I adore this one! It’s taken permanent residence in my brain. Just. Perfect in my opinion.

I adore Leela so much in this one, I don’t have words to express it. Making her blind is a really, really compelling choice narratively so I’ll even forgive hurting her. Just, the way that she is both uniquely suited to dealing with this situation while at the same time experiencing that loss so much harder than any Time Lord would. The way it robs her from her connection to the present while also enhancing her reliance on other senses, the way she denies it at first because she’s experienced it before, the way she breaks down crying on her own when she realizes it’s permanent. That broke me. The way Romana both trusts her capability and helps her without looking down on her. And Louise Jameson just ■■■■■■■ kills me with her performance.

Romana. Just Romana. I love her and I think being a leader of a faction in a war is actually way more suited to her than being president in peacetime because at least there’s something she can do instead of just talking but it’s just as bad for her <3. I love the way she knows as precisely as possible for how many deaths she’s responsible, the way she takes every one as her personal failure, the way she’d do anything to stop it. And how in spite of this terrible situation, her first concern is still Leela and also Narvin, the way she worries for them personally.

And how Pandora works as her foil is excellent too, they’re really just two sides of the same coin, the things Pandora does are easy enough to imagine a Romana pushed to the brink, with her morals warped doing and I think that’s perfect. And just. Mary Tamm. No more words.

K9 is wonderful, honestly even evil K9 is cute in my opinion, but when he reveals he’s working against Pandora?! And the way he lies better than anyone else, he’s just so loyal.

And Narvin. I went in expecting Narvin suffering and I was not disappointed. Just loves to get blown up, doesn’t he? When he woke up and his first concern was still Romana, I just about died. The loyalty of that man is unparalleled. And he works so well with Leela, somehow they complement each other so wonderfully, I love them working together when grievously injured because none of them could do it alone, just perfection. I also think that having listened to Damned If You Do came in handy for me here because it gave me a deeper understanding of his character, and that makes his change in loyalty to Romana over these last two episodes so much more compelling. And mostly just. That man is so good at suffering. All those whimpers<3