The 8th Doctor Adventures #1.8 - "Human Resources: Part Two" by Eddie Robson

Two part stories always follow the same formula: set up in Part One, and execution in Part Two. Sometimes the setup can feel underwhelming and sometimes the execution can be disappointing, and it takes a lot of talent to write both to an individually impressive standpoint. Human Resources opened brilliantly, with an intriguing and intelligent Part One that stood on its own as an episode, and all that was left to do was make Part Two as good, if not better. So, here we are, the final episode of the 8DAs’ first season, and it is a gigantic letdown.

Besieged by Cybermen, the Doctor and Lucie - separated - must defend themselves from enemies on all sides, as a long dormant conspiracy slowly comes into focus.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I can not express to you how disappointing this finale was to me, especially after the last episode blew me away, especially after I spent my Phobos review defending Eddie Robson. To be fair to him, this story only really begins to go downhill in its second half and the first thirty minutes are a decent, if generic, action story. Robson is still a very talented writer after all and he manages to keep the tension up for ages, splitting us between an imprisoned Doctor and a stranded Lucie, as they each try to regain control of the situation. It’s decently engaging and even has a couple standout moments, mostly stemming from the still excellent Paul McGann.

Also, I should note that this story has some decent action setpieces, which is extremely noteworthy and hard to do without visuals. The pace is quick, the stakes are high and I am genuinely fearing for our returning cast members, who I came to know and like in Part One. For all intents and purposes, this story was going fine. If I have to give it props for something, it is a decent conclusion, the plot threads are tied up nicely, it completes some character arcs whilst still leaving room for the next season; this is a functional episode.

However, when we begin to near the climax, things begin to go very, very wrong. Before we get there though, I would like to point out one of my biggest problems with this story: it completely abandons Part One. Remember those things that made that first half so good? The office politics merged with military tactics, the creeping mystery of what was going on, the ideas surrounding the offices’ function. Yeah? Well, it’s all pretty much completely sidelined besides a couple mentions in the first twenty minutes. Essentially, this is just an action script, with all the uniqueness of its first half stripped away and abandoned.

Also not helping with this episode’s marauding sense of unoriginality is the inclusion of the Cybermen. Cybermen fascinate me because they sit on a knife’s edge, constantly teetering on being a horrific and chilling but ultimately genius sci-fi idea ripe for moral quandaries and emotional arcs or being generic, stompy robot men with no character, grandeur or threat. And most of the time - including here - they end up being the latter. The Cybermen here could be swapped out with any villain and the story would not change one bit, which I think is such a waste and makes the episode a lot duller.

And so, we should finally talk about that conclusion. It is revealed about halfway into the episode that one of the offices is equipped with Timelord technology -  a Quantum Crystalliser, to be exact, which is a machine that analyses all possible futures and picks the best one for you. Now, in concept, this sounds cool, but then you actually put it in the script and it completely breaks it because having a magic box that makes you win the day is a really boring plot mechanic. Of course, Robson makes sure it isn’t used right away, which was the smart choice, but he does this through such obvious padding; that actually brings me onto my other point because I have to talk about the conclusion to Lucie’s arc.

Basically, it’s revealed that she was taken by the Timelords because the CIA had been manipulating her life, changing events because left alone, she would’ve eventually become a far-right dictator. Her reaction to this is… anger, for some reason. So she steals the Quantum Crystalliser because she’s, I don’t know, annoyed she didn’t become the next Hitler (it’s dumb, pointless, out of character and is clearly padding). And it gets worse, because it’s then revealed that her coworker was the one the CIA were manipulating, not her, and they only said it was her because of spite towards the Chancellery Guard or some other bollocks. As has been made clear in recent history with the conclusion to Ruby’s arc in Season One of RTD2, building up to the reveal of there being no reveal is actually really underwhelming.

Past that, the whole conclusion is just weak. The Doctor kills all the Cybermen with his magic box and a bunch of the previously central characters unceremoniously die out of nowhere. Last episode's villain - the company boss, Mr. Hulbert - does practically nothing all episode and is then shot, ex-regional manager Malcolm is just killed offscreen (unless I missed it, somehow) and Jerry, previously set up as an irredeemable douchebag, waits in a cupboard until he can be used at the end to tie up a loose end, with the script forgetting we were meant to dislike him.

I’m honestly surprised this was written by the same person as Part One because it feels like a completely different episode. The previous characters keep getting sidelined, there’s barely a hint of the first part’s plot and all we’re left with is an underwhelming and confused action story. Whilst it’s not incompetent, the actual meat of the episode is so muddled and misguided that I just can’t bring myself to like it. I’ve really enjoyed Series One of the 8DAs, but this was just not a worthy ending.

5/10

Pros:

+ First half has a nice momentum to it

+ Good use of action

+ Competently concludes the series

Cons:

- Cybermen feel generic

- The conclusion to Lucie’s arc is underwhelming

- Abandons Part One’s plot

- The conclusion is incredibly weak

- The Quantum Crystalliser completely breaks the story