The Eye of Horus

"It's good to have a goddess here."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: June 2015

Series: New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 2.03

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Benny

Synopsis

Ancient Egypt is enjoying a golden age – peace, prosperity and a powerful Pharaoh. But something is moving through the sands. A forgotten requests an invite to the feast.

Verdict

The Eye of Horus was an excellent story to continue the second series of the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield! I was really impressed with this episode and it probably ranks as the best in the volume so far. The political and historical nature of it was tremendous and placing that in a somewhat modern era and fitting all of the mythology regarding Sutekh and his will for the Doctor was tremendous. It followed on nicely from where The Vault of Osiris left off with the Doctor and Benny being transported away, and having the latter arrive on a barge seemingly headed for heaven was quite the start! Of course, it seemed straight away that the Doctor was up to one of his audacious and secret plans so common of this incarnation, and when Benny realised that her reaction was terrific. It was nice to have Benny centre stage again whilst the Doctor was present, in a similar setup to the series opener, but this wasn't quite the Doctor we knew. The concept of him storing away his memories somewhere else in order to make room was brilliant, and with him basically becoming a different man he had garnered quite the relationship with the King. I thought Hatshetsup was a wonderful character and whilst I found it a little awkward for a women to be referred to as King instead of Queen, the comment at the end from Benny to Ace regarding the Doctor being set to be Queen was magnificent. A nice bit of a humour at the end of a very serious episode! Tutmosis was another fantastic character as the son of the King and Sutekh seeking him out as his way into the palace was great stuff. I enjoyed the decaying body of Sutekh which presented some good vulnerability which isn't always easy for a god! It had vibes of the Master first seen in The Deadly Assassin and I enjoyed that a lot. I really am so impressed with the booming voice of the god and it's such a calm and vengeful performance which is just perfect for a villain like Sutekh. The titular Eye of Horus playing an important role was good and the Doctor deducing Benny's presence as falling through Time as proof that the Eye was used was very good. However, I loved that this was actually about the Eye of Sutekh and the threat that posed in using the obelisks as a network was glorious. I thought that the position of Sutekh at the start and end of the episode was startling in its difference, and it was just so fun for him to take control. He had Tutmosis as the Chosen One of Sutekh and through the new King who he'd persuaded to perform a coup on his own mother, the god was firmly in control! The conclusion with Ace arriving in the TARDIS was great, although a little convenient with the timing, but it sets us up for what I'm sure will be an epic finale with the full TARDIS trio back together to tackle an all powerful Sutekh! The Doctor is proclaiming Sutekh's triumph, and that just excites for me what I'm sure will be a tremendous final hour of the series! Overall, a fantastic episode. 

Rating: 9/10