Patient Zero

 

"Everything about you is wrong."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: August 2009

Series: Monthly Adventures 124

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Charley

Synopsis

Finally, the Sixth Doctor challenges Charlotte Pollard to tell him the truth. Who is she really? What is she doing in the TARDIS?

To discover the answers, the Doctor must travel back in time, beyond all known civilisations to the vast, mysterious Amethyst Viral Containment Station. But answers lie within the TARDIS too. Someone who has there a long, long time...

Meanwhile, the Daleks have travelled back in time on their own missing, to bring them the ultimate victory they crave. But it is a mission so complex and delicate that even they know they must beware the web of time...

Who is Patient Zero? What has happened to Charley? And why have the legendary Viyrans been summoned?

Verdict

Patient Zero was an excellent audio adventure to continue my way through the Big Finish Monthly Adventures! I thought this was a really strong story from start to finish and I like how close we are to getting answers regarding the Sixth Doctor and Charley. The former has grown tired of the latter's lies and deception and it was good for him to challenge her whilst also caring deeply about her. I did really enjoy how part of the Doctor's liking of Charley was in the enigma she presented and that is obviously right up the Doctor's alley. I thought the pace of this audio was really good and played out well over the four episodes. The emergence of the Daleks was fantastic and the irony of them saving the Doctor after an impressive cliffhanger to the first part with the Doctor sentenced to execution was terrific. The setting of the Amethyst Viral Containment Station was very good and I thought Fratalin, all of him, was a magnificent character. The idea of a splinter personality in the form of several bodies was fantastic and his desire for the cause of his planet and the station in guarding the secrecy of its mission and purpose was very good. Charley being infected with a virus was intriguing and not what I expected following on from the end of The Raincloud Man and how things were left. Her being placed in the zero room was good and I liked how she had been out of it for quite some time. The Doctor had been tracking down the virus in the hopes of a cure and that led him to the Station here. I thought Mila was an outstanding character and her position as Patient Zero was magnificent. The very idea of her having been in the TARDIS ever since the events of The Chase was wonderful and she had an adoration and so much admiration for the Doctor which was lovely to hear. However, there was also a clear sense of evil there and who could really blame her after being unseen for so long inside the TARDIS. The idea of a Dalek virus that mutated the infected's DNA into that of those they were infected by was really good and I liked how the Daleks were hoping to create more and more Daleks at the expense of their enemies. Mila as the first of those but things not working out was terrific and I loved how the Doctor's reputation as the greatest enemy of the Daleks meant he was who she wanted to be with. So she stowed away the TARDIS, except the virus meant that she wasn't seen and had been watching his adventures unfold from within ever since. That was an incredible concept and her references to the likes of The Daleks' Master Plan, The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks were marvellous. Her attempt to use the virus after the TARDIS didn't protect Charley like all previous companions was fascinating and the virus had a bounced effect and now Mila was becoming Charley, and vice versa. That was so much fun and Mila (as Charley) using her real life situation with the Daleks and their experimentation as a way to explain the mysteries of Charley with the Doctor was fantastic. It sets thing up really nicely for the future which I am very much looking forward to. I thought the Dalek Time Controller was a brilliant villain as the head of the Daleks and the idea of the Daleks also thinking of the impact of events on time was great. I really liked how he wanted all possible information to compute possibility of events. The Viyrans returning was very good and I thought their presence and arrival was met with great anticipation. They were here to take the viruses away which was good. The explosion at the end with the Daleks stuck in perpetually keeping it at bay, only for it to be revealed as the cause for a number of viruses being spread across time and space with the Doctor revealed as the cause of one of the Daleks' greatest victories was magnificent. It was a fantastic ending to a really strong story, with things not left on a positive note for the Doctor and Mila (as Charley) as they tried to escape the wave of the explosion. Charley with the Viyrans post-credits was also good and I look forward to hearing what role, if any, she has in the next adventure and if she gets cured. Overall, a terrific listen!

Rating: 9/10