Skip to content
TARDIS Guide

Review of Visiting Hours by dema1020

19 February 2025

This review contains spoilers!

Not bad, not bad at all.  Visiting Hours features Rory coming to visit River Song and bring her a bunch of Christmas stuff for the holidays at the Stormcage.  It's a great premise that leads into a full-blown prison break.  River and Rory are a lot of fun here.  Rory in particular stands out because this short story gives us a unique insight into his thoughts and feelings.  This includes travelling with the Doctor, but also how he feels about River knowing she is his daughter.  We didn't get a lot of follow-up or time to really explore how Amy and Rory feel about River as their daughter so it's pretty delightful seeing that explored even a little bit here.  I also like some of his thoughts surrounding his work as a pediatric nurse and his time as the Lone Centurion.

Visiting Hours is solid in these regards, but is much weaker around Henrck Chyll and his whole villainous scheme.  He feels more like an annoying character than a fun villain.  At least the setting of the Stormcage is a lot of fun.  Writer Dave Rudden does a good job of using an existing setting, and he really makes it feel like a full facility more than it ever was shown to be like in the show.  I also like how Chyll's story ends in a way tied into the larger narrative around the Wintertime Paradox, and it feels like he meets a fairly well-deserved sinister end.


dema1020

View profile