Thread by @Nash076

I'm only just now coming back around to finishing Doctor Who: Flux.

That's because the narrative bucked me off like a horse two episodes into it, and I had trouble mustering the effort to try again.

It's ... well, it's a mess.

I love the 13th Doctor. Whitaker's great. Yas is great, nice to have a proactive companion.

Dan can go away now please.

Please.

There's only so much bumbling buffoonery I can take.

The biggest problem with Flux isn't the idea behind it, or even the stories involved.

The problem with Flux is that it's five or six single episodes all smooshed together playing out at the same time. Each one is fighting for your attention, and the bouncing around is dizzying.

Chibnall's decision on this format is just baffling.

I tried very hard to think of what it resembled, and the best I reasoned was how Game of Thrones was split between different characters.

But that was all in a single world that didn't need constant explanation.

There are half a dozen main villains with different motivations, scales, even entire frames of reference, all vying for importance.

That's because in a standard story (or even one of the old series serials), they wouldn't have to compete.

It deflates the stakes considerably.

This could have been a very compelling half-series of Doctor Who with the Flux as an overall arc, instead of trying to do it all at once.

But the format just shreds it alive, so much so the BBC released a fifteen minute video on YouTube *to explain the serial you just watched.*

I don't understand half of what happened, or why some villains even mattered, or even who the entire hell they were. I understand the universe-ending evil scheme (took a while), but I don't understand the resolution.

It's experimental at a time the show couldn't afford to be

There have been ups and downs during Chibnall's, but there have been more downs than ups.

I'm not going to poke at what story elements I personally preferred or didn't, because those don't matter so much as the whole package.

FedEx threw this package over a fence.

Moffat and Davies each had major weaknesses. Moffat fell in love with mystery boxes but not their conclusions. Davies had big ideas with poor executions and at times even poorer taste.

(Save me from the return of the farting aliens next year, because you know they're coming.)

But Chibnall is the first I have to say felt as if he were in completely over his head.

His retcons were a neat idea, but he couldn't seem to focus on one thing very long. His detours were baffling. And WOW was Chris Noth a bad call in retrospect.

The high points under Chibnall were far fewer than the previous showrunners in the new series. They had some grand, standout moments that still reverberate in the fandom. People cheered.

Chibnall ... doesn't. I'm struggling to remember the Doctor's triumphs and I'm blank.

Haven't seen the New Year's special yet, but I'll get around to it. Not exactly in a rush after finishing Flux.

And I'll see the rest of the three episodes Chibnall has left coming this year.

But I'm mainly waiting for this to be over, and I hate that.

I feel like Whitaker was robbed in a much more profound way than even Colin Baker, because with Baker it was actual malice. (Look it up, it was quite proper fucked.)

Whitaker was a better talent than her showrunner, and it crippled her run.

I hate that.

But worse still, DAVIES is what we have to look forward to.

And I'm not looking forward to it. We did this dance before and every strong start Davies ever had in any season inevitably landed with a dull, wet thump.

Maybe he's learned to flesh out his endings first.

I doubt it.

I'll never stop enjoying the character and some of the stories, but as a franchise or whatever ... I'm about out of steam, and I've hung on longer than most of the other big fans I've known.

And not many seem to have replaced them, with is also troubling.

The best way to explain Davies' arcs is to imagine someone telling a joke but using the wrong punchine.

Over.

And over.

https://twitter.com/Cloud3514/status/1482631313752530948

"My dog has no nose."

"How does he smell?"

"A FROG IN A BLENDER!"

Every time. Every series. It was uncanny.