The Prisoner's Dilemma

Companion Chronicles #3.8

Released: 22 January 2009

Listened: 3/3/21

This is an unusual Companion Chronicle, coming more or less from the Seventh Doctor’s era. Or the Fifth, in a way, because the narrator for half of this story is Zara, one of the two Grace sisters from the “Key 2 Time” storyline back in the Fifth Doctor’s era. Zara tells flashbacks that take place right after she was incarnated, so during “The Judgement of Isskar,” when she was running around with Harmonious 14 Zinc. The main part of the story takes place just slightly later, and concerns Zara running into Ace in prison. Ace’s portions tell about how she got into this position, and of course it’s part of a plan that Ace isn’t entirely privy to. She thinks they’re keeping an eye on Zinc and his wife to ensure they don’t mess up the timelines too badly, but in fact the Doctor already knows how that story ends, and he’s cleaning up after a mess Zara made, but the Doctor was (presumably) unaware of at the time. Ace’s memories are fuzzy because of the events of the story, but she says that she was traveling with the Doctor and Benny, although Benny doesn’t appear. In fact, the Doctor barely appears, and Ace doesn’t always recognize him. There don’t seem to be any long-term effects from that, but it’s hard to say, because the placement of this story is muddy. As for Zara, it’s not the most satisfying story, because all we see is how she learned to be selfish, which plays nicely into the beginning of “Key 2 Time,” but doesn’t make much sense removed from it. Good acting on both parts, but probably one of those that should stick with its main story.