So I finally got around to
listening to Afterlife. It’s been
sitting on my desktop for about a month now. Recently, I uploaded it to my
phone and spent the afternoon in the pool listening to it in blissful
tranquility. The result: Funeral in the Swimming Pool!
“Of course I know what it means! Everyone I’ve ever met. Everyone I’ll
ever meet. They’re all dead Ace! Every last one! Flick a switch and I can reach
a time where every soul that has ever set foot inside the TARDIS is long
departed. Or I could go back and see them. The times when they were alive – somewhere
– somewhen! They’re all still there.” – Doctor [Watch out Doctor! Clara’s going
to ask you this again five incarnations from now]
Afterlife takes place almost immediately after Gods and Monsters. Those of you who follow Big Finish extensively
will know that Hex is dead and Ace blames the Doctor. Lysandra and Sally have
left and Ace is distraught. The Doctor is distraught too, but as he mentions,
he can’t allow himself to feel every loss in his life, otherwise he’d just stop
functioning altogether. I found this explanation somewhat cold, yet understood
why he said it. Being that old and losing so many people tends to leave you
with a hard heart. Ace unfortunately doesn’t understand this and urges him to
do the ‘human’ thing, fully aware that the Doctor isn’t one of those. I
suspected that part of her eventual request was to punish him for essentially
failing to do what he does best – win! Her request: Take a trip back to the
2020s (Hex’s time period) and atone for his mistakes by telling Hex’s aunt
about how let the young man in his care die.
Plot wise, this story is about
aftermath and how different people react to the same event in different ways.
In this case – death! The Doctor is a bit callous, only agreeing to Ace’s
request out of fear of losing her friendship. Ace is going through the five
stages of grief (very slowly) and there are some others who take the news even
worse than her.
Afterlife is split into two parallel running story plots. The
second bit features a gang war story format with Hector Thomas – aka Hex? You thought Hex was dead? So did I! The
mystery of why Hex is suddenly alive again as a gangster is intruding, but the
question of why he can’t remember Ace or the Doctor or anything about their
travels is the one that yanks you deeper into this story. Afterlife
also features a variety of bizarre and diverse set of characters. There is the
charming, but bit chav-like Miss Finnegan and her lovely boys Barry and Robby
and one must’ve forget Hilda Schofield, Hex’s aunt, who ends up in a worse
state than Ace.
One of the things I disliked
about this story is Ace. This happens to all companions at some point, but I
personally hate it when they get evaluated to the stage where they think they
know better. As much as I personally understand Ace’s grief in this story, I
hate her attitude towards the Doctor. She downright refuses to see things from
his perspective, acts as though he doesn’t even feel this loss when we all know
the only reason he setup the scheme in the first place was to keep his friends
safe. This is reminiscent of Project
Lazarus with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe. There, she berates him for
not winning in that story and the Doctor has to remind her that he doesn’t
always win. Sometimes, he loses. This just proves what kind of pressure
companions put on the Doctor during confrontations. What sort of legend he
builds himself up to be in their eyes: an individual incapable of losing in
life, no matter the odds. In truth, expecting someone to win every single time
for 950 years straight is not just unrealistic, but selfish. More so, every
companion is warned about the dangers of stepping into the TARDIS, so death is
always a possibility.
One very important element of
this story is the growing frustration of the Doctor. As the story marches
towards the climax, he becomes more and more agitated over ‘getting things
wrong’. He tried to save Hex – fail! He tried to cheer Ace up with pancakes and
memory wipes – fail! He couldn’t break the news to Hex’s aunt in the proper manner
(there is no right way) – fail! He couldn’t give a proper eulogy. All these
simple things he keeps getting wrong hangs over his head like a sword until the
Doctor finally snaps at the end and punishes the villain in the most cruel and
sadistic of ways, promising Ace that the monsters will not be allowed mercy or
forgiveness this time. This results in one of the scariest speeches the Doctor
has ever given, something that even had my knees buckling.
I’ve said it before and I live by
it, there is only one truly ‘dark’ Doctor in the Time Lord’s life and that is
this incarnation. Forget about the Ninth Doctor who spent months riddled with
guilt and outbursts. Forget about the Tenth Doctor who was ruthless, but prone
to second chances, often shooting himself in the foot. The Seventh Doctor is
the smartest, the most cunning and often than not, the most dangerous ‘Doctor’
there is because there are few others who are willing to do what he does, to go
as far as he goes and who actually seeks out trouble as opposed to the regular
routine!
Story rating: 8/10
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