Pain Management

"I don't like to boast but I've just cured the flu."

Writer: Beverly Sanford

Format: Short Story

Released: October 2019

Printed in: The Target Storybook 14

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill, Nardole

Synopsis

"We're all stories in the end..."

In this exciting collection you'll find all-new stories spinning off from some of your favourite Doctor Who moments across the history of the series.

Discover what happened next, what went on before, and what occurred off-screen in an inventive selection of sequels, side-trips, foreshadowings and first-hand accounts – and look forward too, with a brand new adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor.

Each story expands in thrilling ways upon aspects of Doctor Who's enduring legend. With contributions from show luminaries past and present – including Colin Baker, Matthew Waterhouse, Vinay Patel, Joy Wilkinson and Terrance Dicks – The Target Storybook is a once-in-a-lifetime tour around the wonders of the Whoniverse.

Verdict

Pain Management was a very good short story to continue my reading of The Target Storybook! It's been an exhaustive ride getting through each and every one of these quirky and wonderful stories and this serving as the penultimate adventure within the huge collection was fantastic. It was a great way to use the Twelfth Doctor era and particularly that of Series 10 and the large absence of the Doctor for much of the story wasn't really felt when we had a strong trio of Bill, Nardole and Missy to carry things through. The idea of the Doctor teaching Missy to be good always fascinated me and I liked how there were signs here that she was perhaps seeing the light, whilst also delving back into the realm of her being inherently evil. There was a good balance and with her being free from the confines of the vault, I'm intrigued to know where exactly this one fits in during that Series 10 narrative. The Doctor trusting Missy is brave but I like how Bill almost trusts her through the Doctor. He's usually a good judge of character and that seems to have rubbed off on her which I admire. Missy not being overly impressed by the Doctor's musical past as part of Rusty Cage was amusing and the venture back to San Francisco in 1994 was excellent. Bill was absolutely loving living it up in her recent past and the all areas access they were granted backstage at the gig was a lot of fun. Missy was in her element in an uncomfortable setting and the fact she even got complimented for her Victorian garb was wonderful. The talk of a virus outbreak was starkly at home with the current state of society and I don't think I'd have appreciated that as much had I read around the time of release, back in that wonderful and unbelievable time where there wasn't a global pandemic. Matron Wanda was a fantastic character and Missy going so far as to curing her flu was incredible! That audacity was exactly what I'd expect of the Time Lady and her reaction to the unexpected side effect was hilarious. The connection between Missy and Wanda was literally represented by some blue static buzzing which was an intriguing image and I loved how Wanda was showcasing all of the bad traits we associate with Missy. She had the power to cure the flu and after twenty years as a nurse, eliminating pain was something she became inundated by. She didn't care that eliminating the flu meant that all sufferers and patients became mindless zombies and the depiction of that within a hospital almost felt like World Enough and Time for me! It was a powerful image. Those who were cured wanting to cure others and turn them into zombies also presented a good degree of danger and I enjoyed how they were dubbed Curers. The Doctor's absence from crowd surfing and failing resulting in being knocked out was just tremendous and something I'd love to have seen, but his return to consciousness came after Bill used noise to delay the zombies and interfere with the link. Missy's calm and ruthless way of fixing the issue was to throw Wanda off the hospital roof which was extraordinary. It was so sudden and made for a big impact. The Doctor was obviously disappointed, and there was still work to do for Missy and trusting her. Overall, a very good read!

Rating: 8/10