S01E06 - May 12th 2026
Now that we have more or less discovered who the main antagonist facing Yaz and the Doctor might be, this audio invites us to meet them properly. And yet… it is not what you expect. I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. At first, I thought it was going to be a fairly classic story about a planet that has turned war into a smoothly functioning economic system that is nevertheless morally repellent. That is partly true—but only partly. Because into that setup comes “the tourist,” completely reshuffling the deck.
Yaz and the Doctor, still played to perfection by their original actresses, arrive on the planet Aegis, where a deeply entrenched military-financial mindset is clearly at work. At first, they are swept into a warlike atmosphere that seems absolutely horrific, before discovering that the combatants do not truly die at all, since they are remotely piloting drone versions of themselves.
That sounds almost healthy! Until, of course, the Doctor later points out that it is still all being done in order to kill people…
There is an obvious commentary here on the modernisation of war. It is not new, nor is it especially original. But the little twist that arrives later in the story is very welcome. Without spoiling anything, let us just say that the strange solution the people of Aegis have found to avoid losing soldiers makes the very continuation of war feel even more absurd.
Yaz finds herself confronted with “the tourist,” who turns out to be a far less expected entity than one might assume. For once, here is a genuinely coherent way of bringing nuance to an antagonist, unlike the first season of the Fifteenth Doctor, which stumbles badly over this thoroughly overused idea. We understand that nothing is as simple as “good” and “bad.” The actions themselves are beyond doubt reprehensible, but the motivations behind them are not the same for everyone.
This episode genuinely moves the plot forward and gives Yaz some fine moments of bravery as she is thrown into situations that are anything but easy. It perhaps lacks a little of the bite that the previous episode had. At times it feels almost too gentle, which is a shame because the subject matter could have supported something sharper. Even so, it remains a real pleasure to discover. This first season of the 13DA is genuinely very well constructed, and it offers a continuity that is especially rewarding for attentive listeners.
The question raised by the end of this audio is what will now happen to Yaz and the Doctor after their encounter with “the tourist.” Is it really over? We shall have to wait for the continuation to find out. One thing is certain: it is thrilling, and each new release is awaited with tremendous impatience.
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