State of Bliss

"You have so many lives."

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: August 2019

Series: The Eighth Doctor: Time War 3.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Bliss

Synopsis

Bliss has lost her home, her family, and her friends – an orphan of the Time War. The Doctor attempts to find out where things went wrong. Across a multiverse of possibilities, Bliss discovers the many paths her life could have taken – but do they always lead to the Time War?

And if Bliss can save her past, will she destroy her future – and the Doctor's?

Verdict

State of Bliss was an excellent episode to kick off the third volume of Time War stories within the Eighth Doctor Adventures! This didn't feel like a series opener which was a little strange, but I thought it was a fine idea to delve deeper into the character of Bliss. She's a companion known as an orphan of the Time War and given the setting that description feels right for someone the Doctor will travel with. Ever since The Lords of Terror at the start of the previous boxset, I have been itching for Bliss to want to delve deeper into her past. There has always been some kind of hesitation when it comes to Bliss remembering the events of The Starship of Theseus and how she came to travel with the Doctor, and now we start to get some answers. I thought the exploration of the multiverse theory was done well here and whilst not all that expressed, it was nice and subtle whilst complimenting the listener. I thought it was great to get glimpses into multiple versions of what her life could be, although I must admit it was slightly strange to hear the Doctor in the role of her grandfather. That's obviously a fun little link going back to the earliest days of the television show, but I think the youthful nature of the Eighth Doctor makes that a little more difficult to buy into. I appreciated the effort though. I liked learning more just about Bliss and her daily life, with the relationships she shared with Calla and Ryal really fascinating. It was almost a three-way relationship with the mutual feelings being shared around which was fun stuff, and it was just nice to see Bless in something of a less pressured situation. She wasn't in the middle of some Time War shenanigans and I think that was important as given the complex nature of her arrival and the twists in time occurring as a result of the temporal conflict, we never really got a debut story for her. It's good to fill in some blanks now and I like that she was somewhat fascinated by the prospect of there being a Time War. The theory behind it and the scale rumoured was good to explore. I thought it was really nice to see where her interests lay knowing where she would eventually end up. The Doctor naturally didn't end up featuring a great deal with the focus on Bliss which was absolutely fine, but when he did I really liked how he was able to somewhat console his companion. She had clearly gone through a lot in what she was seeing here and the temporal links to the TARDIS is a fine way to explore that. I thought it was so simple yet brilliant in having the Doctor calmly retort about starting with her hand when Bliss pondered on trying to open her mind up to link with the TARDIS. Deepa played a fascinating role in the events here and I liked how thanks to her Bliss was able to see the Theseus and have herself essentially split as a possibility. There was a whole host of timey wimey going on and I'm a big fan of that! The Doctor even remembering his former, and somewhat confusing, companions of Emma and Sheena was a nice touch and really takes me back to the start of this Time War anthology. The Doctor proudly declaring to Tamasan at the end that the trap that was Bliss was now dealt with and safe was good, but the Time Lords seemed unconvinced that her trap hadn't been fully sprung. Her biodata was still corrupted, and her comment about being able to remember them being better than not knowing them at all was quite poignant. This is her family we're talking about and it's just been taken away. Completely. Erased. Calla turning out to be in the space helmet was good and I thought Bliss getting a glimpse at her potential future was fantastic. She was rather horrified by the prospect! I couldn't blame her. Overall, a really strong and impactful way to start the series! A brilliant listen. 

Rating: 9/10