The Deepest Tragedian

Companion Chronicles #14.4

Released: 26 April 2022

Listened: 5/21/22

This is another two-hander with just Zoe and another actor, in this case Richard Unwin. It’s also one of the more surreal style of story, in which Zoe is bored with the usual logic puzzles and asks for something different, which may or may not be what she gets. She ends up spending time with Tommy Waugh, a man who’s both an actor and a soldier at different points in his life, but he’s having memory problems. Acting out scenes helps piece the puzzle back together, and Zoe needs to realize that some things have aspects of a puzzle, but they’re also people with feelings that need to be taken into account. Although it’s possible to read Tommy as a WWI soldier from Earth, there are hints that he may be something more than that. In the manner of these sorts of stories, it’s deliberately unclear. So don’t follow this one just for the puzzle, or for the story, but for the emotions it creates. I don’t know if the Companion Chronicles will continue after this, and if this turns out to be Wendy Padbury’s last outing with Big Finish, it’s a pretty good one to end on.