The Bomb

"When we're together, we can do anything."

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Format: Audio

Released: January 2017

Series: Graceless 4.01

Featuring: Amy, Joy

Synopsis

There's a legend told in a town by the sea, about two wicked sisters who died to save the world. Now the world faces another catastrophe and there's no one to turn to for help. Which is bad news for Joy and Amy, and their grandchildren...

Verdict

The Bomb was a very good start to the fourth, and currently final, series of Graceless! I can't quite believe I am already on the final season, but it started well with this very unique adventure. I thought the decision to start with an elderly Joy and Amy 316 years after the events at the end of Series 3 was certainly brave and it was most definitely a unique listen. Things starting with Pool asking of Abby and Zara after reading of what they did during The Flood saving the town and planet. For the locals, they were resigned as creatures of the sun which I thought was brilliant. Of course, Joy and Amy here were in fact the famed sisters and the latter was on her last legs, quite literally. Hearing Amy being on life support was a big shock and saddened me a little to hear the pair as elderly women now. The change of cast was also a big adjustment and again a brave move for the start of a series. The threat of something going down in Lida was good and I liked how that was contributing to delays with transmat transport. The similarities to modern day train delays with the announcements was startling and something I am more than used to, even if Covid has prevented me hearing that for a long time now. Joy had learned that the bomb ticking over in Lida was deadly and had the force of a trapped star. A mass exodus of the planet was prepared and whilst there were still between 7-10 days until detonation, the capacity of only 26% of the population surviving as a best case scenario following an orderly evacuation was telling. Joy being prepared to use the knowledge she had learned from the books all those centuries ago was nice continuity and she was fully expecting to go to the fission reactor and fix things. The need to remove the core was a good problem to present the story with and I liked how it was too big to be done. Pool knowing who Joy was all along seemed a sudden shift but the story that came with of how Amy was hospitalised because she saved a cat in a tree was terrific. Things advanced rapidly though as initially we were led to believe that Amy had died. We had some emotion from Joy after getting the call and then a poignant funeral reading. It was quickly revealed that she wasn't actually dead and they were merely testing their persuasive abilities that they so often utilised in their younger days. They were heading for the reactor through the streets of chaos to get to the bomb and their appeal to the robot standing in their way and how they were going to save the planet again was tremendous. I really enjoyed that. The General wanting the pair's credentials of how they could stop the bomb was good and I also thought it was a nice surprise that he didn't fall to their persuasion attempt and even expected it! He changed his mind quickly from wanting to send them back to driving them to the bloody reactor! Joy's deliberation on how she would convince the reactor to shut down was interesting and the moment they had to leave the General behind was very powerful. The struggle throughout the audio for the sisters not having their powers was excellent and I liked how they attempted to harness the past. They wanted to make stopping the bomb their choice and were going to reach inside with their minds to stop it. They were elderly and powerless, but when they were together... well, you know the rest. The shift to post-detonation was very good, if not initially confusing, with everything in working order and the sisters having survived when they ought not to have. There were melted tiles and the sisters had become ghostly, but the reason for that was unexpected as they had absorbed the energy of the blast! I didn't expect that and it worked nicely to lead into the return of their younger selves and the cast members we are so familiar with. The togetherness of the sisters in the story was wonderful and it was nice that they also harkened back to The Fog and recalling Daniel. The way things ended with the General and Pool with the latter disappearing was intriguing and he seems to know more than he's letting on. I expect him to feature again in the series for sure. Overall though, a great audio adventure!

Rating: 8/10