Life Experience

"You've got to love the people who fund this stuff."

Writer: Jenny T Colgan

Format: Audio

Released: August 2018

Series: Class Vol 1.02

Featuring: Ram, Tanya

Synopsis

After signing up for work experience at Sevelin Laboratories, Tanya and Ram find themselves thrust into the world of medical research. But dark secrets lie at the heart of Sevelin Industries – and not everyone can make it out alive...

Verdict

Life Experience was another great story to continue the second volume of Class audios from Big Finish! I like the continued approach of featuring just some of the main cast and whilst we had Ram around in Gifted, it was good to get a new adventure with Tanya. I don't think she would go down as one of my favourites from the spinoff series, but it was a welcomed return in my opinion. I liked how the school setting of the series was utilised here in having Ram and Tanya sign up for work experience, with the latter late to arrive and only just getting his name down for Sevelin Laboratories. Although, that wasn't exactly one of his top choices with his lack of passion for science. Marta was a good character as the head of Sevelin and her unhappiness at the idea of having children visit for work experience was good. She didn't want her business being overlooked either and with mentions of subjects, Sevelin were clearly engaged in some shady business. Yan was a good character to have show Ram and Tanya around for their placement and I also really liked Aubrey as Marta's assistant. He was pretty fun. Blessing as the doctor in the lab was another decent person to have around and all in all we had a very solid cast! I thought the idea of Subject E escaping and it being an alien with some unknown chameleon ability was excellent and provided a strong basis for the story ahead. Having the work experience coupled with a visit from the Mayor added to the inconvenience of the escape especially with her only being there for PR purposes and not really caring about the research. With the subject on the loose, Sevelin went into lockdown with not even the fire escapes accessible and that provided a tense and contained atmosphere which I liked. The chameleon went on a semi-spree of killing and it being able to glow in the dark was a fun image. The relationship between Aubrey and Marta was humorous with the moment of the passcode memory failing and it being her date of birth a particular highlight. Tanya was terrific in this story and really got to showcase her intelligence as she didn't take long to work out Sevelin was a sham when it came to biological studies. The creature was on the loose and coming for the trio of Ram, Tanya and the Mayor and the use of going through the walls to escape was clever, if not seeming a little like cheating. Aubrey's brashness with the gun provided a sharp twist in the plot as he killed the Mayor in haste thinking she was the creature. Tanya's reaction and outburst to that was fantastic. Marta having no intent of letting everyone out because of all they had seen was not a surprise and it instantly turned her into a villain. Boris trying to help the others and her dealing with him by way of a pathogen that boiled organs from within was horrifying! It was an awful fate. I liked that Tanya and Aubrey used their heads and combined knowledge together to come up with a scientific way of tackling the specimen, but Ram's use of his Lothan leg to kick the alien to deal with it in the short term was great irony. Who needed science? Marta revealing herself as an alien was actually something I didn't like too much as I don't think we needed confirmation either way, but it did make sense in terms of her not being effected by the pathogens she intended on releasing and then covering up the deaths with a gas explosion. That didn't happen though as the specimen dealt with her brutally before UNIT (I assume) arrived to take over the facility and ensure everyone signed the relevant forms to keep the information contained before leaving. Overall, a really good little adventure to continue the series!

Rating: 8/10