Retail Therapy

"The more you sell, the longer you live." 

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: May 2017

Series: Ninth Doctor 1.04

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

Jackie Tyler is a success. Every home should have a Glubby Glub, and Jackie is star saleswoman on the Powell Estate. At last, she's found her calling and it's only a matter of time before she can give Rose the life she deserves. But the Doctor isn't impressed. Jackie Tyler isn't just filling peoples' houses with useless clutter. He believes she's launching an alien invasion...

Verdict

Retail Therapy was a decent conclusion to the Ninth Doctor Chronicles set of audio adventures! I was really looking forward to this boxset before purchasing, something it took me three years to do, and whilst I did very much enjoy it I can't help but feel that it could have been a little bit better. My ratings were consistent and still very much good, but I can't help feeling that I wanted more. Right from the offset with this one I was intrigued as the relationship between the Ninth Doctor and Jackie was highlighted and the idea of the latter starting an alien invasion from within her own living room was quite humorous. I wasn't a fan of the way Rose was written and portrayed in this story as the only way I can describe the characterisation for the companion was as a chav. I thought that was not reminiscent in the slightest and just a weird move to go with. I did love the foreshadowing of The Christmas Invasion with Rose stating that they were definitely coming home for Christmas as that was a terrific use of the context within which the story was written and released. I love it when things like that occur as it rounds out the continuity really well. I thought the concept behind the Glubby Glubs was intriguing, but I really disliked the name as it just seemed a bit too silly. I liked the mirroring of Jackie starting up her own successful little enterprise following in similar footsteps to her late husband Pete, but it just sounded a little too silly. Their abilities to make those tireder and exhausted was good and a great basis of where the story may go, and the impact that was felt by having one of them in the TARDIS was terrific. I liked the threat of the TARDIS actually dying and being drained which set the Doctor into motion to put things right in pretty quick fashion. The Doctor and Rose going around investigating Jackie's client list after selling a load of the Glubby Glubs was good, but for me the highlight of the story was focusing on the relationship between the Doctor and Jackie. The latter's outburst and plea to the former about her Doctor and how he was able to offer her everything was excellent. For Jackie, she felt like nothing to the Doctor which was something good to raise. Now, she had some semblance of success and felt like she could perhaps offer Rose something for the first time. In fact, she became so successful that she became the Glubby Glub number one go-getter and headed to the HQ where she met Tycho Furbank who revealed the true nature of the Glubby Glubs which was very enlightening. After some revelations, apparently, that she had been bad-mouthed by people within the Powell Estate, she was driven to want to know the truth and it came in quite shocking fashion. It turned out the bio-relay inside the Glubby Glub (my goodness I'm getting annoyed at the name typing it so often!) meant that the product gave the seller some of the life of the person it sold to. It was just enough to ensure a night's sleep or so, but coupling that with the TARDIS potentially dying was brilliant. I just felt it probably came a bit too late and didn't get developed further which was a bit of a shame. From there, the conclusion and tying everything up seemed to come very quickly and a bit too convenient with how the Doctor was able to beam out all of the energy and mop everything up. I wasn't a huge fan of how incoherent that was and it definitely required some extra explanation in my eyes. I did love the end comment though from Jackie and how she described the TARDIS materialisation as a broken elephant. That was perfectly typical of her character which was good. Overall, still a decent adventure but it could have been better.

Rating: 7/10