WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the latest episode of Doctor Who, "Eve of the Daleks," which aired Sunday January 2nd on BBC.
The new year in Doctor Who opened with the ELF Storage going up in fireworks with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yasmin "Yaz" Khan (Mandip Gill) and Dan Lewis (John Bishop) standing by enjoying the light show. Accompanying them is ELF Storage owner Sarah (Aisling Bea) and her customer Nick (Adjani Salmon) as they too watch the business crumble to dust and rubble as fireworks soar through the sky. Except...that's not all that happened.
Going back in time to exactly eight minutes before midnight, all five individuals found themselves being killed by Daleks over and over and over again while stuck in a time loop. The Daleks killing the Doctor and her companions makes sense, but what interest do they have in killing Sarah and Nick? Apart from them not being Daleks themselves, they are of no interest to them as they are not allies of the Doctor in any capacity. The Daleks, however, have a more pressing matter that's informing their actions: they were killed in the Flux event weeks earlier, and that has them feeling terribly genocidal.
In Doctor Who: Flux, the Doctor's adoptive mother, Tecteun (Barbara Flynn), was revealed to be the leader of Division, a black ops organization that broke Gallifreyan laws about meddling with the histories of other worlds. The Doctor, at one point, worked for Division but ran away the moment their mission statement no longer aligned with her values. Having inspired countless worlds across countless timelines to rebel against oppressive authority figures, Tecteun sought to destroy the universe and the Doctor along with it so that Division could start afresh in a new universe.
Many of the Doctor's enemies took advantage of the Flux event to conquer the worlds they've always wanted to conquer. The Daleks conquered whole portions of time and space, as did the Cybermen. The Sontarans, however, only sought to assert the claim their commander Linx made on Earth during the 13th Century. They nearly succeeded, but their invasion of Earth was thwarted by the Doctor, who forced them to retreat. Unfortunately for both the Sontarans and the Doctor, British General Logan blew up their ships as they were leaving.
The actions of General Logan angered the surviving Sontarans who -- with help from the Grand Serpent -- launched an even more aggressive assault on Earth. In the Doctor Who: Flux episode "Chapter Six: The Vanquishers," the Sontarans lured the Daleks and Cybermen near Earth, where the second Flux event would take place. Their plan was to wipe them all out so that the Sontarans could reign supreme, which in itself is a very Dalek-like strategy. The Doctor, however, hijacked the Sontarans' own plan and used it against them, effectively killing all three of her deadliest enemies in one big swoop. This is the action that comes back to bite the Doctor in the butt in "Eve of the Daleks."
Having detected the Doctor's TARDIS in the basement of Sarah's ELF Storage building, an Executioner Dalek squad sends a small handful of Daleks to execute the Doctor for her actions against them during the second Flux event. The Doctor, however, refuses to take responsibility for her role in their mass genocide, citing that it was the Sontarans who devised the strategy that nearly killed them all into extinction. The Daleks, however, don't care who actually initiated the plan and set it in motion. They only care about the fact the Doctor was at the center of the Flux event in the first place.
While the Doctor is not responsible for unleashing the Flux that destroyed millions of planets, she is still the reason it happened. Even without Division, the Doctor still has a history of interfering with the historical events of various worlds, including Skaro, the Daleks' home planet. This naturally earned her a lot of dangerous enemies who then facilitated the dangerous actions they've taken against her. These include Tecteun unleashing the Flux event and the Doctor's enemies all designing the Pandorica to imprison her eleventh incarnation (Matt Smith).
More than anything, everything leading up to the Flux and its aftermath is a consequence of the Doctor's past actions. The fact the Doctor keeps running away from her problems is part of the reason time is running out for her as Time itself warned in the Doctor Who: Flux finale. In "Eve of the Daleks," it was the Daleks who attempted to hold her accountable for her actions. In the remaining two episodes, it may be the Sea Devils and perhaps the Master and Time itself who'll have her answer for her past actions next.