i dont think ive ever heard more annoying accents in my life

also dear god are we really calling the state "malebolgia"??? talk about unsubtlety

i feel like this story gets a slightly bad rep. just bc this story has sex slaves in it, doesn't mean the writer or writers are creepy. the hellfire club was a real club and this was the s**t that was happening. the pacing was as good as it could have been, being vka long it was. could have been shorter. but there was enough going on preventing me from going to sleep. i didn't care much for the zebidia doe subplot, made the writing feel a bit unfocused bc it had not much to do with the rest of the story, although it was nice having it converge at the end. the American accents are a bit naff except from rober jezek but that's just bc hes acc American. the brigadear's involvement served the story quite well. overall, theres not too much to praise, but you could tell there had been work put into it.

This was the weakest story of 8’s run so far.

Whilst it was always nice to hear from the Brigader, and Charley was great.

This false doctor stuff threw me right off The setting felt wrong for my liking,

Other side characters felt forgettable when listening to this in two sessions.

Ok, I know this is not a beloved story. I also don’t think it’s good. But it is kinda fun, and I can’t explain why.

Charley is memory wiped, and then is nearly raped 3 separate times, which is just bad, and her reaction to it was incongruously tame. The Doctor lost his memory too, was found howling at the moon (do they even explain this bit??), immediately taken to an asylum. The “Eight loses his memory” is a well known, overused shtick, we all know it, we all mock it. But this is the first time it’s done in the audios, so from a certain POV, it’s only the second time it’s happened. And shoot me, I kinda like it, okay? The explanation for how he and Charley lose their memories is… not convincing. Neither is the explanation for that guy Gideon getting Next Doctor-ed. Neither is anything in this story, to be honest. Really, nothing is well explained. The Demons are actually aliens, of course, but why are they there? Why was Dashwood so obsessed with the whole demon thing, how did he get so many people involved, how did they make a new state? Why build the PSI-859, why try to marry Charley??? Becky Lee, vamp- I mean demon slayer, happens to be the granddaughter of an important senator?? And she has superpowers? Okay, the demons are aliens, but she… she really has been fighting demons all her life, though. She knew things. Were those alien demons, or demon demons?? And the Brigadier is there??? It was good to see/hear him, and him talking to the Doctor warmed my heart. “My best friend” <3. However, he is not very well utilized and doesn't get to do much. The day is saved by televising the Awful Politician saying Awful Things, which in real life is more likely to get him more fans/voters than prosecuted. A big thing people complain about is this audio is the American accents. I was okay with Dashwood and Becky Lee’s, but Pickering’s really was insultingly bad.

Ah, one thing I liked: Gideon at some point has most of the Doctor's memories and knowledge. Interesting that he acts quite snooty, contemptuous, and even kind of evil then, when his normal personality is nice and kind. To me this shows just how much compassion the Doctor really has, to have those memories and knowledge all the time and still be kind.

So you see, objectively, it’s a bad story. But I had fun with it, for reasons unknown even to me.

Oh, and goodbye, Ramsey!