Doctor Who: Flux recap: “Village of the Angels,” Aired Nov. 21, 2021
The angels have the TARDIS!
The Doctor is able to rid her time machine of them, but it turns out everyone in the village are reported to disappear all in one night. And naturally, the Doctor lands right on the day of vanishing. It’s happened once before. Let’s see if the Doctor can save a town from becoming a “Village of the Angels.”
And, Whovians, don’t blink.
“Are they really ringing the doorbell?”
Time for us to check in with Claire from episode 1. She was sent back in time by the weeping angels to 1965. This episode begins in 1967. After weeping angels hijack the TARDIS, the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver leads her to Claire, undergoing experiments by Professor Jericho.
Claire has a weeping angel in her mind, and it’s making her seemingly turn into an angel herself. Serious flashbacks to Amy Pond in “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone.” Of course, she’s not one of them; it’s merely using her.
The Doctor goes inside Claire’s mind to remove the angel and finds out that’s the very angel that brought the TARDIS to 1967. The angels that sent Claire back in time were actually after the angel taking sanctuary in her mind – a rogue angel. The rogue angel tells the Doctor the angels after it are an extraction squad for the Division. The Doctor has some history with the Division, with Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor serving and escaping the Division. Well, this angel knows all about the Division (including the Doctor’s missing memories!), and that’s why the extraction squad wants it.
While the Doctor chats with the angel inside Claire’s mind, Professor Jericho contends with the angels around him. In a chilling scene, they use his own fears and voice against him. Unfortunately for her, he gets the Doctor out of Claire’s mind before the rogue angel can tell her what she wants to know. Surrounded, Jericho ends up in 1901 with Yaz and Dan and Peggy. Meanwhile, we leave Claire being used as a means of communication by the angels. She’s surrounded by them last we see her.
Quantum extraction
While the Doctor is caught up with Claire, Yaz and Dan join a couple, Gerald and Jean, on their search for 10-year-old Peggy. Good news is the two of them find Peggy. Bad news is they find her in 1901 (aka one of the years an entire village disappears), and the village has been ripped out of space and time – quantum extraction, the angels explain through Peggy.
Gerald and Jean end up sent back to 1901 by an angel during their search, and Peggy is forced to watch the couple turn to stone and crumble as the angel gets them for a second time. She doesn’t seem too bothered by it, claiming Gerald was never nice to her, and that lack of reaction is sure something.
Peggy comes face to face with her 1967 self, and we find out 10-year-old Peggy is truly stuck in 1901. The angels left her alive because they like to leave a few, rare witnesses to tell the story. We also find out the woman at the beginning of the episode warning people something is wrong is actually Peggy. And naturally, people don’t listen to future Peggy’s warnings. The general public not listening to the one person who’s been though something, labeling them as crazy – that tracks.
“You are recalled.”
The rogue angel makes a trade with the extraction team; they can take the Doctor instead. As Claire tells the Doctor, “the only thing Division wants more than my angel is you.” Next thing we know, the Doctor herself has turned into a weeping angel. Oh. My. Gosh.
Meanwhile…
We also revisit Bel’s story. On a surviving planet post-Flux, Bel meets Namaca on her journey to find Vinder. Namaca brings Bel to what he thinks is transport to a safe galaxy unaffected by the Flux, and it’s provided by none other than Azure and Passenger forms. Luckily, Bel knows a thing or two about Passenger forms and helps the two escape an endless prison. Namaca is less than grateful, believing Azure’s lie about the safe galaxy, but I’m glad Bel is safe – for now, anyway.
Vinder makes an appearance in a mid-credits scene, running into Namaca and asking if he’s seen Bel. Namaca leads Vinder to a hologram message from Bel and seems to have come around to Bel’s escape plan, realizing she probably (definitely) saved his life. It is entirely infuriating the recording cut out before she could give Vinder her coordinates, though. *sigh*
Honestly, I wouldn’t be too bothered if that’s all we see of Namaca, but I am still invested in Vinder and Bel’s relationship.
I really enjoyed “Village of the Angels.” This was by far my favorite chapter of Flux so far. The angels were absolutely terrifying – the sheer number of them, the angel on fire, the angels in the walls. This is what I love about Doctor Who. And I most definitely spent most of the episode trying not to blink at the angels on the screen.
And that cliffhanger with the Division, the weeping angels, and the Doctor-turned-angel – I did not see that coming.
Next week:
What did you think of “Village of the Angels”? Let us know at @PureFandom on Twitter!
Doctor Who airs Sundays on BBC America at 8/7c.
