Big Finish Audio Plays: Arrangements for War - Paul Sutton
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/146596.html">Arrangements for War - Paul Sutton reviewed by < lj user=persiflage_1>
This audio is a very direct sequel to Project: Lazarus as it picks up on the events in the first half of that story and looks at the consequences of them with regard to Evelyn's relationship to the Doctor.
It opens with Evelyn obviously still very upset by the death of Cassie, and tearfully telling the Doctor, "I've spent the last few hours just - thinking about things. About Cassie, about what happened to her, and about your manner" before adding "You've had more experience at this kind of thing. I can't just switch my emotions on and off." The Doctor tells her "I'd hate to think there was anything irreconcilable between us" and he's obviously fairly upset by her reaction and by the idea that she wants to go off on her own for a while. What follows are four episodes of reflection and reconciliation as the two time-travellers form new relationships on Világ (the planet where Six takes Evelyn to spend some quiet time simply learning), lose people, and ultimately gain a greater insight into how the other one feels.
Arrangements for War is very much Evelyn's story, although there are other stories going on as well. We're reminded of her heart condition following on from Project: Lazarus, as she notes, "Plenty of things are reminding me of my age at the moment" and later confesses to Rossiter, "I'm having to adjust to a great change in my life. You see, I'm dying." We also gain more insight into why this rather unconventional companion enjoys travelling with the Doctor when she explains that everything she has experienced with him is so strange that she has put her condition out of her immediate throughts. We also learn that she does not dare to tell him about her heart because she's worried he'll take her home again.
Rossiter's role in this story is to emphasise to us just how important Evelyn's friendship with the Doctor is to her, despite her current distress; the relationship between Evelyn and Rossiter is very mature and quite touching, especially during the scene in part two where they discuss the nature of grief on the lake, with Rossiter talking of his wife, and Evelyn telling him about Cassie and also Jem (from Doctor Who and the Pirates). This gives us an insight into Evelyn's reaction to these events in a natural way, since it is perfectly normal for her to discuss these issues with Rossiter, and thus avoids exposition. Significantly, whilst discussing Cassie, she tells Rossiter, "He let them die" before correcting herself, "WE let them die", indicating that her anger with the Doctor is perhaps more the result of her own guilt than the fact that she actually blames him for their deaths.
As Evelyn grows closer to Rossiter, he tells her that he loves her and asks her "Stay with me. I'm asking you to leave the Doctor." Which gives her a compelling reason to depart from the TARDIS, but it becomes obvious that she doesn't want to give up the wonder of her travels, much to Rossiter's obvious disappointment; before she actually tells him that she can't stay, she is already musing of the Doctor, "Neither of us is going to change, we just have to work out a way we can live together."
This is a very thoughtful and thought-provoking story, with some superb acting by Colin Baker and Maggie Stables - the ending (which is a happy one) made me teary for both of them.
And the "war story" itself is nicely done, with Philip Bretherton (best known over here for playing the somewhat oily publisher Alistair Deacon in As Time Goes By) doing an excellent job as the underhand politician Plenipotentiary Suskind.
I strongly recommend this audio which, like Rob Shearman's Scherzo, is a really interesting exploration of the relationship between the Doctor and his Companion.
This audio is a very direct sequel to Project: Lazarus as it picks up on the events in the first half of that story and looks at the consequences of them with regard to Evelyn's relationship to the Doctor.
It opens with Evelyn obviously still very upset by the death of Cassie, and tearfully telling the Doctor, "I've spent the last few hours just - thinking about things. About Cassie, about what happened to her, and about your manner" before adding "You've had more experience at this kind of thing. I can't just switch my emotions on and off." The Doctor tells her "I'd hate to think there was anything irreconcilable between us" and he's obviously fairly upset by her reaction and by the idea that she wants to go off on her own for a while. What follows are four episodes of reflection and reconciliation as the two time-travellers form new relationships on Világ (the planet where Six takes Evelyn to spend some quiet time simply learning), lose people, and ultimately gain a greater insight into how the other one feels.
Arrangements for War is very much Evelyn's story, although there are other stories going on as well. We're reminded of her heart condition following on from Project: Lazarus, as she notes, "Plenty of things are reminding me of my age at the moment" and later confesses to Rossiter, "I'm having to adjust to a great change in my life. You see, I'm dying." We also gain more insight into why this rather unconventional companion enjoys travelling with the Doctor when she explains that everything she has experienced with him is so strange that she has put her condition out of her immediate throughts. We also learn that she does not dare to tell him about her heart because she's worried he'll take her home again.
Rossiter's role in this story is to emphasise to us just how important Evelyn's friendship with the Doctor is to her, despite her current distress; the relationship between Evelyn and Rossiter is very mature and quite touching, especially during the scene in part two where they discuss the nature of grief on the lake, with Rossiter talking of his wife, and Evelyn telling him about Cassie and also Jem (from Doctor Who and the Pirates). This gives us an insight into Evelyn's reaction to these events in a natural way, since it is perfectly normal for her to discuss these issues with Rossiter, and thus avoids exposition. Significantly, whilst discussing Cassie, she tells Rossiter, "He let them die" before correcting herself, "WE let them die", indicating that her anger with the Doctor is perhaps more the result of her own guilt than the fact that she actually blames him for their deaths.
As Evelyn grows closer to Rossiter, he tells her that he loves her and asks her "Stay with me. I'm asking you to leave the Doctor." Which gives her a compelling reason to depart from the TARDIS, but it becomes obvious that she doesn't want to give up the wonder of her travels, much to Rossiter's obvious disappointment; before she actually tells him that she can't stay, she is already musing of the Doctor, "Neither of us is going to change, we just have to work out a way we can live together."
This is a very thoughtful and thought-provoking story, with some superb acting by Colin Baker and Maggie Stables - the ending (which is a happy one) made me teary for both of them.
And the "war story" itself is nicely done, with Philip Bretherton (best known over here for playing the somewhat oily publisher Alistair Deacon in As Time Goes By) doing an excellent job as the underhand politician Plenipotentiary Suskind.
I strongly recommend this audio which, like Rob Shearman's Scherzo, is a really interesting exploration of the relationship between the Doctor and his Companion.