Palindrome Part Two

"I must turn my people into Daleks."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: September 2020

Series: The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4.01b

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Bliss

Synopsis

In an alternative universe, Davros lives in peace, until the Doctor and Bliss arrive, and the Daleks emerge in a new reality.

Verdict

Palindrome concluded in excellent style with this second part! This has been a fascinating listen over the course of two hours and really did spread the Time War far and wide which I'm a huge fan of happening. The fallout from The War Valeyard continues and it actually only seems to have made things worse. Eradicating N-Space of Daleks on paper sounds like a good idea and certainly a surefire way to end the Time War, but when the Dalek Time Strategist looms large and escaped, he would concoct some whacky way to restore the race. They are never truly dead and we've seen that countless times before and after the events of this story, but at least we did get some means of their return. The Time Strategist was building something here and linking with the portal to merge both time and alternate reality was spectacular! I thought the opening was good in starting at day one in using the portal and with the first part going backwards, time was somewhat on track here as the Doctor had said would happen. Davros believing himself to have awoken from a dream was fascinating, but his conversation with the Strategist was even more so. That purple Dalek was able to show Davros the extent of his existence and convinced him that in order to save his wife Charn, he had to die. He saw that and accepted it, welcomed it even, but the toll that he went through was extraordinary! Of course, the cover artwork gives things away a little with the altered appearance from any version we've seen on screen before, but I loved the concept behind an amalgamation of alternate versions of Davros. The version in love with his Thal wife was still the base line, but he became something like the version we know. I like that with the Time War setting the appearance of Davros resembles the casing seen in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End onwards, and also hearing a glimpse of his fate at the hands of the Nightmare Child as referenced in that story was excellent. I almost half felt like the finale of this boxset would showcase that, but some things are better left to the imagination. Especially in the unknowably bad Time War. The relationship between Davros and Charn was explored in a strong way and when the merging was happening it was something that helped keep him strong. The Davros that we know being sickened by the very idea of the pair sharing blood due to their Kaled and Thal species makeup was magnificent. It was quite fitting that the Daleks exterminated them both at the end at the behest of Davros without him ever actually realising who they were and what they meant. That was fun stuff. I thought the Doctor and Bliss being absent for a large chunk of the story was actually a good decision and the companion wanting to eradicate Davros was impressive! She actually shot him twice, but the Doctor being on hand to explain his life support systems as a means of survival ever since Genesis of the Daleks was fun stuff. But the Doctor and Bliss were actually immune too as numerous realities were merging where all kinds of possibilities existed and overwrote. That was good and something that Bliss realised could be used to their advantage. Davros was rather pompous in his ability to survive, but the Doctor knowing that he could die if taken away from the portal was great. The Time War beckoned. Overall, the two parts comprise one really clever story. It's incredible how much emotion there is here given Davros as the main character, and I liked that the Time Strategist sought out the Dalek creator to provide an amalgamation of the best of the Dalek race in preparation for their restoration. And here they were. This sets things up very nicely moving forward! Overall, an excellent episode! 

Rating: 9/10