There's a lot of aspects to The Bleeding Heart I found quite memorable. The idea of this planet where people are forced to feel peace on a spa is interesting enough, and has some layers to it I quite enjoyed. This felt like the right kind of sophisticated for Doctor Who - full of weird alien nonsense but also a lot of fun ideas, creativity, and different alien races.

I am mixed about the story ultimately being a thing with the Time War. On the one hand, it's nice to have fallout stories like this and what was done more recently with the Ten & Classic Companion set. However, I feel like it blunts the mystery of Adrianna slightly, who remains a pretty fun and great one-off companion.

Where it is weaker is in performances. Claire Wyatt's Adrianna elevates things a bit, but Briggs as the Ninth Doctor is pretty rough. I didn't mind it as much with The Other Side, maybe Briggs refines his impression slightly over time or just works with the presence of someone like Bruno Langley from the original show returning, but either way I found Nicholas Briggs much less reliable here as the driving force of narration. I better see why people aren't so keep on it.

Still, I enjoyed the story more than I didn't. The writing salvages what could have been a pretty rough experience, especially since some of the sound effects were a little much for me and didn't add things in what I would consider a positive way. A very average experience overall.