{"id":7523,"date":"2021-11-21T20:25:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T19:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1514930"},"modified":"2021-11-21T20:56:24","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T19:56:24","slug":"village-of-the-angels-may-be-the-empire-strikes-back-of-doctor-who-series-13","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/village-of-the-angels-may-be-the-empire-strikes-back-of-doctor-who-series-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Village of the Angels may be the Empire Strikes Back of Doctor Who series 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

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

Published: Sunday, 21 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The angels have the Doctor!<\/p>\n

Yes, Doctor Who<\/a>: Flux\u2019s fourth chapter ended with quite the cliffhanger as Jodie Whittaker\u2019s Time Lord was turned to stone and captured by the Weeping Angels, ready to be delivered to her ex-bosses at The Division.<\/p>\n

It was a shocking and creepy ending to a great episode \u2013 and in many ways, it strikes me as the Empire Strikes back of this serialised series 13 story.<\/p>\n

Partially, this is just because of the Doctor\u2019s fate. At the end of the episode she\u2019s essentially frozen in carbonite by bounty hunters, who are fulfilling a contract to a nasty outer-space organisation \u2013 so far, so Han Solo. You\u2019d half expect to see Jodie Whittaker on the wall of Jabba\u2019s Palace next week.<\/p>

But it also evokes the sci-fi classic in the mood of its ending. Village of the Angels<\/a> has a classic \u201call is lost\u201d conclusion, with the Doctor completely defeated, captured and removed from the board. Her friends are stranded far away, the villains are utterly triumphant \u2013 and while we know our heroes will eventually prevail, it\u2019s hard to see how.<\/p>\n

Obviously, The Empire Strikes Back is a seminal sci-fi movie, and I\u2019m not suggesting Village of the Angels is on a par with it (not even most of the other Star Wars movies are!) But as the six-part Flux rumbles on, it\u2019s notable to see how much more impact these plot twists are having than similar moments over the last few years.<\/p>\n

This series of Doctor Who has stood out from the start thanks to its serialised structure, exchanging the usual standalone stories for a narrative that flows from week to week, bringing back characters regularly and facing an ongoing threat. On the most basic level, it\u2019s been fun because of the weekly cliffhangers (of which, Village of the Angels\u2019 shock ending is undoubtedly the best so far).<\/p>\n

\""British\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

But it\u2019s also allowed for a deeper, more engaging story than we\u2019ve seen on Doctor Who in a while. Would this great cliffhanger have even been possible without the serialised story? No \u2013 and we\u2019d all be the poorer for it.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, we\u2019re into the final third of this story, and Chris Chibnall will have a lot to do to stick the landing in just two more episodes. But overall, Flux has been a great sign-off for the soon-departing showrunner \u2013 and even if the last series 13 section (and the specials) end up more Return of the Jedi than Empire, it\u2019ll still be a good note to end this era on.<\/p>\n

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