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“DARK GALLIFREY: MISSY – PART 2: THE MASTER’S FAVOURITE DOCTOR”

The second chapter of Dark Gallifrey: Missy takes an ambitious leap backwards as Missy steps into the past of Opus Toolie to seek out the one Time Lord she finds most… entertaining: the Seventh Doctor. After stealing the crown jewels and usurping planetary rule in Part One, this instalment sees Missy hunting down a version of the Doctor that predates her meeting with Twelve. Of course, when you’re Missy, timelines are more of a polite suggestion than a law.

Michelle Gomez is once again deliciously delightful, effortlessly commanding the audio as Missy revels in mischief, manipulation, and malevolence. And when her chaos is offset by Sylvester McCoy’s calculating, enigmatic Seventh Doctor, sparks fly – sometimes literally, thanks to the steam-powered warships blasting cannon fire in the background.

SEVEN AND MISSY: A SINISTER SYMPHONY

The real strength of this episode lies in the interplay between Gomez and McCoy. Their chemistry crackles with wit, resentment, and mutual fascination. Missy is forced to interact without revealing her true identity – not because of courtesy, but because she isn’t meant to be here. The Seventh Doctor, of course, sees through her façade almost immediately, and it’s a joy to hear him coldly, calmly picking apart her act with those famously probing silences and clipped questions.

Missy’s admiration for Seven is entirely believable: she sees in him a fellow manipulator, someone not afraid to make morally murky decisions. Their philosophical debate – particularly Missy's reflection on surviving the Time War and the loneliness of her existence – offers rare emotional depth amid the usual barbed banter. It's a chilling moment of shared trauma and divergent evolution.

THE PIRATE PLANET REDUX (SORT OF)

Setting the story back during the events of the Doctor’s original arrival on Opus Toolie allows for a steampunk-flavoured redux of the fight against Malevolence. The atmosphere is vividly realised, with thundering cannons, driving rain, and clanking engines painting a world caught in perpetual war. There's a distinct pirate-adventure aesthetic here, albeit filtered through brass gears and Time Lord politics.

It also means the return of Mortimer and Klank – and in this past timeline, their dynamic is still whole. Klank, especially, gets some added depth, showing loyalty and wit in equal measure. These two remain comic highlights, though they're used sparingly enough to avoid stealing focus from the central Time Lord duel.

A PLANET WITH ITS OWN RULES

The worldbuilding gets a boost as well. We finally get some answers about this strange realm: Opus Toolie exists in a pocket universe with its own laws, detached from normal Gallifreyan chronology. That key detail adds ominous weight to the final act, where Missy takes full advantage of the lack of Time Lord restrictions.

Indeed, the finale is as chilling as it is bold. With no timeline constraints to hold her back, Missy chooses to do what she rarely can – kill the Doctor. Not in a metaphorical sense or as part of some cosmic dance, but literally. She traps Seven in a chamber and watches him burn, unable to regenerate. It’s a harrowing moment, bleak and unexpected, and it serves as a stark reminder of just how dangerous Missy can be when unbound.

📝 VERDICT: 84/100

Part Two of Dark Gallifrey: Missy thrives on character-driven tension, steampunk spectacle, and the dazzling chemistry between Michelle Gomez and Sylvester McCoy. It's a smart time-twisting story that takes full advantage of Missy’s chaotic potential while respecting the nuance of her character. With witty repartee, cannon-blasted action, and a shockingly grim ending, this episode not only deepens Missy's character but elevates the series as a whole. Missy might claim she doesn’t have favourites – but after this, we know Seven’s got a special place in her scorched little heart.

Good part 2, which both furthers the world, adds in a Doctor in a way that doesn't feel too gimmicky, and actually manages to be a great character study of Missy and the Doctor. The descriptions are evocative, and the plot is engaging. The cliffhanger is fantastic and I wonder what it will mean for the whole of the Dark Gallifrey range.

WHAG DO YOU MEAN IT ENDS LIKE THAT

Oh man, Big Finish finally let Missy do some crazy dark things! We’re so used to the laws of time whatever, until Missy realizes thanks to the Doctor that we are here, in a pocket universe with no laws of time so why not break them?

We get some delicious bickering between Michelle Gomez and Sylvester McCoy with him challenging his morality directly in pretty dark ways. Their interactions are the highlight for sure, I’m yet to care much about the other characters except for Slyboots hinting he can just about hear the ‘audience’. Missy thinks he might just he right.

After several Missy releases that were fine but had her staying in place, things get really juicy because SHE KILLS THE DOCTOR! We hear Sylvester McCoy screaming in agony as he burns to death, and that’s it! Honestly, hearing the Doctor die was very disturbing. Missy has finally done it: but she seems to immediately regret it.

Lets hope the third party turns the craziness to eleven.

This was definitely a step up from part 1. The scenes between 7 and Missy are just phenomenal, and the callbacks which are done in a very funny way throughout the story are just so well done and genuinely funny. I had faith for the rest of the trilogy following the interviews of part 1, because Rochana really seems to get Missy and this story proves just that. The writing for her in this is just far more consistent to the tv show version of Missy to me, which is something we've desperately needed. The ending was really interesting and I'm excited to see where this goes, but it does feel very disjointed from the Dark Gallifrey range at the moment. I still think not having the arc be super carried over from set to set was a mistake.