A Genius for War [AUDIO/2023.7.20]

★★★☆☆

  Another month, another Once and Future release. What I can say upfront about A Genius for War is that it's not as unenjoyable as Past Lives; it's got a pretty good flow, and Davros is an instantly arresting villain who worms his way into the Time Lord command centre and manipulates the higher-ups into agreeing to his terrible plan to make a Dalek/Time Lord hybrid... thus making a reference to that Series 9 plot element. Yes, even as a fun little Easter egg of a reference, I was floored.

  Sylvester McCoy seems to be having a not-quite-an-off-day-but-not-exactly-a-good-day-either kind of day, being really good one second and quite awkward the next. What helps is that he has a natural chemistry with Beth Chalmers, former companion Raine Creevy who plays Veklin (the standout character of the Big Finish Time War saga?), and she pretty much stands in for the companion role. They're the (more or less) confident leads edging us on through this dangerous, uncharted territory of the Time War, and to Jonathan Morris's credit, it's not the most rote and by-the-numbers Dalek plot I've listened to. The Time Lord/Dalek hybrid is barely even explored before everything ends in a very familiar Dalek war spectacle, but with a good directorial hand from Helen Goldwyn, everything goes down nicely. I'd listen to A Genius for War when I next need a quick Davros v. Dalek fix that doesn't require a lot of time and prerequisite lore studying, Another pretty "directionless (I use the word very carefully because who knows, this series might be on its own course and we would be none the wiser right now)" Once and Future release this may be, but at least it's entertaining.