The Last Party on Earth

"Did you all just say the world is going to end?"

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: September 2019

Series: Rose Tyler: The Dimension Canon 04

Featuring: Rose, Jackie

Synopsis

Rose and Jackie visit a home very close to the one they left behind. But some old friends are missing, and some are unexpectedly present... Rose meets two young men she knows should be together – it can sometimes take the end of the world to see what's right in front of you. 

Meanwhile, the Powell Estate faces Armageddon in the only way it can – by throwing a party. 

Verdict

The Last Party on Earth was a bit of an average way to conclude what was a very strong first series of The Dimension Canon to serve as the opener for a Rose Tyler spinoff series. I really was expecting big things from the finale of the series, but it sadly didn't end up paying off in the way I had hoped for. I was glad that Rose and Jackie got a story together as lead characters and it definitely has been refreshing that Rose has had a different familiar character with her in the lead role for each story in the boxset. However, this one felt far too much like a soap opera despite the circumstances that had occurred in this reality. The audio was very much centred on the Powell Estate which worked well given that it was Rose and Jackie starring and it was nice to explore how things were familiar. It felt like home, but there were little twitches that made the differences. Jackie meeting Odessa was pretty good and I liked that she was the equivalent of what would be Mickey's mum. Jackie knew her universe's version well so it must have been quite strange for her to meet a familiar woman who didn't recognise her at all. Rose had quickly deduced that there were no similarities to events that had occurred in Rose or The Christmas Invasion so she was quick to wanting to leave the universe as they wouldn't be finding the Doctor here. I liked that because that's exactly how things should have been on every visit to each different universe. I wasn't really sure why they stayed and it was quite annoying that they did because there was no end goal for the story to head towards. It was intriguing to explore a universe where Earth only had eight days left before being destroyed by an asteroid, but it just didn't seem necessary. Mook and Patrice's relationship was a bit forced into the narrative, at least that's what it seemed like to me. I did very much get intrigued by the fact that once the fate of Earth had been announced, things had died down after an initial craze. I can't really begin to imagine what I'd start doing tomorrow if it was announced that the world was ending. It was a nice thought to know that time had become priceless and that everyone was now on an equal footing with just over a week until oblivion came. Roni was a good character and I liked his interaction with Rose a lot. They had a very good relationship. Rose not being believed in the chemist when she revealed that she was actually from a parallel world was good and it was funny that it was thought her story was how she was dealign with the end of the world. The development of Odessa and Jackie's relationship was pretty good and I liked how the former questioned some of the latter's knowledge, even when it came to the way her door had to close because it stuck. Little things like that worked pretty well. I think it's a big shame that Mickey didn't appear as he would have been perfect fitting into the episode. Finding out that Patrice was a criminal didn't really offer much to the story in my eyes and I just didn't care that much about him at all. Mook pouring out his emotion at the end to his grandad seemed forced and again, just not relevant to the overall series. The way the story ended seemed a bit anticlimactic given that there was no kind of lead into Partners in Crime or Turn Left with Rose finally finding her way back to the Doctor's universe. We just had Rose and Jackie depart and proclaim that they'd keep on looking. I like that it sets things up for a potential second series, but I think it should have had a deeper tie with the televised series. Overall, not the best but not the worst. An average end to the series. 

Rating: 6/10