Absolution [AUDIO/2007.10.?]

★★★☆☆

  Revisiting the Big Finish monthly range, you find yourself finding a few hidden gems. Now, would I call Absolution a 'gem', so to speak? I'd be hard pressed to say it's flawless by any means -- I mean, like quite a few high-concept Dr. Who stories, it suffers from a dragged-out middle (in particular, I reckon this would've served much better as a three-parter) -- but it's certainly a different flavour than your usual Who fix. It's a true end-of-the-world scenario, one third of the TARDIS crew is whisked away into a spiritual journey of his own, and our heroes find themselves in literal Hell. Sounds interesting? I hope so, because I'm quite fond of Absolution and its very ambitious story, with allusions to Pandora's box, a society that cannot age or die, and of course monstrous beasts thrown into the mix because it's Dr. Who. There are far too many ghoulish ideas for me to cram all in one review; if nothing else, Scott Alan Woodard was letting the imagination loose writing this, and it shows. It's a clear work of love.

  My biggest gripe with it has to be that C'rizz is largely left out of the action, relegated to a sort of framing device before becoming a half-ghost that makes the ultimate sacrifice. It's even more egregious that this is perhaps the worst example of C'rizz getting a minor role when it's his literal departure story. He even makes a heroic sacrifice and dies, and this is how Woodard decides to repay him. Oh well, at least Conrad Westmaas gives a really good performance, as always (I know, I'm on the minority here). Lovely little heated moment ensues as well, with Charley questioning the Doctor's "humanity" as he seemingly brushes off C'rizz's death quite easily. It's the most talked-out moment of the audio drama for the general fandom, which is a bit of a shame; Absolution has a wealth of well-executed good ideas, with imagination running amok in the best of ways. If only it wasn't so boring in some places, I'd feel far more favourable towards it.