Review of To the Death by MarkOfGilead19
11 November 2024
This review contains spoilers
Okay the last five minutes or so are probably my favorite scene Paul McGann has ever done as the Doctor (at least regarding main range and the EDA). At least it's up there with his performance in Scherzo, Chimes, , Neverland/Zagreus, Natural History... It is what makes me rank up this story from a 4/5 to a 5/5. The rage, the way he can make you feel how out of control the Doctor is. Man, just give him three seasons with 10 or so episodes each. Please BBC. Anyways...
The script isn't as tight or as epic as I would like it to be (nor what the excellent performances deserve), but I found myself loving it anyway. It's always cool when these stories act as sequels to a 40+ years old serial made in black and white (that everybody thought it would never be watched again when the credits rolled).
Lucie is bleeding amazing, her sacrifice is really emotional, but, as I said, it's what comes after that is the highlight of this episode, and probably this 4 seasons...
So, as this is the last episode, I want to share my opinion of the EDAs. Coming from the Main Range (where we had amazing, thought-provoking, experimental episodes which more than made up for the handful of bad or uninteresting ones) to this run has been a disappointment for me. The first 3 seasons were riddled with dull or plainly bad written episodes, and uneventful finales. Only exceptions for me personally were Max Warp (a politically-driven murder mystery I loved), the Human Resources finale (which was okayish) and maybe Morbius (because I love when they tie in to other, and better, serials). The biggest exception is this 4th season, as its arc is well thought-out and the individual episode are above and beyond what we have listened before. It's a shame Lucie's exit is in the first episode. And even if she still appears in the majority, she is no longer the Doctor's companion. As a result, I haven't really felt a connection to Lucie as I felt with Charley (one of my favourite companions btw), so while I loved her in her final moments, I wish I could have felt the same in the other 30 episodes she is in.
Anyway, a bad 8th Doctor story is better than no story at all, so I have enjoyed this run for the brilliant mess it is. Dark eyes is next!
PS: Didn't think they would kill Alex off, as I know he is in other audios, although I surmise it has something to do with timey-wimey stuff. Liked his character actually, wish it was more developed though.