Doctor Who: Once, Upon Time (13x03)

This episode was... enormously frustrating to me.

Cons:

Once again! I reiterate! This is a short mini-series and it's our last chance to hang out with Jodie Whittaker, and they keep separating all the main characters! Dan and the Doctor have still had zero bonding time. Conceptually I understand there's something kind of cool about this whole splintering time thing, all the mysterious and various strands tying together, but the core of this show, in my opinion, should be the Doctor's individual relationships with the people she travels with, and we've gotten so very little of that, here!

You've got this new star-crossed lovers element with Vinder and the girl he's trying to get back to, and while I honestly think it sounds like a pretty interesting story, I can't help but be frustrated by how disjointed it feels, how completely unnecessary to the core of the story. What even is the core of this story, come to think of it? The flux, I guess, and time going all wonky. But also we've got each companion and their individual concerns, and the Doctor missing a piece of her past... I don't know. It all feels like it's trying to do a bit too much.

Pros:

I want to start with the ending, actually, because I will say that the weeping angels are properly creepy no matter how often they get used. The earlier scene with the angel coming out of the video game was okay, it was good setup, it reminded you of the threat, but then at the end? In the TARDIS? The flickering light, the angel moving towards the controls?!?! That was absolutely bonkers scary and something we haven't quite seen from this iconic villain before!

I also liked the setup with Bel, even though I am frustrated that the story is juggling too many elements. At first I thought she was a wholly new factor, another person to add to the list, but then I realized that she was looking for Vinder, and it tied two disparate pieces together in a way I found satisfying and potentially promising for the future.

The Doctor struggling with losing pieces of her past is a good idea in theory, although it does give me Moffat-vibes of just... making things too complicated and "epic" for what I want the tone of this show to be. That said, I love that she started getting snappy and demanding, and that Yaz definitely clocked that. The two of them have this solid foundation, but the Doctor hasn't been treating Yaz very well recently and I think we're going to see the consequences of that.

This is a short review, but what can you do? There's just so much chaos with all this time and flux nonsense and I truly do find it difficult to feel really invested in the overarching plot. Hopefully we get some time to breathe and spend time with these characters next week, with them all in one place to get to actually talk to one another!

6.5/10