It was hoped the Flux series would get simpler after the over-stuffed premiere parceled out several plots at once.
It gets a little less confusing this week at the Sontarans try to be Time Warriors again at the Crimea and Liverpool, while Yaz is sent to a mysterious temple.
It’s still confusing what this year’s Big Bads, Swarm and Azure, want. They want the Doctor dead, but it must be more than that.

Most of the action is based behind the Sontarans, led by Skaak in the past and Ritskaw in Liverpool (played by the same guy). They claim they actually owned Earth since the events of the Time Warrior episode from 1973. They’ve come up with a plan to invade Earth at several time eras at once, starting with Sebastopol in Crimea. Besides, the boss claims he also wants to ride a horse.

The Doctor, Yaz and Dan land at a battlefield in 1855, and meet Mary Seacole (Sara Powell). She was famous for taking care of wounded troops through her British Hotel. She is portrayed as a nurse who thinks everyone should be treated fairly. That includes a Sontaran who is embarrassed by being wounded.
Strangely, Yaz and Dan fade away about ten minutes in, which means the Doctor is all alone in Crimea. This decision makes the episode more complex than it should be. It splits into three pieces but at least two of them are connected. More on that later.

The Doctor is concerned about stopping the British and General Logan (Gerald Kyd) from battling the Sontarans because it will be very one-sided. Too bad Logan thinks his side will win. He’d make a good Sontaran.
She tries to trick some info out of them, and uses Seacole’s talents to find an advantage. The Doctor also learns the Sontarans didn’t cause the Flux but are certainly taking advantage.

What about Dan? He’s back in Liverpool, but the Sontarans have also invaded Earth, just sneaking in after the Lupari ships covered the planet. He meets his parents, who discover hitting a Sontaran on their intake holes knock them out. Dan isn’t sure what to do, but seeing the ruthlessness of the aliens convinces him to do something.

Yaz finds herself in a mysterious temple, with a drone asking if she can repair. Using a special tattoo on her hand (WWTDD or What Would The Doctor Do?), she pretends she can repair what’s wrong. Just before that, Vinder also wound up in the temple, claiming he can also repair. They soon meet each other, and figure out it’s one strange place. It’s the Temple of Antropos on the planet Time. It has Mouri, who regulate the flow of time, especially evil time. Two of them are “broken”.
Oh, and it’s also revealed there isn’t a planet called Time..until now.

It gets worse as Swarm (Sam Spruell) and Azure (Rochenda Sandall) arrive to “repair”, but do anything but. So far, the series reveals little about them. They can skip around time, which is why they know about Yaz’s tattoo. They also say they’ve been to the temple before…and want the Doctor dead (apparently).
Aside from that, the series is revealing too little. Making them too strong too quickly makes them boring.

Back to the Sontarans, Logan quickly realizes he’s over his head, and needs help. The Doctor figures out that if they cut off the Sontarans’ supplies, they’ll have to leave. That actually works, but Logan tries to get revenge by killing the Sontarans as they’re leaving. This makes us humans look very bad.

The Doctor and Dan do connect through the Sontaran ships, but it looks like he is about to die.
Then Karvanista (Craige Els) shows up and rescues him. He also crashes into the other Sontaran ships, while mocking Dan. He called his rescuer “Scooby Doo”, but Karvanista had the better weapons.
The Doctor and Dan reunite, but they enter a TARDIS that is deteriorating. The Flux is taking a toll.

They get to the temple, and meet Swarm and Azure. They’ve replaced one of the Mouri with Yaz, and gleefully wait for her to disintegrate under the force of time.
Again, they refuse to reveal their plan. Pure evil shouldn’t be boring. At least the Master made some of his intentions known after one episode.
Next week, we hopefully will learn more as time really runs wild and brings more bad guys.  It’s already revealed an episode with the Weeping Angels and the strange mine owner (who made a cameo this week) is coming soon.