The Lumiat

"The only way you're getting your spear back is if I impale you on it."

Writer: Lisa McMullin

Format: Audio

Released: July 2020

Series: Missy 2.01

Featuring: Missy

Synopsis

Missy is glorifying in the chaos, hoping that a certain someone might turn up.

What she doesn't expect is an entirely different do-gooder spoiling her plans and teaching her life lessons.

Because, whoever she is, the Lumiat knows far more about Missy than anyone should...

Verdict

The Lumiat was an excellent start to the second series of Missy! I am so happy that we got a second volume of adventures for Missy because she really ranks as one my all time favourite characters from any era of Doctor Who. I think a lot of that goes back to my genuine surprise at the end of Dark Water when she was revealed as an incarnation of the Master, and Michelle Gomez also is a huge contributing factor as she is just delightful so it was wonderful to hear her once again her as the maniacal female incarnation of the Master. It was a lot of fun to have her essentially imitate the Doctor in wanting a companion in the form of Bertram and I loved how her explanation of him being eye candy literally meant candy in terms of a lollipop. She was brutally honest and devious with him from the start and the idea of her sparking a full on battle from a picnic by just arriving was brilliant and something I would expect Missy to revel in. Having someone other than the Doctor challenging her was a fun dynamic and the mysterious woman with a wand stopping the battle between the strangers who thought they were engaged in war, and spoiling Missy's fun in the process was terrific. I loved how Missy initially thought of this woman as the Doctor and even when she said that she was not, Missy wasn't having any of it. She had felt the two hearts! The idea of potentially encountering another Time Lady was intriguing, but I think we got was actually so much better. Missy's hunt for the Doctor was a fantastic theme to thread through the episode and Missy's inability to admit she sought out the Doctor was great. She liked to torture him, but it was clear there was a lot more than that. The woman reminding Missy that she wasn't the Doctor, but referring to Missy's greatest foe as female was fun and brought the story into quite a contemporary setting in parallel with the current series of Doctor Who. The venture to UNIT's Black Archive was great and I loved that Missy recognised TOMTIT harking back to The Time Monster. The very concept of a Cyber-cat was intriguing and the woman having this as a solution to the flesh-eating rats that Missy let loose to lure who she thought was the Doctor was brilliant stuff. Missy finally accepting that the woman wasn't the Doctor was very good because the reference back to The Trial of a Time Lord was just marvellous because this woman was the Master's version of the Valeyard! Tremendous stuff. The Master with all of the bad taken out. All of the good had been consolidated and Missy's reaction to that was tremendous. Gomez's delivery of the word 'good' in her Scottish accent with a tone of distastefulness was sublime. The explanation of how the Lumiat was created from an Elysian Field was very good and I liked that it was outlawed by the Time Lords, but that wouldn't stop Missy! She actually chose to create her version of the Valeyard and that stemming from The Doctor Falls and providing an explanation as to how she survived and became the Sacha Dhawan incarnation was fantastic! Even at the end of the cycle, an Elysian Field sparked regeneration which was a fun concept. The Lumiat toying with Missy over her future and the poetic culprit of who killed her was excellent. The continuity from The Belly of the Beast and the first boxset with Missy obtaining a Master TARDIS was most welcomed and I hope the theme continues through the boxset. I like the issue of it not working in being able to attract other TARDISes. The comment from Missy about boiled eggs and the soldiers being present was outstanding, although I didn't think the scenes with the egg and the truce were really needed. Bertram's murder seemed untimely as well, but Missy proving that she was far from good is always fantastic. Overall, a terrific start to the series! So much fun.

Rating: 9/10