Missy Part Three

"Please don't kick my corpse."

Writer: Rochana Patel

Format: Audio

Released: June 2025

Series: Dark Gallifrey 3.03

Featuring: Missy

Synopsis

Choices have been made. Fates are being forged.

There are new friendships, new alliances, and a war to be fought, plus an extremely dangerous new arrival...

Verdict

Missy concluded in great fashion with this fascinating and very unique third part of the story that comprises the third series of Dark Gallifrey! Now, I love the story as a whole and it is a terrific character piece for Missy, I just have no idea at all what this has to do with the concept of Dark Gallifrey! I do think it's a big shame that nothing came together with the mythical and alternate home of the Time Lords, especially after the lore of Morbius and The War Master established it in kicking off this series last year. This didn't really seem to add anything to the story at all which is a shame. If this was purely marketed as the next series for Missy and as three different episodes with the connecting arc then I think my listening experience would have been improved. Not to say it was bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I was always waiting for that tie back to the series title! The follow on from the epic cliffhanger to part two was having me feel slightly cheated as we found out that the Seventh Doctor in which Missy killed was actually just a divergent body. This wasn't the true Doctor in any sense of the word and whilst it was good to add that to the concept of the time severing, it kind of took away from what happened last time out. I think it's fun to explore Missy without the Doctor and having this incarnation in particular reach a point where she was basically becoming another Decayed Master was terrific. The imagery and sound effects for her voice there were impressive in painting a rather dark picture. I thought the relationship that the initial Missy in this horrifying future had built with Sly Boots was fascinating with the latter seemingly to be genuinely in love with her. That was until she replaced Alisa with herself in a very different kind of regeneration! It wasn't a natural one that's for sure and the description of her simply kicking the initial royal out of her own mind was incredible! I liked how this episode put two aspects of Missy against each other in a very rare instance. This wasn't like her encountering the Lumiat, she was tackling herself head on and I liked that. Having trust in your alternate self was only something the initial Missy felt and the way she challenged her alternate self who'd arrived about her character and personality now was excellent. The one Missy didn't want to change whereas the other was making some good points about not even calling herself the Master anymore. She was running away from who she was and with the timeline establishing the true timeline incarnation had recently come from the events of The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar, that adds up with me. Especially with her settling down for some popcorn to watch the Twelfth Doctor battle his confessional dial as seen in Heaven Sent! I thought Missy's reaction to the bones of the Seventh Doctor was fantastic and the image of her dancing on them whilst humming the Doctor Who theme was sensational. Just glorious and exactly what you want from Missy. The Queen version didn't enjoy the moment though and that was really intriguing to explore. Missy being on hand to build a super weapon and get out through the tunnel that had supposedly been there all along was perhaps not the most creative of ways out, but I liked the logic on a world where technology ceased. Having a place outside of the Time Vortex is still something I like and would love to come back to, but for now this was a solid finale and I do hope that something ties back with the wider Dark Gallifrey arc in later releases. Overall though, a great listen! 

Rating: 8/10