Diary of River Song Volume 10: Two Rivers and a Firewall

Curious to see if all of this is post-data-ghost-ification or not... I sort of thought it would be all one story alla volumes 1-4 but it seems like this might be the first River Song set without any real gimmick aside from a visit in the final episode at least to post-death River! Also, to the people wondering about the continuity, problem solved, this is a different River, so we're not worrying about River-Prime's continuity. Probably playing off of volume 3, which is ALWAYS good in my book! Also, love the Autons, we see so little of them, can't wait to see more!

Autons hmm…

This is an old foe I don’t mind, mainly because Big Finish have basically no choice but to innovate as TV’s Autons simply don’t make much sound.

You see I'm somewhat disappointed, because Ray Bloody Purchase being in Big Finish audios but not playing a pre-Delgado Master offends my soul. BUT that fancasting beside, this is interesting. I wonder if this means that River is going to meet a previous incarnation of herself or if this means she's going to meet her data ghost. The mind boggles...

Regards

mark687

Great set on the whole and definitely one of the better non-Doctor instalments; probably just below Series 7 for that.

Mimi M Khayisa was fantastic as the Other River Song in The Two Rivers and held her own against Alex Kingston. It's a similar case for Paul Bazely as Mikhail in Black Friday and I loved how the Autons were used and it didn't automatically just replicate what was done on screen. Both episodes made brilliant use of such small casts too, I absolutely loved them. The premise of Beauty on the Inside is a good one and was a hell of a lot of fun with everyone having the time of their life.

Firewall was the one I was looking forward to the most, yet ended up being my least favourite. It might have been an expectations thing, but something just felt a bit off about it. It started off really well, although we didn't get anything more than we got in Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead it was nice to revisit that world. And then it sort of becomes a normal River story that felt at odds with what River should be in a post-Forest world. I thought it was strange because what Barnaby Kay describes in the behind the scenes is spot on, but I just didn't really get that from the story at all. Then it just sort of ends with a lot of exposition, an underwhelming resolution and a forced attempt at future stories / a spin-off. Apart from the wrap up it doesn't do anything bad, but it also doesn't require or justify a post-Forest River. For me that really needs to be impactful and Firewall wasn't. Maybe if the other stories had a subtle framing device that seeded the concept and the villain, it might've worked better, even if the resolution is a damp squib.

I do want to have a relisten to the set some point soon, as it's great. I loved that it displays River's different personas without forcing a gimmick. And to be honest based on the standard of this and Series 7, I wouldn't actually be against future sets following that light format and throwing in the odd returning monster or connecting to a televised story. When it's done right, it can produce great results, despite Firewall not being for me.

The two rivers was okay but I think the highlight of the set was Firewall

Is that Ray bloody Purchase?

Our review
indiemacuser.co.uk/2022/08/09/review-the-diary-of-river-song-two-rivers-and-a-firewall/

Firewall

I’m not sure what to make of this. I don’t really get what the point of the memory loss as it’s not the villain’s plan and it’s just an excuse to do greatest hits of Forest of the Dead’s uncanny valley material with the virtual reality. The second half improved but felt really rushed, especially in respect to the villain.