Ruffling

"Isn't this the life of adventure you were after?"

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: March 2017

Series: Charlotte Pollard 2.01

Featuring: Charley

Synopsis

Charlotte Pollard. Space-time traveller. Former emissary of the mysterious and terrifying Viyrans.

Now she's cast adrift and finds herself and unlikely adventurer Robert Buchan brought right down to Earth – but an Earth which is changing rapidly.

Why and how have they crash-landed in the London Underground? Who are the Identical Men? And why is human behaviour starting to change in starling and unexpected ways?

Charley, Robert and their friend the Rogue Viyran must find out if they are the solution or the cause.

Deep underground, something is stirring. Fragments of an alien design are coalescing...

Hiding in a bank, on the run, trapped underground.

Verdict

Ruffling was another very good episode to continue the second series of Charlotte Pollard! I thought this carried on where Embankment Station left off decent well with the Rogue Viyran who was humorously later dubbed as Bertram warning off the Identical Men who apparently could not be killed. It appears that they're the enemy for the series so if that is true then they are going to be pretty darn difficult to defeat. Namoi going off grid was fun and I continued to really enjoy her character. Having her alongside Rab was a lot of fun as he casually hacked into government files without much more than the blink of an eye. The political nature continued in a strong way which I enjoyed as we heard the mysterious Minister informing the Prime Minister that they should label recent events as a terrorist attack when the truth was this was something much more. When a terrorist attack is the cover up you know things are bad! Charley and Rob being the ones to get blamed for the killings in Embankment Station was a good development and it eventually allowed for some good interaction between all of the characters we got to know in the first episode. Having Naomi and Rab inadvertently find their way into a secured cordon was good and I just really enjoyed their chemistry. The news bulletins were fun little inserts and they reminded me a lot of the Sarah Jane Smith audio series. They felt contemporary and the continued theme of the NHS restricting along with the popularity of the Royal Family has me thinking that they will end up playing a key role in the events of the last two episodes, although I am yet to work out the connection. The 15 patients that were left for dead featuring on the bulletin was a disturbing item and that was a common occurrence across London and beyond as it appears that whatever the Identical Men are testing and infiltrating, it's causing freak events to become commonplace. That's rather fun! Bertram thinking that there was something within Charley and Rab that aided the Ever and Ever Prolixity in bringing them to this time and place, something that was similar for the Identical Men onto the Viyrans. There was something resembling a virus here and it needed to be stopped. Woking had a strong episode within the discussion with the Minister about Charley being born in 1912 and then hs playing around with Bertrand and thinking he might be responsible for events given that he wasn't human. His admiration of Rab was also a highlight. Bertram's calm nature when being interrogated was delightful and really brought some humour. The Identical Men planning a third sustained propulsion wave is intriguing if it continues to make strange events occur, and speaking of strange the emergence of Captain Warwick was quite something! Warwick wasn't thrilled that he was present or even knew of his location, but his physical exploits on the Minister showed he was not to be messed with. Bertram's escape at the end and knocking the power out was good, as the others headed for the exit only for Woking to cover them and threaten to shoot in a very stereotypical Doctor Who cliffhanger. Still, it was a good episode to continue the series in a bright way! 

Rating: 8/10