2 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 68 minutes. Written by: John Dorney. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Wendy Padbury, Emily Pithon.
THE PLOT:
Zoe remains a prisoner of The Company, though her execution has been stayed after she provided some genuinely useful information. Her advocate, Jen, has brought in a specialist to try to recover more of her lost memories, and it's someone Zoe has met before. Under a different name, Kym (Emily Pithon) had attempted to trick Zoe into revealing the secret of the Achromatics. Her career was destroyed by Zoe's refusal, and she is deeply bitter.
With Kym's less-than-gentle prodding, Zoe is able to remember another incident. The TARDIS materialized on a space station, Artemis, where the Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie are mistaken for experts sent by The Company to advise on a situation. Their sister station, Apollo, broke up shortly after sending a coded message. Zoe sets to work decoding the message, only to discover a virus. By decoding it, Zoe has set it free to destroy Artemis!
In the present, Kym reveals that Earth has only just lost contact with space station Apollo. This means that there is still time for her and Zoe to travel to Artemis, to save the people on the station from a cold death in outer space. It's a chance for Zoe to correct her old mistake - and a chance for Kym to regain her lost position and set her own life back on track.
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: There's an amusing moment in which he loses track of the TARDIS key because of how much junk he keeps in his pockets. When he finds it, he holds it up in triumph - only for his enthusiastic gesture to send the key flying through the air to land at the feet of the station security guards. When he briefly comes into contact with the older Zoe, whose face is hidden behind a mask, he seems to sense something, though there's no direct sign that he recognizes her.
Zoe: She is horrified when she realizes the nature of the virus, which is designed to modify itself to affect humans as well as code. Though there was nothing her younger self could have done differently, she still carries the guilt of the deaths that followed the virus's release, which makes Kym's offer to try to change the outcome irresistible. John Dorney's script makes the best use of Zoe's perfect memory that I've encountered in any story, with her total recall a key to the resolution - a particularly good thing in an arc whose released have been constantly punctuated by the older Zoe stating, "I remember everything."
Jamie: There's a nice in-joke, as Jamie complains about them landing in space stations when he'd really like them to materialize in a castle in Scotland, with the ensuing banter referencing the planned but unmade story, The Laird of McCrimmon. He also risks his life to rescue the younger Zoe, though this occurs offscreen as she's unconscious at the time.
Kym: The final story in this arc brings back the guest character from Echoes of Grey. There are even a few moments in which the narration switches from Zoe's recollections to Kym's, allowing quick glimpses into what motivates her and why she is so angry. She is impatient with Zoe, rushing her through key parts of the narrative, a clever justification for Dorney's script to create gaps that get filled when the Kym and the older Zoe arrive in person in Episode Two. Emily Pithon is given more emotional material here than in Echoes of Grey, and she rises to it with a strong performance.
THOUGHTS:
Second Chances is not only the final entry in the Zoe/memories arc; it was also the final release of the Companion Chronicles as a monthly range. It's an excellent curtain call for both, a cleverly plotted story that also delivers surprising emotional impact.
The first episode essentially presents an "average Troughton" episode, as Kym is able to make Zoe remember the adventure on the space station. This is an entertaining mini-adventure would make for an effective Short Trip in its own right, - but it's only at the end, when things go disastrously wrong, that it starts to seem like more than a just a standard Second Doctor adventure.
The second episode is where the story truly delivers, as we see the same events again from the viewpoint of the older Zoe. The story fills gaps that initially seemed to be throwaway jokes: Kym urging Zoe to skip past a capture/escape bit; Zoe being knocked unconscious. The flip side of the first episode's events reveals new information, and the overall context is changed and the stakes raised even further than they were already. A climax that seemed abrupt in the first episode becomes a genuinely exciting sequence, the change in perspective allowing for more development in Part Two.
The story does an excellent job of paying off the full arc. Previous stories have established The Company as ruthless and oppressive, more than enough reason to fear them obtaining this virus. This allows the older Zoe to finally do more than just remember - She acts, closing out the "frame" on a strong ending note.
OVERALL:
I thoroughly enjoyed Second Chances. It is easily the best of the Zoe/memories arc, satisfying both as a finale and as a solid tale in its own right. All told, this was probably as good an ending as could have been hoped for The Companion Chronicles as a monthly range.
Overall Rating: 10/10.
Set during: Season 6
Previous Story: The Uncertainty Principle
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