2nd Opinion, Take 2 “Once, Upon Time” – Moffat, If He Fluxed Up

JC’s take on the third episode of Series 13.

While I found “War of the Sontarans” to be an improvement on the opener, “Once, Upon Time” was sadly a case of two steps back, and merely exacerbated most of Chibnall’s worst excesses.

Most of the problems I had with the opener would apply here. I’m going to quote my own summary: “the episode plays out as little more than a series of disparate scenes all plonked together one after the other with no concern for plot coherency.” Only this time Chibnall decided to incorporate an additional layer of obfuscation via the plot device of having each character stuck in their own time stream. It was like Chibnall decided he wanted to make a classic Moffat episode, but bit off more than he could chew. It’s a shame because there were some good ideas here. They just needed someone like Moffat to actually write it.

Further, I think the episode would have benefitted massively by just keeping the guest actors as the supporting characters, rather than the core cast filling in. I didn’t feel Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill could pull off what was required of them in multiple roles. Jodie playing Yaz’s police partner felt barely any different from when she’s playing the Doctor. And Yaz felt like Yaz when she was meant to be a space officer. Maybe that says more about acting ability, though.

This story, and I mean as a 6-part serial, has enough characters already. So what does Chibnall do? Of course, he adds a few more to the mix. The most major addition being Bel. Thaddea Graham delivers a fairly endearing performance, and I didn’t dislike her scenes, but the problem is that it adds nothing to the ongoing storylines. And the payoff is just that she is an old flame of Vinder’s. Maybe she’ll return (there are some crazy rumours about this pair), but right now I’m feeling like my time is being wasted.

Vinder’s scenes finally give him more to do and some much-needed character background, but unfortunately I found the scenes to be pretty sedate. Perhaps it was that, once again, that Chibnall’s human foes are written so one-dimensionally. The Grand Serpent falls into the same trap, despite actor Craig Parkinson’s best efforts. One scene I did enjoy was Vinder’s entrance to the TARDIS. It was much better than Dan’s. But how does he know about them? Add it to the list of ever-mounting questions.

“Once Upon Time” also massively reuses a revival trait which I’m not a fan of: having major monsters return in tiny roles. The Daleks’ appearance is the type that makes me think the BBC is lying when they say there’s no contractual obligation to bring them back each year. Either use them properly or not at all. The Cybermen get a little more time, but they’re ultimately just cannon fodder and are pathetically easily defeated. This despite the fact they have a clear shot down a narrow corridor at close range. That makes three for three episodes where the monsters have had awful aim. Yes, we know our heroes are almost always going to survive, especially in safer family shows like Doctor Who, but you can at least make it look like the baddies would have a tougher time taking them out.

The Weeping Angels make another showing too, and I have to say I found them disappointingly scare-free compared to their pre-Chibnall appearances. There was potential, especially with both the game and police car scene. The problem is, good horror monsters like the Angels require a slow build-up to create tension, but here everything happens far too quickly. And it doesn’t help when Mandip Gill can barely convey range when saying things like, “All right, I’m super freaking out now!”, and “Ah! What is it?” All you’re left with is a poorer imitation of “The Time of Angels” when Amy was trapped in a room with one. Let’s hope episode 4 gets them right… (Also, we finally got to see Yaz doing some actual police work again, well, chatting in a car. But I’ll take it!)

Ruth was back, or the Fugitive Doctor as she is now officially credited as. Look, I’ll be honest. This doesn’t get me excited because this, along with the Division scenes, is just furthering the Timeless Child arc. And readers, I hate the Timeless Child revelation (as some may recall). Having said that, if you must show the Doctor’s Division days with the Fugitive Doctor, why not use Jo Martin instead of relegating her to a few scrappy scenes? It goes back to what I was saying earlier. Why did Jodie Whittaker have to play so much of the role? Especially when Jo Martin is much better doing it (and also we’ve barely seen her).

Swarm and Old Swarm turned up to eat the scenery again. I said I’ve been enjoying the character so far, but my word, did he have some clunkers to deliver this week. Example:

“Here we are, still engaged in the Founding Conflict. There is no greater battle than this, the battle between Time and Space. And Time shall not lose. Time shall never surrender to Space. No planetary mass, however sophisticated, can imprison the force of Time. This planet, this construction, is not just a fallacy, not just futile hubris, it is heresy.”

And:

“Particles of the Time Force. Tiny fragments of temporal destruction which will erode whatever they touch. You may have repaired, but Time was unleashed for long enough. The damage is done. And if the Flux wrecked Space, then we have disrupted the flow of Time, however briefly.”

I wonder how many takes it took for the actors to spit those out!

But we’re not done yet. Before the whole thing wraps up, we get introduced to the enigmatic Aswok (yep, that’s a Chibnall character name alright…).  I was intrigued by her, and Barbara Flynn, being a seasoned actor, immediately raised the quality of the material. However, there’s little to say about this right now, other than theorising. Ultimately, this is just another mystery to add to the list.

All in all, despite some interesting ideas, “Once, Upon Time” is hampered by its execution, leaving it the weakest of the opening half of this adventure.

Asides

• Dan’s and Di’s scenes didn’t add anything new. I had more fun watching the Evil Dan memes.
• It was nice to see the Doctor in a new coat. I’m never been a fan of the outfit, but it’s easily the best it’s looked.
• Combat rolling when pregnant is probably not the best idea!
• The CGI blue things were poorly realized.
• How are Yaz and her sister both playing an FPS at the same time when there’s no split-screen showing on the TV?
• Also interesting how a progressive writer like Chibnall resorted to female gamer stereotypes.
• Why is the Doctor so horrible to Yaz, just for asking a question? After this long travelling together, you’d think she’d be a bit more open and, well, friendly.
• An Angel taking control of the TARDIS was a great cliffhanger. Shame it was tarnished by 13 telling us exactly that – YES, WE CAN QUITE CLEARLY SEE THAT!
• Next week, I’m expecting a better episode. It looks more focussed and will hopefully benefit from having “The Haunting of Villa Diodati”‘s writer return. And finally, Claire is back.