Doctor Who Flux: 10 Huge Questions After War Of The Sontarans

5. Why Does Vinder Feel He Needs Redemption?

Doctor Who Flux (Series 13)
BBC

Vinder continues to be the most intriguing of the new characters. Last week, we wondered why he had been put on observational duties when we know he is a trained, and highly skilled, fighter pilot. Now, he has been mysteriously transported to the planet Time in the hope that he can repair the Mouri. But why him?

When Azure and Swarm turn up they know all about his past and have clearly touched a nerve with the suggestion that he is looking for redemption. What could he have possibly done, and was he acting with the best of intentions, perhaps in defiance of orders?

It looks like Azure and Swarm are travelling through time to meet Vinder and the Doctor and her friends out of order. A future installment of the story should tell us how they know about Yaz’s ‘what would the Doctor do’ reminder on her hand, and perhaps also how they found out about Vinder’s past.

VInder’s reaction to Yaz is a curious one. He immediately assumes she is his superior officer, perhaps implying that in his culture women lead the military. It’s worth reminding ourselves that the Doctor is looking for the Division, and the first Division operative we saw was the female Time Lord Gat. The Ruth Doctor was also a member of the Division. Are they the former bosses that Vinder has defied?

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Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.