The Waters of Amsterdam

 


The Waters of Amsterdam by Jonathan Morris 

"Love has an inconvenient habit of overcoming hate."

The Waters of Amsterdam genuinely feels to me like one of the best stories I've reviewed in months, possibly the best story since Year of the Bat or Night of 1000 Stars. It certainly even manages to trounce the Secret History and World Apart (Both of which I also gave a perfect score, so you know this will be an especially good one) and it does all of this and more whilst focusing on a love interest for fucking Tegan. If you told me that my favorite audio since Buying Time and The Wrong Woman would be one focusing on a romance plot involving TEGAN I would have laughed at you hysterically. Big Finish's romance plots oft fall flat for me - Mel's romance in the Blood Furnace in particular was a pathetic joke. And yet this story really managed to invest me. That's not the only thing it has going for it either - it's got a clever timey wimey core of a story that's also a celebrity historical for one of the greatest artists of an age, fun concepts and a gorgeous divergence into alternative history at a climax. Davison is energized by this material, turning in a performance unlike his usual more worn interpretation of the Fifth Doctor we get from Big Finish, appearing more alike a modern youthful figure like Tennant or Smith - oh wait, he's seventy. Huh. Guess he's a really really damn good actor then. Sarah Sutton also serves well as Nyssa - she's not focused on as much as the Doctor or Tegan but she is still an engrossing figure, and still holds that sparkling level of intellect to her you can get from Romana or Martha. One of my favorite moments in the story is her commiseration with Rembrandt over their respective losses of her planet and his wife. It's a melancholy, beautiful approach to her character, whilse still maintaining her nobility and softness. Good stuff, well played by Sutton, but by no means can Davison or Sutton hope to even compare to the monumental performance of Janet Fielding in this story - every inch of Tegan is so real here, she's not just a comedic angry woman, but a humanized wonderful figure brimming with heart, and her emotional level here is varied and excellently performed. Only Tegan would break up with someone because they were too perfect!! Of course there are many moments I could go on about concerning Tegan that hit the spot perfectly, but her final confession at the stories' climax gives me such happy feelings. To hear Tegan of all characters saying there's no where she'd rather be in the world than by the Doctor and Nyssa's side nearly moved me to tears. This audio is nigh perfect, taking Tegan, an already good enough character and elevating her to incredible heights. The fact that this was followed by Aquitaine - and for the record, is pretty much as good, makes me astonished at the level of quality sprinkled into the Fifth Doctor's range. Leave some for the rest of us, alright?? 10/10

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