Unity

Gallifrey: Time War #3.4

Released: 20 February 2020

Listened: 5/22/21

With a title like “Unity,” and the last story in the set, you know they’re going to be getting the band back together, or part of it, anyway. The problem is, thanks to time travel, it’s been a rather long time for Leela, and she’s more than a little resentful of Time Lords and their war, and not exactly happy to see Romana and Narvin. She’s been living on a planet far from the war, protecting a mother and her teenage son, for a few decades. And to be fair, Romana and Narvin turning up attracts a bunch of attention that she really doesn’t need. Louise Jameson plays the conflict well; Leela will help Romana out of a sense of duty for their old friendship, but she’s pretty bitter about it, and doesn’t really return Romana’s affection. That will take time they don’t have to spare, because the Daleks make their first appearance in this Time War series, three boxed sets in. The end of the story offers yet another cast shake-up, which sort of makes it feel like the whole story was in service to the cliffhanger. On the whole, this boxed set is good, but not as good as volume 2, because of how episodic this one is. I normally think episodic in the boxed sets is a good thing, but when you’re in the middle of a long-running plot like this one, episodic can feel like wasting time.