The Vaults of Osiris

"Is this another of your illusions?"

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: June 2015

Series: New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 2.02

Featuring: Ace, Benny

Synopsis

Egypt in 2015 is an unsettled place. The trade in stolen antiquities is a murky one, and it's about to get a whole lot worse, as an ancient and terrible force enters the market.

Verdict

The Vaults of Osiris was a strong episode to continue the second series of the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield! This was a little different to what I expected considering how The Pyramid of Sutekh concluded, but it was a nice bit of relative calm before what I expect to be a big storm in the final two episodes! I liked in a series centred on the threat of Sutekh, that things took us to modern day Egypt. The inclusion of Ace was a fun dynamic with the Seventh Doctor only featuring briefly at the start and end of the episode. It was an exciting start with the Doctor and Ace in a flashback as to how they came to get in trouble with some Germans in 1941, and Benny once again then recalling how her version of the Doctor died by crumbling to dust was chilling. It's quite the concept of both companions of the Doctor having a different version of how he died, especially when he emerged from a tomb at the end of the episode! I liked how Benny and Ace were aiming to capture the Eye of Horus after the Doctor's comments before becoming dust in the previous story, and I liked the modern setting in going to the museum to try and get that. Except, somebody had beaten them to the punch! That was a good problem to have. Ace and Benny were a really fun pair and I particularly enjoyed their TARDIS scenes together. The banter over whether Ace could actually fly the TARDIS was terrific. I look forward to getting to the stories where she is on Gallifrey! Alozza was a really good character and I thoroughly enjoyed the female focus in this episode. The fact that she turned out to just be an illusion for the Osiran Isis was tremendous. I really enjoyed that we had another Osiran present and as the basis for yet another mythological god, and her laying a trap for Sutekh was a lot of fun. It was a little strange for it to be in the chambers of a Swiss bank though! But I quite enjoyed that oddity. Vasha and Graul completed the cast for the episode very nicely, with the latter a particular highlight with his role with Sutekh and as a follower. Despite not appearing at all, I enjoyed Sutekh's presence being felt in a profound way. I thought the action with the servitor robots was really strong too and Benny getting to react to them was great stuff. All signs leading towards the Eye of Horus was really good and given the title of the next episode, I thought that was a great direction. The cliffhanger finish with the Doctor and Benny being the ones to get transported away by Isis was fun and it seems that we'll get a full Doctor-Benny two-hander in the next episode. I do find it slightly amusing that Ace is just left behind, but things are all moves go once the Doctor returned in full throttle! As a whole, this was a nice pit stop and an important episode in the direction of the series. Overall, a very enjoyable episode! 

Rating: 8/10