WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the season premiere of Doctor Who: Flux, "Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse," which aired Sunday on BBC.
At the end of Doctor Who's 2021 New Year's Day special "Revolution of the Daleks," Graham and Ryan, who had traveled alongside the Thirteenth Doctor ever since the start of Season 11, left the TARDIS. Only Yaz chose to continue to travel with the Doctor, and what was once a quartet became a duo. But as soon as the episode was over, we knew that a new character would soon join them. Indeed, the BBC quickly announced that comedian John Bishop would join the series as Dan Lewis, the Doctor's newest companion.
Since then, the BBC has kept all details of Doctor Who: Flux under wraps. But now, Season 13 has officially begun with "Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse," an episode that wastes no time in introducing Dan and bringing him aboard the TARDIS.
In the Season 13 premiere, fans meet Dan, a plasterer based in Liverpool who loves the history of his home. While he doesn't have a lot of money, he's got a humble home, and he works at a food bank. He's eager to give trick-or-treating children all the candy he has, even if his fridge is empty. And on top of that, he refuses to be bullied by a grown man asking for candy, turning him back in a manner that is both steadfast and polite.
However, the new character's normal life doesn't last very long. His entire world gets rapidly thrown upside down when an alien humanoid dog warrior named Karvanista breaks into his home, traps him in a cage and takes him aboard his spaceship. But Karvanista is no villain. His race, the Lupar, are all traveling to Earth with seven billion ships, and each has a designated human. Their goal is to kidnap the humans, yes, but not to imprison them.
The Lupar know that the cataclysmic, cosmic threat known as the Flux is heading towards Earth, and with the planet in imminent danger, it's the Lupar's responsibility to save all of humanity. Each Lupar has a human to save, and Karvanista's human is Dan. But thankfully for Dan, help is on the way in the form of the Thirteenth Doctor and her companion, Yaz.
At the start of the episode, the Doctor and Yaz are in a deadly trap set by none other than Karvanista. The Doctor has been on the Lupar's trail because he has been associated with the Division, an organization she is dead set on finding. After escaping the alien canine's trap, the Doctor follows him to Earth, where she finds traces of Dan's abduction. She is eventually able to track down Karvanista's ship, and, thanks to the TARDIS, she and Yaz are able to sneak aboard. While the Doctor heads to confront the Lupar, Yaz finds Dan and sets him free.
Dan barely has the time to wrap his head around aliens and spaceships that things only get worse once the Flux arrives, threatening to destroy Earth. Yaz and Dan run back to the Doctor, and the new companion meets the Time Lord on the literal run. Afterward, Dan is taken inside the TARDIS, where the Doctor gives him a quick rundown of everything he needs to know. And with the planet in peril, Dan can only follow along, and help as best he can.
To see Dan in action, new episodes of Doctor Who: Flux air Sundays on BBC.
0 Comments