A rogue TARDIS that should not exist… A mutilated, comatose Time Lord who cannot be identified… A new Castellan desperate to make his mark… Evils of the past, events of the present, and echoes of the future conspire to destroy the very heart of Gallifrey’s civilisation.
Rate and review the story below:
I have already said that I’m a fan of body horror in other threads, so listening to it honestly felt like it was written specifically for me. I know I’m very generous in giving 10/10s, but… 10/10 for this one, it was too good. @sircarolyn was NOT LYING when they said that this episode was made for me in the previous thread about Spirit
Yeah, it’s wild how the last story and this one blend one into the other, and yet the two stories couldn’t be more different in tone.
My thoughts on this is as many of the Gallifrey stuff. It is fine. It has an interesting conflict and I like Leela and Romana but I still don’t care that much for the rest of the cast and it can be a little slow from time to time.
Made the mistake of listening to this on my drive home from work and good GOD
Both my last two relisten attempts failed as I drifted into sleep. We’ll see if tonight I get lucky XD
Yes, there’s a solid dose of body horror in there but it isn’t that aspect that has me hooked in this episode. It’s the scheming. The manipulation. The game playing with other people’s lives. At this stage in the series, it has really ramped up. I knew this was coming, but it’s still so good.
Yes, as noted above (@VoRus1 and @eddyfate), Pandora seamlessly links to Spirit and yet is tonally a world apart.
For the DW nostalgia kick, we get to hear the organ music, pompous and full of self import, as Brax is sworn in. It’s a little thing, but it’s a touchstone with the Gothic richness of The Deadly Assassin and is absolutely in keeping with this story. Burning by staser to disguise identity in the DW story mirrored here with burning by laser. Pandora is NOT The Deadly Assassin but it shares a lot of common DNA with that much vaunted televised story.
Yes, at this point, Gallifrey is in full swing. It knows what it is, what it wants to be and how it can develop.
Darkel, huh? What a nasty scheming piece of work she is!
And Narvin? Is he beginning to gain your respect yet? This is the point in the series where I felt Narvin was really starting to become so much more than the character he initially seemed to be back at the beginning of season one. Dare I say, this is the point where I had to start admit that I kinda like the guy! Don’t get me wrong. He’s still far from the typical and not exactly on the side of Romana and Leela, but he’s also nothing at all like Darkel and her ilk.
Wait till you get to Mindbomb 
Was going to comment “HOW could she get even WORSE” but then realised oh yeah, she absolutely Would. I absolutely loathe her, what a great character.
The evil, twisted creature……
Well, this was interesting! I do think this is the strongest episode yet in regards to the political schemes and mind games, which is really good, I feel like Darkel has done a lot to increase that. Love to hate her. The main mystery of the broken man’s identity is done so well! Absolutely heartbreaking!! Wynter is such a kind character and he had such promise! I already got attached to him 
Proud of myself for figuring it out before the characters though. It’s so horrible and I love it. Tbh though, the squelching was bad but with everybody’s warnings I did expect it to go on longer. I feel like the extended whimpering last episode was worse emotionally. Also Brax!!! Love him. So much interesting stuff on him and especially him and Romana! I hope he doesn’t stay away for too long. Also will forever be going insane about Leela/Andred.
Darkel is the worstttttt <3
Same here! Honestly idk if figuring it out beforehand made it better or worse, all I remember is basically re-enacting this gif once I did
And then during That Scene:
A moment worthy to celebrate! 
Honestly, half this episode feels like wasted time and the other half feels rushed.
There’s some really nice character stuff and that scene is obviously great, but I don’t know, this episode doesn’t leave much of an impression for me.
Full review here, if you enjoy, feel free to drop a like
Another great Gallifrey listen. I did remember the identity of the Broken Man so that part probably had less impact on me than first time around but my goodness do I love the scheming of Inquisitor Darkel. It’s possibly my favourite thing about Gallifrey that they took the character of the Inquisitor from Trial of a Time Lord and turned her into an absolute bitch! She reminds me of Servalan and Lynda Bellingham is clearly having an absolute ball.
“This sort of political maneuvering just isn’t my strong suit, you see.” - Darkel to Winter.
I think Darkel is my favorite villain in this series and the late Lynda Bellingham plays her to slimy perfection.
Finished this tonight. It is so good. This is what makes Gallifrey such a great series. Darkel’s political maneuvering, Braxiatel’s banishment, I really don’t have words for this. The second half of this just jumps from strength to strength. Bring on next Saturday!
Oh poor Wynter…
That is a tough listen.
The plot thickens and I get very sad over Wynter. He deserved so much better. I also think that Brax being exiled after taking the Pandora entity is the moment the series takes the training wheels off. Romana and Leela are on their own now and there’s no “experienced mentor” type character anymore and that means that any mistake could be more disastrous now that there’s no one to help clean up the mess.
One thing that I never caught and had stick to me before but did this time around was Leela’s moment with Andred. She so clearly loves this man and he so clearly loves her but she refuses to go back to him after everything he put her through. I think it’s a really powerful scene and that ending line from Leela about not wanting to lecture at the academy really hammers home just how out of her element Leela is.
Mate in 7.