Review by Daniel Mansfield
SPOILER ALERT: this is a spoiler-free review of Wings of Steel, but there will be spoilers for The Beautiful and the Damned, so read on at your risk!
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Last time on Doctor Who, Sky agreed to join the Doctor and Ash on their adventures, before being promptly murdered by the TARDIS. The repercussions of this gobsmacking ending reverberate throughout Wings of Steel, as the Doctor and Ash investigate the Refiner technology that led to the death of their new friend.
This is a hard story to review, because its brilliant midpoint twist is best experienced unspoiled. What I will say is that writer Alfie Shaw takes a brilliant but underexplored idea from a previous Doctor Who story and teases out its ramifications in creative and unexpected ways.
This story is a fascinating examination of the banality of evil, philosopher Hannah Arendt‘s notion that the greatest evil is often not committed out of pure monstrousness, but by those who unthinkingly follow orders and become complicit in horrific acts. Shaw establishes Nicholas Shaw‘s Mundar as a compelling, sympathetic character who loves his family, before revealing that he’s a fascist eugenicist, highlighting how seemingly ordinary people can do terrible things through unquestioning obedience.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Ash clash over how to deal with such an enemy, culminating in some electrifying scenes between Jon Culshaw and Gwithian Evans that prove just what a terrific partnership both the characters and their actors have become. This series has already gone to some very dark places, but Wings of Steel takes things down an even darker path, and its ending promises more turmoil to come.
As the series hurtles towards its conclusion, I couldn’t be more excited to hear what happens next.
Wings of Steel is available as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com
The Twelfth Doctor Adventures continue next week with Duty of Care
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