Hidden Depths: Flatpack

"We pride ourselves here on making the impossible possible."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: November 2022

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 7.03

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Liv, Tania

Synopsis 

Liv Chenka and Tania Bell are spending Sunday afternoon on that most traditional of couple activities, Furniture-shopping! 

But just how long has London's newest Flatpack stores been open? Who is its mysterious manager? And is it even Sunday? Liv is about to run into a very old friend...

Verdict

Flatpack was an outstanding episode to conclude Hidden Depths! This was a clever use of the umbrella title of the series and I just thought this was an excellent story from start to finish. I must admit that when the details about this boxset were revealed, I was disappointed that of all the previous companions the Ninth Doctor could encounter it had to be ones I am almost wholly unfamiliar. Now, it’s not too long since I was introduced to Liv Chenka in Robophobia so I could appreciate her reaction to regeneration as the Seventh Doctor featured there but she’s synonymous with the Eighth Doctor. I had no idea about Tania but she was good as Liv’s partner and we had a fun little trio on our hands! It was nice that it didn’t feel wholly reliant on past knowledge. The start set things up very nicely as we were introduced to Flatpack. A number of those within wore masks and I liked the eeriness of there being no individual identity beneath. Fraser’s arrival to question about planning permission for their complex was good and I liked the ridiculousness of nobody being able to remember Flatpack being built. Liv struggling with the concept of linear days was interesting and I look forward to experiencing her further adventures with the Doctor. Flatpack essentially being IKEA was fun and I liked that Liv thought the building was new whilst Tania seemed to think it had been there for ages. It was her hometown after all! The reintroductions between the Doctor, Liv and Tania were pretty quick as the episode picked up pace and it was fun to have them get lost within the store. The TARDIS lock even being taken was excellent and that made the Doctor angry especially with several other police boxes highlighting the mass production! That was tremendous. I thought it was fun that Tania already knew of the missing people associated with Flatpack and brought the mystery to Liv after her recent struggles. The idea of people coming to Flatpack and them not leaving was intriguing, especially when it appeared that they weren’t actually disposing of them! So what did they do with the people? That was a strong mystery. The concept of Flatpack extending into the past and future was brilliant and I loved that through that expansion it had always been there and always would be. The Doctor’s insistence that Flatpack’s manager was not a Time Lord because he’d experienced the Time War, and he was the only one left. That was a dark moment and Liv could see that the Doctor had gone through something major. The Doctor and Tania’s compulsion to buy was a great moment of comedy. The masked woman helping Liv actually turning out to be a future version of herself was predictable from the voice, but it sold the temporal nature of the store very nicely. Liv was not feeling compulsions because she hadn’t drunk in the cafeteria so no chemicals were making her susceptible. Flatpack being temporally transcendental was just magnificent and it really did remind me of IKEA and the horrendous one way system that doesn’t let you escape! The Doctor realising it literally could have been a flawed business model with a quantum shop in the future going wrong was great! That was logical and it was fun for an older version of the Doctor to pick up a horrific accent and be the manager. The Doctor and Tania being taken in by the susceptibility of the store was fantastic comedy and that left things to Liv. Tania being Operative 117 as the older version was terrific. Liv’s plan to get on the customer announcements and reveal that the cafeteria was giving full refunds was brilliant! An infinite number of people across time would be confronting for their money, and the customer was always right after all. The collapse that caused was excellent and made for a fitting conclusion! I really liked the reminder at the end from Liv to the Doctor that she was always there for him and he may need someone with him one day. After all, she was needed here so she didn’t want him to rule out a companion in the future. Overall, a superb audio!

Rating: 10/10