Escape From Reality: The Master of Dorian Gray

"She has played her last role."

Writer: David Llewellyn

Format: Audio

Released: December 2022

Series: The War Master 8.04

Featuring: War Master

Synopsis

Seeking the power of immortality, the Master works himself into the life of Dorian Gray. But can he change how the story ends?

Verdict

The Master of Dorian Gray was a good episode to conclude the Escape From Reality eighth series of The War Master. This was something of a crossover for Big Finish which is a fun concept but unfortunately I am wholly unfamiliar with the world of Dorian Gray so I don't think I could quite appreciate what was being presented here. I knew the character had his own series at Big Finish but I didn't know he was a fictional character from the works of Oscar Wilde. That's pretty cool and I'm fascinated as to why he has an entire range of audio dramas at Big Finish! The focus on the Victorian era is good because that's one of my favourite periods of history and the Master just seems to fit in there perfectly no matter the incarnation. I do think this one worked well with Derek Jacobi seamlessly slotting into the era and hearing him put on an accent to be more suited to the time and place was great. He does love a disguise! I thought the story of Dorian Gray was a pretty emotional one actually as he fell in love with Sibyl Vane by watching her performances on the stage as an actress and that happened incredibly quickly. He was quite simply mesmerised by her but I did get the feeling that he was perhaps more in love with the actress in terms of performance than the woman she really was. That was a little vain and I thought that was evidenced when she had what he perceived to be a bad performance. He was horrified and felt offended which was pretty off-putting I must admit. Whilst it was nice to hear him clearly smitten and boasting about her to the likes of Basil and Henry, he felt let down which didn't quite sit right with me. She blamed her being in love on the bad performance but he was sickened and that was Gray done with her much to my surprise! Finding out that he then had a change of heart overnight and wanted to marry her was interesting, but she'd killed herself and Gray got the blame. I thought that was intriguing and it was really good for the Master to play into the fictional plot devices of the overall Dorian Gray story. It's clear that the death of Sibyl was important to shaping the character and having the Master of all people toy with that is excellent. I did though get a tad confused when different characters that looked like the same woman kept showing up though but it was fun at the same time to play with that in the audio format with the same actress performing. Dorian's reaction to seeing her again and knowing that she wasn't actually dead was strong as imagine being told that then seeing your love? The emotions would be so strong. I thought Sibyl actually getting the better of the Master was a tad disappointing to be honest as I'm not sure in the War incarnation of all that he should be defeated by a fictional character! He tried to harness the power of the painting of Gray as a means of permanent immortality which would certainly be desirable in the Time War, but the opposite happened and now the portrait had regenerative qualities? That's a fun thought! I did hope for more of a connection to The Wrath of Medusa and the Daleks pursuing the Master to the Land of Fiction but I guess Medusa and the gorgon sisters really did see them off which was a surprise. I just think a little more connective tissue there to bookend the series would have been marvellous but alas it wasn't to be. Time for the War Master to confront reality once again as we're set for a whole new boxset to come. Keep them coming, I love this incarnation! Overall, a decent episode to conclude a strong and fascinating series. 

Rating: 7/10