Warbringer: Consequences

"I remember the bit where I don't have a memory."

Writer: Timothy X Atack

Format: Audio

Released: December 2021

Series: The War Doctor Begins 2.01

Featuring: War Doctor

Synopsis

The War Doctor and Veklin crash on a ravaged planet. On the fringes of the Time War, this world has its own battles raging. Elsewhere, a survivor works out how she came to be here.

But these newcomers are harbingers of something terrible, following in their wake...

Verdict

Consequences was a strong start to the Warbringer second series of The War Doctor Begins! After a very strong Forged in Fire opening series, this seemed to take us in a slightly different direction which I'm all for. It's really terrific to flesh out both the Time War and this incarnation of the Doctor. There's so much potential with this version of the Doctor and we know the Time War is extortionate in length and depth, so to get the younger version of the War Doctor we saw glimpsed on screen in The Night of the Doctor is magnificent. I think Jonathon Carley is absolutely tremendous in the role and he really is uncanny in his portrayal. I wouldn't bat an eyelid if somebody told me this was John Hurt in the role. It continues to be that good. The story itself was very interesting and I liked the female focus in the lead characters. We have a familiar voice in the form of Veklin accompanying the Doctor, but she never feels fully in control when the Doctor is around. He didn't dispute his name too much here which was a little bit of a surprise, but I guess it's still early in the incarnation and he still has so much time to do so much of what he deems wrong. I thought the introduction of Case here was strong and her realisation at being transfigured was quite horrifying. Imagine having to utter the question in wondering who took your eye? And why was her arm aluminium? They were rather scary questions to have to ask and something that would be incredibly scary. The toll she took over the course of the episode was actually quite extraordinary and her role in the conclusion was frightening. She was responsible for death on a horrific scale and she didn't want that to be the case. She was weaponised and that was used against her. She was devastated as you would expect. I liked the character of Iansa and her interactions with the Doctor were fascinating. He took on the role of the titular Warbringer which was intriguing but she was just inundated with a desire for war. Her almost demise and compete miscomprehension at the prospect of not fighting was strange. Veklin knew that when the Doctor learned of this, he wouldn't be able to help himself in putting it to a stop. That was not something Iansa wanted and seemed frightened and disappointed by the prospect. The moment at the end regarding the sacrifice to the Warbringer was pretty sad as the Doctor had to admit he had just lied to gain her trust and would not accept her offering of death, but Veklin took no hesitation and shot her plain dead. That was devastatingly impactful! Belus looked on bemused as well and almost offended that the Doctor wouldn't take her life. He'd gone through enough in literally freezing the war in time to save people, but even that wasn't wholly enough to prevent Case. I thought the discussions between Case and Oya were good and I liked how there were partial truths. It certainly helped to have the truth confirmed or not. I thought Case not understanding the word Dalek was interesting and surely something to continue as the series goes on. I thought things got a little too dialogue heavy towards the middle with some perhaps over explanation instead of some action amidst war, but I liked the cliffhanger finish sending us right into strong issues as the Doctor proclaimed the end of the world! Case is clearly going to have a big role to play moving forward and I'm intrigued to hear the truth regarding the Warbringer. It's obviously not the Doctor, but it should be fun to build towards going forward. Overall, a strong start to the series!

Rating: 8/10