Warbringer: Saviour

"One day to save the world."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: December 2021

Series: The War Doctor Begins 2.03

Featuring: War Doctor

Synopsis

The truth of how events on Tharius were set in motion is revealed. On a mission to destroy a Dalek Harvester vessel, the War Doctor discovers a new breed of Dalek. 

Whatever action he takes next, we have seen the consequences – and they are devastating for everyone.

Verdict

Saviour was an excellent episode to conclude the Warbringer second series of The War Doctor Begins! I thought this was superb story and easily the best of the boxset. They were certainly saving the best until last! I really liked how things tied together and came full circle, even going before the events of the first episode in Consequences. It was very nicely done and became quite an emotional tale in the end for poor old Case. We see how her name originated from the Doctor as she had to deal with who she now was, rather than who she previously had been. That would be tough for anyone to deal with and it's no surprise that she's a little irate and just generally peeved. I think it would be fair to say that this was her demeanour for much of the series but who could really blame her? Being turned into a cyborg Dalek berserker wouldn't exactly be high on my wish list. I really liked the format of this story in how we spent a good chunk of time learning the truth about Case as promised at the end of Destroyer, before having her fully integrated and playing a role in the Dalek demise. The Doctor also goes through quite a lot here and I was surprised once again by how easily he still accepts being referred to by that name. It feels a little strange, but I guess he's still at the beginning of the incarnation so there's still plenty of time to go. There were definitely traits of more unfamiliar elements to the character we are more familiar with which was great and that largely came down to what he really knew about Case. He knew already that they were on a Dalek harvester and what that meant when it came to her abilities to interact with the Dalek web. She was on hand to basically be a quick hack and that proved very useful! I thought it was a delight for her to convince the Daleks through their systems that it was one of them that allowed the Doctor and company to escape, and even more so when they were tricked into believing their twelve versions of the Doctor present! That was quite the image and something we can only dream about. An extended full cast version of Daleks under siege by twelve Doctors would be pretty incredible! I'm all here for it. Seventieth anniversary: make it happen! The Doctor describing that as the Daleks' worst nightmare was good stuff and Case not understanding how they thought it was possible was intriguing. Little does she know of Time Lord biology. I felt like Veklin was a little out of the focus in this episode which actually worked well in my opinion as it didn't feel like the Doctor had any restrictions or strict instructions to follow. By this point he was acting for the best interests of the common goal. His inability to stop the ship crashing into the planet felt like quite a shock for him to admit, but when his solution was to cheat a little bit and go back in time to evacuate the planet a day early, I was pretty impressed! A different Doctor indeed and it was something that played out nicely. The Daleks were fantastic in the story as they basically seemed to fussy around in a wild goose chase whilst expressing their disbelief at being thwarted. That was very fun. I thought it was good to acknowledge that Case would not be left behind and her actually being responsible for the saving of several was a lovely nod. She's not quite a companion in my eyes but I like the idea of her sticking around as this series goes on. Overall, an excellent listen to conclude the series! 

Rating: 9/10