Queen of Rhodia

"Your reign of terror won't last."

Writer: Blair Mowat

Format: Audio

Released: April 2020

Series: Class Vol 4.03

Featuring: Miss Quill

Synopsis

Quill wakes to find herself unexpectedly back on Rhodia – which is impossible – though not quite as impossible as the life that waits for her there. To save her future, Quill must turn her back on the past. But is this the end or a new beginning?

Verdict

Queen of Rhodia was a great audio to conclude the fourth and final volume of audio adventures for Class! I have come to the end of the audios for this spinoff range and whilst there is potential for more in the future, this serves as a fine end and definitely has more of a finale feeling than what we initially got on television with the Weeping Angel cliffhanger. I still can't quite believe that this cliffhanger remains unresolved and whilst it has been fun to have four series to go alongside the one we got on television set within it, I would love for a future continuation as there's a lot of potential to explore with the main characters as they grow up. This volume has been focused on Quill which has been really terrific and having her wake up on Rhodia was a nice touch and it was brilliant just to visit the planet in full despite it not being the real article. Quill was impressed at first as she assumed it was some kind of recreation given the impossibility of her planet being returned after the Shadow Kin destroyed it. She was a lot of fun here and suffering from supposed amnesia worked well as it turned out she was actually in command! Rhodia was far from the version she knew, especially when Tanya emerged as its Queen! The idea of her being royalty on Rhodia was amusing and Quill couldn't quite believe that someone she knew from her torment teaching physics was supposedly on top of the hierarchy on her homeworld. The difference between the war and Quill actually being on the side of Rhodia was a fun twist but not one that was quite believable. Corporal Blood was a strong character and the suggestion of him being a blood cell and Quill dealing with a virus was something I definitely could have seen expanded upon. In saying that, I was kind of glad that this wasn't revealed as the case, but it was a fun idea and one that could certainly have worked. Charlie being on the other side of the war was a fun twist too and Quill wasn't buying that he wasn't the Prince. She was blasphemous at times regarding the royalty which was good stuff and this was a fun exploration of her character. The little cameos of April and Ram were welcomed and I have been surprised by how little the latter has featured in this boxset. It was a good way to show Quill that the planet and dimension was a little too personalised to her life on Earth and that was also evident from her being referred to as Andrea. That was the alias she went by on Earth, but that wasn't her true name. I thought it was great for her to work all that out and tying in with the loose story arc of the boxset with the gaps in time and space was brilliant. I was a big fan of that. It's ironic actually that by the end of the episode, Quill wanted to return to Earth and her imprisonment there at the hands of the angry Scotsman which was how she humorously described the Twelfth Doctor.  I loved the dialogue at the end which really did feel like the spinoff range had come to an end as they reflected on leaving things on a cliffhanger with it opening up new stories as one closed. I'm not at all a fan of it happening and things going unresolved, as Agent Carter did, but this was a nice way to address things and give a comfortable conclusion. Overall, a very strong audio!

Rating: 8/10