Divine Intervention

"It's nice to be wanted."

Writer: David K Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: June 2020

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures: Stranded 1.04

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen, Tania

Synopsis

As the Doctor becomes desperate, Helen and Liv advise him to accept their situation.

Liv makes a date – but gets more than she bargains for when the whole household comes along.

And when a threat from the future finally arrives, the Doctor is placed in real danger. It's time for the truth to emerge...

Verdict

Divine Intervention was a decent episode to conclude the first Stranded series of Eighth Doctor Adventures! This was sadly the weakest of the set thus far and I’m not sure why I felt slightly underwhelmed by the finale. Perhaps because of such a strong opener in the form of Lost Property promising great stuff? As my rating shows this was still a good story but it almost felt like it didn’t live up to the expectations set by the boxset so far. I’m not sure I was that thrilled by the reveal of Bourakai and Teeja as the twist on the future. It was always feeling like it would be a bit of a bigger arc than what we got and I do hope that this isn’t resolving everything that has been built so far. Time will tell on that I guess as I continue through the series! Maybe we will build towards the Doctor’s actions that will cause havoc for the Rarkelians to the extent that the Doctor must die in the past before he can cause it? I enjoyed the paradoxical nature of the episode and that actually being fuel for the TARDIS was an excellent concept. After so long as a dormant wooden police box, she reacted to the presence of the Rarkelians and the Doctor being shot set in motion a series of events that would see her get a little bit bigger on the inside. It’s a start on the road to healing with the temporal residue and the paradox, and the Doctor being at the heart of it is fun. I enjoyed hearing the Eighth Doctor burst into action here and starting the episode with him on a game show and winning £80,000 prize money was unexpected! The reference to Time-Flight as he recalled the cricket result between India and England was spectacularly niche. I’m all for that kind of thing. He was still desperate to fix the TARDIS though and couldn’t stand being stranded in one place and time. His conversation with Tania was intriguing and I look forward to them getting to know each other better. I’m sure she already knows about Daleks and Cybermen as he mentioned, but she’s not to know that. The Doctor stumbling into working with Andy was good fun and I love how clumsy he is for a police sergeant. This Doctor seems the perfect incarnation to go opposite him and judging from the presentation here I actually see some strong companion material! The death of Mr Crusoe was pretty gruesome and Tania sending the Doctor to this shop of alien tech was fun. She’s living on the edge a little and I like that! Liv and Tania are also getting along splendidly and it’s so typically Doctor of him to intrude on their planned date by inviting the entire block of flats out for dinner! And of course he’d show up late and say they needed to leave immediately. Helen’s position now as a tutor to Robin is a good fit and the latter being lured in by Divine Intervention was interesting. Helen wasn’t buying into it and considering this was the title, I don’t think it played into the conclusion all that well. Sure it tied in but it wasn’t a big moment or anything when Robin realised. It barely felt like it meant anything which was a shame. I can’t help but feel things aren’t finished despite this being a finale as the way the TARDIS was used to propel the Rarkelians back to their own time was quick and sudden. Don’t get me wrong, it was certainly effective! But it just felt a little lacking for a finale after such a strong build. The main basis for me was all about Liv and Helen confronting the Doctor about where his focus lay. The tenants of Baker Street deserved some home improvements with the Doctor’s winnings whereas he was only focused on investing in tech companies to put everything into fixing the TARDIS. Honestly at this point, I’ll be stunned if Helen and Liv rejoin him on his travels once the TARDIS is inevitably fixed! Liv is building something strong with Tania and Helen is forging her own life now. I thankfully am none the wiser on how things end here and I can’t wait to explore it. But for now, this was a decent way to conclude what was as a whole a very strong opening boxset to the series!

Rating: 7/10