Gallifrey review: Romana and Leela face terrible revelations in A Blind Eye

The final episode of Gallifrey’s first series features some major revelations. But A Blind Eye also sets up series two in a big way.

The fourth and final episode of the first season A Blind Eye, like the previous episode The Inquiry, is a major turning point for Gallifrey.

Actually, you know what? I’m going to be honest with you now: that’s pretty much the case for a lot of episodes in the series. After all, this is a series that introduces major characters, kills off others and features shifting allegiances on a regular basis. There’s a reason this series is so popular with Big Finish fans, after all.

But A Blind Eye is still a major episode for Gallifrey. Particularly as it resolves a lot of major questions for the first series. Not all of them, and in fact one particularly important plot point is deliberately left ambiguous. But there’s still a lot resolved in this story.

One particularly major plot point completely changes not just the direction of the series, but even the previous three episodes. I’ll explain more on that shortly.

A little too connected to Doctor Who?

If there’s one thing that A Blind Eye has slightly going against it, it’s that it’s a little less accessible than the previous episodes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you can jump on board with any Gallifrey story. It really is a series that, for the first six series, at least, really does benefit from listening to it from the very beginning.

Rather, a key problem with A Blind Eye, at least for people new to the series, is that it very directly references major events in the Eighth Doctor’s audios, especially Storm Warning and Neverland. While I absolutely love those stories and I’m always eager to recommend them, it’s a bit of a shame that A Blind Eye doesn’t stand on its own more like the rest of the series.

I can understand why it was done then – the Charley audios had been very recent, at the time – but looking back on it, there will be plenty of people listening to the series who haven’t heard Charley’s stories, yet. As a result, there are many direct references to major events that some Gallifrey listeners won’t know about.

Listening to it now, it’s hard not to compare it to Gallifrey: Time War episode The Devil You Know. This is a story that directly connects to The War Master: Only the Good, and yet, while there are plenty of small references that fans of both series will enjoy, both also work independently of each other, too. I’m not sure if I can say the same for A Blind Eye.

Best. Twist. Ever.

Now that my main criticism is out of the way, I must say that A Blind Eye is a very enjoyable finale. Not only does it feature some interesting timey-wimey hijinks involving two trains (or was it just one?). It also has the return of a great character from Weapon of Choice: the very shady arms dealer Arkadian.

We also get an episode with plenty of intrigue and some really great surprises. One in the story particularly stands out. Because it’s one of the greatest twists you’ll ever hear.

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Keep in mind, I’m not just talking about the Whoniverse, either. The twist A Blind Eye gives us is up there with The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects. It’s an amazing moment that not only has huge ramifications for Gallifrey after this point. It’s also a twist that makes you re-examine the whole first season, too. It’s so brilliantly set up, and listening to it again, it’s clear that there are major clues hidden throughout the first series.

So overall, while A Blind Eye is a little too connected to events from major Doctor Who stories compared to the others, it’s a great finale for the first series. On the whole, the first four episodes of Gallifrey were really strong, and established a great starting point for the spin-off.

But while series one was good, series two was about to take the series to a whole new level…

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Have you listened to A Blind Eye? Did you enjoy the first season of Gallifrey? And what did you think of that twist? Let us know in the comments below.

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