This is above the standard for general doctor who audios I’d say, but definitely under the very high standard that Gallifrey so far has set. I enjoyed it and the Romana stuff was amazing, Lalla Ward is really good at that breathy exhaustion, and I loved the way she sold those political twists, appointing herself her successor but honestly, someone give Romana a break. There was a lot of use of law and legalities in this one and to be honest, I found that very confusing, I’ll see if I get that better after a second listen but quite honestly I think I’ll need to start drawing diagrams if I want to get that. I missed Leela, it felt like she was barely in this one, but her moments with Narvin were wonderful. Narvin in general is wonderful here, he’s really started to shine in his loyalty to Romana.

I liked it a lot more on a second listen, knowing where Matthias' plans go made him stand out a lot more.