{"id":7928,"date":"2021-11-28T20:20:56","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T19:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1520685"},"modified":"2021-11-28T20:32:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T19:32:13","slug":"doctor-who-survivors-of-the-fluxs-9-biggest-questions","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-survivors-of-the-fluxs-9-biggest-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who: Survivors of the Flux\u2019s 9 biggest questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

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

Published: Sunday, 28 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Survivors of the Flux certainly gave Doctor Who<\/a> fans plenty to think about, with the penultimate chapter of series 13 revealing all sorts of crucial information and setting the scene for a pretty massive finale.<\/p>\n

We learned the truth about the Flux, the Division, the history of UNIT (sort of), Joseph Williamson and much more \u2013 but with all that information, it was easy to get a little lost (a little like Williamson).<\/p>\n

Luckily for you, we were taking notes \u2013 so here\u2019s our attempt at answering the biggest post-episode questions.<\/p>

What is the Flux?<\/strong><\/h2>\n $\""Doctor\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nAt least one big question got answered before next week\u2019s finale The Vanquishers<\/a>, as we discovered who unleashed the Flux and why.<\/p>\n
Back in Once, Upon Time<\/a>, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) briefly encountered Tecteun (Barbara Flynn) \u2013 or \u201cAwsok\u201d, as she was then credited \u2013 in the space between universes and was informed that the Flux \u201cwasn\u2019t an accident \u2013 it was made, it was placed\u2026 because of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tecteun expands on this when the Doctor again finds herself transported against her will to Division headquarters, which we\u2019re told exists \u201coutside one universe, on the cusp of many more.\u201d<\/p>\n
In short, the Doctor departing Division, breaching the border between universes to enter our own, threatened to expose the existence of the Time Lord\u2019s secret police \u2013 as Tecteun puts it, \u201cWe let a virus into the experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flux was created by Division as a means of destroying our universe and so obliterating any evidence of the Doctor \/ her shadowy past. It might seem like overkill \u2013 wiping out whole galaxies just to keep Division under wraps \u2013 but as Tecteun says, Division is \u201ccolossal, across space and time\u201d and operates across a multiverse, so wouldn\u2019t think twice about zapping one universe among many.<\/p>\n
Where is the Doctor from? <\/strong><\/h2>\n $\""The\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
Basically, all we know for sure is that the Doctor isn\u2019t originally from Gallifrey, with everything else up for grabs.<\/p>\n
In this week\u2019s episode, we\u2019re reminded that Tecteun found the child who would become the Doctor on a distant world, standing beside a wormhole to another universe.<\/p>\n
The implication is that the Doctor is actually from that second universe \u2013 but as the Doctor points out, that might just be an assumption. What if she was just visiting the wormhole from this universe, waiting to be collected when Tecteun scooped her up? Or what if she was from somewhere even further away, maybe one of the other universes Tecteun mentions?<\/p>\n
Either way, the Doctor is offered the chance to explore that second universe and maybe, just maybe find her true home and people in the process. She doesn\u2019t take Tecteun up on the offer before her stepmother is killed, but we doubt this storyline has been wrapped up just yet.<\/p>\n
Why did the Lupari shield break?<\/strong><\/h2>\n $\""Doctor\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
Thaddea Graham\u2019s Bel was pulled into Earth\u2019s orbit when Karvanista (Craige Els) and the Lupari fleet needed to fix a breach in their shield-wall, and her borrowed ship was the only one outstanding.<\/p>\n
But\u2026 why did they need her anyway? In the episode, it seemed like one of the Lupari ships had drifted free, and with no response from the pilot Karvanista grimly pronounced them as \u201cdown\u201d. But the ship was still there \u2013 so why not remotely control the one a few metres away, rather than the one a few lightyears away?<\/p>\n
We\u2019re sure the show can make up some science-wiencey reason but for now, we\u2019ll just have to accept the story needed Bel closer to Earth.<\/p>\n
Where is Osgood?<\/strong><\/h2>\n $\""Osgood\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nKate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) returns in Survivors of the Flux<\/a>, facing off against Craig Parkinson\u2019s slippery Grand Serpent \u2013 though, as we know from 2019 episode Resolution<\/a>, she wasn\u2019t successful in preventing \u201cPrentis\u201d from dismantling UNIT, leaving Earth alone to attack from a Sontaran fleet (and an opportunist Dalek, of course).<\/p>\n
Traditionally, Kate has always come paired on-screen with UNIT\u2019s scientific advisor Osgood and while Ingrid Oliver\u2019s character doesn\u2019t appear here, she is mentioned when Kate contacts her friend to let her know she has to \u201cgo dark\u201d to escape the Grand Serpent and \u2013 as we learn from the Next Time trailer \u2013 launch humanity\u2019s resistance against the Sontaran invasion.<\/p>\n
So where is Osgood in all this? Will she too make a surprise comeback next week, back at Kate\u2019s side, or has she too gone into hiding? Fingers crossed the Grand Serpent and his pet snake haven\u2019t caught up with her\u2026<\/p>\n
What\u2019s going on with Joseph Williamson?<\/strong><\/h2>\n $\""Doctor\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
Real-life historical figure Joseph Williamson (Steve Oram) has been drifting in-and-out of Flux, popping up at different points in time and space \u2013 and we finally learn how in Survivors of the Flux, with his excavation project part of a plan to protect Earth from \u201cthe destruction to come\u201d and his underground tunnels containing \u201ca dozen doorways [to] a dozen worlds\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since Halloween, he explains, \u201call is flux\u201d and \u201csome of the doorways have changed\u201d \u2013 which explains earlier scenes of a frustrated Williamson wandering about, lost, in the tunnels and in the temple of Atropos on the planet Time.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s still an awful lot that\u2019s not clear. Why did these doorways to other worlds suddenly spring up underground in Liverpool? How did Williamson know of their existence in the first place? How does he know about the approaching war for planet Earth? And what\u2019s beyond door number nine, which he describes as containing \u201cendless death\u201d?<\/p>\n
What was the Grand Serpent\u2019s plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n $\""Doctor\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nInfiltrate UNIT<\/li>\n
Kill with psychic snakes<\/li>\n
?<\/li>\n
Profit!<\/li>\n<\/ol>
OK, to be fair there was a bit more to it than that. It seems like the Grand Serpent, having escaped the ruins of his civilisation (thanks, Flux!) decided to get back to scheming and deliver Earth on a platter to whichever alien nasties were still around in the universe.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t go back to 1958 and found UNIT, exactly \u2013 he just used time travel to insinuate himself within UNIT\u2019s upper structure, dipping in and out of different time periods just enough to build up his position and take control. Kate Stewart speculated that from his perspective, it may have only taken a few hours or days to wind himself throughout UNIT\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Then, firmly in power he was able to shut down UNIT and lower Earth\u2019s remaining defences for his Sontaran paymasters. Simple! Ish.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s with the scary house?<\/strong><\/h2>\nI love the house of lungbarrow pic.twitter.com\/PMmvyC2kwA<\/a><\/p>\u2014 CHLOVANISTA ???? (@_cosmicangst) November 7, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>