Bernice Summerfield: The Final Amendment
Oct. 3rd, 2025 01:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanOnto this story, after last time’s pivotal one. Going into major spoilers ...
In this one, at least until the very end, Benny still doesn’t know that Jason is dead. Instead she gets caught up in a twisty tale of clones and TV shows written by Jason Kane, as well as catching up with an old (but new to the audios) friend Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart.
It’s a very clever piece of scifi writing, that works on multiple levels, with many meta textual elements. But running throughout it all is the listener’s knowledge of the horrible news awaiting Benny. And the comedic light touch of the audio is an effective counterpoint to that.
Significantly we hear again the last conversation between Benny and Jason, that we heard from Jason’s side last time. This time it’s from Benny’s perspective, and knowing what is about to come it’s more devastating.
As well as clones of the story’s main guest characters, we also encounter clones of Benny, Kadiatu, Adrian, Jason, the Seventh Doctor (!) and Braxiatel. The last gets hefty bonus points from me - or at least the writer does - for including yet another neat nod to BBC’s 1990 House of Cards TV series. One which made me snort out loud on hearing it. I still have to explain that outburst to Martin who is working next door in the study.
Things are wrapped up neatly by the end, with pretty much a happy ending. But then Benny finally hears the news from back home, and cries out in anguish. The next audio is going to be a very tough listen.
In this one, at least until the very end, Benny still doesn’t know that Jason is dead. Instead she gets caught up in a twisty tale of clones and TV shows written by Jason Kane, as well as catching up with an old (but new to the audios) friend Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart.
It’s a very clever piece of scifi writing, that works on multiple levels, with many meta textual elements. But running throughout it all is the listener’s knowledge of the horrible news awaiting Benny. And the comedic light touch of the audio is an effective counterpoint to that.
Significantly we hear again the last conversation between Benny and Jason, that we heard from Jason’s side last time. This time it’s from Benny’s perspective, and knowing what is about to come it’s more devastating.
As well as clones of the story’s main guest characters, we also encounter clones of Benny, Kadiatu, Adrian, Jason, the Seventh Doctor (!) and Braxiatel. The last gets hefty bonus points from me - or at least the writer does - for including yet another neat nod to BBC’s 1990 House of Cards TV series. One which made me snort out loud on hearing it. I still have to explain that outburst to Martin who is working next door in the study.
Things are wrapped up neatly by the end, with pretty much a happy ending. But then Benny finally hears the news from back home, and cries out in anguish. The next audio is going to be a very tough listen.