Chronomancer

Purity Undreamed #3

Released: 9 August 2022

Listened: 8/16/22

We get more Imogen Stubbs in this story, as the Doctor and company take Patricia to see the future of Earth…and she handles it very poorly indeed. Turns out Professor McBride isn’t as tolerant as she’s projected, and the future looks different than she expected. That leads to a rather charged scene where the Doctor decides not to engage with her anymore, and she responds the way any right-wing reply-guy would. It’s a scene that could have been cliche, but Stubbs makes you believe in McBride’s confusion and anger, and Colin Baker, for all that he plays a very shouty Doctor, manages to convey more anger and revulsion than he’s ever shown before, so credit to director Helen Goldwyn for that as well. The actual plot involves a pair of lost time warriors with connections to the Time Lords, but they don’t really make all that much of an impact. Rob Valentine gives Hebe some fun dialog where she drools over one of the warriors while Mel is aghast. Bigot Patricia is set up as the villain for the rest of this arc. I get what they were going for, with the villain being a regular bigot instead of a megalomaniac, but I’m not sure the leap to villainy is justified. There’s a dramatic cliffhanger, making it pretty clear that the next box set is a direct continuation.