💩4.25/10

Underwhelming! --> Not recommended!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE REST

The initial set-up is intriguing enough: we quickly learn that both the Doctor and Charley suffer from amnesia; they don't know who they are, where they've come from, or what they're doing. While Charley works for the mysterious Hellfire Club, the Doctor remains imprisoned in a mental institution.

This story follows the machinations of the senator of America's 51st state, Malebolgia, and the leader of the Hellfire Club. We soon learn that this is an alternative 21st century, one that has taken a much more sinister turn than what we know. The religious cult plot truly overshadows almost everything else here, and it's perfectly engaging to begin with, even if Part 1 establishes very little beyond building an unnerving atmosphere.

The rest of the story is a mix of confusing sound design, a pretty muddled political/religious plot, and a mystery surrounding the Doctor and Charley, their amnesias, and the reason behind them. Part 3 intensifies the demon play and puts Charley in a very precarious situation on the exciting cliffhanger.

Part 4 finally brings the plot threads to a close. It answers the central questions, but the story's convoluted structure drowns out most of the themes and ideas.

The individual parts are too long, and the original edit was reportedly almost an hour longer!

Here are more shoddy American accents at play.

This story doesn't give Paul McGann and India Fisher much to work with initially, but what they do is interesting. They are much more contained and unnerving, believably capturing someone who's lost their sense of identity. McGann then slowly transforms more and more into the Doctor in his fascinating scenes with Nicholas Briggs.

Stuck in the Hellfire Club, Charley interacts with a strange demon creature that sounds a bit overproduced.

It's a joy to hear Nicholas Courtney return to the role of the now-retired Brigadier. In the story, he oversees the creation of Malebolgia and quickly becomes entangled in dark mysteries. It's also interesting how he meets the Doctor without knowing who he is and slowly deduces his identity.

Nicholas Briggs is back in one of his more intriguing voice roles. He's really good in Part 2 when he tries to convince the Doctor that his memories are false. That Part 2 cliffhanger is a classic!

Overall, though, this one is confusing, bizarre, and kinky in that Timewyrm: Genesys sort of way, where Big Finish goes way too far just because they can.