Hearts of Darkness: The Castle of Kurnos 5

"Darkness abhors light."

Writer: David Llewellyn 

Format: Audio

Released: October 2020

Series: War Master 5.03

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, War Master

Synopsis

"Find the Doctor... stop the Doctor... and, if necessary, kill the Doctor!"

Recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency to track down his oldest enemy, the Master finds himself thrown into a mission that will take him into deepest Dalek territory.

Abandoned on the planet Redemption, he assembles a crew and acquires a ship – the journey that follows is certain to test them all... and not everyone will survive.

But space pirates and living corpses are the least of their worries. Their biggest threat remains at large: a Time Lord who likes to call himself 'The Doctor'.

Verdict

The Castle of Kurnos 5 was an excellent episode to continue my way through the Hearts of Darkness fifth series of adventures for the War Master! After a fine cliffhanger at the end of The Scaramancer that revealed the Master was actually the Doctor, this told the story of how we reached that situation ahead of what I’m sure will be an explosive finale! I like the idea of the Doctor tracking artron energy and finding his way to the Master, but what I liked even more was the fact the renegade Time Lord had been at Kurnos 5 for decades concocting his plan. I do enjoy it when the Master plays the long game and this was a fine example. His TARDIS exterior had even gone mouldy and was growing moss! I thought it was wonderful to have Paul McGann starring as the Eighth Doctor and just hearing this incarnation in the Time War is great. He’s not involved but he certainly knew all about the Lehar System and the Dalek strongholds. He arrived on Kurnos 5 amidst a rather sticky situation with young people going missing and he was instantly accused by Kilda of being the culprit. He’d arrived at the worst time and she wasted no time in having him locked up. He appealed to her admirably though and in fine Doctor fashion to help her find Meri, her missing daughter. The Master’s plans with her were extraordinary though and she was the key to his long mission. Exploring Gallifreyan history is always something I’m a big fan of, so learning all about Cardinal Magos was a big treat. His experiments in trying to raise an army of the dead under his control made for no surprise that he was banished by the Time Lords, but the very idea of that being a choice alongside execution hardly meant it would be a difficult decision. So his experiments continued and in the meantime he had spawned ancestors. The Master tracking that family line in the hopes of getting some vital information about the cognition shift, the Cardinal’s most famed invention, was quite incredible. Meri was a distant ancestor and that meant she could be used to bring back the brain of Magos for communication. He couldn’t see or feel, but the Master got the location of Nastrond. That tied things together nicely with what we already know this series. Except the Master would never get in, but the Doctor might. And so it figured that the signal the Doctor had tracked was a simple lure and the body transference occurred quite dramatically! The very idea is so much fun and I can’t wait to hear them play opposite each other in the finale. There’s so much potential there and I also look forward to exploring more about the cognition shift. Narvin picking things up at the end of the episode with how we started the series was fun and a nice link to connect everything together ahead of the finale. I thought Dieter’s role as the Master’s assistant was good and I also loved hearing the laser screwdriver in action. The Master was at his best here and I love to hear it. Overall, a terrific episode to move us forward!

Rating: 9/10