The Talents of Greel

"I will return to the future in triumph."    

Writer: Paul Morris

Format: Audio

Released: August 2019

Series: Diary of River Song 6.04

Featuring: River, Jago

Synopsis

River visits Victorian London on the trail of anachronistic technology. But when young women are stolen from the streets, she takes a stand. River's investigation leads to theatre impresario Henry Gordon Jago, and his latest star act: Li H'Sen Chang and the unnerving Mr Sin. But if River's going undercover at the Palace Theatre, she needs to have a song...

Verdict

The Talents of Greel was an excellent episode to conclude the fourth series of The Diary of River Song! I have absolutely loved this collection of encounters for River with a number of Classic era serials and having this serve as a prequel to The Talons of Weng-Chiang was just delightful. It was in similar vain to The Web of Time and that approached worked well as River and Jago were quickly introduced in fun fashion with her auditioning for his theatre show. The comments about her remarkable hair were amusing but she wasn't the only woman looking for a stage. Celestine arrived with a clear aura to Jago and she didn't want to audition, she wanted her own show which was quite bold. River having been declined from her audition was a bit of a surprise, but the humour that came from her supposedly searching for a handkerchief in the cellars was delightful. Jago interacting with Li H'Sen Chang was marvellous and such a good throwback. Sir Angus Peel as the disguise for Magnus Greel worked well and he was clearly deformed, but that didn't mean Jago wouldn't want him as a benefactor for the theatre. Peel suggesting an influx of women to perform was eery knowing what we did of future events and how many women had been killed, and the suggestion of a variety show worked well as cover. Peel's anger when that suggestion was initially turned down by Jago was psychotic and represented a quick shift in atmosphere. Getting a rehash of the famed performance between Mr Sin and Chang was sublime, but I was not expecting the addition of Mr Fez the performing monkey! That was really interesting and him being the means by which Maisie was abducted was quite something. The discussion between Chang and Greel was excellent in regards to the search for the time cabinet on Europe and it really gave their characters some background as we learned of the extent of their mission.  Celestine deciding to help Jago with putting the girls' show together was a little surprising, but Maisie was her best friend and now dead which put a dark twist on events. River joining the show as a singer was very amusing and River challenging Chang on what happened to Maisie was excellent. The way she shook off his attempts at hypnosis was also terrific. I liked the explanation that River needed her vortex manipulator topped up from Greel's time technology, but one of the highlights for me was Jago's logic in thinking that River was a singer because of the Song in her name. Fez being the means for Chang's control was good and River adding in her own tweaks was great stuff. The cortex manipulator was what she was after and the Doctor not mentioning that in his account of the Weng-Chiang events meant that it was something she had to clean up. I was not expecting the backstory of the Chang and Celestine relationship as they had been in love with the former having to make the latter forget so he could serve his god. The duet between River and Jago was just glorious and Chang entering the fray as the main event using a special chronometer for a special guest was intriguing stuff. The clash between River and Greel was excellent and I liked the horror in how he saw female life when saying he didn't want to waste Celestine by just killing her. He needed to feed on Jago's chain of women and he really was disturbed in thinking he was giving them meaningful deaths. Celestine's emotional display to Chang was heartfelt and I liked how Fez was utilised to present Greel's horrific appearance and the way out. River hearing the TARDIS arriving as her cue to leave was nicely done, although another meeting with the Fourth Doctor would have been delightful! Overall, a terrific audio to conclude a wonderful series.

Rating: 9/10