So I'd heard good things about this story and yeah, it was fine, nothing really standout though.

Snow is probably my favourite of Stranded 3 so far if for nothing else but the setting. My main complaint about Patience and Twisted Folklore was that they sort of lose the 'strandedness' of the previous sets, the focus on Baker Street and the core cast of characters that we've been building up that live there. Here at least the plot revolves completely around them, granted a version of our cast that's 15 years in the future, but still.

I do really like what this story shows for that expanded cast, Ron being the only person remaining in the house, Zakia becoming a member of Divine Intervention to save her mum, Tanya growing old, becoming part of the resistance as she has nothing left to lose, and then dying. It's got some great character beats, and the idea of snow being the tears of a time traveller (ish) is a really interesting one.

Unfortunately, the emotional beats don't hit as hard for me as they're meant to, Liv and Andy talking about not being able to go back to 2020 for example just doesn't quite work because I know they will be able to, and the resolution to that plotline is just sort of handwaved away.

That all said, even if they don't hit as hard as intended, those beats definitely do hit, and seeing this future really helps show why Divine Intervention have to be stopped. The previous two stories tried to do the same, but involving more of the expanded cast, showing how they'd end up if this future comes to pass, that really makes this story work better than the previous two.

My re-listening of 8DA's 16-episode arc era is near its end.

After half of Stranded 3 where the main characters aren't even stranded anymore, Snow finally takes the story back to Baker Street.

First some positives, it is nice to have the extended cast back. The absence of Aisha and Tony created some interesting new character beats for Zakia and Ron (although still don’t like the fact they changed the relationship dynamics between Aisha and Zakia, and just left it). Liv meets Tania in the future right after they had their first fight and need to escape the pursuit of Divine Intervention is really good.

BUT, Andy still doesn’t have anything interesting to do, which is consistent for this series (still don’t understand why he needs to be in this, except BF just really like Tom Price. I like him too, when he is at where he should be, in Torchwood!).

On paper, I should really enjoy Snow, an emotional tale about the consequences of time travel and the subject of grief. If not for the fact that a much cleaner, more nuanced, and superior vision of the same story already exists with the same main cast, Absent Friends by John Dorney, which it has some permanent consequences for its characters.

Speaking of permanent consequences, (Spoilers for the next set) they choose to immediately undo the death of Tania just for Liv to realize that she wants to stay with her. And in the next set, Liv still chooses to go back to the TARDIS, but has a perfect ending where she comes back right after she left. This is a perfect example of BF’s recent symptom of “have its cake and eat it too”, sacrificing 20 years of 8th Doctor’s ongoing adventures for nostalgia, reminiscing the good old days of Charley, Liv and Helen, forever trapping these characters in the same loop.

After what I felt was too long away from the homely feel that made me fall in love with Stranded, it's so very lovely to get back to that vibe. Liv keeps getting better and better the longer she appears in these stories.

A+.