Curios

 

Curios by James Goss

Curios is the third Bilis Manger audio so far and yet it still almost fails to innovate with the character compared to what’s been done before. Rosie Baler plays Jill Anderson, our  protagonist of the story, a woman who is sent down to an mineshaft following WW2 to survey an archive of items sent there to protect them from the Nazis. She meets a caretaker of the collection, a certain Bilis Manger. The majority of the audio from there is a sort of twisted retread of Deadbeat Escape - Bilis Manger is trapped in this sort of location and our protagonist is the key to whether or not he will escape. (Inevitably, he does. It’s hard to have tension like that in a prequel.) Jill is the highlight of the story, a bold and intelligent woman who is also believably flawed. She’s practical, smart, and also like many a classic Doctor Who companion, scared out of her fricking wits. Rosie Baker balances this portrayal well, not making her too much of a worried nervous breakdown lady, but also not portraying her as a steely Black Widow of a figure either. Her dialogue with Bilis is entertaining, and Bilis is as foreboding as always, although this is arguably him at his most cheerful. There’s excellent sound design in the cave, and for the inevitable cave monster, it’s very good, but the “don’t look at it” technique has also been done before in this range in Made You Look. The largest, and pretty much only problem with the story is the pacing, the story beginning with several short scenes that begin and end quickly, which can be difficult to follow in audio format. Once Bilis and Jill have a proper repartee, this problem is suddenly absent and the scenes have room to breathe, so if the opening irks you, stick with it. The additional side characters of Wilf and Brent are superfluous, although they do add to the theme of repression for Jill the story exhibits, and continue the characterization of Bilis as one who cruelly punishes the cruel. Still, It would be better if the story had been merely Jill and Bilis, perhaps with another character cataloguing the shelves to be killed off to enhance the stakes. Small cast stories are excellent, and this one could be paired down even more to make more claustrophobic.  Curios is very good at keeping you scared, as long as you don’t remember that almost everything it’s done was done better (and admittedly bleaker) in Deadbeat Escape. There aren’t many criticisms to be had beyond that. It’s still worth experiencing, sitting down in the dark at 1 AM, and hearing Murray Melvin’s silky soft voice scare you to bits. Even if they’re not as quality as the original, I certainly won’t say more to some trips with the scariest man in the Torchwood Range - Bilis Manger is continually delightful. 7/10