2 episodes. Approx. 57 minutes. Written by: Steve Lyons. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines.
THE PLOT
The Doctor decides it's time for a holiday, and so takes his companions to a casino in the distant future. Though Jamie and particularly Ben are thrilled at the chance to partake in some games, Polly does not like this place. She doesn't enjoy the gambling machines, she finds the sight of the transfixed gamblers downright disturbing... and that's even before she sets eyes on the snake-headed Sidewinder Syndicate, the gang that runs the casino's operations.
The Sidewinders work for a mysterious woman named Fortune, who has strict rules against time travelers. When the casino's alarms are tripped by a time travel device, Polly finds herself in the Sidewinder's sights - and escorted to Fortune's office. The woman is absolutely charming and utterly chilling as she gives Polly an ultimatum. It's a simple command: Push a button that will determine the winner of "The Game of Life."
It's no simple game, though. Two players sit in booths and, when the button is pressed, random chance will result in one being disintegrated. And much to Polly's horror, one of the players is Ben!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Though sidelined for most of the story, the Doctor registers strongly at the climax as he gambles with Fortune for the welfare of his companions... playing with a tattered Happy Families deck! Anneke Wills continues to do a fine job of suggesting Troughton's tone and vocal mannerisms and, even if she can't hope to replicate the eerily dead-on audio resurrection of Frazer Hines' readings, it's more than good enough to help the listener visualize the Second Doctor. It is a shame, though, that he's in so little of this one.
Polly: Polly is very much at the center of this story, and Steve Lyons shows the same facility with her character that marked his first Companion Chroncicle, Resistance. Polly is quick-thinking and courageous, but she is also easily surprised by the darker side of humanity. She is immediately repelled by the Sidewinder Syndicate, but it takes a few minutes for her to realize that the attractive and soft-spoken Fortune is actually much scarier than the snake creatures. She is too quick to trust Lucky Bill, which leaves her vulnerable to him when he acts out of desperation in Part Two.
Jamie: Frazer Hines is not doing double-duty this story, as he voices only Jamie and not the Doctor (or Ben). But he does get a substantial slice of the action, the script cutting away to his observations of a time traveling gambler in Part One and of havoc on the casino floor in Part Two. Hines and Wills, who were actually together in the recording booth for this story (earlier efforts had them record their parts separately), bounce well off each other, and it's actually a shame Jamie and Polly have only a couple of scenes together.
Ben: Is largely sidelined, as usual. He isn't forgotten, however, as he falls under the influence of the gambling bug and manages to get himself into trouble in a way that spurs most of Polly's actions in Part Two.
THOUGHTS
I had high expectations for House of Cards. It reteamed the same writer, performers, and companion line-up as the wonderful Selachian Gambit, and the science fiction casino setting seemed like a sure bet to produce another fun piece. I knew this was the reverse of that one - with Anneke Wills as the primary reader, and Frazer Hines the secondary one. Still, Wills is a fine reader, and the Companion Chronicle Resistance - also by Lyons - remains probably my favorite of Big Finish's Second Doctor stories, so it's not like this was a concern for me.
I will say that House of Cards is enjoyable. It moves along at a good pace, there are several fun scenes, and the movement back and forth from the main action with Polly to the side action involving Jamie keeps it alive. The Episode One cliffhanger is terrific, and the showdown between the Doctor and the story's villain is cleverly done.
But while it's an enjoyable story, I can't help but find it a disappointing one. Something is missing this time, and the magic that happened in The Selachian Gambit just doesn't happen in this story.
The companion line-up is definitely not as well utilized here as in the earlier story, with Ben and the Doctor sidelined for the bulk of the story. The caricatured Lucky Bill, complete with American western accent, is annoying in a bad way, and the potentially interesting Sidewinder Syndicate never develop beyond their initial beat as James Cagney-like gangster snakes.
I also think Lyons' attempt to use the time travel element by telling bits of the story out of sequence is a flourish that doesn't quite work. Some of it is clever, as we see scenes laying groundwork for something just shown. Other times, the cutting back and forth between action happening to Jamie and action that had happened to Polly simply becomes tiresome. There's a twist involving the identity of a woman in a china mask that is particularly oversold. By the third or fourth time Jamie obliquely referred to the woman as "my friend," I grew irritated enough to snap at the CD player that "I got it already, move along!"
Wills and Hines keep things afloat with their spirited reading, and Lyons is too good a writer not to make sure that the various events all patch together in a way that works. The way the second episode pays off the (very good) first episode cliffhanger in a way that fits but is completely unexpected is quite satisfying. Fortune, wonderfully voiced by Wills, is an effective villain, and her scenes opposite Polly in Part One and opposite the Doctor in Part Two are the best two scenes in the story.
More of Fortune, particularly more of her opposite the Doctor, and less of Lucky Bill and the Sidewinders might have given this story the shot in the arm that it badly needs. As it stands, it's not at all bad. House of Cards is narratively solid and pleasant enough to listen to. But it never quite manages to connect the way the best stories do.
It's a perfectly okay story. It's just also a perfectly disposable one, and not one I expect to revisit.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Previous Television Story: The Macra Terror
Next Television Story: The Faceless Ones
Preceded by: The Selachian Gambit
Followed by: The Roundheads
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