Gladiator

"The people expect at least one gruesome death."

Writer: David Llewellyn

Format: Audio

Released: April 2021

Series: The Lone Centurion 1.01

Featuring: Rory

Synopsis

Legend tells of the Lone Centurion – a mysterious figure dressed as a Roman soldier who stood guard over the Pandora, warning off those who would attempt to open it: a constant warrior whose story appeared in the folk history of a dozen civilisations. 

Only... he seems to have misplaced it.

Travelling to Rome in search of the Pandorica, Rory finds himself forced to perform as a gladiator in the Colosseum... where he attracts the attention of the Imperial household.

Kidnapped, Rory is taken to Rome and thrown into the area, where his hapless inability to die brings him to the attention of the Emperor. 

Verdict

Gladiator was a great start to the first volume of The Lone Centurion! From the first time this boxset was announced I was right on board as I think the idea would be so much fun and this was definitely a solid beginning. It almost seems perfect for a Big Finish spinoff with how it easily fits into the narrative put forward in The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang and Rory guarding the Pandorica with Amy inside for two millennia. Given the time period that long wait started in and the very nature of the task, it was obvious that things would go wrong somewhere so depicting such events here is a lot of fun. I think Rory is a very underrated character and having him as the lead in his own series is a smart move and Arthur Darvill reprises his role as the companion to the Eleventh Doctor and husband to Amy Pond in a delightful way. It really is a joy to hear him back in the role. I thought the style of the story was terrific and I liked the humorous inserts that were accompanied by the fun music effects. Background music definitely helped with the tone and atmosphere of the episode and it was intriguing tot think just how brutal the Roman era was whilst this was somehow lighthearted despite the scenes in the Roman Colosseum and the death depicted. Except, Rory wasn't quite dying and his use of that ability was fantastic. Hearing him and Marcella act out their fight to the death was marvellous and exactly what I would have expected from our resident Roman. He was all about saving people which was nice. His relationship with Augusta was brilliant and definitely a highlight of the episode. I really liked the scene where it seemed that she was coming onto him in a sexual manner only for her to turn things quickly and ask Rory to become the bodyguard of Caesar. I think it's clever not to name the Caesar that we heard in the story and given all of the complications to time that come with that Series 5 finale, it could be any of them! The insinuation that he was gay and that Augusta knew about it was a very good touch as well. There really was some fun stuff going on. I thought the use of the Roman setting was decent and Rory's continued referring to it as Ancient Rome was really well done. Had he not come to grasps with the time period he was now living in? I love the concept of him losing the Pandorica and having to do Augusta's bidding to get it back, and her role in actually saving Marcella was unexpected but a welcomed occurrence. Lepidus was another good character and it was interesting to hear Jacob Dudman in a non-impression role. His reveal towards the end, or rather claim, that he had orchestrated the attempts on Caesar's life was very good and Rory pretending to be an inspector and testing the swords ahead of the performance on stage from the Roman ruler was very good. Rory's reaction to dormouse stew was another great utilisation of the setting and I also like how he has something of a reputation when it comes to guarding the Pandorica. Augusta knows who he is and when it's revealed that she killed Caesar in order to take advantage of the Succession Laws to effectively become the new Caesar, she has no fear because she knows where the Pandorica is and can now manipulate Rory. It must be pretty good to have an immortal in your back pocket! I liked how that set us up for the next episode and the very idea of doing an interlinked story arc over the three episodes is very much welcomed. Overall, this was a really good and fun start to what I'm sure is going to be a delightful spinoff series!

Rating: 8/10