The Sixth Doctor returns to the planet Világ with Mel. In the aftermath of the war with the Killorans, the victors are now fighting amongst themselves.
The Sixth Doctor returns to the planet Világ with Mel. In the aftermath of the war with the Killorans, the victors are now fighting amongst themselves.
THICKER THAN WATER
I’ll admit off the top that I had started to lose faith in Big Finish after the remarkably lackluster start to 2005. But after a strong Davison release in The Council of Nicaea, and an astonishingly good McGann release in Terror Firma, my faith was restored. Imagine my delight, then, when the next play featured author Paul Sutton sequelizing his 2004 Arrangements for War, a script which pushed the boundaries of performed Doctor Who into the realm of the romance. This sequel, Thicker than Water, isn’t without its flaws, but marks the third strong release in a row from BF and stands as a very worthy sequel to its predecessor.
My complaints with Thicker than Water lie primarily with the plot, which simply required more detail. The initial conflict drawn up between Evelyn and Sofia — Evelyn’s desire to analyze the Killoran technology vs. Sofia’s desire to use the money on more immediate humanitarian projects — isn’t drawn out nearly enough to demonstrate why it is representative of the deep gulf between them. Their appearance on a political talk show sounds like two people trying to score cheap political points — one could accept this, if Sofia had thrown herself into the project purely to oppose Evelyn, but Sofia clearly feels strongly not just about Evelyn but also about the technology, and we never quite find out why. Furthermore, the second half of the story, featuring the Doctor and Rossiter uncovering secret genetic experiments at Szabó’s hospital, is almost painfully straightforward, resolved as it is by the Doctor reading some files in a room and Mel watching a monitor over Szabó’s shoulder. I’m also not sure if I like the revelation of what’s been done to Evelyn — with her heart condition already existing as a severely debilitating ailment, was it really necessary to replace it with something else entirely?
And yet despite the length of that list, all of the preceding complaints are relatively minor. Why? Sutton’s characterization: every single character in the play is solidly and believably motivated. Sofia and Evelyn are principled characters who would naturally clash over philosophical differences even without their family problems. Lawrence can be a tough guy in almost all circumstances, even to the point of assembling a commando team to capture Evelyn — but he melts into his boots when confronted by Sofia. Szabó is emotionally hurt from the war — much more than he lets on — and so he exacts his revenge, but calmly accepts his fate when discovered. Rossiter is a born leader, driven both by virtue and by his love for Evelyn. And, of course, the Doctor is there, mercurial and heroic as ever. Every character is believable; no character is ever compromised for the sake of drama.
This is also one of the most significant releases to the range as a whole, for it features the first departure scene of a BF-created companion. Evelyn’s actual departure is presented in flashback, which will cause some to complain that we are now deprived of a full departure story, but to make that argument would be to miss the forest for the trees: this is the departure story. Many complain that Big Finish Doctor Who has become stale and outdated in the light of the new series, but in Thicker than Water we have precisely the sort of story that might one day appear on television. Indeed, here we see the Doctor, in petulant fashion, part ways with a companion, leaving emotional loose ends untied — only to return, years later, with a new companion in tow. It is in the story’s “present,” then, that we see the final closure of the Doctor’s relationship with Evelyn, as they patch up old wounds and, in one of the range’s most touching scenes, express the depth of their friendship in simple terms.
During some of his scenes in the hospital basement with Rossiter, Colin Baker seems to venture over the top from time to time. That’s my only complaint about an otherwise brilliant performance, however, as Baker returns to the heartbreaking form seen in Arrangements for War. Maggie Stables gives one of her best performances, as she is asked to play every emotion from anger to sadness to frustration to joy and never once fails to convince. The “final” scene between the pair is beautiful, deserving to stand with any of Doctor Who’s greatest departure scenes. Bonnie Langford is strong as well, as Mel and Evelyn feel each other out over the course of the play before finally becoming friends. Special mention must go to Sylvester McCoy, whose turn in an uncredited cameo as the seventh Doctor is, quite simply, wonderful. The revelation in McCoy’s scene is shocking — it’ll be interesting to see if it ever factors into future audios.
Gabriel Woolf steps back into the shoes of Rossiter and sounds as though he recorded Arrangements for War only yesterday. His easy chemistry with Stables is still there, and he shows a surprising vulnerability in his outrage at Szabó’s experiments. Rachel Pickup capably handles the evolution of her character from unlikeable to heroic, while Simon Watts’ infatuation with her is surprisingly touching. Mat Dineen could have scaled back the intensity as Jenner, but Patrick Romer’s subdued performance as Szabó is perfectly pitched.
On the production front, Gareth Jenkins and Andy Hardwick provide an epic soundscape, full of long-distance background noises that easily convince. Hardwick’s score is emotional, but never becomes intrusive, perfectly matching the tone of the script. Edward Salt takes the director’s chair, doing a commendable job: his actors are almost all pitch-perfect, and he knows exactly how to pace Sutton’s script, expertly working in flashback and future-cameo alike. The feel of the story is subtly different from that of regular director Gary Russell’s efforts — not to condemn Russell, who has proven himself a fine director, but it would be interesting to hear other directors’ takes on the range as it progresses.
As mentioned above, the plot of Thicker than Water seems to meander in places — especially in the early episodes. Had the story continued along those lines, it may not have held up, but Sutton’s script builds to a masterful final episode, one of the greatest Big Finish have ever produced. By the time that it concludes, you’ll be thinking that Dr. Evelyn Smythe couldn’t have asked for a better sendoff. You’d be right.
Highly recommended.
8/10