Redemption

"I sold you to settle your bills."

Writer: June Dawson

Format: Audio

Released: September 2023

Series: Redacted 2.06

Featuring: Shawna, Abby, Cleo, Rani

Synopsis

Cleo is in a race against time to defeat Honour and save the alien refugees of the London Underground. She needs all the help she can get – Abby, Shawna and the Doctor would be useful too. But which side Apex on?

Verdict

Redemption was a somewhat average episode to conclude the second series of the Redacted podcast! I don’t think this series has quite lived up to the first but to be honest that’s to be expected. It’s a shame we didn’t get any appearance from the Doctor and I must admit that I was banking on it happening when the TARDIS hologram arrived, so it was a little disappointing to get the Apex return. It was quite predictable that he would always come back for Cleo and whilst it’s nice for her to finally have something of a relationship where somebody is looking out and cares for her, I’m just not a huge fan of Apex. He’s not the most likeable character but at the same time he’s not someone I dislike. He’s just a bit bland. I think Honour Bray had a lot of potential as the villain but I thought she was a little diluted by her past love for Apex. That was a bit annoying but the moment where she saw the TARDIS was tremendous. That reaction was tremendous and she really did believe that a girl can have everything. The last time machine in the universe and for some reason she thought it was hers by it merely arriving. What she planned to do with the Doctor was left unanswered, but I’d love for the two to meet at some point. The London Underground setting is obviously iconic from The Web of Fear so returning there in modern times was really good. There’s a lot of potential there with the darkness and atmosphere but I don’t think it was wholly suited for the Cobot. That robotic monster had a good threat and it was fun for Abby and Shawna to hack it using Mr Smith. Rani’s presence seemed to dwindle once the threat was dealt with and we went into an extended epilogue, but it was nice for her to be prominent for much of the series. She’s an excellent character! I did enjoy things coming full circle with Apex using the wave disruptor that definitely wasn’t a flute to see of Bray and her threat, and his choice was made that it was Cleo. He was firmly done with Honour now and that was nice. It was nice to hear all three characters doing an episode of their Blue Box Files and getting some references to radiated rats at the docklands was good and I loved the comparisons to Arachnids in the UK and The Green Death. Keep those coming. It made sense that in a finale this would be indicated as the last episode of the podcast for a while as the trio would take a well deserved break, but I do wonder if this will be the end for Redacted as a whole. Obviously that term is a little redundant now as a title but I would certainly be on board for another series, especially if they could the Fifteenth Doctor in for a few cameos! Ncuti Gatwa would be perfect for this. I thought the ending with Cleo and Apex overlooking London was good if not a little cheesy, and I liked that Abby and Shawna left him to his own devices now. They had a bit of a spat when controlling the Cobot but they seem to have got past the honeymoon phase now. The ending loosely tying in with Wild Blue Yonder’s chaotic ending with the ship crashing was excellent, but it’s a shame we didn’t get a quick loose reference to a giggle. Overall, a little predictable and too focused on Apex but far from being bad. I hope there’s more. 

Rating: 6/10