Mr. Roboto

Prerequisites: The previous 11DCs, and Series 7 of New Who

All’s Fair is another unsurprisingly great audio from this range (also it has a clever title, which I like). The actual plot, which is that of humans getting infected with an alien virus, is something I wasn't that interested in. Still, the character work on display here is excellent. Giving Valerie her own River Song-esque future romance could've been seen as sloppy writing, but I actually think it works here. Admittedly, I never really trusted Hayden until the last ten minutes, but those last ten minutes are really something special. Having Valerie's death be a point of time they've all seen makes for some great drama, and I look forward to seeing where the range goes next.

DOCTOR WHO SAYS BI/POLY RIGHTS!

I mean, not quite, but it's close enough.

In all seriousness, I absolutely loved this story. Finally getting a true historical story, starting to get some answers about the ongoing mystery and the character stuff... god the character stuff is on point.

I swear every single story Valarie keeps moving up my companion ranking, and she was already starting solidly high. I love her and Roanna's interactions at the start, how the date has gone just so well, I love Eleven interrupting just to show off, and then just everything that comes after. Hayden is just such a great character, he throws a spanner right into the works of a romance plot I was really enjoying, but you can't hate him for it at all.

In fact you do just end up loving the guy, he's a normal guy who just kind of got dragged into all of this, but he goes above and beyond, and you can hear how much he loves Valarie, his fondness for her. The scene with him and the young Valarie talking about his past, her future, is just so good. I love the way that she's talking about her as herself (using first person pronouns when talking about her), where he never once says 'you' about her even when talking to her past version, just what you can tell about the characters from little moments like that is great. (Also sidenote, I love the nod to 7v with the virus name).

Then there's everything with Roanna, her relationship with Hayden is great, they don't hate each other because why would they, things are just what they are, what's happened will happen, and there's nothing that she can do about that. You could very easily write a character with that knowledge of the future to just feel completely defeated, and to some extent she does, but I love that right from the start she's still wanting to just make the most of the moments they have, even if she's got a shorter view on how long those moments will be.

And then there's the villain here. Going right back to the start of the series as we start to tie things together, I absolutely adore how this story uses it's precise place in the timeline to its advantage. The daleks are back, so the villain's overarching goal is to wipe them out once and for all, something The Doctor failed to do, and the fact that because the daleks don't know who The Doctor is anymore (post-Asylum) they're even more deadly is an interesting one. That moment in Asylum is one that never has any ramifications on the stories at all even though it definitely should (granted we got a fun minisode out of it), and it also brings back memories of Clara which is what this whole series started because of.

And Valarie gets killed. It really does just feel real here, the villain gets away, and our companion (albeit the future version of our companion) is killed. Eleven's despair, reasoning that it must be a robot or a clone or something, just to confirm that it's real. It's a real Empire Strikes Back moment for the series (coming abut 2/3rds of the way through, too).

And then lastly, I think my favourite part of the story is the ending. After the villain gets away, after Valarie dies, after everything. We just get to sit a moment with our cast. They get to talk about how they're feeling. They get to figure out what they'll do now. I was already liking Roanna, but I think here especially is what's now really sold me on her. I love her inviting Hayden back with her. I love the talk about the towers after being trapped in bunkers for so long. I love Valarie and Roanna's talk about making the most of the now, not just making the moment good, but making the moments last. I love her inviting Valarie back to hers.

I love the characters, and I love that we can just sit with them.

Also with how Valarie and Hayden's timeline is, it's criminal if we don't even get a River mention at some point going forward

A very good, middle entry, in the third Eleven & Valarie box set. The plot is a wibbly wobbly tale that has an interesting concept. The ideas expressed worked well for me, as well as the emotional beats. The only downside is that by the end I had to take a minute to sort it out in my head. This isn't an original concept, they even lamp shade that, but, for me, it has been done better elsewhere with less ambiguity. It makes sense, but it took me a minute to catch up. The voice acting is on point again, with everyone getting a chance to really show their range. This is a very good story that, by the sounds of it, sets up the rest of the series as a whole.