What's it about: Things aren't going great for Bernice Summerfield. Her one time comrade-cum-adversary, Irving Braxiatel, isn't the man she knew; her long-lost teenage son, Peter, isn’t exactly pleased to see her; and she’s woken up with one hell of a hangover… But when an ancient and dormant spacecraft threatens the safety of Legion City, Bernice and Peter have to put their differences aside in order to investigate an inexplicable mystery involving time-travelling scientists, corporate espionage and simple, cold-blooded murder… Can Benny discover the true killer before a warp core breach destroys them all? Can a five thousand-year-old body solve a murder yet to happen? And will the Vesuvius fall to the planet below…?
Archaeological Adventuress: Benny feels old when she is with
Ruth, especially when her youthful companion can have an all night bender and
not feel any of the after effects. I love the idea that Peter has his own life
and responsibilities now and he can be responsible for sending Bernice off on
missions. How far their relationship has come from when he was clutching at her
apron strings. One of my pleasures in life is listening to Bernice Summerfield
picking apart a mystery and showing just how smart she is which she gets to do
in Vesuvius Falling during some very smartly scripted sequences. She always
has a plan.
Mysterious Girl: At this stage Ruth is acting as Bernice's
surrogate companion and given the obvious chemistry between Lisa Bowerman and
Ayesha Antoine it is a relationship that works extremely well. Ruth isn't sure
how much of Benny and Peter's squabbling she can put up with to the point where
death seems like the preferable option. She is the only one who knows what Peter's
domestic situation is at the end of this story. Given there is a wormhole that
leads to the past right on their doorstep, Ruth doesn't understand why they
can't simply send a message through a stop any of this from happening in the
first place. They could prevent the murder of an innocent man. Bernice has been
at this game for too long now, she learnt the hard way from her travels with
the Doctor that you cannot interfere with events that have already happened.
That would cause kinds of temporal problems, possibly undoing everything they
have done.
Super Villain: Brax is extremely cagey about how he came to
be on Legion and Bernice is extremely suspicious of him given their previous
history. He doesn't seem to remember any of the things that Bernice hates him
for and Ruth wonders if Bernice shouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt.
It's easy enough to say but given what she (and we) have experienced over the
countless seasons of this range and the depths that Brax has previously
plummeted to it is not easy to let bygones be bygones. From a creative point of
view I do like the idea of giving Brax a fresh start though, attempting to
clear the decks and allowing him to stand as a character that aids Bernice on
her adventures again, just like he did (or appeared to) in the first couple of
seasons before things got complicated. Miles Richardson is too unique a
performer to waste. Bernice is sure that even if he is a younger, more innocent
Brax now, one day he will become the devious sod she knows and despises. As of
the last four years Brax has been the closest thing to family that Peter has
had, which is probably the most painful thing that Bernice could hear.
Great Ideas: When Legion was named it was with that aim to
live up to its name of an army of like minded people fighting for just one
cause...but no longer. To arrive on Legion is to be fed up with life given that
life is rated lower than a single malt Whiskey and organs are traded for a
short term hypodermic release. It sits there hanging in space, the light side
barely clinging onto life while the dark side stares out at the universe,
daring it to approach. On the dark side of Legion the solar winds would strip
your flesh clean off in less than a minute and the radiation would burn you to
a cinder even faster. The inhabitants of Legion stay safe beneath its
protective dome. That's quite a vivid picture being painted of this backwater
hellhole, I hope can live up to it. The Vesuvius is in an approaching orbit
around Legion, a ship that has floated dead in space for thousands of years (oh
goodie...those are my favourite kind). Peter wants Bernice to take a look on
board and report whether it is safe to blow it from the sky. If the ship does
suffer a core breach then it could shatter the protective dome and kill
everybody on Legion. A dramatic scenario and a race against time, talk about
opening with a bang. Add finding Shyra dead in a stasis pod in what looks like
murder and you can add a mystery too to this engaging scenario. The ship was
supposed to be exploring the Mutaran Nebulae but a spatial phenomena pulled the
through and the crew were convinced that they had time travelled because the
stars were wrong but they were in the same place. They had been thrown back
several thousand years from their time. The relationships between Rickard,
Shyra and Mortand are far more complex than they initially appear, especially
when it becomes clear that not everybody is who they appear to be. You have to
keep your wits about you as you start hearing conflicting stories about the
last night before everybody went into cryo-sleep and try and figure who was
sleeping with whom and who might have a motive for murder. A single draft
journal entry could be enough to bring the traitor down if it can be picked
apart for clues. Despite her body being found in a decayed state, Shyra wasn't
murdered at all. Mortand and Shyra both worked for Ecosigh before it was taken
over by SynoCorp and they both stayed on after the buy out. Almost within a
week of each other they both quite and moved over to the rival company,
CoreTech. Industrial spies having an affair. The body they found isn't Shyra,
it isn't even female. It has been altered with DNA growth spores. Shyra
deliberately sabotaged the ship and sent it through time after her secrets had
been exposed. Over the next eight months she kills Rickard and converts herself
into him with Mortand's help. The idea was to be rescued by somebody and show
them the body before the spaceship blew up and took all the evidence with it.
Musical Cues: Daniel Brett provides some stunning music for
this release. Since the Bernice Summerfield has converted to box sets I have noticed
a massive leap in the quality of the music. It's not that it was poor before
(often the range was scored by David Darlington and he always displays
competence) but it could be quite minimalist at times. Now we are enjoying
immersive, emotive, cinematic scores that really drag you into the action.
Isn't it Odd: Thomas Grant has grown as an actor during his
time with this series and makes a terrific return appearance in Vesuvius
Rising. However he is being asked to play a very different Peter to one we left
behind and whilst he is generally very good there were a few moments when he
was asked to play the hard nut that his cultured tones just did not suit. Rambo
he aint.
Standout Scene: I am an avid fan of Poirot, both Agatha
Christie's novels and the television adaptations and my favourite moment of the
stories is the dénouement when he gathers all the suspects together and reveals
what everybody has to hide. Bernice gets a fantastic wrap up scene in Vesuvius
Falling and one which is not only borne from observation but some pretty
thorough detective work that we have been privy to throughout the tale. It is
very satisfying not only because the writer has work a great twist into the
tale (about the identity of the victim and the killer) but also because he has
given us enough information so that when the answers spill we can nod our heads
in agreement with the reveal.
Result: I would hold up Vesuvius Falling as an example to
other writers of how to model the ideal Bernice Summerfield adventure. It has everything
that I want from this range; a memorable setting, a dramatic scenario, a race
against time gathering of momentum, an intriguing mystery, terrific characters
from the regulars to the guest cast, strong dialogue, punchy direction, twists
and turns and a highly satisfying conclusion that wraps everything up very
neatly. It is an arresting, constantly surprising and exciting tale. The set up
on Legion shakes up the relationships between the regular characters in a very
interesting way with Brax now acting as Benny's ally and Peter as an adversary.
I'm looking forward to some tales being told in this new, seedy location now as
the series tries to establish itself a new central setting. You should go into
this story blind with no foreknowledge beyond the synopsis on the CD because
much of the joy of it comes from the mystery and the twists in the plot. At
this point it really feels as though the new Handcock/Russell branding of the
Bernice range has taken hold and is delivering consistently excellent work: 9/10
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