The Final Act

"She's a performer. She needs an audience."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: March 2013

Series: Jago & Litefoot 5.04

Featuring: Jago, Litefoot

Synopsis 

It's the night of Jago's biggest show – but he isn't quite prepared for the special guest star... as the curtain falls, can Jago & Litefoot find their way home?

Verdict 

The Final Act was an outstanding story to conclude the fifth series of Jago & Litefoot! This range really is spectacular and whilst I knew it was very popular prior to me delving into it, I think it has really exceeded my expectations. Continuing with four episodes in a series is done so well and I love how there always feels like a contained arc whilst the series as a whole is one big adventure. It’s perfection. After a funky twist by having Jago and Litefoot tackle their fifth series in the 1960s, this serves as a fine sequel to The Talons of Weng-Chiang which is just delightful! The truth about Guinevere is revealed as she is carrying on the family wish of restoring the god Weng-Chiang. Of course that would refer to Magnus Greel here and having him revealed as the big bad at the end of the series is wonderful. It’s fitting that he makes a return to take on Jago and Litefoot given their encounter in on screen television during the Classic era. It’s a fitting final demise for Greel once and for all. Now, the feasibility of restoring the crystal fragments after the Doctor stomped it to pieces is probably far fetched even if it did take years to collect them up and then two lifetimes to put them back together. That’s a painstaking task and the patience required is far beyond my capabilities! I really enjoyed the pacing of this one and after the cliffhanger finish of The Bloodchild Codex with Mr Sin attacking, that felt right and was what it needed to be for a finale. I thought it was good for Detective Slacker to have a prominent role just like the series opener of The Age of Revolution and whilst I know it wouldn’t be possible for him to stick around in the range as we return to 1893 moving forward, it’s a shame he died but he went out in a strong way! Greel taking his form was excellent. I thought Slacker’s reaction to all of the time travel and precious encounters experienced by Jago and Litefoot was amusing and I absolutely adored him saying it was like a less plausible episode of Nightshade! That was such a good reference to Nightshade and one I really appreciated. Ellie had a really eventful episode and that was fitting as I imagine this will be the last we hear of her from her chronological perspective. She’s still having to deal with the pains of immortality and her sacrifice at the end when everything was coming together for Guinevere and Greel was brilliant. She had vampire qualities and that meant even throwing herself into the time cabinet and shorting out the power into Greel, Mr Sin and Guinevere all in one wasn’t enough to kill her. Any ordinary person would be dead, but she hadn’t even aged! She was almost disappointed to have survived and that was a little sad to hear. I thought it was fun that Greel planned to take his time cabinet back to 1893 and change the future as they knew it. How could they defend against reality changing around them? It was quite the plan from Greel. The way he dismissed of Guinevere was great villainous qualities and after a lifetime and more, she should be honoured he claimed. That was very good stuff. The aforementioned sacrifice from Ellie was hugely admirable, but the emotion that came from her surrounding her relationship with Jago and Litefoot was so powerful and the episode highlight for me. As far as she was concerned she’d never see her old chums again now as they departed in Greel’s time cabinet. I loved the hint of things to come for the pair as it appears that they won’t get home immediately which excites me for what might come in the next series! It was also strong stuff to know that Ellie was at Litefoot’s funeral and a stark reminder that our heroes can die. I felt sad that she didn’t get to give them a proper goodbye, and I do hope we haven’t heard the last of her from this time period. Overall, a sublime episode! 

Rating: 10/10