Narcissus

"A creature that feeds on beauty."

Writer: Sarah Grochala

Format: Audio

Released: March 2019

Series: Eighth of March 04

Featuring: Kate, Osgood

Synopsis

When one of their own goes missing, Kate Stewart and the two Osgoods decide to investigate.

Narcissus is interested only in the most beautiful people, but as the UNIT operatives are about to discover, its true purpose is something far from desirable.

Verdict

Narcissus was a great adventure to conclude The Eighth of March boxset celebrating International Women's Day! This was such a good idea and I love how we brought together stories featuring iconic women from the world of Doctor Who here to shine in their own right, and where better to finish than with the modern UNIT team headed by Kate and Osgood? They're a tremendous pair so I was slightly surprised to find that we started with Josh Carter and his pretty raunchy date with Jordan. She claimed to work for International Optics but the only thing she was concerned with was her lust for Josh. She wanted him bad and for a second I was getting bad vibes that we were going to get something similar to Day One, but it didn't quite reach the levels of Torchwood's second episode. It wasn't a million miles away though! Without the visuals, the fate of Josh was left ambiguous which worked well and I liked how Kate and Osgood were stuck tackling the containment of a virus. I was a big fan of having both versions of Osgood feature and that must have been a lot of fun for Ingrid Oliver to play the human and Zygon versions. They were used well here and causing some amusing issues for Kate. Jordan thinking that Josh was perfect when she had him tied up was fun and I liked how she was trying to convince him of this fact and for him to embrace it. That fed in well with the later revelation that Love in its true form was feeding on strength. The link that Jacqui provided with a number of people going missing in the West End and Josh's last known whereabouts being there was brilliant and I liked how the link to the victims was the Narcissus dating site. It was a unique take on the dating world and pretty presumptuous so it was terrific that Jacqui had a profile. Zygon Osgood taking that form in order to reach 'Stargazer' with whom Josh had met was a good plan and coupling that with the real Jacqui cottoning on and going to the same hotel was fantastic. Jacqui seeing a copy of herself out cold must have been a tough watch and I was intrigued that Jordan considered the Zygon ugly inside. Later finding out that Jordan was switching between male and female forms and was the CEO of Narcissus was great and I liked the idea of sentient code in the dating site's configuration. More could have been made of that for me. Jacqui's feature on Jordan was good and I loved that she was able to quickly catch him out about the disappearances. Osgood deducing that Love was actually a parasitic firebird and part of a myth which was actually an early human-alien encounter was brilliant and really showcased her qualities. Love had put the victims in suspended animation and they would stay that way until their energy was expended which was rather gruesome! Jacqui using the alarm given to her earlier in the episode to get UNIT on the rescue mission was good and I really liked that it was a trap from Jordan to get them there. The use of Project Indigo for teleportation was magnificent continuity and it was intriguing to hear Kate in jeopardy once aboard with the mirrors scrambling her brain. She realised that Love was feeding off strength so she cleverly harnessed all of her weaknesses! Osgood having repelled Love with her supposed ugliness didn't seem right so I liked the clarity that it was feeding on inner beauty and Osgood's lack of reliance on anyone along with her happiness was what did the trick. Overall, a really good listen!

Rating: 8/10