'm sorry to say, poor Karvanista. Dan, FYI, disagrees: "I mean, it's, it's good, like, it's... it's cute," he admits, stroking Karvanista's furry cheek admiringly. "It looks dead soft." From our perspective, however, it looks... not real. Fake fur is notoriously challenging to make realistic unless you're laying it down a few strands at a time, which it appears the costume team did not. (I mean, who has time for that nonsense?!) So Karvanista becomes a modern-day Cheetah Person, and quite right too. Doctor Who isn't Doctor Who without a little fun-fur here and there.

On the upside, Swarm and Azure look fantastic; the skeletal design of their intricate facial prosthetics, combined with their brightly-colored makeup and metallic teeth, is truly striking and original. I'm especially fond of the crystalline structures along Swarm's cheekbones, eye sockets, and temples; I confess at first I wondered if he might be a modern-day Kroton! His pink-and-blue lips are really cool too. My first thought on seeing Azure's makeup was that she looks like a tacky porcelain doll, and I mean that in the very best way possible; her bright colors imply that she's non-threatening, but her resemblance to a porcelain doll (or even a clown) has exactly the opposite effect on me, so it's a really effective combination of beautiful and dangerous.

A big welcome back to director Jamie Magnus Stone, who does a nice job with this week's episode. (I see he'll be helming half the season!) My favorite of his shots were the scenic zoom into the Museum of Liverpool, the effortlessly terrifying shot of the Weeping Angel standing in the middle of Claire's street, and the angled shot as Yaz and Dan enter the TARDIS through its floor. And I have to give Stone massive credit for his flawless handling of the undoubtedly complex opening scene, which comes across just as epic and fast-paced as it was intended.

I should probably take a moment, too, to talk about the recent behind-the-scenes announcements. First, we know now that season 13 (plus 3 forthcoming specials) will be Jodie Whittaker's last, about which I can only express sadness! Whittaker has been an absolutely shining beacon of love and positivity, and I've so thoroughly enjoyed her in the role. I hope I'll have the opportunity to meet her someday and thank her for being such a glorious role model. (I wonder, too, if this means that Yaz might become the first companion to completely overlap with their Doctor's tenure? At least, I'm assuming Mandip Gill will be remaining through next year's specials, and likely not continuing on, though I'd be delighted to be proved wrong about that last point; we still haven't had a revival companion who bridged a regeneration and a change in executive producers, though that used to be common in the classic-series days.)

Which brings us to the other major change: Russell T Davies is returning. Longtime readers, I'm sure, can guess my reaction to this news: not as ebulliently overjoyed as most others seem to be. On the plus side, RTD clearly knows how to promote the series globally, and now he's got another 10+ years of show-running (and reputation enhancement) under his belt. Without a doubt, Doctor Who will be in excellent and very steady hands. I also have zero doubts about his commitment to diversity; RTD gave us the show's first Black companion and first LGBT companion, so I feel sure he'll gleefully build upon the advances made by Moffat and Chibnall in that regard. And I'm most excited about his perpetual reverence toward the classic series. Given that Davies was planning to bring Ace back for the Sarah Jane Adventures in 2011, spoke longingly just this past January of announcing The Nyssa Adventures as part of an MCU-style Doctor Who universe, and just recently sent his 1986 fan-script Mind of the Hodiac (starring the sixth Doctor and Mel) to be produced by Big Finish, I feel sure that we'll see some reappearances from old friends once he returns, and almost certainly for the 60th anniversary. (I mean, now I'm gonna be really disappointed if The Nyssa Adventures doesn't actually happen.) So these are all huge positives. However, I'm deeply concerned about sliding back into old habits. Will the increased publicity bring with it unwanted spoilers and unwarranted hype? Will companions by default fall in love with the Doctor again? But I can put up with almost anything as long as he stays well clear of that old freewheeling writing style; y'all, I can't handle it again. So, let's put me in the "very cautiously optimistic" pile for now.

Minor points:

• It was really fun to get to watch the premiere as another BBC America global simulcast (with a pot of Mackwoods blackcurrant tea!), even if it did require me to sit through commercials. (Sadly though, I misremembered the 2:25 pm start time as 2:35 pm, and wandered back into my living room just as the Doctor was talking about nitro-9. Thank goodness for the DVR age!)

• The opening escape sequence really is a super-exciting way to kick off the season. Karvanista's method(s) of execution seems foolproof, so it's a thrill ride (both literally and metaphorically!) watching the Doctor and Yaz white-knuckle their way out of certain death through a series of clever decisions with split-second timing. (How they managed to cling onto the gravity bar with their elbows, especially as it goes veering wildly around, I will never know.)

• However, acid mist appears to be wafting by the Doctor and Yaz constantly. Shouldn't it be painful? (Still, major points to the crew for thinking of those small-but-important details!)

• Also in the "perhaps less threatening than advertised" column, Karvanista's kill discs naturally cannot hit the broad side of a barn. (Maybe he should call them "intimidation discs" instead.)

• "It's very temperamental, nitro-9!" says the Doctor, defensively. So, first of all: hooray for a reference to Ace! My fan-heart leapt. And secondly: what, so she's brewing up her own explosives now?! Ace would roll her eyes so hard if she ever learned about that, after all the lectures that the seventh Doctor gave her.

• Another delightful fan moment as the Doctor tries to persuade her voice-activated handcuffs to unlock, especially because the BBC America subtitles specified that she's imitating the twelfth Doctor on her first try, and on her second try (when she actually sounds like herself, not Scottish at all!), she's imitating the seventh!

  Doctor: "Oh, maybe I was Scottish when I set them up! 'Rrrrrelease!'"

• Love the amusing ending to this sequence, as the Doctor and Yaz wind up falling onto a mattress that's apparently been situated in the console room for exactly this purpose (ie, this is apparently far from the first time they've skydived into the TARDIS; maybe high-gravity circus workshops should become a standard component of companion orientation and training), followed by this line that made me LOL:

  Doctor: "What a relief."
  (Their handcuffs beep and unlock.)

• The titles for "Liverpool, 1820" (along with "201 Years Later") are particularly nice, shaded a deep brown to match the surrounding buildings. And especially since Night Watch, I've always had a soft spot for titles and subtitles that interact with the onscreen images as this one does (disappearing behind a building as the camera pans down).

• En Sentac: "Do what I say, not what I do."

  09:02	En Sentac: "Do not engage with the prisoner in conversation."
  09:53	En Sentac: (to Swarm) "The kid'll do fine. You're as confined as you always have been, and always will be."

• Swarm snarling "trick-or-treat" at the Doctor is a rare Chibnall-era example of a joke that's only meant to be funny for the audience at home, but makes little sense in context. Why would Swarm, an alien villain from the dawn of the universe, know or care about a Halloween custom from the Doctor's favorite planet?

• Why, for heaven's sake, why is there only one single backup containment strategy in place for such an ancient powerful villain?

• How does Swarm manage to get off this asteroid? Surely En Sentac's ship wasn't about to beam him up.

• What kind of candy is Dan giving out wrapped in plastic bags? Has he packed his own customized candy assortments? Is this to prevent any onscreen trademark infringement?

• Dan, my friend, I cannot entirely disagree with you. Soup is nice, but IMHO it is not (except under very rare circumstances) a meal. (Stew, OTOH, is a different matter.)

  Dan: "Wilma, who likes soup, really?"

• I didn't even see the thing flying past the food-bank entrance until my third viewing. What was it, Karvanista's shuttlepod or something? It looked more like a flying black squid. (I think I would like a flying black squid monster.)

• How on earth does Kev knock on Dan's door practically the moment he's closed it? We didn't see him standing there when Dan closed the door (and evidently neither did Dan).

• Ordinarily I would grumble about Dan refusing to give any candy to the adult at his door, as befits our new "life is hard, everyone deserves candy!" mantra these days, except that (a) he's run out of sweets, and (b) Mr Man is holding eggs and guzzling beer, which suggests that he's more into drunken mischief than wholesome Halloween fun.

• I'm so sorry. I really want to like this joke, but after listening to it at least four times, I have decided that it's a cringey dad joke and not something that anyone would actually say. (Likewise, Karvanista's "Never talk of my mother" is probably meant to be hilarious because he's an alien dog not a mafioso, but it just feels unoriginal.)

  Karvanista: "You defile the sacred legacy of my forebears!"
  Dan: "You don't look anything like four bears."

• If Karvanista has left the laptop as a trap for the Doctor, triggered by her sonic screwdriver, then why does it not activate until she realizes it's a trap, a whole 49 seconds after she first uses the sonic screwdriver on it?

• I love the pumpkin in front of Dan's house. It surely must be ceramic, right? If not, who carved that mouth?! (Now that I think of it, what it reminds me of is a giant clam. Keep your foot away from the pumpkin, Harry!)

• I appreciated the lighthearted moment when Dan's house is miniaturized and takes part of his neighbor's bathroom wall with it!

• How adorable is it that the Doctor now keeps a mallet in the console room for "final adjustments"? We've moved on from the simpler days of just hitting the console with our fists!

• Unless 2 of the remaining 5 episodes are set in Earth's past, which is certainly possible though surely unlikely, it seems reasonable to guess that at least one of the Weeping Angels is linked to Williamson's time; is this, perhaps, where Claire's been sent?

• What is Vinder eating? It's either some kind of interesting spinach-rice (or at least greens-grains) soup, or it's oatmeal that's gone off.

• Why does the Flux go from the Thoribus system straight to Earth? They're not right next door to one another, surely? (Unless this is another hint that the Flux is like a sphere expanding outward; one edge of it can devour the Thoribus trifecta as another edge on the opposite side is approaching Earth.)

• The Doctor's perpetual optimism and rose-colored glasses strike just the right note in this line, as does Gill's aggrieved delivery:

  Yaz: "Confront him? Do you not remember how that ended up last time?"
  Doctor: "Yeah! We got away!"
  Yaz: "Doctor!"

• Loved this line too:

  Doctor: "Wait, synchronize watches. ...Forget that, I'm not wearing a watch."

• You tell 'im, Yaz.

  Dan: "Nice work, girl!"
  Yaz: "Yaz is fine."

• I sense a plothole here having to do with scale. If the Flux is so massive that it dwarfs planets, and it starts to disintegrate Rose Station just after Vinder detaches, how on earth does his tiny little ship manage to outrun it?

• Why don't Yaz and Dan wait by the TARDIS as asked, rather than going to track the Doctor down and inevitably ruining her plans once Karvanista realizes they've done a jailbreak with Dan?

• Another great line for the Doctor.

  Doctor: "All right, plan modifications. Two stages. One: this is not over, between me and you. We are not done. Two: run!"

• Karvanista turns out to be just as bad a shot as his kill discs, but how come none of the blue blasts from his axe expand into stun cubes like when he captured Dan? (Does the axe have multiple settings?) Otherwise he'd have captured them for sure, despite his terrible aim.

• I'm enjoying that Dan is the next in a long line of companions to call the Doctor 'Doc', and that he receives the very most traditional companion welcome possible.

  Dan: "Hi, Doc!"
  Doctor: "Nice to meet ya, Dan! Run for your life!"

• As Dan waves around his miniaturized house, is he sending all his possessions flying?

• Y'all. The sound of the cloister bell literally made shivers of delight go through me! I hadn't even realized that we hadn't heard it yet during the Whittaker era, unless you count her regeneration scene.

• Super dialogue. More more more please! I really wanna see where this goes.

  Doctor: "I don't know you."
  Swarm: "You don't know you."

• Did the Flux just eat Uranus? How rude.

• This didn't occur to me until my third viewing, but when Di is piloted into the creepy house, the interior looks like... a flooded cave. Huh? Is she in the basement or something? Or maybe the house was even more decrepit than we realized from the outside? Or did Di get transported to a cave somewhere? ...which, on further reflection, introduces the possibility that maybe Swarm has a TARDIS too?!? Well, that's tantalizing. Probably nothing more than my vivid imagination, but tantalizing. So let's make that point #3, all of which I can now combine into: psychic connection with the Doctor, rejuvenation/renewal, possible TARDIS. I'd heard fan-rumblings that The Halloween Apocalypse had dropped hints that Swarm might be a Time Lord, but I hadn't really thought about it until these three points occurred to me. Now maybe I'm wondering if there's a grain of truth to that theory? Could Swarm be an early attempt gone wrong to confer the Doctor's regenerative ability to the Gallifreyans? (Though his powers suggest that's he's more than just Gallifreyan.)

• For continuity purposes, I very much appreciate that the Doctor attempts to use vortex energy from the heart of the TARDIS in a last-ditch defense against the Flux, and I also absolutely love that IT DOESN'T WORK.

As the kickoff to a six-part epic, The Halloween Apocalypse is far from perfect, especially because the primary plot is riddled with serious plotholes, but the arc story is loaded with potential, and the seeds of future episodes look promising too. This is the first time in Doctor Who history that we've had such a tightly-connected season arc, such that the first story can drop hints about the remainder of the season with glimpses of storylines to come, and I'm definitely enjoying the sneak previews plus the mystery and anticipation that they generate. I am, of course, especially looking forward to the full return of the Weeping Angels in a few weeks' time. And, really, it's just wonderful that we have new Who at all this year; many many thanks to the wonderful creative team who ensured that filming could safely happen during the pandemic.

posted:

07 November 2021