War Room: Allegiance: The Passenger

"What difference does one more madman make?"

Writer: David Llewellyn

Format: Audio

Released: August 2022

Series: Gallifrey 13.02

Featuring: Leela

Synopsis

Cardinal Rasmus arrives in the War Room and vies for control with Ollistra. But first, they have a mystery to solve: a sole survivor from a Dalek attack has returned home – but is he a hero, or a threat?

Verdict

The Passenger was another really strong episode to continue my way through the Allegiance first series of War Room, serving as the thirteenth series overall of Gallifrey. We've come a long way over the course of this spinoff and this was an intriguing look into the Tine War and the depths the Time Lords would go for even a small victory. I thought the concept behind the plot was really good and it always works well to have a Time Lord thought lost returning. Even better when that Time Lord is coming back on a Dalek ship! That was really clever and I liked the mystery of his identity. It's a fun quirk on Gallifrey that given the nature of regeneration there would be no way to confirm he was who he said he was on appearance or even DNA. It needed to be the Matrix and utilising that here was really good. I thought restricting Leela to more of a cameo role was an intriguing move given the build up to the series, but it did allow for some good character development between the main characters in this story of Ollistra, the General and Rasmus. This was my first experience of the latter and he was a good character, I was a big fan of his enigmatic nature and he definitely did seem to not be on the side of Ollistra and the General. He would certainly be someone to challenge them at the very least which was terrific. His honour in meeting Leela was also a nice touch and I like how the General has started showing her some considerable respect in a way to get the best out of her. There was no longer a collar and he even demanded Ollistra show her the respect she deserved. The reveal of the passenger being Cato Kelgoth was good and the more we learned about him the better. He was the sole survivor of the Candassia which was a Time Lord ship thought lost in a pocket universe for refuge, except it was actually destroyed by the Time Lords at the behest of the General and Ollistra to wipe out the couple of hundred Daleks concerned with it. Of course, that meant two thousand Time Lords going with it. That's some sacrifice! Cato knew all about that though and he'd devised his own plan starting with using the weapon of his own devising from salvaged Dalek technology and to wipe out Area 5 and a thousand Time Lord scientists! That was bold and rather extraordinary to happen. I did think it was predictable when he was issuing the instructions for the instruments in his ship that something was going to go awry, but it was still a fun moment when it happened. The War Room was defeated and Cato showed no remorse in the slightest. I thought the discussion on his punishment was fascinating as a simple execution would not be sufficient. That was quick and easy, but the actual fate of being exiled and using the chameleon arch to turn him into a mortal human was pretty cruel! The Gorgon being used to destroy the Candassia was good but that paled in comparison to the instructions of Ollistra to Veklin to assassinate Cato was brilliant. It didn't stop there though as she went even further to erase his memory! It was funny to hear the General and the likes pondering on the name of the Time Lord that did cause Area 5 to vanish. The Death Zone setting of that was fun and I think as a whole this was a strong look into the make up of the Time Lord war effort, both past and present. Overall, a strong listen! 

Rating: 8/10