Doctor Who: Absolution

Big Finish: Monthly Range #101

by Scott Alan Woodard, Paul McGann (Narrator), India Fisher (Narrator)

Confession. Penance. Absolution.

The Tardis breaks down in a forbidden sector of space. Ghostly voices cry out for salvation and only C'rizz, the Doctor's Eutermesan companion, can answer their call - for only he knows the secret of the Absolver. But will he use it to rescue his friends or save the universe?

The Doctor's sins are catching up with him and the infernal beast Borarus is hungry. Time is running out and Judgement Day is at hand.

Welcome to Hell.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel

2 pages, Audio CD

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Frank Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ripper of a story! Now, let's add a little context. A 5-star rating for a Doctor Who audio drama is relative, this is not a masterpiece by any stretch, but as far as the audio dramas go, this one rates very highly for me.

The Doctor (Eight) is in fine form for this adventure and probably my favourite thing about this was the level of ridiculousness that the technobabble reached. Eight is particularly special in these audio dramas since we had so little content before they came about. Speaking of which, there was a line in this story about someone not receiving a high enough viewership which I thought was just a little cheeky and it was even spoken by the Doctor himself!

Charly and the Doctor do a bit of a Holmes and Watson routine and that was a lot of fun too. Instead of getting the evil plan directly from the evil genius via an evil monolgue. in this story the pair actually spend a fair effort on chasing clues and explaining their deductions. I thought this was a treat and it certainly makes me wish for more of this Doctor Duo.

So, as we noted earlier, this ain't a masterpiece, but it is good Doctor Who fun. The moral of the story is a classic, but it's also a goodun.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

2023 52 Book Challenge - Summer Road Trip Mini Challenge - Destination - 3) A Book Set In The Woods

I honestly had no idea what was going on in this book for pretty much 90% of it. However, the ending was fantastic.

[Elijah Chamberlain-Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

k'rizz deserved better than his final audio barely having him with the other 2

[Reggie A · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story that has moments of utter dryness and utter god tier writing. Absolutely baffling but I was 100% entertained.

C’rizz really grew on me as a character. Honestly, for a lot of the episodes he was a companion in I preferred him to Charley. As a send off, I wish this episode handled him better, but I appreciate that they really dig into the core of his faith.

Every once in a while the script would elude to his role in the Divergent Universe and I wish we’d gotten more context there. That’s kind of how I feel about this episode: it leaves unanswered questions.

The Charley and Eight scenes— especially at the end of the episode— are some of the very best the audios have given me, and the way the Doctor acts is some of the most telling in his entire media history including television. I really loved those moments I was absolutely eating them up.

This one’s a 3.5 to me. I liked it a lot, but I wish we’d gotten a less Heaven/Hell flavored motif for the religious plot.

//spoilers

Something about the way C’rizz died feels… deeply anticlimactic? That said, this episode is solid, even if the setting is a little dry. The conversation between Charley and the Doctor at the end of the episode is absolutely ELITE tier Who.

[Kathryn Houghton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story line I thought could’ve been better, but that didn’t stop me from feeling emotionally wrecked after this. I hated the way C’rizz had to die. And even though I know the Doctor acted the way he did as a coping mechanism, I still felt agitated. Poor Charley and poor C’rizz. That’s all I can seem to say.

[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very strong script which hits some rare, shocking beats for a Doctor Who story. First and foremost, this is C'rizz's final adventure, which seems him dead by the end of the story. Right from the start, it was made clear someone would have to die, and while typical Doctor Who stories would employ some last minute Deus ex machina, C'rizz has no such luck and his time runs out here. I felt it was built towards appropriately and made for a compelling climax which changes the Doctor and Charley's dynamic.

The supporting cast are also very good and I liked the contrasting world building of the warm Citadel against the harsh outlands. Aboresh and Cicothis made for a great villain and anti-hero, respectively, though it is a shame they only interact in one scene towards the end of Part 4.

So while the story itself is very good and I do feel C'rizz's death to have been delivered well, I do also think the potential revelation that he was "built" for this transformation into a demon was pushed a bit too close towards the end. I wish that had been addressed earlier in the story, because the way it happens is a lot of things happen in his final few moments and it was kind of hard to process it all at once.

Some of the world building of the Citadel could have been described better as well. I did get a bit lost throughout Part 4 trying to keep up with where everyone was, but the wider, general landscape was delivered well.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

When this story was released, the first series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures with Lucie Miller had already been out. So it kinda feels like Big Finish was in a hurry to get the Eighth Doctor out of the monthly range and resolve what happened with Charley and C'rizz. Here, we get the death of the latter, and I have mixed feelings about how it goes down. I had an idea of his death going in, but I was more surprised by The Doctor's shrug of the shoulders reaction to C'rizz's departure. At least Charley calls him out on his saying that things will be back to the way they were, when it was just the two of them. I get that The Doctor is used to people leaving, but I didn't like that he seemed this heartless. Charley can't take it and wants to go home, repeating his line, "Everyone leaves," which, oddly, sounds similar to the Ninth Doctor's "Everyone lives." I have an idea of what Charley's write-out will be, and I hope her last moments with the Eighth Doctor are satisfying.

[Xander Toner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final story of C'rizz (spoilers) and it's such an interesting release. There's hasn't been much foreshadowing for C'rizz's turn into an evil demon, but I still think his slow demise is handled rather well here. The story's got some neat ideas and a great setting, but I still really wasn't that engaged in what was happening - it was a fun listen from a character evolution standpoint, rather than a plot standpoint. Eight, Charley and C'rizz are really one of my favourite TARDIS teams, and so it does hurt a little to see them be pushed over breaking point, and the final moments with Eight and Charley are so good that they genuinely made me up the overall rating by a star - and immediately download the next story.

[Chrissy · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I was going through all these Big Finish audios and trying to remember which ones I still needed to listen to, I swore up and down that I had NOT listened to this one before now. Listening to it now, I do remember listening to it and... honestly, being pretty bored by it. This is about when they started spinning Eight off into his own series and boxed sets and it shows. They just want to end the stories with Charley and C’rizz in the Main Range so they can go onto something else. Too bad, really. The ideas with these characters started out great, but then they fizzled out at the end.

[luckey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay experiencing a companion death in audio format hit harder than I would have ever tought. I admit, I was never really extremely attached to C'rizz, but in the end I gre to love him more and more. The ending hits epecially with Charlie and 8th Doctor in the TARDIS. This mask falling from the cheerful romantic 8th doctor. Absolutely brilliant, I truly think this should be used in the main show too one day. No notes. The story was a bit messy, but the arc ending was really nice.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

ケリスが持っていた箱のようなものをチャーリーがあけてしまったことによりターディスが混乱してしまう。

ケリスは時間のない世界の住人が新たな世界を見つけるための道具であり、そこで神となるべく設計された存在だったと判明する。しかしケリスは備わったパワーで人々を支配するのではなく、ドクターとチャーリーを守ることを選ぶ。しかしその代償としてケリスは塵に戻ってしまう。傷ついたチャーリーは次へ進もうとするドクターに怒りをぶつける。

チャーリーの気持ちもわからないではないけれども、そうして前に進んでいくしかないというのが長寿であるドクターのサバイバル術でもあり。それにしてもチャーリーとケリス、ドクターの旅はオチなしのままフェイドアウトかぁと思いかけていたところのこの作品だったのでちょっとショッキングだった。
ケリス、最後までいい奴だったな。

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, this was a satisfactory ending to C'rizz's arc (the man of faith finally absolves himself). On the other hand, the plot was kind of meh. I was actually thinking at one point "wow this reminds me of that terrible musical film set in Tibet" and then the Doctor mentioned Tibet... so my overall impression of the story wasn't great. At least the ending was solid.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 without spoilers this is a complicated story to discuss as this is so canon important to 8's story but the middle third drags and the emotions at the end just seem to go away. I don't know if this loose plot thread will be resolved in the future but I know it does not get fulfilled in the next story but we shall see.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm unsure how to rate this one. While C'rizz's sacrifice was noble and all, I felt like he hasn't had much to do during his time in the TARDIS; he's basically just been a filler companion. At times he was sort of interesting, but most of the time he was just there to argue with Charley.

[elise barber-wixtrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

i honestly don't get the hate. yeah it's not super sensical, but its tone really reminded me of storm warning (universally beloved) and ends with such a cathartic breakup scene. let him have it charley

[SuperPiggy5000 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip this one, this left a really bad taste in my mouth after a fairly strong run of episodes. Only the last 5 minutes matters. Long story short: C'rizz dies, the Doctor and Charley have a falling out, and Charley wants to leave.

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of a surprise ending there. Damn, dude.

[H.K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good story, and good closure for a companion.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite, but certainly an important episode for the futures of C'rizz and Charlie.

[Finn Chamberlain-Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok story overall with some pretty cool scenes in the TARDIS but HOLY SHIT, that final scene was a 10/10

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was kind of meh going through, but that last conversation is exactly what I want from the Doctor. Boils down to: "Yes, I care. But this is always what happens."

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

the plot is meh and c’rizz has been a pretty dull companion so his sendoff gets a shrug from me .. but the angst this one has. that last scene. ahhhhhhh

[Plingsben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slightly rushed finish for C'rizz and a premise that is forgettable next the climax of the story, but not a terrible send off

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of two audio plays that tie off the dangling plot threads from the 8th Doctor's long run in the main series of Big Finish plays - leaving the slate clean for a re-launch in his own series. (The latter had, in fact, launched well before this was made).

Here, the focus is on C'rizz, who is, to be honest, not one of the most interesting companions to grace the show or its "expanded universe". The story concerns him being, by somewhat implausible means, lured to a planet that looks suspiciously like Hell, and then working out his own personal demons in the process.

There is some good back-story here, in terms of how the planet got to be the way it is, which is largely left to the Doctor and Charley to solve. But, in the end, the story doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting, and that's largely down to the fact that we don't (or, at least, I didn't) care that much about C'rizz or what happens to him.

The final absolution itself doesn't feel as dramatic as it should, either, and for much the same reason - it's also unclear why there wasn't a better solution. The semi-cliffhanger ending is rather better than anything in the story proper, enhanced by the fact that, with only one remaining 8th Doctor play left in the regular series, anything really could happen.

[Nicholas Whyte]

Robert Glenister was brought in as Selateen in The Caves of Androzani to help kill off Peter Davison, and here he is brought in to help dispose of Conrad Westmaas as C'rizz. Given that C'rizz is a reformed psychopathic killer reptilian, we always knew what the end was likely to be, and indeed the story is rather better on the Doctor/Charley relationship, where she accuses him of reminiscing about how things were better before C'rizz joined them (though in my humble opinion, if this is the Doctor's view, he is right). Still, C'rizz manages to go out with a bang.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'rizz, Charley and the Eighth Doctor land on a planet where no-one can die. Or have children. And is perpetually clouded over. For so long, the inhabitants have lost track. Could be a hundred years, could be over 3,000. Is this Hell as some think? Is this merely Purgatory? They have been apparently been waiting for C'rizz so they could help him develop his telekinesis, telepathy & mental control over others.

I swear, the Eighth Doctor Adventures should really be named The Eighth Doctor's Spiritual Awakening or something.

[Sativa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn on this one. On one hand, C'rizz was a missed opportunity. A lot of tidbits were dropped about his backstory and history that never came to be. I think maybe they had plans for him that were abandoned. He was not the most compelling of companions, but there were things left unexplored for sure.

However, the last five minutes are HEAVY. Good stuff. Charlotte has a bit of Donna in her and is one of the few companions you will see get angry with the Doctor and hold him accountable.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10
Verdict: Recommended

This is the penultimate story from the Charlie and 8 era. Unfortunately due to events surrounding the show returning to TV, this series seems to have been cut short. This I assume is why there is a heavy amount of exposition and last minute inclusions that should have been weaved into earlier stories. This story also feels like two stories that have been mashed together, with the parts in the Tardis being one story and everything else being the second. It's a shame this episode fails in a lot of areas too since it is so important to the series.

[Audrey M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil anything. Some things, like the Doctor, I won't be too sad to see change. India Fisher gave an amazing performance in the last scene, though. She nearly had me in tears (and I haven't always loved Charley since the Divergent arc). It's sad to see the end of her run. But I'm glad to know I have her and Six to look forward to (and I am SO looking forward to it).

Overall, not a bad drama, just not one that I fell in love with.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit I was never the biggest fan of C'rizz but this was still an interesting adventure. It reminded me a lot of the vampires in e-space. Though with more eternal damnation and hell and less vampires. But it was a similar hammer horror type feel. I can't imagine this story being told with any of the other doctors or companions though. It really suited Paul and Charley.