A Death in the Family [AUDIO/2010.10.13]

★★★★★

  There are special moments in Doctor Who's history, singular and wonderful flashes of light against the expanse of a vast mythos when everything comes together perfectly, every box is ticked and every avenue of imagination coalesce into one perfect adventure. A Death in the Family, the final chapter of many different threads in Big Finish's canon, is one such story and one that I've held so much reverence and love for over the years. I cannot begin to describe how wonderful it is to finally get to write about it.

  Travelling with the Doctor is not a light endeavor. The adventures in his wake are dangerous, unpredictable, and sometimes they take a toll on you for a long time. Sometimes, the Doctor will ask of you the most difficult of tasks, to abandon everything you hold dear in the name of defeating unspeakable evils. Sometimes, you will blink once and look around you, and find out that you've become a pawn in the Time Lord's chessboard. The worst part is, he wouldn't have even asked you for it. It's fitting that the fallout of the Doctor's secrecy and lies (Project: Destiny) leads to this story, possibly the Seventh Doctor's greatest masterplan yet (and that's saying a lot, considering this incarnation). It's fitting that Evelyn Smythe, one of the Doctor's closest friends and someone who knows him truly, is the one to talk to him about whether this method is the right thing. He may win the war, yes, but his companions, his friends are experiencing heartbreaks and losses on his behalf... he can be cruel and evasive, and he knows it — and it makes his reply that he must be in control to stop the meaningless deaths all the more powerful, and saddening. The Doctor's trapped in a vicious cycle of his own making, and it's become a core part of his character. A Death in the Family explores the Doctor in more depth than most, presenting complex questions not just in select scenes but in the fabric of the two-hour epic itself; we see the consequences of the Doctor's actions ourselves, and it is with great displeasure that we realize this is the only way of stopping the greatest threat known to existence.

  Ace and Hex are fantastic as well. This might be a huge understatement, because in all her history throughout the Doctor Who mythos, Ace has almost never been given material this good. She knows this Doctor more than most and how heartless he can act, and yet why does she cry when faced with the reality of his death? She has found the perfect man, a calm and peaceful life for herself, and yet why does she abandon all that for the sake of an unknowable plan? It is because deep down, she knows she needs the Doctor, and the Doctor needs her. Deep down, she knows she's running away from the choice she made a long time ago, that a normal life is something she will never be able to attain. Ace has seldom been portrayed as mature, strong and delicate as she is in this story. Hex is fueled with sorrow and rage, betrayed by the man he trusted, and yet he knows deep down that he will always care for the mysterious traveller. He knows that he and his friends are inseparable, but what if it's worse than that? In the final moments of the story, Hex ruminates about the notion that he himself has started to become like the Doctor, lying with such ease for the greater good. He respects the Doctor, he loves him... but he would never want to be like him. Trouble is, does he have a choice? Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier pour their hearts into this story, and so do Sylvester McCoy and Maggie Stables. It's almost if they know how special this story is, and are determined to give the best performances they can.

  Words have power. Words can create and destroy, form worlds and galaxies and wipe them out in an instant. Words create stories, and the story of A Death in the Family has to be one of the most complex and beautifully written I have ever witnessed. Nobody No-One is a fantastic villain to bring back, and Ian Reddington embodies the omnipotent trickster thrillingly. It's astonishing how many seeds are planted in the first three episodes, in ways that are laid out plainly for us and yet are hidden so cleverly, and how these threads are tied together in the most perfect narrative knot by the end. A distant planet where stories are spoken into existence and meanings have power, a normal man in a normal city on Earth whose name possesses the key to save the universe, a Doctor rising from the dead... I am always amazed that Steven Hall managed to create these wonderful, imaginative threads and gather them together during the climax to create an almost euphoric sensation of ingenuity. 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  A Death in the Family is evocative (thanks to the superb direction and sound/music design) and brilliantly written and performed, a fitting end to so many wild plot threads woven throughout the Big Finish monthly range timeline. Tempers are frayed, tears are spilled and the most peaceful death in the universe saves it from a powerful deity of words. "Clever" doesn't cover it at all; this is, without a doubt, one of the most cleverly written scripts in Doctor Who history, and its high quality remains from start to finish. One of Big Finish's greatest achievements, that goes without saying, but this may be one of the best adventures of the entirety of Doctor Who. I don't say this lightly. It is simply flawless.