The End

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles #3.3

Released: 6 October 2022

Listened: 12/31/22

This story, with its fairly deceptive title, is written by relative newcomer Rochana Patel, although you could be forgiven for thinking it’s John Dorney, given the amount of timey-wimey involved. It’s got time spiders, which are pretty much what they sound like, and incredibly dangerous. Which means repeating time loops happen in this story, starting at the very beginning. Nobody takes it entirely seriously when the Doctor dies before the opening credits, but Safiyya Ingar really sells it. In fact, her whole distress situation throughout the story is really well sold. A companion with no TV history is always at greater risk of jeopardy, since we don’t know how their story ends, but that’s only part of the formula. Of course, this isn’t the end, but just the beginning. We know there will be more stories in this block, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Valerie is a promising new companion, although the stories haven’t quite lived up to her potential yet.