Doctor Who review: The War Doctor: The Heart of the Battle explores key themes of war and peace
By James Aggas
The War Doctor finds himself at The Heart of the Battle in the last episode of Doctor Who: Only the Monstrous. How well does it wrap up the box set?
The third and final episode of Doctor Who: The War Doctor: Only the Monstrous explores an interesting question. Obviously, peace is always preferable to war. But how far should you go for peace? Is it possible to compromise too much? When an enemy can’t ever be trusted, is peace even possible?
This is something that the first half of The Heart of the Battle explores. The previous episode The Thousand Worlds had the Doctor sent on a mission to rescue missing Time Lord Seratrix. But Seratrix doesn’t want to be rescued. In fact, the mission he’s on is far more dangerous than the Doctor first suspected.
We get some great discussion and conflict on a more personal scale in these early scenes. Seratrix is an interesting character, one who’s desperate for peace, and ordinarily, the Doctor would be on his side. But in this situation, and in this incarnation, the Doctor is opposed to Seratrix’s plans.
It’s interesting to have a good, solid look at the Doctor long before he became “the man who never would”, and writer Nicholas Briggs does a great job of giving us a Doctor who doesn’t exactly support the war, but he also doesn’t see any other choice. It’s another key example of why the War Doctor works so well on his own terms.
Ollistra’s schemes
The second half of the episode reveals the full extent of the Daleks’ plans. While in some ways, this feels like the key part of the episode that lives up to its title, at the same time, it’s set in the exact same room for most of the second half.
If that sounds like a criticism, it isn’t. Briggs throws a lot of drama at the listener, drama with some extremely high stakes. We continue to see different sides of the War Doctor, showing him to be an incarnation who’s reluctant to do what’s necessary…but not completely unwilling to do it.
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The story is wrapped up surprisingly neatly during the final scenes when Ollistra shows up at last. Considering she’s on the cover for this particular episode, it’s funny to think that she doesn’t feature in it at all until the end of it.
However, at the same time, her presence is felt throughout. More than that – when she finally reveals what she’s been up to, it’s clear that the events of Only the Monstrous are as much her doing as they are the Daleks. The Heart of the Battle reveals how devious and manipulative Ollistra really is. As such, it’s an ending that made her one of my favorite original characters from Big Finish.
The Heart of the Battle wraps up Only the Monstrous nicely. It gives us a good solid glimpse at the kind of man the War Doctor is and the actions he has to take in the Time War, while also giving us a solid sci-fi war story, too. A satisfying closing episode.
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If you’ve listened to The Heart of the Battle, how well do you think it wrapped up Only the Monstrous? Do you think it explored its key themes well? Let us know in the comments below.