Archeological Adventuress: Because she’s always got her nose
poked into everything Bernice has already made a name for herself on Atlantis,
despite only being around for a short period of time. She’s mistaken for a
member of a secret Archeological society (the Sisterhood of the Trowel?). She
broaches the subject of Jason after a long time trying to hide the pain of his
passing and gets herself in a tangle trying to explain their relationship over
the time they knew each other – almost as much as the audience used to
experiencing it! The last time Bernice was chatted up (or rather mistaken for a
sex robot programmed to perform her masters every whim) she had a terrible time
trying to get past the void that Jason left in her life to let go (because she
fancied the ass off the man who had hired her). Now it would seem that enough
time has passed and her casual flirting with Leo is a promising sign that she
is ready to put his memory to rest and move on with her life. Bernice became an
archaeologist because she can’t live with all those answered questions – she’s
been looking for answers for her entire life. Benny greets the news that she
has walked into a trap with all the surprise that she would if somebody told
her she likes drink a little too much. She’s been led up the garden path far
too many times now to not see the signs. The point where she stumbles is in
answering the question of which of her friends has betrayed her but she figures
out what we suspected all along. That that question is just another
trap. How can they betray her when they don’t even know themselves. Traps
within traps… Its loss that Benny, Leo and Ruth share whether it’s a person or
their own memory and it’s the answers they seek that means they belong
together.
Friend or Foe: Introducing Ruth who doesn’t quite make the
impact a new ‘companion’ should but shows a great deal of budding enthusiasm
all the same. She’s a little too cute and naïve to be entirely practical to
have around but there is the potential for her to grow and mature and certainly
by the end of the box set she has come quite a distance from her humble
beginnings here. What I really liked about the introduction of Ruth and
Leonidas was how the story deliberately exploited the question of whether
Bernice could trust either one of them because that is a problem that also
comes into play at some point with Benny’s friends (Bev was an art thief out to
make a profit, Adrian was a little too lusty for his own good, Jason played
around as a matter of course and Braxiatel was in a league of his own…even
Peter has proven to be quite untrustworthy when his temper flares). So its
quite nice to get that barrier out of the way early so we can get on with
telling stories and not constantly question their motives. Whatever timeline
jiggery pokery is going on in Atlantis Ruth is right at the heart of it. She
remembers a childhood where she grew up with Leo and his now altered wife (she
has a new life now and one where she doesn’t remember Leo) and yet at the same
time Leo knows that he has only known her a few weeks. How can this
inconsistency be ratified so both parties are correct? Memories are being altered on the spot…how
can we trust Leo and Ruth when they cannot even trust themselves? Who are they really?
Standout Performance: There is something to Ayesha Antoine’s
performance that is so innocent and childlike that I would have been
disappointed had she turned out to be untrustworthy. Ruth reminds me of the
somewhat useless child companions that the Doctor used to cart around the
universe (Susan, Dodo, Victoria) who are capable of surprising moments of
bravery and ingenuity. Antoine is a natural on audio so its nice to think that
she will be hanging around for quite some time.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Every civilisation leaves evidence
behind it. If you cut a deep enough trench you can see the different layers…’
‘Perhaps we historians are the only ones who see it because
we are the only ones who can be bothered to look.’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time that you’ve fallen for the
villain of the piece, would it?’
‘You can’t stop time by stopping a clock!’
Great Ideas: There is nothing very wrong with Atlantis.
Bernice has found Acanthus but he isn’t the same man that she struck up a
friendship with in The Kraken’s Lament. Now he’s a blind old beggar who tells
stories to children for scraps. What exactly can completely rewrite the life of
a man? Ruth and Leonidas dangle a carrot under Bernice’s nose with mention of
the ‘under ground.’ I can’t imagine anything more enticing to our intrepid
historian than a mystery that requires her to get digging. Suddenly the reason
for the chanting in the scene where Bernice first meets Ruth at the temple
becomes clear…now you hear them, now you don’t. Details are changing within the
same story now so don’t trust everything that you hear. Poseidon’s game of
questions is a marvellous idea; win and you get an answer to a question that he
poses and lose and you are trapped underwater forever, slowly rotting away. The
game of ‘choose the Bernice’ might be the most obvious route that Poseidon
could have gone down but its still a great hoot, especially because it gives
Lisa Bowerman the chance to bring to identical and yet distinct Bernice
Summerfield’s to life to baffled her friends.
Audio Landscape: Seagulls, chanting, a squeaky cart rattling
along the road, snoring, the surf lapping at the shores, a water clock, sliding
stone doors, a bell ringing, fizzing computer, bricks and rubble falling, the
ocean pouring in, an explosion in the water.
Isn’t it Odd: Contradicting myself entirely, I found the
scenes of Bernice exploring the ground under the ground to be quite talky and
dull despite the fact that it is another example of just how far her knowledge
stretches. And it engages completely with the notion of investigating
the secrets on a planet wide scale that praised in the last story. For an
example of how this sort of thing should be done check out Year Zero where
Jonathan Clements had her discussing with such passion about her field and
figuring out a complex puzzle with only the slightest of information to hand.
In comparison this is drearily fact-based, as though we have stumbled in on an
episode of ‘Archaeologists Weekly.’ The appearance of Hippocampi dragging a
chariot that descends beneath the waves is a exquisite concept and the only
reason I have dumped it in this section is that it comes only heartbeat away
from Bernice’s ascension to the heavens on the back of a Pegasus. It feels like
trying to repeat the success of the first wondrous set piece rather than
something special in its own right. Benny even references her experience in the
last story, asking for a comparison to be drawn. Such a shame. To be fair
Poseidon admits that he is not going to give Bernice any answers halfway
through the story…but I didn’t think it was genuinely going to be the case!
Poseidon exhibits a great deal of personality but given his game of logic I don’t
think (like the first story) it is any great stretch of the imagination to try
and figure out his true nature. It feels like the questions that Bernice is
asked which are complicated riddles (would you rather die a quick and painless
death or a long a painful one?) should have satisfying answers waiting…but
instead she simply refuses to give an answer. Its not very clever, is it? The
‘family hug’ scene is awful primarily because it takes place far too
prematurely – Bernice hasn’t even figured out who these people are yet so its
far too soon to be calling them family. It’s the only point during this
adventure where it feels like the purpose of The Temple of Questions is being
forced onto the audience. I physically winced. Perhaps we would have greeted
the twist that Poseidon is a computer with some awe had it been channelled
through Bernice but she shrugs her way through its reveal saying that she
suspected as much all along. In what feels like it is heading to a big
revelation we climax this adventure with Benny tossing water over the computer
Poseidon and legging it with her friends. I was expecting something more supplementary
to the running storyline.
Foreboding: Jack is back and he’s dropping nothing but clues
and snippets of information. Its almost as if he wants to be annoying. How does
this fella know so much about Bernice’s activities?
Result: Self consciously handing Benny a new family to hang
with, The Temple of Questions works in that respect but is the narrative
equivalent of running on the spot for an hour and refusing to develop the
running story. After the cinematic ambition of The Kraken’s Lament, Jacqueline
Rayner takes a very different approach (a breathless dip underwater in a
chariot drawn by Hippocampi excepted) and stages the second half of the
adventure like a piece of theatre. It is very brave to have a lengthy dialogue
scene of this nature (its nearly half an hour long) and whilst the dialogue is
snappy and keeps the momentum going it falls down at the climax where it
doesn’t lead to anything even slightly revelatory. Payoff should have been a
given after expecting the audience to pay attention to an exchange for this
long. What we can take from this adventure is that Ruth and Leo can be
trusted and Benny has her own pair of companions to rely on so I guess the
journey is the important thing here rather than the destination. We’re fed a
few scraps but considering most of that surrounds the name of the box set it
doesn’t feel as though we are learning anything we didn’t already know. Jacqueline
Rayner is too strong of a writer to produce anything truly duff but she really
has been handed the hardest assignment of the Epoch story, capitalising on her
talent for characterisation but giving her no space to innovate the plot (which
is coming in the next installment). The chemistry between the three performers
is apparent but The Temple of Questions treads water, proving that this set is
perhaps one story too long: 6/10
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