📝8/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

PANDORA'S POLITICS: AMBITION, INTRIGUE AND THE BROKEN MAN

After the brief respite with Romana and Leela in the previous story, this instalment returns full force to Gallifrey’s labyrinthine political intrigue, the growing menace of Pandora’s influence, and the chilling mystery of the Broken Man.

Schemes and Power Plays:

The heart of this series lies in the relentless scheming and clashing agendas of Romana, Wynter, Braxiatel, Narvin, and Darkel. The tension among these characters is palpable, with Narvin’s increasingly manipulative actions making him especially easy to loathe. His alliance with Darkel and exploitation of Wynter show the depths he’s willing to sink to in pursuit of his goals.

Darkel’s shadowy manoeuvring is a highlight, with her cunning manipulation of events positioning her as a truly formidable adversary. Lynda Bellingham delivers a brilliant performance, bringing a calculated menace to Darkel that makes her presence all the more chilling.

Unmasking the Broken Man:

The mystery surrounding the Broken Man provides some of the most engaging moments of the story. The investigation builds an atmosphere of suspense and anticipation, even if the thread is somewhat sidelined during the middle act. When the narrative refocuses on this mystery in the final act, the revelation of Wynter as the Broken Man delivers a visceral punch. The accompanying body horror and sharp audio design amplify the impact of this twist, though the conclusion veers into slightly chaotic territory.

Subplots and Shifting Loyalties:

A subplot involving Andred catching a Free Time supporter trying to poison Gallifrey’s water supply offers a glimpse of his efforts to reconcile with Leela and rebuild their fractured relationship. However, this storyline is somewhat underdeveloped, leaving it feeling like a missed opportunity.

Braxiatel’s elevation to Chancellor is another intriguing development, as his newfound authority is bound to stir further chaos. His calculated plan to trap Pandora within himself by feigning a desire for the presidency adds layers to his character while raising the stakes for what lies ahead.

Themes of Ambition and Manipulation:

The concept of a creature feeding on ambition adds a thought-provoking layer to the narrative, particularly as Darkel weaponises this idea in her pursuit of power. This theme ties neatly into the larger political drama, where ambition and manipulation drive every decision and betrayal.

Final Thoughts:

While much of Pandora unfolds as a solid political thriller, the narrative intensity crescendos in its final moments, delivering memorable twists and chilling revelations. The story skillfully balances its themes of ambition and power with its character-driven intrigue, though some threads could have used more focus.

Gallifrey’s political storm shows no signs of abating, and the shadows of Pandora continue to deepen.

And now I'm HOOKED.

I've said before that my biggest frustration with series one of Gallifrey was the lack of politicking going on, there were schemes and mysteries, sure, but it felt a little more espionage thriller than political thriller. The first couple stories on this set were a delight, but also took us away from the main locations of politics within the series. It wasn't really there, but it also didn't feel missing because there wasn't much chance to put it anywhere.

This story brings it in in full force and I absolutely adore it for that.

Romana is clearly shown to be out of her depth with the politics going on here. Brax has more experience, but his ambition is also his downfall and him leaving at the end leaves the floodgates open for more terrible things to happen to Romana and Leela. Narvin and Wynter's rivalry was done brilliantly, and reminded me of how much I was enjoying Wynter here and how much he fitted in to the jigsaw of Gallifrey, making his fate here all the more shocking, and even realising it just before it happened, it was horrifying to hear. Leela is great, serving almost as an audience surrogate here which I really liked. And Darkel...

Darkel is just perfect.

Her scheming and experience makes her the perfect antagonist for this series, and she's just so competent. I despise her immensely and I adore how much I do, just spectacular.

The scene with Andred and Leela as well is just great, she loves her but she can't let go what he's done, and it just feels so real, and with where him and Darkel end up at the end of the story, I just can't wait for more.

Gallifrey; Chapter VII  - “Pandora" by Justin Richards

So, halfway into Series 2 of Gallifrey, what am I thinking? Well, whilst the season itself might be a little more cohesive and less directionless than its predecessor, I’m finding it a little hard to tell these stories apart. This more feels like one, big story split into five parts because some episodes will just spend their runtime wandering around the Capitol, exploring plot threads here and there, having some nice interactions too, but never really settling down to do one thing, there isn’t really a surmisable plot to most of these stories. Pandora falls, once again, into this camp, half the story being nearly unrelated to the second half, focusing on the characters rather than the plot. And whilst I think it did it well, I can’t help but wonder if I’d prefer a more episodic approach.

Returning from the fateful trip to Davidia, Romana and Leela try to discover more about the identity of the Broken Man, all whilst an enemy from within the Capitol tries to shape things to their own agenda.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Pandora follows directly on from Spirit, beginning immediately after Romana and Leela make it back to Gallifrey. This is what I’m saying about this whole series feeling like one big episode arbitrarily split up, everything kind of flows into one another. However, despite this flow, the first half of this story deviates a little so it can spend some time expanding on our main cast. The way it manages to set up different alignments within the High Council is pretty great, giving us tons more insight into how each member thinks of each other. Brax’s ambitions are revealed, Narvin shows his first signs of the redemption everybody keeps talking about when he remains loyal to Roman over Darkel, who shows her true colours as a devious backstabber that serves as this story’s (and a number of following episodes’) main antagonist, a role at which she handles marvellously. Not only is the character utterly dreadful in her slimy, self-righteous portrayal but performed magnificently by Lynda Bellingham, who gives the Inquisitor a sharp, venomous edge that really cements her as a proper threat, especially when she manipulates poor, gullible Wynter. This is the point in which we move into our second half, which all revolves around the mystery of the Broken Man and the reveal that he is, in fact, Wynter after a fateful possession by Pandora. The way the mystery is built up and unexpectedly dropped on the listener like a wrecking ball is incredibly effective. I’ve already explained why I find the concept of Wynter’s death so horrifying but actually seeing it happen in real time makes it all the more devastating. Especially when we get a little found footage (or, I guess, found audio) sequence where we listen to Wynter’s fate through K9 in a scene that genuinely gave me chills the first time around. Sure, it kind of ruins the ambiguity I was so fond of but it’s masterfully done and probably my highlight of this audio.

However, my big problem with Pandora is that it just doesn’t feel like much. There’s nothing I can really define it as, it’s sort of an episode of tying up loose threads and building on pre-established characters. Sure, we get the conclusion to the Broken Man mystery but past that, this just feels like another day on Gallifrey and perhaps that’s enough for people but when episodes of a show all start blending together into one things get a little foggy for me. Plus, the whole conclusion of Brax having a telepathic battle with Pandora truly falls short, mostly because it happened off screen. His final declaration against Darkel was pretty good, sure, but the whole final fifteen minutes felt like such a rushed conclusion when I think this plot should’ve taken up the whole audio rather than the back half, letting the character stuff happen between scenes rather than entirely separate from them.

The best way I can describe Pandora is just another episode of Gallifrey. It was good, yes, but the thing is I just don’t have much love for something so inbetweeny. I need some impact, I need some great ideas, I need some stand out moments. I need the episodes to have a little more purpose because right now everything feels a little muddled. This may just be my sentiment but I think the thing Gallifrey really needs right now is a little more definition, even if it’s still got a heck of a lot of quality

7/10

Pros:

+ Effective mystery with some nice tension

+ Good building of power dynamics within the Capitol

+ Darkel reveals herself as a cunning and duplicitous antagonist

+ The scene revealing the identity of the Broken Man was genuinely chilling

Cons:

- Somewhat lacking in concrete plot

- The conclusion was incredibly lacklustre