Big Finish 8th Doctor New Adventures, December 2009
The final story for Sheridan Smith’s Lucie is a bit weak in some ways. The Zygons are back and looking to take care of Aunty Pat for good. Lucie ultimately decides to stay behind, leaving to Doctor for reasons a bit flimsy to me. She travels with a time bullet lodged in her head, looking for the Doctor after she thinks he’s dead, puts up with him not remembering or wanting to be around her (though that seems to disappear really quickly at the end of Orbis), and is tortured for him but leaves him for this? Seems a bit flimsy overall.
The acting is great but the plotline is a bit lacking. The convoluted part is when Lucie is running around in the unconscious state. Or out of body state? The bad guy’s trying to subvert her faith in the Doctor and doesn’t, ultimately, have to try very hard. And the Doctor saves the day with a bit of genius, naturally, and he willingly leaves Lucie behind, too. It’s one of the odder companion-Doctor partings that they’ve had because it’s just so emotionally unsatisfying. Charley was depressing but understandable. Lucie? It’s just weird.
Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith
wr: Alan Barnes
dir: Barnaby Edwards