The Orphan Quartet: The Wife of River Song

"There cannot be two."

Writer: Lizzie Hopley

Format: Audio

Released: August 2023

Series: The Diary of River Song 12.04

Featuring: River

Synopsis

River Song is on an expedition seeking the Hive. Her sister is trapped in the ruins of the Hive. River Song is on honeymoon. Three realities meet.

Verdict

The Wife of River Song was a decent episode to conclude The Orphan Quartet twelfth and final series of The Diary of River Song. Wow, what a journey this has been over the course of forty-eight episodes spanning so many different Doctors, villains, multiple incarnations of the Master, companions old and new, and even a different version of River! More than once! I did enjoy that with this being the final episode of the range's concluding boxset, there was a bit of focus on the diary itself and it was filling up! River knows what that means as the events of Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead draw nearer for her, and I guess that kind of leads us into the next evolution of River Song's spinoff quite nicely with it being post-Library. There's plenty of life left in the character yet! I thought the idea of three realities meeting here was intriguing and the Hive formed a solid backdrop. It had a mythical kind of status which is always fascinating, but I do think things got slightly jumbled. It wasn't bad by any means as my rating reflects, but I do think there were elements that got lost with the multiple versions of River. The throwback to My Dinner with Andrew and The Furies in having Brooke feature was fascinating and I must say it was unexpected! River namedropping Madame Kovarian always feels like a big deal because of their history together and just touching upon it here was intriguing. I enjoyed River being on a honeymoon and it almost feels like she's cheating considering she wasn't with the Doctor! The title itself is exciting and fun to explore because River definitely does feel like the kind of woman who would have a wife, but the circumstances here were unique to say the least. The namedropping of former companions as examples of others she's shared relationships with was fun to think about as well! Give us the River and Benny spinoff immediately. I thought the focus on Jane was strong and the importance she had without River fully knowing why and who she was made for a thought provoking plot device. Playing with memory is always fun and for River there was a lot on the line. I loved the concept behind having only good memories as whether that's the truth or not, it's some seriously positive vibes! That struck a chord with River as she tried to put things back together. The emotion that came from the fatal shooting of her loved one was powerful stuff and it almost felt a shame that it didn't actually happen in the way that it initially sounded, and Jane having jealousy regarding her sister was again more intrigue. It really was a huge three-way battle of emotions here with a lot going on. Perhaps a little too much for an audio as voices can get lost amongst dialogue. Marshall was fun as the computer on the Hive as River knew how to manipulate his instructions. There were so many interpretations so she was well on track to using him to her advantage. The issue of the Rift and causing multiple versions of River was good and I think more could have been made of the shared memories element. River got the grasp of what had happened but it felt like then she was just in protect mode. I wanted her to kick arse! They did tackle the Scourge together as one which was good but I think more action was needed rather than just convincing themselves they weren't scared. It was good to work things out without violence, but I felt like it could have been slightly more emphatic. Regardless, a good story to conclude the series! I'm all for a multi-River story. 

Rating: 7/10