It is not easy for any sort of story like this to depict a civilization as advanced as the Time Lords engage in a civil war, so it is very, very impressive to me that Fractures really pulls it off.

Given a limited budget and resources, Big Finish does a very good job at conveying the scale and size of this conflict while still keeping it personable and focused on our main characters.  It's pretty fun having Darkel teaming up with Pandora against Romana, her allies, and Leela.  Narvin is great here.  I love how they developed this character over time, as it really cements the significance of his loyalty to Romana.  Mary Tamm's performance as Pandora is also incredible here.  It's such a creative use of Tamm as a performer, while adding a whole interesting emotional dynamic to the conflict between her and Romana.  This is war is very much Romana's story, so I like how thoroughly the ongoing plot ties that in to her character, her past, and her own current mind set through these web of characters and this powerful villain with a pretty well plotted out sense of motivation and purpose.  Even K9 being "corrupted" was great and made the character stand out when he all to often feels like a side thing.  John Leeson's voice work is so great in his ability to bring K9 to life.

I also like the scheming going on here in general and the tense negotiations around the injured folk just trying to stay alive.  Leela's blindness feels very fitting given the whole business in the show with her eyes changing colour, and they use that well to show a more vulnerable side to her character, forcing her not to rely on her greatest strengths here.  This is a war story, through and through, and Fractures does a very good job at telling that story.

A strong Start that sadly can’t match the Highs of that Ending from last Series. It’s at its core very much Set-Up very fun Set-Up no doubts but honestly this didn’t click as much as I would have hoped for.
It’s good don’t get me wrong, Louise is superb, Leeson as K9 is superb and so are most Performances here. I guess for me it kinda falls apart with the amount of business at play here, which can be at times something that works, but here leaves me a bit mixed sadly.

Excited for the next Chapter!

I adore this one! It’s taken permanent residence in my brain. Just. Perfect in my opinion.

I adore Leela so much in this one, I don’t have words to express it. Making her blind is a really, really compelling choice narratively so I’ll even forgive hurting her. Just, the way that she is both uniquely suited to dealing with this situation while at the same time experiencing that loss so much harder than any Time Lord would. The way it robs her from her connection to the present while also enhancing her reliance on other senses, the way she denies it at first because she’s experienced it before, the way she breaks down crying on her own when she realizes it’s permanent. That broke me. The way Romana both trusts her capability and helps her without looking down on her. And Louise Jameson just ■■■■■■■ kills me with her performance.

Romana. Just Romana. I love her and I think being a leader of a faction in a war is actually way more suited to her than being president in peacetime because at least there’s something she can do instead of just talking but it’s just as bad for her <3. I love the way she knows as precisely as possible for how many deaths she’s responsible, the way she takes every one as her personal failure, the way she’d do anything to stop it. And how in spite of this terrible situation, her first concern is still Leela and also Narvin, the way she worries for them personally.

And how Pandora works as her foil is excellent too, they’re really just two sides of the same coin, the things Pandora does are easy enough to imagine a Romana pushed to the brink, with her morals warped doing and I think that’s perfect. And just. Mary Tamm. No more words.

K9 is wonderful, honestly even evil K9 is cute in my opinion, but when he reveals he’s working against Pandora?! And the way he lies better than anyone else, he’s just so loyal.

And Narvin. I went in expecting Narvin suffering and I was not disappointed. Just loves to get blown up, doesn’t he? When he woke up and his first concern was still Romana, I just about died. The loyalty of that man is unparalleled. And he works so well with Leela, somehow they complement each other so wonderfully, I love them working together when grievously injured because none of them could do it alone, just perfection. I also think that having listened to Damned If You Do came in handy for me here because it gave me a deeper understanding of his character, and that makes his change in loyalty to Romana over these last two episodes so much more compelling. And mostly just. That man is so good at suffering. All those whimpers<3

I did not quite expect this to start with Romana having already escaped and running a campaign of sabotage, and Narvin getting hurt yet again. It was heartbreaking listening to Leela’s emotional breakdown at realizing the permanence of her blindness. I am glad both K9 and Gerber proved loyal to Romana.

This is setup for the rest of the series more than anything else I feel, but god is it compelling setup.

The opening scene is a brilliant way of bringing you back into the world despite the break, catching the audience up on the events that happened in the last story (and between then and now). It almost reminded me of the opening crawl to a Star Wars film, and I mean that in the best way possible.

The scene at the start with Leela and Narvin is also great as a small bit of character stuff, and what it leads to is really good. Leela being blinded is a really interesting character choice, and what it gives us here is already great. "Your voice led my knife to you" is just such a great line (and scene), and shows how cool she is even with this new disability. ("The savage has more lives than a time lord" hell yeah she does)

There's some really interesting stuff in there with the mention of a war using timeships, especially with this releasing post-season 1 and the Time War now being an established part of DW canon and fresh in the minds of listeners. Dramatic Irony at its peak.

The stuff with the time-split assassin was also pretty interesting, Narvin's reaction to Romana having gone to the vaults was great, but I think even with Pandora's explanation of her plan with it it does take away from the primary threats of Pandora, Darkel, etc.

Darkel gets to be exceptionally cruel again here which is great, and I absolutely adore K9 being a good boy/double agent, working with Pandora so he can help Romana and her side.

Overall I really liked this, but more than anything I'm looking forward to the rest of the series with this episode in mind.