Lady Christina Volume 2

Lady Christina #2

Released: 8 July 2021

Listened: 5/24/23

The Wreck

This second boxed set, recorded in 2020, doesn’t have its own title, but it’s very different from the first. At least in this first story, the pace is a lot slower, almost languid, and boy is it dark. Christina’s father is back, and he’s got a new fiance, a young blonde named Bunny, who appears to be just the latest in a line of trophies for Lord Alfred. She’s played by Rosa Coduri, daughter of Camile Coduri (Jackie Tyler), and she really sounds a lot like her mum. Naturally, this sparks some friction between Lord Alfred and Christina, which only gets worse when it becomes clear that Alfred isn’t just on a pleasure cruise; he’s here to find some sunken treasure. Treasure which, of course, is more than what it seems, and puts them all in danger. James Goss is the writer here, and he writes horrible, complex families better than anyone else, which may be kind of sad. But he’s in full effect here; Lord Alfred is a completely reprehensible human being in every way imaginable. Christina holds her own, but it’s clear that she wants some affection from her father, and all she gets is derision and blame. It’s not just him being generally horrible; he knows how to use Christina’s and Bunny’s affection for him to get what he wants, and he knows exactly where to stab when he wants to hurt them. He’s probably also lying to himself, deceiving himself into believing he’s a good person. It’s fairly chilling, in a way these stories haven’t been. Sam turns up at the very end, just to help clear up. This bit of story is over, but it’s part of an overall plot that’s going to continue through the set.

Outback

We’re continuing with the somewhat slower pace in this story. I figured that the deal with Lord Alfred would be the plot driver for this set, and it sort of is, but this is more of an interlude. Christina’s disturbed by what happened in the first story (and rightly so), so she goes to talk to her Aunt Eugenia, a former tomb raider who’s retired to the Outback, where she’s doing…something. Really makes you wonder if anybody in the DeSouza family has any morals at all. Christina rounds up some locals to help search for her Aunt, so we get some very pleasant Aussie accents (which sound authentic to me, but I’m American). Sam and Jacqui McGee show up on Christina’s trail, because that seems to be what they do now. Jacqui’s a lot less hard-nosed than she’s been in previous stories; it seems she has a phobia of bugs. Being in Australia unnerves her in general, and being in this story specifically is even worse. Sam has regained some of his hyper-capability, and isn’t phased by anything. Writer Sarah Grochala is a playwright who’s only recently started writing for Big Finish, but she’s got the pacing down in this one. Exactly what’s going on takes a while to figure out, but unlike other such stories, it’s not because the protagonists are missing the obvious; they just don’t have enough information. Sian Phillips plays Eugenia, which is interesting, as I just heard her in the Jenny series playing a very different character. She’s pretty awesome in general, and this character, while still an action hero, is a bit more in her wheelhouse, I think. In the end, though, it doesn’t do much to advance the overall plot.

Long Shot

The stories in this set, and even some of the last, have moved Lady Christina in a more heroic direction. However, Lady C’s big differentiator is that she’s more of an amoral antihero, and this story is a deliberate effort by John Dorney to put her back in that category. Lord Alfred has managed not to die from his turning-into-living-gems disease, and even has decent control over it now, which is always a bad sign. An equally bad sign is that he’s back in London, and bookies to whom he owes money are “mysteriously” disappearing. With the plot back in the UK, Sam and Jacqui are bound to show up, but both Christina and Alfred run rings around them without too much effort. Sam really doesn’t come out of this story looking good, which is a shame, because I’m fond of Sam. Ivo, the Interpol agent from “It Takes a Thief,” reappears, and if anything, he looks even worse than Sam does, because Christina’s manipulating him directly. It’s told in an anachronic style, revisiting past scenes to reveal that what you heard wasn’t what you thought you heard. That plays to John Dorney’s strengths, but it felt a bit unnecessary this time around, like it was trying to be clever rather than integral to the story. It wasn’t my favorite story, and I’m not actually to thrilled with this boxed set, but I appreciate the direction they’re trying to go. Unlike a lot of Big Finish “box 2’s,” this one doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, so it’s an open question whether we’ll see any more.