Criss-Cross

 

Criss-Cross by Matt Fitton

Criss-Cross is an indecisive tale to start Constance's run as a companion in the TARDIS, but all in all, a pretty decent one. The plot introduces Constance very nicely, in a large and in charge way, with her very first appearance being taking the Doctor to town for working one of the girl's under her care too hard. It's that kind of strong character introduction that a companion needs, but perhaps I felt that for her first appearance, Constance was confusingly utilized. She is introduced, similarly to Evelyn, as someone who can take the Doctor to town in a way that tones down his abrasive personality, but yet, half of her runtime is stolen by Ms. Wimpole, one of the side characters who is given a lot of depth to the detriment of Constance, and unfairly, also has a similar voice. As a result, in the early scenes, I had trouble telling them apart, and later on, was confused at why Wimpole was given such a large role that basically amounted to discount companion in the script, especially considering she doesn't advance the plot that much.

Speaking of the plot, the stories two discs, of Part One and Two, followed by Part Three and Four are pretty staggeringly different. The Wave-Form, the actual threat for the story, is only there for the second half, and as a result, the first half is grounded in a way that made me wonder if it would be a pure historical only for a giant radio wave monster to come crashing out of nowhere, in a way that confuses immersion. The Wave-Form are a huge highlight of the release, one of the cooler audio only monsters I've heard that only have one story, and along with Agent Criss-Cross, make a great double act of antagonists.

There's a lot of pretty well written action in the second half (well, as much action-y as audio who can get. It's certainly not a UNIT episode) and it's overall a fun journey. 

One thing that bugged me was this weird portrayal of the Nazi scientist Shwartzman, who is introduced as a threatening Nazi agent, and then later basically tunes out to become a generic member of the ensemble. It's not that a Nazi wouldn't work with people to stop an alien invasion, it's just slightly disconcerting, especially If you've heard something like Colditz recently. It isn't a sympathetic portrayal of a Nazi, but it's a weird one, and it puts me off, somewhat.

Finally, I just really like the historical setting of this one, so a few points for that too. 

Anyway, all in all, Criss-Cross, is, as the title implies, a sort of split introduction to The Six and Constance stories, and one that can't really make up it's mind, but overall, I liked it, and I definitely want to hear some more from these two. 7.5/10