Nicholas Briggs

Doctor Who

J.D. Lindsay

Just finished the first episode, a very enjoyable 7/10! Great to have Chris back in the role, he really does bring a unique characterization and the script lets it shine through. The plotting of the first episode is frantic but interesting enough, and I did like the chemistry he had with the side character he's paired up with so far. That's the strong core of this episode, and I do want to see more of them and to see where the episode's interesting threads lead.

The only reason this isn't rated higher is I don't see any sort of emotional thread or arc for 9 *so far*. But that's par for the course with many Big Finish stories and doesn't stop this story from being great for what it is. The first half fell a bit flat for me as it mainly consists of an admittedly decent action piece which is unfortunately paired with some cliche moral finger-wagging (IMO) from the Doctor. But the second half shines more strongly with character and setup for the future. Fingers crossed an emotional arc for 9 develops across these 4 boxsets.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I do think a lot of these BF stories would be stronger if they had more nuance when they tackled the morality of war, capitalism, or whatever the message of the day is. The Doctor's attitude to soldiers is a bit tired for me, as every time he berates someone in these stories he never receives any meaningful pushback from who he's talking to. I get why he looks down on soldiers, but it would be more interesting if they had a bit more spine and argued their side of things more strongly. It would even strengthen the Doctor's case against violence if they had a bit of a talk about it. Particularly in this case, where the soldiers have every right to defend their city from a bunch of murderous, civilian killing Romans. 

To get specific, I have no idea why on earth the Doctor treats the British soldiers so poorly but doesn't admonish the Romans for slaughtering hundreds of innocent civilians... That part just felt OFF. I don't think the scriptwriter thought it through properly, surely the Doctor would be just as horrified. You can understand why the British would want to retaliate, especially if they had loved ones die in the attack.

Oh well, looking forward to listening to more! I may update the top of my review if I have anything else to say about the following 2 episodes.

Doctor Who

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