The Garden of Storms

Wicked Sisters #1

Released: 12 November 2020

Listened: 11/12/20

This 2020 release is a continuation of the Graceless series, featuring Abby (formerly Amy) and Zara, the “Grace sisters” who were introduced in the “Key 2 Time” stories. That makes this boxed set a bear to place, as it has to be after the “Key 2 Time,” but there’s not much room between that and the end of the Fifth Doctor’s era. It features an older Leela (from after “Time in Office”) rounding up the Fifth Doctor to “deal” with Abby and Zara, who’ve been using their nearly infinite powers in ways the Time Lords don’t like. Leela seems to believe the Doctor can convince the sisters to destroy themselves, which seems a bit harsh, but admittedly the Doctor does tend to do that to omnipotent beings, and Leela’s always had a somewhat harsh viewpoint, which hasn’t been tempered by the events of the Gallifrey series. The Doctor just wants to find out what’s going on. They track the sisters down to a planet where the citizens are euthanized at age 40, for the “good of society.” Abby and Zara have spent a lot of time and effort trying to fix not just this society, but to eliminate the concept from human history, wherever it pops up. That’s required them to learn to be subtle and make small changes over time, which is pretty insightful for omnipotent beings. The Doctor seems torn between supporting what they’re trying to do, not supporting them using their powers to make wholesale changes, and appreciating that they’re trying to show restraint and make incremental changes...all up until he sees the chance to save just one person, and upends society in the process. Writer Simon Guerrier seems to have a lot going on in this story, but he keeps it moving, so it doesn’t devolve into a moral debate. He also has to deal with omnipotent characters through the simple expediency of keeping them apart, so the Doctor is with Abby most of the time, and Leela with Zara. The three stories seem to form a complete arc, so there’s no solid ending to this one.