1.06. Aegis.

Running Time: Approx. 53 minutes. Written by: Noga Flaishon. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: Noga Flaishon.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor traces the appearances of The Tourist to the Aegis Protectorate, a weapons manufacturer whose Trojans allow customers to engage in casualty-free peacekeeping, with soldiers remotely controlling mechanized troops in the field.

Aegis's ruthless CEO, Athena Nikos (Juliet Aubrey), is preparing to unveil an even deadlier and more efficient Trojan at the company's upcoming arms expo. The Doctor is forced to rely on an old enemy to get her and Yaz into the event. But once inside, Yaz begins experiencing hallucinations.

The Tourist is here - and it's using its powers to try to take control of Yaz!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Her psychic paper allows her to impersonate a colonel during the opening teaser. She pouts a bit about this, complaining that Yaz would make a far more convincing officer. She separates from Yaz as soon as they get into the expo, searching for restricted areas. That takes her through the kitchens, where in a fun moment she pauses to snack on a canapé. Her best scenes come near the end, when worries about Yaz's safety result in her showing some real anger.

Yaz: Save for those scenes near the end, this is a rare story in which I think Mandip Gill outshines Jodie Whittaker. Gill certainly gets more interesting material, as Yaz's consciousness shifts between the expo and her mindscape, a recreation of Sheffield. She struggles to keep The Tourist from seizing control... and for a while, she fails, which allows Gill to have some fun being genuinely malicious.

Athena Nikos: The villain is one of the story's weaker elements. Actress Juliet Aubrey is fine, camping it up as the callous arms merchant. Too bad that the character doesn't' come across as either imposing or interesting. She's obviously evil, even doing a requisite double-cross of an ally at one point. But she isn't clever enough to actually pose a challenge for the Doctor, who is able to defeat her with minimal effort in the final minutes. I think the story really needed to allow her a moment in which she actually did something genuinely monstrous (turning on another shady character doesn't rise to that level) in order to make her cartoonish evil into something effective. As it stands, I'm afraid I just kept thinking of her as "Temu Servalan."


THOUGHTS:

Aegis acts as the endpoint of the first six Thirteenth Doctor Adventures, and it fills that role serviceably. The script provides answers about "The Tourist" and why the entity has been reaching out to the Doctor, and those answers fit the hints and teases dropped in previous stories. It also fits the season it's part of, its anti-war themes making it a strong companion for Ride or Die.

Even so, I've found this review difficult to write. This is a "middle story," not good enough to gush about but not bad enough to tear into. I found it enjoyable while listening - but even while listening, it seemed as if something was missing, and my opinion has only slid since.

The story is purely surface-level. The villain runs a generic EvilCorp. The Doctor's infiltration of the top-secret areas is conflict-free, with her just waving her pyschic paper around and being literally taken to the door to the Locked Room with Answers. Even Yaz's thread, which contains the most interesting scenes, doesn't even try to delve into her personal hopes and fears. Finally, while Mandip Gill seems to relish the scenes with an angry Tourist possessing Yaz, not much ends up being done with the idea.

In the end, it just needs... well, more. We're told that Sontarans and other old enemies are at this expo. Why not have somebody recognize the Doctor and force her to hide from them even as she continues to impersonate an official? Why not have Yaz possessed earlier and doing things that are more ruthless, maybe even a bit shocking? Why not give the villain a personality beyond "evil and greedy?" Yes, I know it has to be kept to a single-disc length - but single disc doesn't have to mean 50 minutes. Ride or Die ran a full hour; The Return of the Doctor ran even longer; and in both cases, I think the extra 10 - 15 minutes allowed for a depth and texture that's absent here.


OVERALL:

Aegis is by no means a bad release. It's well paced and entertaining, and it does a serviceable job of wrapping up "The Tourist" arc.

Its problems are very similar to... well, to The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos: It's entirely adequate, but its events feel too small-scale for its role; its story is perfectly acceptable, but little advantage is taken of the opportunities to do anything more interesting. It's fine - but it's no more than fine, and for the widely touted "mid-season finale," I just don't think that's quite good enough.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Story: The Violet Hour
Next Story: The Hallamshire Incident (not yet reviewed)

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1.05. The Violet Hour.

Running Time: Approx. 55 minutes. Written by: Rafaella Marcus. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: Noga Flaishon.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor intends to take Yaz to New York, 1926, to enjoy a night out in the Jazz Age. The TARDIS brings them to the right year - but instead of New York, they're in London. A mysterious message in the Doctor's psychic paper results in them investigating the recent death of Esther (Liv Andrusier), a local stage medium who is only the latest of several supposed psychics to have either died or disappeared.

It doesn't take long to learn that this is the work of Col. Maltravers (David Robb). He lost his family to the influenza epidemic, and his mourning has attracted an alien identifying itself as "The Eidolon," an interdimensional creature that feeds on grief. To Maltravers, its existence is an opportunity, one that he believes will allow him to rejoin his late wife and daughter - and to achieve that, he'll happily sacrifice the lives of a few charlatans, and even all of London if it comes to it!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: The Eidolon scents her memories of loss - something the Doctor reacts to by walling that part of herself off and firmly stating that she does not wish to relive that. She's less blunt when Yaz questions her, but she still rapidly turns the subject away from herself and toward the alien. She's cheerfully chaotic when she confronts Maltravers in his lab, admiring his scientific equipment, even as she makes sure that it won't be immediately usable by him at the end of their conversation.

Yaz: She responds almost eagerly to the mystery, relishing the opportunity to behave as a police investigator. She uses the TARDIS to search for their suspect, using it like it was the FBI database. When the Doctor starts to fret about the danger of potentially peeking into their own future, Yaz nips the lecture in the bud by informing her that she restricted the search to information that was available the day before their arrival.

Col. Maltravers: The villain of the piece. Maltravers is driven by a sympathetic and human impulse, grief for his departed family. But he's taken it to an extreme, allowing his loss to transform him into a serial murderer. At first, he and his assistant, Kidney (Jospeh Arkley), prey on fake psychics who willingly consent to be part of his experiments in hopes of earning some extra coin. When that proves insufficient, he turns to outright kidnapping, his attitude becoming increasingly manic.


THOUGHTS:

The Violet Hour treads much of the same thematic ground as Lionesses in Winter, involving the Doctor and Yaz in a tale of grief and loss. I liked this one better, mainly because it does what I felt the earlier story badly needed to do: It slows down, letting the character scenes play out and making sure that the Doctor's own losses are properly reflected within the narrative.

The initial Act plays very much like a period detective story. The period setting helps lend it atmosphere. There's also some sense of jeopardy when Maltravers' assistant, Kidney, begins stalking the next victim. This part the story is particularly good for Yaz's character, with the young constable clearly reveling in putting her training to proper use.

Clues lead the Doctor to Maltravers and then to the Eidolon. I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Doctor first communicates with the creature inside her own mind, even as Yaz deals with Maltravers and Kidney in the waking world.

While I really enjoyed most of this story, I felt just a bit let down by the climax, which feels as if it could have and should have been more dramatic. There's a moment that makes use of the Doctor's buried grief, the exact memories that she suppressed earlier in the story. This feels like something that should be played big. Instead, it gets skimmed over, with minimal emotion from the Doctor, making what should have been one of this range's most memorable scenes play out as oddly muted.

My only other complaint is that the story overuses the Sonic screwdriver. An early scene, in which the Doctor uses it to affect Kidney's shoes, is amusing and just about works within the confines of what the device should be able to do. But it's also used as a stand-in for a Star Trek tricorder. And then Yaz ends up using it as a stun weapon. That's too many uses, and too many completely different uses, for a single 55-minute episode.

The Violet Hour has absolutely been written with "Thasmin" shippers in mind. When Yaz shows off her period outfit at the start, the Doctor's appreciation slips beyond simple approval into being a bit flirtatious. Yaz's conversation with Megan in the previous episode seems to have set her mind to work, as well. When she needs to shock the Doctor into consciousness, she finds a rather unconventional method - though I'm not sure that this doesn't cross a line into unintentionally creepy behavior.


OVERALL:

The Violet Hour is a generally solid story that makes fine use of its period setting. It folds in themes of grief and loss more effectively than the earlier Lionesses in Winter did, and I was happy to see a shift to a slightly slower-paced story told on a smaller scale. The script may leave a few potential dramatic crumbs on the table, and one moment with Yaz is arguably misjudged. For the most part, though, I enjoyed this.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Story: Ride or Die
Next Story: Aegis

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1.04. Ride or Die.

Running Time: Approx. 60 minutes. Written by: Rochana Patel. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: Noga Flaishon.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor receives a mysterious message containing dozens of space/time coordinates. She declares it an obvious trap - one that she and Yaz agree they should spring.

The first set of takes them to 2018 Afghanistan, just in time to watch as a dimensional rift appears, whisks away a US armored patrol carrier, and vanishes again. The next takes them back to Yaz's home town, Sheffield. This time, the Doctor has prepared a tracking device. Her plan is to throw it through the rift and follow its signal.

The plan goes awry. Yaz tries to wave an ambulance away to safety. But its driver is an her old friend Megan (Lauren O'Leary). When the rift opens, it shifts away from its predicted coordinates, seemingly intentionally veering off to engulf both Megan and Yaz.

The two find themselves on an alien world, where they come under attack from flying monsters. They are rescued by the very troops who were taken from Afghanistan. Corporal Chapman (Harry Ryan) informs them that they have been here for three years, and have spent that entire time at war with these "Banshees." He adds that Yaz and Megan are now conscripts in their army.

When the Doctor arrives, she's determined to rescue everyone. What she finds is a city of thousands, most of them multi-generational descendants of the rifts' original victims. This is now their home. The Doctor rejects the idea of fighting and winning a war. Instead, she sets her sights on an even more impossible goal: Peace!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: At first, her insistence on not only communicating with a Banshee but even helping it to escape seems hopelessly naive. Thankfully, the script is smart enough to make her unsurprised by the creature's hostility. She uses the Banshee the way she used the tracker - to locate the alien soldier's superiors in order to make dialogue possible. Jodie Whittaker is particularly good when playing the Doctor's stubborn determination, and there's a certain energy when she openly admits that she's behaving recklessly that has me visualize the character with a mad glint in her eye as she takes action.

Yaz: When the soldiers announce that they are at war and order she and Megan to fire at the Banshees, Yaz refuses. She won't just start shooting when she doesn't know who the enemy is or what their reasons might be, and she's appalled when Megan does. She's no pure pacifist, though. When the Banshees attack her and the Doctor, her instinctive reaction is to want revenge, with the Doctor having to talk her down. Once she calms down, she notices discrepancies that start leading her and the Doctor toward the truth of this situation.

Megan: Yaz's old friend. She stood up for Yaz when she was bullied at her male-dominated job, and it seems as if the two were close. Then Megan developed feelings, which made things awkward (there are absolutely no parallels there). Megan's response to being thrown into an alien battlefield is to go along with what the soldiers tell her to do, because that seems like her best chance at surviving. My favorite bit of hers comes around the midpoint. She goes along with the Doctor's plan to let the Banshee free - but even as she runs for the release button, she cries out to the creature to please not kill her.


THOUGHTS:

After The Lionesses in Winter left me cold, I'm relieved to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Ride or Die. It's another fast-paced entry, but "fast" never descends into "rushed," with writer Rochana Patel's script keeping control of its plot, pace, and themes throughout.

The story has several potential pitfalls, and it neatly avoids all of them. During early scenes, in which the Doctor and Yaz separately protest the very idea of fighting the soldiers' war against the Banshees, I worried that this might be headed toward a simplistic morality play in which the evil, nasty soldiers were persecuting poor, innocent aliens.

That fear was allayed as soon as the Doctor managed to communicate with a Banshee. The creature is bloodthirsty, and the Doctor isn't surprised by that. As she points out, it isn't going to be best friends with them after a lifetime of war. Meanwhile, the lead soldier, Sergeant Johnson (Ako Mitchell), is willing to let the Doctor move forward with her plan, which is the only chance he sees for any kind of peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call it complex - at a mere 60 minutes, there isn't time for any serious depth - but there are at least nods to the inherent messiness of this situation.

Megan's mere presence pushes Yaz to begin to recognize that her feelings for the Doctor go beyond friendship. Reuniting with an old friend pushes her to confront the Doctor, who has seemingly avoided taking her back to Sheffield for any visits, perhaps out of fear that Yaz will decide to join Graham and Ryan in leaving her. One of my "wish list" items for this range was to actually see (well, hear) the development of their relationship that previously happened offscreen between seasons, and these moments go a long way toward delivering that.

The story arguably takes one plot turn too many toward the end, with a late story shift in setting accompanied by a drop in urgency. Even these scenes are enjoyable, however, and there's enough groundwork laid for them that it doesn't come out of nowhere.


OVERALL:

Though The Return of the Doctor remains my favorite entry in this range thus far, Ride or Die is a fairly close second. It balances good character moments and an entertaining story, and it manages to avoid a few potential pitfalls. It's the first of writer Rochana Patel's stories that I've heard, and it leaves me looking forward to her next story.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Story: Lionesses in Winter
Next Story: The Violet Hour

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1.03. Lionesses in Winter.

Running Time: Approx. 49 minutes. Written by: Lisa McMullin. Directed by: Steven Kavuma. Produced by: Noga Flaishon.


THE PLOT:

Christmas, 1883. Eleanor of Aquitaine (Debra Baker) has been recalled from her imprisonment for participating in a revolt against her husband, King Henry II (Kevin Mathurin). In this fateful family gathering, Henry will decide whether his successor will be Prince Richard, his eldest surviving son who also rebelled against him, or weaselly younger son John.

But there are unexpected visitors: the Doctor; Yaz; and a third, impossible guest who claims to be the long-dead Prince Phillip (Ammar Duffus). The instant Phillip gains entry, everything is transformed. Eleanor and Henry go from denying his existence to behaving as if he had always been there, even as their banquet rots on the table and the trees die outside.

Something has gone horribly wrong, prompting the Doctor, Yaz, and the royal couple's ward, Alys (Dolly Webb) to take a trip to the past to trace the source...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: She is surprised when Eleanor recognizes both her and Yaz, but she quickly realizes that this means that they will meet in her own future and is sensible enough to play along. When Yaz recognizes Princes Richard and John - not so much from history as from Robin Hood - the Doctor is quick to hush her. She empathizes with the royal couple over their grief for the children they lost (a character beat that I wish the story did much more with), but she knows she can't allow this "wrong" Prince Phillip to remain.

Yaz: After two very strong audio stories, this becomes the first Big Finish script to reduce Yaz to "generic companion" status. One problem, in contrast to the previous two releases, is a lack of contrast between her and the Doctor. Yaz is extremely quippy in this story, while the Doctor is also breezy and energetic. One of them needs to be more serious to offset the other. As it stands, there are scenes in which it seemed lines are divided up just to keep the Doctor from being the only person speaking.

Alys: Eleanor and Henry fall completely under the spell of "Prince Phillip," whom Alys recognizes as her imaginary friend from childhood. When she informs the Doctor that she remembered seeing him in a mirror in the castle nursery, she ends up being taken back in time to show them. Refreshingly, Alys is so overwhelmed by the TARDIS that she becomes insensible, though it doesn't take her long to start enjoying the impossibilities.


THOUGHTS:

Lionesses in Winter has all the ingredients for a classic: an interesting historical period, an isolated setting, an emphasis on relatable human emotion, and an entertaining sci-fi concept with the mirror dimension. On paper, this should be one of my favorites, and it was probably the release I was most looking forward to.

Which makes it all the more disappointing that it ends up being the first entry in this range that I haven't enjoyed.

To start with the positive, the story opens well. The teaser introduces Henry and Elinor, establishing their bitter relationship for anyone who isn't familiar with either the history or James Goldman's The Lion in Winter. Actors Kevin Mathurin and Debra Baker make a meal of the couple's verbal ripostes. Then the Doctor appears mid-argument, sitting impishly on Henry's throne (in my mind, I imagine her giving a friendly wave as they notice her), setting the stage for the gathering to be transformed into chaos.

The first half is generally engaging, with writer Lisa McMullin efficiently establishing the many losses and tensions that have defined Eleanor's and Henry's marriage. I suspect those unfamiliar with the history might get lost in the rapid-fire introductions. However, a combination of witty dialogue with hints of tragedy keep it ticking along nicely.

It starts to go wrong for me in the second half. McMullin's story wants to explore grief and loss. There's an excellent scene in which Eleanor visits her dead son's nursery and muses about how he would be growing up had he not died at age 2. But plot mechanics and an overly rapid pace keep burying the emotion.

One second, Eleanor is consumed by grief... but before we get a chance to really feel that, we're suddenly back in the TARDIS as the Doctor and Yaz dart forward to trace some Technobabble. Then the climax becomes at least as concerned with establishing arc character, "The Tourist," as with bringing together all the components of this narrative. As a result, what should have been a haunting examination of loss ends up coming across as hollow.


OVERALL:

The Lionesses in Winter is technically well executed. Performances are good, production values are strong, and there are fine individual scenes. It also fairly whips along...

Except I think that last becomes part of my problem with it. Forcing these themes into a zippy "New Series" template hurts the larger whole. This story cries out to be slower and more meditative. Instead, it gallops along, too fast and too light. The result isn't disastrous by any means... but it is disappointing.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

Previous Story: The Return of the Doctor
Next Story: Ride or Die

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1.02. The Return of the Doctor.

Running Time: Approx. 65 minutes. Written by: Rory Thomas-Howes. Directed by: Bethany Weimers. Produced by: Noga Flaishon.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor and Yaz scramble to save the peaceful planet Velazaar from invasion. They are assisted by Talpa (Will Kirk), a Zaarian orphan. The Doctor's plan to save the day requires the boy to put himself in the line of fire. The plan works... but Talpa is injured, sparking a rare flash of anger from Yaz toward the Doctor.

After they take the boy to the hospital, the Doctor is ready to head off on their next adventure. Yaz insists otherwise, demanding that they make sure he will be all right. The Doctor agrees to hop forward to check in on him. Then Yaz touches the wrong control, pushing them forward not by the week the Doctor had intended, but instead by a full ten years!

In the intervening decade, Velazaar has descended into turmoil. The capital city is in ruins, and the previously peace-loving Zaarians in a state of constant conflict. Everyone the time travelers meet has clouded eyes, and their anger is focused entirely at the Doctor.

An alien presence known as "The Whisper" has infected the population. It's invaded Yaz's mind as well, broadcasting its simple yet compelling message:

"This is her fault!"


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: The story puts some focus on the Doctor's flaws. She is slightly hypocritical, tearing into Taav (Stephan Bessant) for putting Talpa in danger when she's guilty of the exact same thing. She all but flees the planet after saving it, insisting that she doesn't want people to learn to depend on her. She shows moments of callousness; and as the Whisper gloats, her actions do everything to shake Yaz's trust in her. This plays beautifully on aspects of the Thirteenth Doctor that were glimpses in Series 12 and 13, and Jodie Whittaker's performance is excellent in scenes in which the character becomes a little too pragmatic for comfort.

Yaz: Her anger at the Doctor endangering Talpa seems to give the Whisper the foothold it needs to gain access to her. Her faith in her friend allows her to keep that voice at bay. Too bad the Doctor's own actions keep shaking that faith. When the Doctor wonders if the now-grown Talpa's resentment is a sign of alien influence, Yaz points out that he has valid reasons to be angry - and I'm pretty sure that's "real Yaz" speaking, not "whisper Yaz." This story gives Mandip Gill some strong material, and she rises to it, both when Yaz is legitimately angry with her friend and when she is finally possessed.


THOUGHTS:

The Return of the Doctor presses on the fault lines of the otherwise tight-knit Doctor/Yaz team. "The Whisper" is a well-chosen enemy, a vehicle that exposes the differences between the two leads while still telling a good Doctor Who story.

Never minding other aspects of their relationship, Yaz has a chronic and long-standing case of hero worship toward the Doctor. It was in Arachnids in the UK - only their fourth episode together - that she dubbed her "the best person (she's) ever met." That's why she's so upset to see the Doctor putting teenage Talpa in danger. She calls the Doctor on it, snapping that she was trained to never put civilian lives in danger. The Doctor protests that she isn't police, which Yaz cuts off flat: "No... You're better."

From that point, each act of either recklessness or callous pragmatism pushes them further apart. "The Whisper" may influence the strength of Yaz's reaction, but it doesn't create the sense of disappointment and even betrayal. This draws out the best in both Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill, both of whom have rarely been better in these roles.

The episode runs about 65 minutes, rather than the more standard 50 minutes, and that extra time is well used. The major guest characters all get a hint of depth, with each of the Doctor's allies haunted in various ways by their pasts. There's plenty of action, including a couple of nicely-executed audio set pieces. The extra length also gives the narrative the freedom to slow down for a few moments of quiet, which helps the major guest characters to gain a hint of added depth. Because we get to know the guest cast, it's more than a little unsettling when the Doctor makes a cold and abrupt choice around the two-thirds mark.


OVERALL:

In both this story and Vampire Weekend, I've been impressed by how seamlessly Whittaker and Gill have made the jump from television to audio. Their original performances were often visual, with movement and facial expression providing a lot of their characterization. Somehow, they've both managed so far to work those layers into purely vocal performances.

While I know it's not a point of universal agreement, I actually enjoyed The Return of the Doctor more than the first story. It delivers one of the things I really want from this range: A deeper dive into the characters, both as a team and as individuals. I love seeing the Doctor and Yaz turned against each other; and though "the Whisper" feeds on and magnifies the tensions, it doesn't seem to create them, instead just exploiting differences that are already there.

It's a fine story, and I find it very promising that both the characters and the actors are working this well in only their second Big Finish release.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Story: Vampire Weekend
Next Story: Lionesses in Winter

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1.01. Vampire Weekend.

Running Time: Approx. 51 minutes. Written by: Tim Foley. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: Noga Flaishon.


THE PLOT:

Yaz takes a break from her travels with the Doctor to attend the "hen-do" for her friend Gina's wedding. The site is a remote manor, complete with hedge maze, and the weekend has been planned by Gina's maid of honor, Zoya (Anna Crichlow). Several of Yaz's friends are there, along with Gina's mother (Mandi Symonds) - but Gina herself is nowhere to be seen.

The group has only just arrived when an unexpected visitor shows up: The Doctor. She has apparently invited herself, and she's brought two chickens and bunches of eggs for the occasion. Yaz is embarrassed and Zoya is furious, but it quickly becomes clear that the Doctor's arrival is not just some random whim.

Strange things begin happening. Yaz and Zoya discover that an invisible barrier surrounds the property. A dog is gruesomely murdered, and one of the guests is attacked. When the Doctor and Yaz run to help, they discover a telltale wound on the victim's neck: a vampire bite.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver detects no extra life forms - which means that the vampire has to be one of the guests...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Writer Tim Foley does an excellent job of capturing the 13th Doctor, both her quirkiness and the way she uses it to keep secrets. Her very first scene dials the eccentricity up to borderline annoying levels, only for the script to reveal that she's come on very serious business. She worries that she brings trouble with her, and she confesses to missing Graham and Ryan. Jodie Whittaker's Big Finish debut is promising. She stays mostly light-hearted, talking rapidly and excitedly. However, that helps to draw attention to the brief moments when she slows down and shows hints of emotional vulnerability.

Yaz: She indicates she's left the police force, a development that makes sense but that I think should have been saved for a later story. She's determined to take this weekend to reconnect with her friends, but her travels have left her feeling disconnected from the people she used to know. She expresses some uncertainty about her current status with the Doctor, wondering how they are supposed to interact now that Graham and Ryan have moved on.


THOUGHTS:

Vampire Weekend makes a strong impression right away. The teaser sees Yaz driving two friends to the manor, where she meet's Gina's mother and spars a bit with Zoya. All of this could come direct from an ensemble comedy or character drama, and the dialogue makes it enjoyable as the characters and initial dynamics are established. Then the Doctor shows up, her intrusion heralding the arrival of the fantastical. I could just about picture Jodie Whittaker giving an oblivious-but-not-really grin to take us into credits. Had there been a season between Revolution of the Daleks and The Halloween Apocalypse, then I could easily picture this opening it.

The story, with the characters trying to figure out who among them is the vampire, echoes the "Werewolf" party game, and Foley wisely acknowledges that parallel. One character even mistakes the vampire hunt for "prepared entertainment" and tries to make an outside call to be rescued from the "fun." He is otherwise portrayed as a bit of a jerk - but I absolutely sympathized with him in that moment.

The nature of the story means that everyone is a viable suspect. This includes the Doctor and Yaz, who arrive separately, making either of them a potential imposter. This eventually occurs to them, resulting in a particularly good character scene in which each reveals private thoughts while doubting the other.

The tone is mostly breezy and light, but underneath there runs an effective running theme about truth. This most guarded of Doctors doesn't hesitate to declare that "truth is always ugly." For the most part, though, the truths revealed by these victims are more regretful than damning. One man berates himself for being selfish, wishing that he could be different. Another woman cooks because it's her "happy place" and confesses to feeling overwhelmed. Even the most hurtful statement, which reduces one guest's partner to tears, is principally an admission of uncertainty after a major life change.

Crucially, it's a moment of honesty between the Doctor and Yaz that helps them with the adjustment to traveling without Graham and Ryan. Yaz notes that when the Doctor got lost in herself, she could always talk to "the boys" until she snapped out of it, and that she's finding it harder to interact without them. Confronting the Doctor with that is the first step to them actually addressing that shift rather than ignoring it - which means that Vampire Weekend deals with the departure better than the actual television episodes did!

The entire story is fast-paced and clever, with just enough substance to avoid feeling featherweight. The production is to Big Finish's usual high standard, and Joe Kraemer's incidental music fits the tone of both the story and its era.


OVERALL:

I'll admit to hoping that some of the stories to come will be a little less quick-and-quirky. But Vampire Weekend strikes the right tone for an initial release, emphasizing humor in a way that should engage those sampling a new range, while still being substantial enough to leave future writers character beats to build upon.

It's a solid introduction, and I look forward to hearing more of the 13th Doctor in future releases.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Preceded by: Revolution of the Daleks
Next Story: The Return of the Doctor

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The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures - Review Index

Series One (2025 - 2027):
Set between Revolution of the Daleks and The Halloween Apocalypse

1.01. Vampire Weekend
Release Date: July 2025

1.02. The Return of the Doctor

Release Date: September 2025

1.03. Lionesses in Winter

Release Date: November 2025

1.04. Ride or Die

Release Date: January 2026

1.05. The Violet Hour

Release Date: March 2026

1.06. Aegis

Release Date: May 2026

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