Oh my god?????

It’s just twist after twist after twist wow insane how this story just takes a complete 180 and it doesn’t feel jarring at all, I loved the detective vibe of the first two episodes but this final one finally shows why it’s a War Doctor story with maybe the darkest I’ve seen him? And it’s a very unique kind of dark unlike Seven’s manipulations or Ten’s god complex, War has sunken to the lowest depths imaginable in his mind and now he’s willing to do almost anything apart from becoming The Doctor again reminding him of what he was and what he (at the time) will never be again with the UNIT references serving as nostalgia for The Doctor in a bittersweet way which I really like as a retrospective of that era going as far as to say it was a “family” of sorts for him.

A highlight of this story was how it showed The Time Lords in the war without The Daleks, I love those tinpots but there was untapped potential in a story revolving around the extremes The Time Lords would go for the war effort at least to my knowledge until now where they’re downright villainous in condemning a planet to death but with the moral ambiguity that if they don’t destroy it every other time locked world would be in danger and it’s just brilliant drama I love it so much.

It’s no secret that this box set is inspired by Alan Wake as said by Alfie Shaw himself and I thought it was just the murder mystery stuff but nope it takes so much more like reality manipulating fiction, objects of power (which is also similar to Control) and even a time loop which I just find so cool that a Doctor Who story can take from a contemporary piece of media (and a video game at that) and use its ideas in conjunction with the universe of Doctor Who to create something new, I hope Big Finish does this more as I think it’s a great building block for new story ideas that can go beyond what Doctor Who is expected to be which this story also pokes at with this usual alien invasion happening in the background that gets more and more twisted as it goes on it’s just f**king brilliant stuff.

The ending too is bittersweet with both parties accepting that they’re gonna die and it’s the fault of The Time Lords & The Doctor, he goes back to try and save them but they see through him and choose to face death together which I thought was really poignant, I liked War but I think this younger version of him is so much more interesting due to the sad acceptance of himself and the brutal methods needed for The Time War.

I’ll definitely be looking at some of Alfie Shaw’s previous work, if it’s as creative as this I look forward to it!