Hogan Reviews

Jumping a head a bit here Big Finish-wise, but with so much to catch up on due to being in “the dark place” in combination with a second round of updated app not working issues I thought I’d listen to and review them in order of how excited I am about them, and finally getting full cast Twelfth Doctor stories put this right at the top! These were released weekly, and although I had planned to review them weekly as they came out I’ll still put them up individually rather than pair them up, but I’ll be putting two up a day as I make my way through them. “The Second Death” was a good way to start the series, a fun story and a very interesting new companion combined with a good, if not often a bit wonky, Twelfth Doctor impersonation. Works for me! Let’s take a closer look…

The start of the story focuses on our new companion: Ash Wilton (Gwithian Evans), who lives in one of the last civilisations at the end of the universe, travelling across the planet Kersarin telling stories, singing songs and passing on messages from loved ones who can’t cross the dangerous wastelands in between the scattered settlements. He arrives in one location and meets up with dying friend Breen (Clare Bloomer) who then lives up to her description and dies overnight, leading to Ash heading to the police station where The Doctor (Jon Culshaw) is currently in prison. The Doctor tries to comfort him but Ash is weary as he claims to be a time traveller, something that’s a common scam people try and pull in this time period to take advantage of people’s want to return to a time where resources and technology weren’t so hard to come by. Ash plays a gig but starts feeling ill and runs off-stage only to meet The Doctor again, seemingly free from his cell, who gets him through his sudden illness, drops some information about him and then leaves. Confused Ash heads back to the station and finds him still behind bars and none the wiser about what Ash is claiming happened.

Ash breaks him out anyway and the two head off to find Breen’s son Hari (Sid Sager) based on information what they both agree must have been a future version of The Doctor had said. This is admittedly where the story lost me a bit as they meet Hari in the dangerous wastes and then spend a while dodging the deadly “Desolates” that roam the land and while trying to find tech that could cure a disease that’s harming the population. It’s fine, but after such an interesting start it suddenly became very mundane. The end though is fantastic, but I’ll get to that in the Spoilers!

I will say here that Culshaw’s Capaldi is a lot like Tim Treloar’s Pertwee in that it’s not a 1-to-1 vocal impression, instead it has the right speech pattern and inflections to it, enough that you can enjoy the story and smile at the excellent Twelfth Doctor snarky dialogue and not worry about it. I will admit sometimes though, during quieter moments, Culshaw slips into his Brigadier voice, now THAT was distracting, but it didn’t happen that often…

The Continuity:

Nice cover, though the two standing next to each other with different pictures in the centre circle is the template for ALL their adventures, so it gets a little samey as it goes on…

The only continuity here is that it takes place directly after “The Husbands of River Song”, with The Doctor mentioning he’d just experienced the “second death” of his wife as he knew he was sending her off to her death, their first meeting, and that he was at the end of the universe because he felt like staring into the blank, black starless sky to reflect on things…

Overall Thoughts:

“The Second Death” was a good way to kick off this new series of adventures. Ash is a really interesting and unique new companion and Jon Culshaw’s Twefth Doctor may not win any impression accuracy awards but gets enough right and has such great dialogue that it works anyway. There is a bit of a lull in the middle that stops it from being a 5, but the great and powerful ending nearly pushed it there…

By the time they find the machine that has the cure Hari is near death and The Doctor finds out the Desolates are actually manufactured clones, but there is also a machine that can transfer consciousnesses (handy!) so he transfers Hari’s mind into a Desolate, who is then strong enough to carry the large machine that creates the cure back to the city. The three of them drive back to the city triumphantly only for the guards to understandably draw their weapons on the “Desolate” that’s with them. The Doctor and Ash explain that the Desolate is Hari but that causes the guard to shoot Hari dead out of disgust that Ash would speak ill of such a respected recently deceased member of the city (while also mentioning her other son Alan also died…)

The Doctor invites Ash onto the TARDIS, where he has a full on emotional breakdown due to all his friends dying around him in the space of a day. The Doctor does he best to comfort him and tells him he won’t let him go until he’s better. It was a lovely, powerful scene… really wish Capaldi himself was around to deliver it, but hey-ho!