This is utterly fantastic! Genuinely so close to perfect; with the only thing holding it back being the typical series 3 underutilisation of Leela.

Everyone is an absolute delight and putting in great performances, and the plot moves at a much better pace than in the previous episode.

All the twists and turns are amazing, and I was able to call the very big one but was still wow'd as to how and why it was happening. Just everything coming together perfectly! Brax, my beloved!!

And seeing Darkel defeated by her own ambition.... Beautiful.

What the hell is the next episode gonna be!? How was this not the finale!?

God, I loved this.

I must admit Series 3 didn’t impress me as much as I would have hoped, but my gosh this was amazing!

So much to talk about here!! I love the whole Assassination Subplot here, very well done. Darkel as always in this Series is brilliantly hateable and what they have done with her is just excellent Material! (I was a bit worried going listening to it that she would outstay her (un)welcome, but guess this fear was not justified!) BRAX YOU ARE BACK I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!! I mean… it’s great to have him back! Oh and Narvin, he’s just superb here!!

I loved this one so much, it is literally mind-blowing! And something I really adore here is just how rich this whole world feels, like there are so many characters, and you get to see what they think of this truly insane political situation. And like I am freaking out about everything that’s happening in this chapter, but I’m not even freaking out about Romana or Leela or Narvin that much rn, who I am always ready to freak out about but about everything else!! Like Brax coming back!! I was hoping so badly from the first time they mentioned him, and he actually did! And his plan to get rid of Darkel is so ■■■■■■■ genius, I did not see it coming at all. And actually the way Darkel gets beaten here is so unbelievably satisfying, like a lot of stories tend to go the ‘revenge is bad’ way, but sometimes you just need to cheer because some villain got precisely what they deserved, and I absolutely despise Darkel, amazing villain. And it was really good that I relistened to Appropriation the day before this one, because it really does set the stage very well, and familiarized me more with Matthias as someone with complicated manipulative plans too

This did not live up to the hype. By this point, twists and turns are expected and therefore less impactful or can be guessed ahead of time. Darkel setting up her own assassination attempt was so obvious; it was a chore listening to all the characters catch up. After that, having Braxiatel come back was a welcome addition, but it would not make sense to have him return if he was in any real danger. And they delayed Romana’s pardon for “suspense” when it was obvious she would get pardoned along with Darkel. Still, it was nice that through him, Darkel could inadvertently kill herself off. So, after all this, it was no surprise that Braxiatel chose Matthias instead of Romana. Of course he would not choose her. Romana and Leela have been sidelined in their own audio series. At least we have Narvin.

My god was that good.

Everything, and I do mean everything, about this story was just spectacular from start to finish. Again, I love political stories so much, and this is just a perfect one.

We start right off the bat with a twist of expectations, Romana being taken out of the running immediately is a turn I at least didn't see coming at all, and just set the ground spectacularly. Then having the Darkel and Matthias conspiring together to remove any and all political power that Romana had at the end of her tenure. Darkel is a spectacular villain here, especially shown in this moment with her taking Matthias' plan and then twisting it for her own popularity (as far as she suspects).

The assassination attempt on Darkel is a brilliant subplot, one that you can see where it's going right off the bat, but are never quite 100% sure, and even when you are, what can our cast really do about it? It's a great way to give the rest of the cast something to do, even if they can't directly affect the vote. Also some people will be pleased to know that with the way that subplot goes, you can now officially consider me a Narvin lover.

Then Brax! His return alone is spectacular enough, but everything on top of it just makes it even moreso. The realisation of what Romana's anullment meant for Brax had me whooping for joy, the way Darkel twists his new presidency, letting her get away with everything she's done reminded me why I love to hate her, the twist of what actually happened with the Pandora entity had me in shock, and I love how Darkel's fate is entirely because of her schemes and cunning. A very literal pride coming before a fall.

All in all, I don't think there's a moment of this I disliked, and I'm not fully converted and on the gallifrey train.