As a dedicated Whovian who’s seen every time travel story the show has attempted, I have to say “Before the Flood” delivers one of the most satisfying conclusions to a two-parter I’ve seen in recent years. Following the ghostly tension of “Under the Lake”, this episode shifts gears to explore one of my favorite sci-fi concepts: the bootstrap paradox.
The story follows directly from the events we saw in “The Witch’s Familiar” and “The Magician’s Apprentice”, maintaining Season 9’s strong commitment to complex storytelling. Like those episodes, it’s not afraid to challenge viewers with intricate plotting and moral ambiguity.
The pre-credits sequence immediately grabbed my attention in a way that reminded me of the tension we saw in “The Empty Child”. When Peter Capaldi’s Doctor looks directly into the camera and starts explaining the bootstrap paradox using Beethoven as an example, I got chills. It’s the kind of fourth-wall break that shows just how far the series has come since episodes like “The Long Game”.
The story proper takes us to 1980, where the Doctor, O’Donnell, and Bennett arrive at the military training town that will eventually become the underwater base we saw in “Under the Lake”. I love how the episode plays with our expectations – what seems like a straightforward “go back in time and prevent the tragedy” story becomes something far more complex and emotionally resonant.
The Fisher King, our alien antagonist, immediately reminded me of some of the best classic Who monsters. The design team outdid themselves here, creating something far more menacing than what we saw with the Slitheen in “Aliens of London”. This is exactly the kind of monster that would have terrified me as a kid watching from behind the sofa.
What really sets this episode apart is how it handles its time travel elements. Having watched Doctor Who tackle temporal paradoxes since “The Unquiet Dead”, I appreciate how this story manages to make its complex plot both comprehensible and emotionally meaningful. The moment when Bennett realizes he can’t save O’Donnell hits me with the same emotional impact we saw in “The Doctor Dances”, but with an even darker edge.
The way the episode handles Clara’s predicament back in the future (or present, depending on your perspective) adds another layer of tension. As someone who’s followed Clara’s journey since “Boom Town”, watching her take charge of the situation while potentially facing her own death feels like a natural progression of her character arc.
The resolution, when it comes, is both clever and satisfying. The Doctor’s ghost turns out to be a hologram, part of an elaborate plan that the Doctor could only devise because he’d already seen it work. As a fan of temporal mechanics in science fiction, I found myself grinning at how neatly everything fits together, reminiscent of the complex plotting we saw in “Bad Wolf”.
The way this episode handles its predestination paradox reminds me of the best parts of classic Who, while adding a modern sensibility that we’ve seen developing throughout Season 9. Unlike the more straightforward threats we faced in “The Woman Who Lived”, here we’re dealing with something that challenges both the characters and the audience intellectually.
What particularly strikes me is how the Doctor’s solution mirrors some of the clever thinking we saw in “The Zygon Invasion” and “The Zygon Inversion” – it’s not about brute force or technological superiority, but about outsmarting your opponent by thinking several steps ahead. The Fisher King’s defeat comes not from a weapon or a clever gadget, but from the Doctor’s understanding of time itself.
The emotional core of the episode really shines through in Clara’s reactions to potentially losing the Doctor. After everything we’ve seen her go through (which comes to a head later in “Face the Raven”), her determination to save him while maintaining his own plan shows remarkable character growth. It’s the kind of companion development that makes this era of Who so compelling.
The resolution also plays beautifully with our expectations. Much like the twist in “Sleep No More”, what we think we’re watching isn’t quite what’s actually happening. The Doctor’s apparent ghost, floating menacingly through the underwater base, turns out to be part of an elaborate plan that only works because it was already seen working – a perfect example of the bootstrap paradox in action.
What elevates this episode above standard time travel fare is its willingness to embrace complexity while never losing sight of the human element. Like the best moments in “Heaven Sent”, it combines clever plotting with genuine emotional stakes. The Doctor’s manipulation of time isn’t just a clever trick – it’s necessary to save lives, making the paradox feel earned rather than merely clever.
The episode’s conclusion leaves us with questions about free will and determinism that echo throughout the rest of Season 9, particularly as we approach “Hell Bent”. Can we really change time if our attempts to change it were always part of how it happened? The Doctor’s solution suggests both yes and no – we have free will, but sometimes our choices are predetermined because we’ve already seen their consequences.
Looking back at this episode from the perspective of “The Husbands of River Song”, it’s fascinating to see how the show continues to play with time travel concepts while keeping the emotional stakes high. “Before the Flood” stands as one of the cleverer examples of how to handle temporal paradoxes in Doctor Who, while never forgetting that at its heart, this is a show about characters we care about facing impossible situations.
In the end, “Before the Flood” demonstrates why Season 9 represents some of the strongest storytelling in modern Who. It takes risks, trusts its audience to keep up with complex ideas, and delivers emotional payoffs that feel earned rather than forced. While it might not have the immediate shock value of “The Magician’s Apprentice”, it offers something deeper – a meditation on causality, free will, and the price of being a time traveler who cares too much.
“Before the Flood” represents everything I love about modern Doctor Who – clever writing, emotional depth, and a willingness to challenge its audience. While it builds on the ghostly atmosphere established in “Under the Lake”, it creates something entirely its own. The bootstrap paradox might give you a headache if you think about it too hard, but that’s part of the fun.
As we continue through Season 9 toward the emotional heights of “Face the Raven” and “Heaven Sent”, this episode stands as a perfect example of how to balance complex sci-fi concepts with character-driven storytelling. It’s not just about solving the puzzle – it’s about what the puzzle means for the people trying to solve it.
Rating: 4.5/5 – A clever, compelling story that rewards multiple viewings and demonstrates why Season 9 is one of New Who’s strongest.
Next up: Join me for a look at “The Girl Who Died”, where we meet a very special Viking girl who will change everything.
