Vienna

#1.03. Deathworld ~ 9/10

◆ An Introduction

We’ve reached the season finale, and the plot summary makes me think that we’re in for a Hunger Games-esque episode.

Welcome, to the Tournament of Death!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The planet Mercator. Twenty trained assassins enter a game arena, armed only with their wits to compete against each other in a harsh environment. Twenty killers go in. One comes out.

Amongst the killers is Vienna Salvatori. This is the moment she has trained her whole life for, honing her skills as an assassin to become the best in the galaxy.

As the killers are wiped out one by one, Vienna fights on in the hope of finally learning the truth about her past. In the last battle, only one can be the last assassin standing.

◆ Vienna Salvatori

‘Deathworld’ is a magnificent season finale, and we’re treated to another excellent performance from Chase Masterson.

Vienna has spent three months in the simulation pod, in training scenarios, and only scored 43%. They felt so real to her… because she’s convinced they’re her real memories, and that they were inserted into the simulation by an unknown party. She’s sure of this because she can remember what she did next, after dealing with the Church of New Wonderment; she went into therapy. We get a little bit of backstory in this episode about Vienna’s childhood, and just how horrifying it was: Crevo Finn killed her father when she was only four years old, and left her mother in a critical condition. She’s been searching for Finn ever since… to get her revenge! Vienna claims that cooking isn’t one of her strong points, as she’s never had the time. When she realises the truth about Finn, about the Tournament, she turns the tables on her tormentor in a moment of dramatic irony.

◆ Story Recap

Vienna Salvatori has just concluded her business with the Church of New Wonderment, when we find out that the events of the past two episodes were actually part of a three month long immersive training simulation for the assassin’s ultimate test: the Tournament of Death.

Twenty of the galaxy’s best assassins are tasked with killing each other until only one remains, to be crowned the winner. No weapons will be provided, and they’ll have to use their wits to find unique ways of killing people in the hostile arena. The progress of the combatants will be monitored closely.

Throughout the tournament, questions will be answered… and the truth of Crevo Finn will come to light.

◆ The Memory Cheats…

Jonathan Morris has provided us with some answers regarding Crevo Finn… sort of. It’s revealed that when Vienna was only four years old, Finn murdered her father and left her mother in a critical condition; she’s spent the past thirty years seeking him out to try and have her revenge.

The Tournament takes a turn for the weird when she encounters a man named Canton Malrick. He tries to kill her, because she apparently murdered his father and left his mother in a critical condition when he was only a child.

It’s the same memory, but modified to fit Canton’s life… or to fit Vienna’s. It turns out that neither of those scenarios is true: it’s a completely fabricated memory implanted by the people who organised the Tournament, so that they could take out a business rival: the real Crevo Finn. Vienna would then be taken out by Canton, thus clearing up any witnesses.

A unique, if rather convoluted plan. It reminded me of a forgotten action adventure title called Remember Me: it featured a brilliant plot about memory editing.

◆ Sound Design

The Tournament is a truly hostile arena, with a beautifully crafted soundscape.

The chiming of the simulation’s artificial intelligence, followed by a high pitched drill being used to remove Vienna’s synaptic relay. A trumpeting fanfare announces the induction ceremony… for the Tournament of Death. Chirruping animals and insects inside of a tropical rainforest. Weapons fire on Crevo Finn’s palace. A high speed car chase, with rockets and all sorts attempting to murder Vienna. The low rumbling horn that announces the death of a tournament combatant.

◆ Conclusion

“Each of you must kill, or be killed.”

‘Deathworld’ is pretty much just the Whoniverse does the Hunger Games… but what a great idea for a story that is. Really looking forward to diving into the second series now, and seeing where Vienna Salvatori will go next.