Edge of Redemption

War Master #5.1

Released: 28 October 2020

Listened: 1/15/22

If you haven’t heard this boxed set before, you’re really better off listening to it in the proper order, or else you’ll ruin the surprise. Big spoiler coming, so turn away now. As we saw in the last story, the Master swapped bodies with the Doctor, which means the Doctor is played by Derek Jacobi in this story, and the Master doesn’t appear at all. But the listeners aren’t supposed to know that, so we think this is about the CIA ordering the Master to track down and stop the Doctor. Why exactly Narvin would be the one giving that assignment at this point in Galifrey’s timeline, I can’t say, but here we are. So how well does it hold up on a re-listen? The opening conversation with Narvin is awfully stilted, for a start. Sir Derek doesn’t seem to be trying to “play” Paul McGann’s Doctor at all; he’s giving line deliveries in the same way he normally would. There’s a little more anxiety and less suave surety, but that’s all. Which leaves the plot to do a lot of the work, and it’s kinda mixed. This episode is basically a heist movie – the Doctor needs to get to the planet where the Master is, without a TARDIS. So he’s on a nearby planet, but only smugglers will fly where he needs to go. He gets a Local Knowledge guy, who gets him a pilot, but the pilot’s ship is impounded, so they need to break in, and for that they need a contortionist, and before you can say “Ocean’s 11,” they’ve got a team. The biggest plot-based clue that something is wrong with the Master is that he declines to carry a gun, although he threatens Kriket with a weapon after the latter picks his pocket. The second-biggest clue is that the heist plan goes wrong in a variety of little ways, and the “Master” has to improvise, which he does well, and succeeds anyway. There are, however, a couple of deaths, due entirely to the fact that one of his new allies recognizes the “Master,” and carries a grudge. The first time through, you’re trying to figure out what’s going on, and you may twig that something’s not right with this story. The second time through, it’s almost as fun when you already know the secret, so that works out.