{"id":7149,"date":"2021-11-14T20:20:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T19:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1502998"},"modified":"2021-11-14T20:42:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T19:42:23","slug":"doctor-who-once-upon-times-8-biggest-questions","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-once-upon-times-8-biggest-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Once, Upon Time\u2019s 8 biggest questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 14 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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OK, forget anything we said about the first two episodes of Doctor Who<\/a>: Flux being complicated \u2013 we didn\u2019t know what we were in for with the twisted, time-bending storyline of Once, Upon Time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while a few of our questions from last week were answered (turns out Passenger is a walking prison, and Vinder isn\u2019t from Gallifrey<\/a> after all!) the TARDIS team\u2019s trip through the timestream also raised a few more mysteries that we\u2019ll be chewing over for the next few days.<\/p>\n

Kicking off with\u2026<\/p>

How is the Doctor responsible for the Flux?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Doctor\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

Having been pulled out of her own timestream, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) takes a brief detour before reuniting with Yaz (Mandip Gill), Dan (John Bishop) and Vinder (Jacob Anderson) in the temple of Atropos \u2013 she awakes in parts unknown, accompanied by the mysterious Awsok (Barbara Flynn), who drops a rather large bombshell\u2026<\/p>\n

So far, we\u2019ve been asking \u201cWhat caused the Flux?\u201d \u2013 now we know the answer, sort of, and our next question is\u2026 how is the Doctor responsible? \u201cThe Flux wasn\u2019t an accident \u2013 it was made, it was placed\u2026 because of you,\u201d says Awsok.<\/p>\n

So there we have it \u2013 the Flux was man-made, it\u2019s a force that\u2019s being directed by some higher power, and somehow its a response to the Doctor\u2019s actions. But what, and why? Is it the result of something our Time Lord hero did recently, or is it another consequence of her forgotten past coming back to bite her?<\/p>\n

Who is Awsok?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Speaking of Awsok\u2026 who the heck is she?<\/p>\n

Played by Barbara Flynn (Cracker, Cranford), she appears to know the Doctor \u2013 another old friend\/foe from her days with the Division? \u2013 and doesn\u2019t seem at all surprised when the pair meet again. What\u2019s more, Awsok seems to know an awful lot about the Flux, what caused it and what it true purpose is: \u201cThe Flux event was spatial,\u201d she explains, adding that the Ravagers were freed as a \u201ctemporal contagion\u201d to ensure both space and time were disrupted. (Those tiny \u201cparticles of the time force\u201d that serve as \u201ctiny elements of temporal destruction\u201d were presumably an after-effect of this disruption to the flow of time.)<\/p>\n

But is Awsok the Big Bad pulling all the strings? Did she create the Flux? Or is she just one more sub-boss we\u2019re encountering on the way to uncovering the true force behind all this?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on with the Weeping Angel?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Doctor\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

One of the scariest parts of this week\u2019s episode came from the mysterious Weeping Angel apparently stalking Yaz (Mandip Gill) through time. First advancing on her police car and breaking out of her TV from a video game (remember, the image of an angel becomes an angel\u2026), once the gang are finally free from the timestream the same angel breaks into the TARDIS itself.<\/p>\n

In a great cliffhanger moment, said Lonely Assassin pilots the TARDIS and apparently lands the Doctor, Yaz and Dan in the midst of an angel assault in the 1960s (at least based on the Next Time trailer).<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s going on here? Well, perhaps like the Sontarans in episode two the Angels are taking advantage of the situation, slipping through the cracks as time runs wild to get their hands on the Doctor and her friends.<\/p>\n

Why they\u2019re doing this, or why they targeted Yaz in particular is less clear, but might be answered when we visit a whole village of them next week\u2026<\/p>\n

Why did the Doctor leave the Division? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""The\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

After a long wait fans have finally started to get some answers to the mysteries brought up in series 12\u2019s Fugitive of the Judoon<\/a> and The Timeless Children<\/a>. Once, Upon Time finally let the Doctor relive one of her lost memories, specifically the last time she faced off with Swarm and Azure in the Temple of Atropos.<\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s soon revealed that the Doctor who actually lived this memory was the mysterious Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin), during her time working for the morally murky Division (a sort of Time Lord secret police). And that means we and the Doctor get more of a sense of her work for the Division, a lost period wiped from her memories that she\u2019s been trying to recover for some time.<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, it seems like this mission was the Doctor\u2019s last for The Division, some time before we met her (as Ruth Clayton) in Fugitive of the Judoon. Her colleague (represented by Jacob Anderson\u2019s Vinder in the timestream) comments that she just has to get through this mission then she\u2019ll \u201cbe free of all this,\u201d noting that she\u2019d made a deal with the higher-ups.<\/p>\n

Considering we saw the Doctor joining as an eager young recruit in the Timeless Children, it\u2019s intriguing to wonder what happened in between to turn her off the work \u2013 as well as what happened after this, given that the Division were chasing after her after she quit.<\/p>\n

Like the Doctor, we can\u2019t help but wish the Mouri had left her in there a little longer\u2026<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on with Joseph Williamson?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Steve\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

Having first encountered real-life historical figure Joseph Williamson (Steve Oram) in The Halloween Apocalypse<\/a> on home turf \u2013 Liverpool, 1820 \u2013 where the business and philanthropist was digging a series of tunnels beneath the city for reasons unknown, we met him again in War of the Sontarans<\/a> when he ran into Yaz in the temple of Atropos.<\/p>\n

We see Williamson again in Once, Upon Time for another brief, baffling encounter \u2013 this time he meets Dan in parts unknown (somewhere \u201cvery far\u201d from Liverpool) and has somehow acquired a laser gun, which he\u2019s using to fend off \u201cdemons\u201d that are apparently pursuing him. (Williamson makes it clear that the time particles are not<\/em> what\u2019s after him, it\u2019s something else.)<\/p>\n

How\u2019d he get the gun? Who\u2019s after him, and why? And what is \u201cthe task\u201d that he\u2019s so affronted Dan isn\u2019t carrying out? In a series packed full of them, this might be the most perplexing plot thread of all\u2026<\/p>\n

Will we see the Fugitive Doctor again this series? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Jodie\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

We\u2019re going to go with a tentative yes on this one \u2013 it was a great surprise seeing Martin cameo again as her version of the Time Lord, but we want more! And as the Doctor continues to investigate her Division days and takes on the newly-released Swarm it seems likely she\u2019ll revisit the incarnation that actually lived through all that as soon as she can\u2026<\/p>\n

Will the Great Serpent return?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Doctor\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

Yes! If you thought Craig Parkinson\u2019s sleazy politician type was an oddly minor role for the Line of Duty<\/a> star, never fear \u2013 we can confirm he\u2019ll be back for more, at least based on shots of him in the early Flux trailers which have yet to appear (including him outside in a different location).<\/p>\n

Maybe as Vinder hunts for Bel (Thaddea Graham) in the post-Flux universe (episode five is<\/em> called Survivors of the Flux<\/a>, after all) he\u2019ll run into his old boss, and might have a score or two to settle\u2026<\/p>\n

Who was the \u201ccreature in the bar\u201d?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Thaddea\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

After escaping the Daleks in a spacecraft and embarking on a tour of Doctor Who\u2019s rogues gallery, Bel makes reference to a \u201ccreature in the bar\u201d who warned her about the Flux, the Mouri and Atropos.<\/p>\n

Is this significant? Does this \u201ccreature\u201d \u2013 whoever or whatever it is \u2013 have some special knowledge that will come into play later? Or is all of this just common knowledge \u2013 the Lupari certainly knew all about the Flux (as did the Sontarans), while last week Vinder seemed familiar with the temple of Atropos, at least as a legend.<\/p>\n

Still, this seems like an odd reference to drop without any pay off later\u2026 perhaps the Ood we glimpsed in the Flux trailers but hasn\u2019t appeared in the three episodes aired thus far might be the one who spoke to Bel? They do have a track record in delivering chilling proclamations of doom\u2026<\/p>\n

Read more about Doctor Who:<\/strong><\/p>\n