The Art of Death [AUDIO/2012.1.5]

★★★★☆

  I mean this in the best of ways: this feels like a lost Steven Moffat episode for Series 5 or 6, with all the familiar character work and insane, time-defying ideas. Here, a paradox becomes a major artistic attraction for the rich, the Doctor and his friends are scattered thorughout a woman's timestream, and that same woman becomes host to a deadly paradox of her own in which she becomes her own potential portent of doom. With me so far? 

  James Goss delivers the writing portion of the adventure with some sterling work to portray Penelope's dreary daily life and her subsequent pain as she faces the stumbling blocks in her life (and there are quite a few). He also prevents the story from being too reliant on technobabble, something template creator (in the eyes of the masses, anyway) Moffat was always good at evading. Props to Raquel Cassidy as well, one of my favourite Eleventh Doctor audiobook narrators. I can never get sick of her Rory impression, so comically one-note and devoid of excitement. Did the executives over at the now-defunct AudioGO really have such a dim view of Rory? It's an amusing little nugget of a thought that adds to the enjoyment factor of The Art of Death, which already offers such a pleasant listening experience. I won't spoil all the best moments, but I quite liked the idea of the rich and decadent having an entire ball underneath a violent and unstable paradox. How much more out-there can you get?