Concealed Weapon

"I don't leave people behind."

Writer: Scott Handcock

Format: Audio

Released: January 2019

Series: The Diary of River Song 5.04

Featuring: River Song, War Master

Synopsis

A deep space exploration mission nears its end – when suddenly, the crew start to die. River must try to protect her colleagues and work out what else is on board their ship.

Something is stalking them, and the deadliest Master of all has his own plans for River Song...

Verdict

Concealed Weapon was a fantastic way to conclude what has been a terrific fifth series of The Diary of River Song! This was probably the best story of the set, although I really am switching between this and The Bekdel Test. Things took a little while to get going for this one, but once they did it was superb! We had Derek Jacobi giving a chilling performance as the War Master and this is exactly what I have been clamouring for in the War Master series. We didn't see enough of it in that, but this was just perfect for my expectations. The Master was at his very best. Cunning is definitely one of the most adequate words to describe him during this story. One thing I am not a fan of but it seems there is just no escaping is the fact that we know the War Master is in this story because of the artwork, that goes without saying, so why is it told to us that the other life sign is the Doctor? We know right away it isn't and I can understand that River doesn't know, but it just doesn't make sense to me to try and deceive the listeners like that when we know the answer. That's my only qualm with this story really. An element that I found incredibly intriguing was that River Song referred to the Time War as something that was happening now. I figured that there might be a comment with her knowing the result and the role the Doctor had in ending it, but there was no indication of that which I was very surprised by. I liked it a lot though, even if it perhaps is an impossibility given the Time Lock and that River was conceived in the Time Vortex some time after the War's conclusion. The setting of the Utorpy was good and even though there are no visuals, the atmosphere was just dark and dingy and that worked perfectly for the arrival of the Master. I really enjoyed how he was just luring some of the crew down and was killing them off with his laser screwdriver. Amita was a decent character and finding out that the Master was actually using her as transportation for a beast created from Time War splicing was unexpected, but the calmness and complete lack of compassion with which he carried out his plans was delightful. That makes me sound quite horrific, but I got what I wanted in a villain with the War Master here. Delightfully callous. The ending was something I really liked with River using a way to get Hugo to her advantage and set the ship's self destruct into accelerate, something the Master hadn't anticipated, and that quickly led to him trying to escape with her in some comical scenes. The way he got a mental advantage over her at the conclusion was sublime though and it was actually quite refreshing to see the Master get away and River not quite standing tall. She had been hypnotised to reveal that there was never anybody else on the ship. The reference back to Animal Instinct was really nice continuity with the Master revealing he had gone and done his research on River, and he was more than prepared now to deal with her. He did so pretty convincingly in my books, even if he had a minor setback. Overall, a brilliant end to what has been an excellent series for the fifth series of The Diary of River Song! Long may it continue, and here's hoping for more encounters with the Master. 

Rating: 9/10