The Inquiry

📝7/10 → GOOD!

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

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: “GALLIFREY: THE INQUIRY”

The Gallifrey saga continues with The Inquiry, which sees President Romana face a hearing for her actions while Leela tries to uncover the truth about what happened to Andred.

I love a good courtroom drama, and The Inquiry goes all in on that track when key characters are called as witnesses against or in support of Romana, which further shows the political tension on Gallifrey. The story is mostly focused on exploring the circumstances around the Timonic Fusion Device and on Leela breaking her way into the Matrix to learn about Andred’s fate. Everything remains fairly contained but still moves the overall plot forward satisfyingly.

Leela and Romana continue carrying the weight of the story on their shoulders, while the guys plot behind their backs. Lalla Ward is particularly good when she lashes out against those trying to stop her. Braxiatel and Narvin are great in this as well, and it’s a joy to hear Lynda Bellingham as Inquisitor Darkel.

Braxiatel is fleshed out a bit more, especially his Collection and the danger he puts the Matrix and Time itself into, but I still can’t really graph his overall role in the series. The scene where he reveals Anred’s fate to Leela is a highlight of the series so far, with superb performances from Jameson and Miles Richardson.

The third act is pretty busy with explaining what’s been going on, and I can’t say that I got all of it.

Gallifrey; Chapter III  - “The Inquiry" by Justin Richards

After Square One, which felt like somewhat of a stop-gap entry, I was anxious to get back to the actual series plot (even though four episodes is really stretching the definition of “series”) and The Inquiry was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Justin Richards, a writer defined by his generic if solid writing style, gives us a spacey courtroom drama that fits in really well with the political antics of the series so far, and even includes some cool sci-fi concepts that eventually utterly derail the plot.

Called to answer for her response to the Gryben standoff, Romana finds herself desperately searching the Matrix for answers to the origins of the Timonic Fusion Device, only to discover a cover-up that transcends linear time itself.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Every Gallifrey story I have listened to so far seems to be split into two parts: the mystery and the climax. There will be some underlying conundrum, like the plans of an insane terrorist cell or a murder mystery that keeps looping, and then eventually it will resolve in a quick, high-tension climax. All episodes so far seem to follow this structure and The Inquiry is no exception. The central mystery? Pretty great - the Matrix is at threat of being wiped by a “data bomb”, which is covering up a seemingly impossible test of the Timonic Fusion Device. This posits a nice number of questions: Who planted the data bomb? How did the device go off if the test was halted? How do we prevent the data bomb from going off? It does everything a mystery should do and drives a majority of the story. And boy does it drive it, the plot is quick, the plot is fast, the plot is tight. I love a story that chooses to set its narrative in real time, allowing for us to be put in the character’s shoes and feel the tension and haste they’re in; of course, there must be a balance and the script should need to breath, which luckily The Inquiry does by allowing the characters time to discuss and plan between revelations. It also allows time for some world class character building, which was something I felt was missing from the previous two entries, and pretty much everybody gets some time to shine, especially Leela who is gifted a magnificent performance from Louise Jameson.

However, The Inquiry starts to fall apart for me by the end. The conclusion to the mystery is nothing short of wildly unsatisfying. An interesting set up and the possibility of some fun time travel shenanigans resolves in the most convoluted way possible and Justin Richards clearly had little to no idea on how to present them. The story finally ends up in the closing statement of the titular inquiry and devolves into an exposition dump involving parallel timelines and somebody stealing the timonic fusion device. Even now, having read through the summary on TARDIS wiki a couple times, I'm a little foggy on the specifics because everything’s so clumsily put together. Also, I feel like the story could’ve done with a little more focus. Despite seeming like its a courtroom drama, only about 5% of the story is really in the court, we get no battles of wits, no word play or catch outs and we keep going on little side excursions like a raid on a Free Time hideout or Leela digging around the biodata archives. The story keeps switching up its subplots and in the end most of them feel underbaked.

The Inquiry was another story that failed to dazzle me as much as I wanted it to. A great opening conceit is underpinned by messy, poorly conveyed ideas and a litany of sidetracks. It’s fast and fun and genuinely does some great stuff with our cast but it feels like it even confuses itself by the end.

7/10

 Pros:

+ Really intriguing central mystery

+ Excellently paced throughout

+ Pretty much every character has some level of nice character development

Cons:

- Could’ve had a bit more focus on the trial aspect

- Third act is way too messy and confusing