Ride or Die channels the Thirteenth Doctor’s television era with a wartime story of prizing forgiveness over justice
Jodie Whittaker’s Big Finish adventures continue with Ride or Die, as she and Yaz are thrown into the middle of an alien warzone. Inter-dimensional tornadoes have whisked humans away from Earth, where they battle for survival against the alien Banshees. When one such tornado hits Sheffield, it’s up to the Doctor to find a path to peace for both sides. But after investing so much in trying to annihilate each other, does anyone really even want peace?
Ride or Die is probably the closest these new Thirteenth Doctor Adventures have come to replicating the television era’s distinct formula. The Doctor herself is a bouncing ball of energy and passion. Jodie Whittaker makes every scene she steps into seem light and fun, no matter how dire the circumstances.
In the best Whittaker tradition, the episode wears its anti-war themes on both sleeves, but earns it with its characters and narrative
There’s a serious message under all the running around and sonic weapon blasts, too. Rochana Patel’s script has a lot of thoughts about the gulf between peace and justice, forgiveness and revenge. Peter Capaldi’s iconic speech touched on the difficulties of sitting down to talk at the cost of forgiving the other side for everything that had done. But it forms the central plank of this episode. The Doctor may finally provide a line of communication between humans and Banshees. But there are those unwilling or unable to let go of wanting justice for past hurts.
Expanding to cover similar ground to Boom, the story also channels the Chibnall era with a rather direct final speech. However, even if feels like patiently explaining what we learned today about the military industrial complex, it’s more smoothly written than some of its predecessors and convincingly delivered by Whittaker. It also feels largely earned by the story which precedes it. It simply underlines the story’s themes rather than seeming like a lack of confidence in the narrative’s communication of them.
The episode also succeeds in exploring the Thasmin relationship despite its set end-point
For Thasmin fans, one of the great things about Ride or Die is how effectively it advances the Doctor and Yaz’s story. Yet it skillfully avoids contradicting that end point that the Time Lord never does tell her companion she loves her. The presence of Sheffield paramedic Megan, whose romance with Yaz previously failed to ignite due to the police officer’s confusion about her own sexuality creates the opportunity for deeper conversations about what’s changed to make her ready to open up to these feelings for the Doctor.
Ride or Die also provides listeners with some fun treats in its sound design. The Banshees themselves are a world away from the usual type of Big Finish alien voices, genuinely unearthly and piercing. Meanwhile, there a cheeky homages like a transporter sound straight off of the USS Enterprise, and a biological computer that will sound familiar to anyone who’s ever seen WarGames.
This spirit of fun extends through sound design, performances, and script. It helps keep the adventure light, despite the heaviness of some of the subject matter. Ride of Die is probably the closest the Big Finish range has come yet to feeling like part of a lost Series 12B, but more importantly, it would have been a highlight of that season.
Doctor Who: Ride or Die
The Doctor and Yaz have been sent a list of coordinates, each one pointing to a location in time and space where people are disappearing – but why? The trail leads to a war-torn world, where conscripted humans battle the terrifying Banshee.
Can the Doctor end this conflict before she loses her best friend?
Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Ride or Die is now available to purchase for just £9.99 (as a digital download to own) or £13.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD), exclusively here. Please note: the collector’s edition CD is strictly limited to 1,500 copies and will not be re-pressed.Â
