One Enchanted Evening

The Lives of Captain Jack #1.3

Released: 6 June 2017

Listened: 6/25/23

This one has a very clear placement: During the Doctor’s “farewell tour” after “The End of Time.” For Jack, it’s after “Children of Earth,” where he did something so bad that I haven’t been able to fully forgive him for it. And for Alonzo Frame, it’s not long after “Voyage of the Damned,” which has left him feeling survivor’s guilt and a big batch of uncertainty. From TV, we’re supposed to believe that the Doctor just wanted to give them both a nice evening together, which is plausible, but what ends up happening is disaster and mortal peril, which honestly, the Doctor might consider a fun evening, and both Jack and Alonzo know it. Russell Tovey plays Alonzo again, which may be considered “slumming” for an actor of his stature, but he sells it really well, given the character didn’t have a ton of depth on TV. James Goss provides a lot of flirting, and perhaps unexpectedly, most of it works quite well. It’s often off-putting to watch third parties flirt, but you can really feel like there’s something going on there. Jack is actually really kind in this story, to just about everybody he meets. I’m not sure if that’s accurate given where he is personally at that point, but maybe he’s trying to be a better person. Katy Manning plays the monster, which I never would have realized on my own. The lack of extras on this box is more of a drawback than I expected. Still, I think this story is my favorite of the set.