The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles #4.3 - "Curiosity Shop" by James Goss

Since Curiosity Shop matched the rating of last boxset's The End, and was written by one of Big Finish's most prominent writers, it was one of my most anticipated listens of this range. Now, having listened to it, I can certainly say it deserves the high rating, but my actual enjoyment of the thing wavered.

Mr. Foreman runs a junkyard on a ruined world, and nobody ever visits, nobody but Valarie. But all Valarie wants to see is Barbara; the big blue box tucked in the yard's corner. Valarie travelled the universe in it, and will tear herself apart to get it back.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

First and foremost, Dudman and Ingar are f**king flawless in this one. Dudman manages to pull off like seven different voices mixed with Matt Smith's inflictions and the whole story basically becomes a showcase for his acting talents but Ingar is no less brilliant here, heartbreakingly showing Valarie quite literally rip herself apart in a vain attempt at a reunion with the Doctor. These two are basically the primary reason the 11DAs work so well and this probably their finest moment. Though I have problems with the first half of this story, I will note how the conclusion to Curiosity Shop is pretty much perfect, Goss captures the chaotic do-gooder nature of Eleven so well with his speech to the warring factions and his reactions with Golas, a surprisingly deep character, is wonderful. I also really like the notion of the Doctor being a sort of fairy tale people tell themselves to make themselves feel better, a notion that will be used utterly brilliantly in the next audio.

However, I have to make it clear that the 9/10 rating is pretty objective here; in fact, I think I'd choose The Yearn (ironically the lowest rated story in Series 7V) as my personal favourite but Curiosity Shop is definitely the better story. The first half basically switches between two scenes over and over and, whilst beautifully written, the formula becomes old and it takes until the second half for the real heart-ripping stuff to come through. I also found the explanation for why the Doctor had weird, regressive amnesia confusing to non-existent. Maybe I missed something but there's no why to this mystery, it just is. And, although I loved Dudman's performance, a few of his impressions fell flat, his Three in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Curiosity Shop, I really liked it but the first half was just far too slow and it felt like the story surrounding some nice character beats wasn't strong enough to sustain the latter. That being said, it's beautifully written and the final ten or so minutes are utterly flawless.

9/10

Pros:
+ Utterly fantastic performances from Dudman and Ingar, possibly their best
+ The final speeches and conversations were the result of complete and utter understanding of the Doctor and his character
+ Golas is a pretty compelling character and a nice addition to the story
+ The detail of the Doctor cycling through previous incarnations' personalities is really cool
+ The notions towards the Doctor and his presence as a man of myth is an interesting notion

Cons:
- The first half feels like it could be heavily cut for time with little hampering on the plot
- Goes through the motions a lot, I could tell exactly where the first 3/4 or so would go
- Some of Dudman's performances don't land
- Still unclear on why a lot of what was happening was happening

Series 7V | Ranked:
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6. The House of Masks by Georgia Cook - 6/10
5. All of Time and Space by Ellery Quest (Tim Foley) - 7/10
4. The Yearn by Angus Dunican - 8/10
3. The Inheritance by Alfie Shaw - 8/10
2. Curiosity Shop by James Goss - 9/10
1. The End by Rochana Patel - 10/10

Overall - 8.0/10