Songs of Love

Rather than picking up exactly where the first story in Doom Coalition 4 left off, Songs of Love winds back to the moment that the Doctor, Liv, and Helen were set adrift in the time capsule and follows River Song’s escapades with Padrac and the Time Lords. And, my goodness, do things get pretty involved pretty quickly.

Her immediate reaction, in line with her established mercenary character, is to congratulate Padrac and ingratiate herself with his coalition, convincing him that she will be loyal to their cause, and even revealing her identity as someone who killed a future incarnation of the Doctor, albeit in a timeline that he’s probably about to overwrite. He is able to confirm this with a biodata scan somehow, and is intrigued by her physiognomy – being a time-sensitive human and all that jazz. So he takes her back to Gallifrey with him to finish setting his plans in motion.

Soon she is embroiled in the world of Gallifreyan politics. Padrac is trying to convince the High Council of Time Lords to approve a “harmony” vote to ensure Gallifrey’s sole survival from a catastrophic universe-destroying event that is fast approaching. Unknown to the public, the Sonomancer (Caleera) is preparing to make her resonance song that will unravel the entire universe, according to Padrac’s grand plan to rescue Gallifrey from the otherwise-inevitable Time War. She just needs a Resonance Engine to enhance her abilities to complete the job; she’s searching the Matrix for the information to build one.

Meanwhile there is a mysterious force at work which rescues Liv and Helen and supports River Song as she bluffs her way along with Padrac. River recognizes immediately that Padrac is using and abusing Caleera, and doesn’t love her, but when River tries to warn her, she is rebuffed. (But I’m betting Caleera will realize she’s right at some crucial moment in the next or final story.)

Not knowing that they’re being rescued, Liv and Helen force the capsule that picked them up to crash land on Earth, and they find themselves in London, in our future, watching as the Sonomancer’s resonance song begins to destroy the planet. They scramble to steal a ship to get off-world but River eventually scoops them up herself, taking them to Gallifrey with her.

When The Eleven checks in with Padrac he blows River’s cover, but not in time to stop her from rescuing the Doctor from the time vortex. They have a strange encounter, in which his memories of past meetings with her briefly arise, and then she dumps in his TARDIS with Liv, Helen, and Veklin who had just spirited them away from Gallifrey to meet with Cardinal Ollistra, whom she believes can stop Padrac’s mad scheme.

In all, this was an exciting adventure, with a lot to keep track of. It can be a little jarring jumping into all this action, with several more characters to remember, after such a comparatively small cast in the first story of the set. It surely benefits from a second listen-through, especially as it sets in motion the final quest for help that will bring this series to a close in just two more 1-hr episodes!