Big Finish: ‘The War Master: Only the Good: The Heavenly Paradigm’ (Audio)
By James Aggas
The War Master’s plan finally comes to fruition in ‘The Heavenly Paradigm’, the final episode of ‘Only the Good’. But what is he willing to sacrifice to achieve his goals?
And so we reach the finale to The War Master: Only the Good. Arriving in 1970s England, the Master and Cole are looking for No. 24 Marigold Lane. A seemingly ordinary house on an ordinary suburban street. But it’s also a house with some very dangerous secrets. The Master has a plan, and he needs Cole’s help to complete it.
It’s very difficult to review The Heavenly Paradigm. There are a lot of revelations and twists with this episode. Unsurprising, considering it’s the finale. Some of these twists are huge. Some are small. And some are even expected, but still satisfying.
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What I can say about this episode is that, after a couple of episodes of the Master being either nice or quiet, he finally unleashes his full evilness once more in this episode. When you learn of the full extent of the Master’s plan, it’s shocking and brutal. It’s also something only he could come up with.
It’s especially satisfying when you re-listen to the whole series. (And trust me: I’ve already done just that.) You get to see all the little threads and hints of his scheme. You understand why he had been acting nice before, or why he was interested in having a companion. Sometimes, a finale can be disappointing when its been built up so much. It’s great to know that The Heavenly Paradigm avoids that.
A dramatic finale
Having such a huge and epic finale take place in a quiet suburban house is also brilliant. It’s a real clash of images – a story of a temporal war and the fate of the universe told in such an ordinary setting. But then again, that’s usually what Doctor Who does best. It’s just that for the Master’s own story, this tale is given an even darker turn.
Guy Adams has written an incredible final episode for The War Master: Only the Good. It has big ideas and epic concepts. But it also has plenty of emotion to it. Certainly, it has one or two extreme gut punches. And the ending is just incredible. I’d imagine that every fan will get incredibly excited when they hear the closing moments.
The War Master: Only the Good is an incredible achievement for everyone involved. It’s dramatic, it’s epic, it’s dark, and all the things it needed to be. It also avoids feeling like a repeat of either The War Doctor or The Eighth Doctor: The Time War. Admittedly, this was something I was initially rather worried about.
However, once again, Big Finish have more than proved that they’re the best at telling stories set in the Time War. More than that: they’ve allowed Derek Jacobi to show just how brilliant his performance as the Master truly is. Without question, The War Master: Only the Good was one of the best releases from Big Finish in 2017.
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