Must-See TV [AUDIO/2020.6.17]

★★★★☆

  I feel like I must preface this review with the warning for all of you out there who are borderline allergic to what are essentially setup episodes, or episodes without a clear Scooby-Doo villain defeat moment. Must-See TV is, boiled down to its core elements, a setup episode which focuses on a new recurring villain! The villain isn't caught or revealed in any significant way at all; we get to hear him wreak havoc, get a general sense of his modus operandi, and witness the Doctor and his motley crew struggle to find out more about this mystery antagonist of theirs. Mr. Bird is an immediately arresting character; at this point, no one knows who the hell he is, but his calculating and scheming presence is a shock to the system that is Stranded -- the good kind of shock as well. The first two installments of Stranded were very lowkey in stakes and pace (because that suited the scripts best), but come Must-See TV, and entire buildings are blown up. It's a jolt to the audience, a wake-up call that not every installment of this series is going to be characters struggling to deal with modern-day London. Of course there will be overarching villains and opposing forces, and the setup here is absolutely top-notch. 2020 is when everything changes, and we are going to have to be ready. 

  That Torchwood gag there was intentional. Who would've thought that Andy Davidson of all characters -- a minor recurring character of Torchwood's time on television, almost entirely a "comforting" presence that's there to reassure the audience that, as the budget for the show kept getting higher and new photography styles were employed to give the show a new feeling, this was still the dark and humorous, grimy show they fell in love with in 2006 -- would get a Big Finish renaissance and strike things up with the Eighth Doctor, Liv and Helen? Tom Price can hardly believe it, and he's having such a wonderful time being as entertaining as humanly possible. He's the secret Tania's been keeping from everyone since the beginning; she's a Torchwood agent, and she's been living in Baker Street to keep tabs on the Doctor and steer him away from Torchwood since he's too early in his timeline to know them. It's a fantastic idea to integrate Torchwood this way and it just goes to show that I have no right to criticise Big Finish of the way they assemble disparate Dr. Who elements together like randomly picking stuff from a dartboard -- I enjoy the results all too much. It helps that Tania Bell is simply the best thing to ever happen to Liv Chenka during her tenure in Dr. Who, and giving Rebecca Root to flesh out her character in all these wonderful, unexpected ways is a real treat. Featuring mysterious television sets showing real-time footage of those watching (a subtle but creepy idea that I love), great sound design and an encapsulating villain, Must-See TV's another great, great release.