The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles #3.3 - "The End" by Rochana Patel

The Inheritance was a promising start, The House of Masks was a thoroughly OK affair that managed to keep my attention, and now, at the end of the first part of Series 7V, we get "The End", ironically the third episode in a series. But despite the confusing title, The End managed to absolutely blow me out of the water with one of the most inventive, experimental and fascinating plots I've seen in Doctor Who to date, but still continue the trend of feeling faithful to the show.

Plot:
Valarie rushes the Doctor into the medbay of a livestock transit ship, seconds away from his death. He's been bitten by something unknown in the hold, and Valarie has minutes to find it, find the antivenom and save his life. Meanwhile, in some other time, The Doctor rushed Valarie into the medbay of a livestock transit ship, seconds away from her death. She's been bitten by something unknown in the hold, and the Doctor has minutes to find it, find the antivenom and save her life.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

The House of Masks left me on shaky grounds but The End won me back so much. A great time loop episode that does something original by, instead of obviously being a time loop, having two of the different loops play out simultaneously and having the audience work out what's going on as it progresses. The structure is really cool and feels much more like an experimental big finish script than the last two, which felt like they were taken directly from the show, but it still keeps the tone of the era by being as wonderfully convoluted as one of Moffat's better scripts. In addition to the story, the antagonists, the (pretty generically named) Time Spiders are decently creepy and the sounds of them scuttling through the ship's thick piping is great sound design. The concept of an interdimensional pest that the Time Lords wiped out is really cool and for the most part, Patel manages to make them feel like this unstoppable force of nature. The Doctor and Valarie jump from being in pretty forced emotional moments in The House of Masks right back into some great character writing, as they have to, both at different times, sacrifice themselves for the other. Valarie's been in three audios and already she and the Doctor are getting scenes usually saved for veteran companions, and it's great.

One big negative I'd give to this already pretty perfect story is I wish the Doctor was out of action in the timeline where he gets poisoned, like how Valarie was absent for the timeline in which she gets poisoned. Instead, he's equally present in both time lines and I feel that the story would have more drive if Valarie was on her own in one. It is essential for a reveal later in the story, but a workaround would've been welcome. And, whilst I praise the Doctor and Valarie's character writing, the ship's (surprisingly small) crew don't get much development but they serve the plot well enough and aren't exactly a damper on the story.

The End was an exciting, moving and clever conclusion to the first part of Series 7V, a run I am already enamoured with. Despite some minor criticisms, it was a really intelligent base under siege story fuelled by some fantastic ideas and great character writing.

10/10

Pros:
+ Really experimental, enthralling story structure that is complex but not confusing
+ The Time Spiders were a simple but very effective antagonist with some great sound design backing them
+ The melancholy conversations between the Doctor and Valarie are really well written and a step up from The House of Masks
+ The reveal that we're not seeing two different timelines but two different parts of a time loop is great twist

Cons:
- The timeloop where the Doctor's poisoned should've been more focused on Valarie being isolated rather than still having the Doctor run things
- The ship's crew aren't the deepest of characters and they're motivations don't go far past progressing the story

Series 7V | Ranked:
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3. The House of Masks by Georgia Cook - 6/10
2. The Inheritance by Alfie Shaw - 8/10
1. The End by Rochana Patel - 10/10

Overall - 8.0/10

The End: 8.5/10 - This story was pretty good but I think my enjoyment was limited due to the constant other timeloop stories within wider media and Doctor Who itself. The side characters were kind of one note and only provided people for the Doctor and Valerie to befriend. This presentation of a timeloop was more interesting than most other timeloop stories as it showed two different run throughs at the same time. This provided a really interesting back and forth and seeing both The Doctor and Valerie experience similar things was pretty cool. The ending with Valerie on the brink of death was very emotional and it truly felt like Valerie was living her last seconds. 

An excellent, imaginative, fast-paced finale of the first box set. The plot imaginative and well paced, with twists that really kept me on the edge of my seat. The overall concept is well done, and doesn't turn into white noise that plots like this can. The voice acting is excellent, with actors that really know their characters. Jacob Dudman and Safiyya Ingar still have great chemistry, to the point that it's a shame we can't see this play out in live action. Valarie Lockwood is quickly becoming my favourite Eleventh Doctor companion. The sound design is still top-notch. The music on this release really was exceptional, to the point I wish there was a soundtrack released. This finale really put a great cap on this excellent box set.