The Doomsday Chronometer

Doom Coalition #3.3

Released: 22 September 2016

Listened: 12/13/21

This story picks up exactly where the previous one left off…in fact, a little before that, as not everything you thought you heard in the last story is what you actually heard. River is with Helen this time around, and they go on a rampage of art thefts over 500 years of European history, all leading to the Revelation Sect, which is connected to the Doomsday Clock. Helen is mostly appalled, but admits to having fun. River is almost excessively River-like, apparently breaking the rules with wild abandon, except she actually knows what she’s doing. Helen goes back to her meeting in Rome, while River pops back and rescues Liv from her predicament. The Doctor gets out of his own problem courtesy of Lady Risolva, the “queen” of the Solver robots who were a nemesis in the last story, but have done a face-turn now. Sadly, although the Solvers probably would make a very impressive visual, it doesn’t really come across on audio. Once everybody is in the same place, including River, things get a bit muddled, because it’s not clear whether completing the clock would be a good or a bad thing. The Clocksmith appears to be part of a much larger plan, and probably isn’t all there. Brother Octavian, it turns out, has been hanging around since meeting Liv back in Prague, but he took the long way ‘round. The episode ends with the characters split up, and a surprise regeneration, which is always fun. As a two-parter in the middle of the box, it’s not bad. It takes some attention to really follow what’s going on, but it mostly resolves. And if you like River, there’s a lot of River going on.