Susan and Veklin are on Florana, which expects to come under Dalek attack any day now. Can they find the Dalek agent in time?

Simon Guerrier’s contribution to this branch of the Time War takes some of its cues from the classic movie Casablanca, and the way in which it portrays life in wartime for those who simply want to keep their heads down and their businesses open. The two Time Lords are posing as painters (not totally successfully!) and when we start, they’ve narrowed their field of suspects to three people.

Guerrier throws some intriguing ideas into the mix – the invasion isn’t quite what any of those involved initially expect it to be, and Howard Carter’s sound design does some heavy lifting setting this up, and there’s at least one moment when you have to remind yourself that this is only the second story in the set, and they’re not going to kill off the lead character this quickly. (That said, we know all bets are off as far as any characters go with regard to the Time War, with the odd exception already established.) There’s also some very interesting callbacks to previous Dalek worldbuilding.

The relationship between Carole Ann Ford’s Susan and Beth Chalmers’ Veklin is developing nicely, and Lisa Bowerman has gathered together a good ensemble behind them.

Verdict: You must remember this… 8/10

Paul Simpson

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