The Wreck

"I've come here to help you find the treasure."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: July 2021

Series: Lady Christina 2.01

Featuring: Lady Christina

Synopsis

When Christina joins her father on a cruise off the coast of Zanzibar, she is surprised to meet his new fiancee Bunny. But Lord Alfred has his eyes on another trophy altogether. An underwater shipwreck, containing treasures as deadly as they are beautiful... Are the de Souzas ready to pay the price to bring them to the surface?

Verdict

The Wreck was a very fun start to the second series of adventures for Lady Christina de Souza! I am delighted that she has got a second batch of stories to entertain us with after a successful first series and I liked the continuity of this opener with us once again encountering Christina's father. Lord Alfred is a very eccentric character and he was presented once again as a wealthy almost oligarch when it came to his desire for money. That followed on nicely from his appearance in Skin Deep and I think it went further here which worked well. Christina interrupting his getaway with new fiancé Bunny was a terrific way to start proceedings, and we got a rare show of emotion from our leading lady when Christina got her dad into private and expressed her annoyance at the fact this woman who could be her sister was wearing her mum's engagement ring. That in of itself said a lot about Alfred. The African coastal setting worked very well and I liked the idea of it being the location of three famed shipwrecks. Christina claiming that she arrived to help her dad with the discovery was unexpected, and we soon delved into a fun mystery with the apparent protection provided by the enigmatic coral. The shipwreck actually being embedded within was intriguing. Alfred anting to actually go inside the ship and skip the official salvage claim proceedings was hardly a surprise and I really enjoyed how the ship was intact. The coral lighting was good and I liked that Christina deduced that it was an alien ship and the unfamiliar metal was how t sunk. Her father was only interested in making money though and that was made abundantly clear throughout the episode. It seemed like it might be a prison ship with the alien bodies being tied down, and Alfred going against Christina's wishes and going back to the ship to obtain the alien bodies and bring them ashore. The fact they were literally made of precious stones was very unique and a fun element to their make up! Bunny being encouraged to get photographs with the statues seemed odd but once there was any hint of them being rough and hard, it was clear that would prove deadly for her character. The imagery that came from the description of Bunny actually having diamonds beneath her skin gave me impressions of Eldrad and I liked how Christina wanted to call in UNIT after her encounter with them at the end of the last series. Bunny actually choking on diamonds was pretty gruesome and that leading us into the rest of the episode with the aim of finding a cure seemed good. Christina showcased her skills in acknowledging the mystery at hand of the ships and deduced that the spacecraft must have crashed into the sea ship causing both to sink. But there were no crews and that meant a mystery at hand, and that wasn't simple. The argument that ensued between Christina and Alfred with the former challenging her father about his greed was horrifying considering what followed, with Alfred inadvertently shattering her after she was turned to stones. And then he even had her diamond remains bagged up in sacks to sell on! Talk about priorities. Sam's arrival was great and I liked that UNIT finally took Christina's call after endless efforts. Alfred blaming Christina was incredibly harsh and just not right, and after everything that occurred he could still only think of a profit and even wanted to keep the statues around and infect others so they could turn into and produce diamonds! Quite the business model. Sam believing the alien crew to be dormant inside the statues pulled ashore was interesting and I liked how he considered them to be the most valuable objects in the world. No wonder Alfred had gotten what he wanted! Christina telling the inhabitants to simply go home was a little underwhelming when it came to a resolution, but it was a nice touch for Sam to declare the area a no-go zone given the nuclear waste story he would put forward. Alfred actually being infected with the diamonds and his eyes becoming vision-less was a nice unexpected tease, with him then taking Sam's boat away to potentially spread the infection! I do wonder if we will have some sort of follow up in the series, but for now this was a strong opener!

Rating: 8/10