Doctor Who Flux: The Halloween Apocalypse Review - 6 Ups & 3 Downs

Doctor Who Series 13 kicks off with Jodie Whittaker's best opener yet.

by Danny Meegan
Doctor Who The Halloween Apocalypse Swarm
BBC

Doctor Who is under a lot of pressure to deliver right now. Coming off one of the most controversial episodes in the show's history and an underwhelming Dalek special - not to mention the low ratings, behind-the-scenes controversies, and divided fanbase - the BBC is in desperate need of a hit.

Enter Series 13 premiere The Halloween Apocalypse, an episode that, we're happy to report, is a solid start to showrunner Chris Chibnall and star Jodie Whittaker's final year in charge.

Is it perfect? No. Are some of the Chibnall-era problems still present? Yes. But while we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves - remember, the promising two-part opener to Series 12 was immediately followed by the dreadful Orphan 55 - the third time might just be the charm for Chibnall and Whittaker's Doctor Who tenure.

So, let's run through the ups and downs of The Halloween Apocalypse, starting with the things we liked...

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!