Warbringer: Destroyer

"You have no choices."

Writer: Andrew Smith

Format: Audio

Released: December 2021

Series: The War Doctor Begins 2.02

Featuring: War Doctor

Synopsis

Trapped on a world that worships war, the War Doctor finds himself fulfilling an ancient prophecy – could he be the Warbringer of legend?

His new ally Case is testing her abilities, too. And both will be called on to fight when the Daleks come...

Verdict

Destroyer was a decent episode to continue my way through the Warbringer second series of The War Doctor Begins! This almost felt like an immediate part two to the Consequences opener with the follow up to the cliffhanger seeing the potential bringing of the end of the world. It was good in that regard and Belus confronting the Doctor and having him prove he was the Warbringer he claimed to be was fascinating stuff. I did though feel like things moved backwards a little with this episode because it was already clearly established that the Doctor was not who he claimed to be, but then he just once again started claiming to be the Warbringer. It's a fun concept to have the Doctor as someone worshipped where war is revered because typically that goes against everything in his nature, but in this incarnation things are slightly different. The rulebook can almost be thrown out of the window as evidenced by the ending. That was quite a shock and I liked how the actions of the Doctor as a warrior here were met with shock amongst others. That was really good in selling the difference of this incarnation of the Doctor which I think is part of the fun of this series. We're seeing the Doctor delve into being a warrior and that's exciting! It's so different, but there's still all those noticeable traits of the Time Lord hero we know and love. He knows things aren't going to end well here but that doesn't prevent him trying to save people. It's engrained in his nature and there's just no other way for him to act. It's actually fun for Veklin to even fall into the trap of being convinced of his nature, whereas Tamasan is a little less prone to the Doctor's influence. She made it clear that she only wanted Veklin and the Doctor returned in the Battle TARDIS she would send. That didn't mean any locals. I thought the presence of the Daleks was great and it's always good to have them present within the Time War. Their interaction with Case was intriguing stuff and I'm very interested to hear where things will head in the finale regarding her. I liked that she was confronted by the Daleks and she wasn't exactly pleased to be regarded as one of their creations. She was a new Dalek creature in the form of a berserker which sounds exciting and incredibly dangerous! I thought the twist of her not wholly being on the Daleks' side was slightly predictable, but her helping save meant she had a lift back to Gallifrey to learn all about herself. I thought it was strong to see the emotional toll she went through across the episode which is quite ironic given her nature as a cyborg! The death of Belus halfway through was a little strange as he was the complete focal point of the story with his suspicions on the Doctor. That didn't quite work for me but I liked his inner conflict. He knew deep down that he wasn't the Warbringer and he even found the truth about how he stopped the ship by freezing it in time as just having far superior technology. That's literally exactly the situation he found himself in! Case remembering what happened in the previous episode was something I was expecting to be dwelled on a little more given the death that happened there, but there's plenty of that to come in the finale as she learns about herself properly. That's a strong enough lead into the finale that keeps me interested and there's something exciting about having this incarnation of the Doctor on Gallifrey. I hope that's where things stay, especially with Case's arrival seeing her refer to Tamasan as a Dalek! Overall, a decent listen! 

Rating: 7/10