Consequences

"Is Marek worth dying for?"

Writer: Simon Guerrier
Format: Audio
Released: June 2013
Series: Graceless 3.03

Featuring: Abby, Zara

Synopsis

Once upon a time there were two sisters.

They were created by beings called the Grace. Both sisters had magic powers. When they were together, they could do anything. Go anywhere and when. Reach into people's minds, even influence their thoughts.

They tried to be good. They tried to do what was right. But even when they tried their hardest to help people there were unintended consequences.

They still did terrible things. So many people still died. The sisters lost people they loved. There was a man... They thought they'd lost him forever.

There are lots of stories about the two sisters. But that story – their last story, about the day they chose to die... Those who knew what really happened are all dead.

Except for one. A man... Living by the sea. And he promised never to tell...

Verdict

Consequences was an excellent conclusion to the third series of Graceless! This finishes things up, for now, very nicely and with a four year gap to the fourth series of the spinoff, this definitely tied things up in a very neat way for the Tracer sisters. I thought the narration at the beginning detailing a short history of Abby and Zara was great and now here they were on the day they chose to die. I thought it was a nice bit of continuity to visit the aftermath of The Flood and have Abby and Zara reunited with Brondle some five years since their last meeting. They wanted his advice on what was essentially a contest between love and death which was fantastic. The pre-credits scene ending with Marek showing up was terrific and this version was definitely a more likeable character. He had no memory of his life with Zara and Abby and was just there to propose an insurance settlement. This was his profession now. Abby and Zara hoping to outrun events they knew must happen was fun to play with and I liked the suggestion that Marek's presence was engineered by somebody out to get them. That didn't really come into play, but now they knew that this was the day they died. That's quite the predicament! The moment with Wing and how the snow triggered her mental regression into childhood was very powerful and it was clear that she had an implicit memory. The sisters going into her head and seeing her past in the war was brilliant and it was intriguing to find that her first memory of meeting Brondle was deleted. From there, they wanted to help her and returned to the Archive and Chi. However, there was no cure and the only way to save her would be to prevent her accident and the encounter with the radiation in the first place. For that to happen, Brondle would lose her anyway which was devastating as history would be altered. What was worse was that the sisters had given him hope of saving Wing and they were dealing with happenstance beforehand, but now it felt like losing her all over again. That was a lot to take in and a powerful listen. Zara still trying to deal with the events of The Prisoner's Dilemma where she broke the sky was very good and I liked how neither sister actively wanted to die. Marek's dad telling him of Abby and Zara and how they saved the planet was something I didn't expect but thoroughly enjoyed! I liked the dynamic of Marek knowing that he meant something to the sisters and it was also nice to acknowledge that the people of his home world owed them their lives. His knowledge of Joy was also interesting and it was nice that he understood their difficulty in him not being the Marek they knew. The locality still having trouble with the sun was intriguing and the sisters seemed set on putting things right by teleporting into the sun, knowing that it would mean death. Instead, Marek had a better idea and used their powers to teleport into the computer at the sun observatory to get an understanding of what was wrong. They found that they had an hour until the sun folded in on itself which was obviously a deadly predicament! I loved that Abby and Zara went to the Vortex to observe the potential impact, but this time they weren't being drawn to it. The whirl pools were an intriguing element and I liked how they were realising that the Vortex was resisting the changes the sisters had made throughout time and history. In order to facilitate a return to normality, Abby and Zara needed to take themselves out of time. There would be nothing blocking the flow with them dead. There was another way though and it involved taking Wing to the sun and making her part of it. Brondle could join her when he was ready, but that meant he could literally decide how long he had to live which must be a daunting thing to have looming over your head! He wouldn't wait and the pair went in place. But things were still bad and the sisters chose to die which was fantastic! I expected them to end that way, but then the disturbances only grew! I liked that a lot because they weren't there to put things right now. The return of the Grace, in the form of Kurt this time, was brilliant and I liked how they reacted to their creations being prepared to die. The Grace had pretty much set them up and were interested by the imbalances created. The Grace saved the sun, but told the sisters that they could not continue their existence because of the powers. The idea of a coded message in the sun's data was good, but the return of Abby and Zara at the end as powerless mortals was excellent! I liked how this brought things full circle and they would stay with Marek in the house they'd always wanted to call home. It was a fitting end to a great audio!

Rating: 9/10