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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