The White Room

"You've stolen my voice."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: February 2014

Series: Dark Eyes 2.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Molly

Synopsis

Molly O'Sullivan is still trying to help people, but now she is back in London, staying in Baker Street. 

But there are dangerous forces abroad. Where are the young deserters disappearing to? Who are the Huntsmen? And what is really going on at the Blackwell Convalescent Home?

Perhaps the mysterious 'Surgeon General' has the answers. To find out, the Doctor must tackle an old and baffling enemy.

Verdict

The White Room was a great story to continue my way through the second series of Dark Eyes within the ongoing Eighth Doctor Adventures! This was an intriguing listen and whilst I was very happy to be reunited with Molly O'Sullivan once again, it felt a little strange not to be diving into the cliffhanger at the end of The Traitor and pay that off. I guess that will come as the series moves on and will unite both Molly and Liv in the companion role, but it does feel a little strange! The Doctor coming back to his house on Baker Street was good and the humour that came from his reaction to having Molly and Sean as squatters was terrific. He wanted them out! I liked that Molly was playing a part in nursing duties at the end of World War One and the proximity to Armistice Day was excellent. That's obviously a big milestone in British history so the threat of the Black Plague reemerging amongst huge crowds was palpable! Of course, wherever a deadly virus is about to break out the Viyrans are not far behind and that was a fun and unexpected return. They're an interesting bunch and it makes sense in hindsight that they would be behind the White Room. Their mission solely focusing on eradicating the virus in its entirety from the point go patient zero is brilliant because they don't think about the consequences. As long as the virus is gone, it doesn't matter how that is achieved. So when the Doctor basically sold them on how far spread the virus could be now if it was merely dormant was hilarious. They wouldn't blow up the whole planet to eradicate it would they? Of course they would. The historical implications of digging up the Blackwell was very good and it turned out to be a former death pit of centuries past where victims of the Black Plague were buried. So reactivating that disease of all of them was really good to explore. The Doctor's arrival seeing Molly have her dark eyes return was fascinating and she wasn't exactly pleased! Those retro-genitor particles don't seem to have dissipated after all. I'm very intrigued to discover how and why that has happened. I thought Molly's compassion being on display in the episode was really nice and just made me like her even more as a companion. She had been caring for Sean because of her shared heritage, although the Doctor wasn't exactly pleased that she had let somebody into his house who wasn't a blood relative. I think he was merely playing though. I wonder if he'll realise that she's left David Walker looking after his house whilst she returns to the TARDIS too! She did need a little convincing to rejoin the Doctor in his blue Tardy-box which was fun! I am very excited to have them back together, but it was also nice for a more contemporary story which felt like a little bit of a reset and almost a break from the wider Dark Eyes storytelling concerning the Daleks in particular. Now we've had a pause, it'll be time to jump back in. The Viyrans made up for the familiar returning enemy and I think their description as baffling in the synopsis is accurate. The Doctor convincing both Viyrans that had come to 1918 that the other was patient zero was fantastic and a fitting way to round out the threat, but it wasn't wholly wrong given the causal loop that had occurred with the Viyrans finding the virus and thus activating it with its temporal nature. It was ironic that in trying to prevent it they had created it, and thus they would both be wiped out as the joint cause. Overall, a strong continuation of the series! 

Rating: 8/10