The Diary of River Song Series Eleven: Friend of The Family

 

The Diary of River Song Series Eleven: Friend of the Family

Despite this being one of the longest Big Finish stories I've ever reviewed, I do believe it will result in what will come across as one of my shorter reviews, as there's only so much I want to say minus the required bit of analysis that the text requires and the very well deserved "well done." 

It is my fervent opinion that Diary of River Song Volume Eleven, Friend of the Family, is one of the best things Big Finish has ever made. It is my fervent opinion that it is at the very least the best thing they've made since 2002, the release date of The Chimes of Fucking Midnight. It is my fervent opinion that Diary of River Song, Volume Eleven, Friend of the Family, may even exceed those standards and be the best thing the company has ever produced in it's entire span of releases since 1999 for that matter. 

So yeah, Friend of the Family is really fucking good. 

Why is the story so good?? Well, it all comes down to an intricate and beautifully designed long-term narrative that fits the runtime the story is going for, with an understanding of not only River Song's character, but what works in Doctor Who as a whole. It then proceeds to weaponize the two of the most successful elements of Doctor Who's most popular recent eras, the Russell T Davies (#1) and Moffat eras, that being the richly textured familial character drama and the absolutory absurd timey paradox balls of doom. These are the best things these respective eras had - the character work and the abstract high concept stuff. 

Friend of the Family feels like an extended replay of Auld Lang Syne from the Ninth Doctor Adventures - a story, which incidentally, I also absolutely adored, and it proceeds to improve on that concept with the absurd amount of playtime it has to work with. It stars River Song, as you might guess, trying to investigate a mystery when she finds herself time-locked inside an old house. She then visits many members of the family across the ages. Saying too much about Friend of the Family is a tactful matter, as I surely don't want to ruin it, so you do have to speak in the vaguest possible terms, but essentially it weaponizes it's pacing.

The pacing in the story is one of the best things about it, going from breakneck at various points to surprisingly slow and intimate. As the story unfolds, the reason for making such a choice becomes both clear and thematically resonant. Like the best River Song stories, this one also explores the concept of love a good deal, exploring what that means for the characters and the various facets of love, both romantic and platonic. This is likely to little surprise given the nature of previous River Song stories and that this is a character drama, but nonetheless. The story is aggressively experimental, especially with the fun things the story does with River's travelling companion Hugo, who for plot reasons, cannot be seen by anyone but River. As such, Hugo can do some quite useful narration of the surroundings for the audience's benefit in a way that makes sense in universe, and for that matter, isn't too obtrusive. 

You may worry about the length - very few things I've ever done that are four hours in length I enjoy whatsoever. However, unlike many other Big Finish 3 + hour stories, like the also lovely Kaleidoscope or Ghosts of Gralstead, Friend of the Family is very very focused and doesn't go off on silly little one episode tangents. Many Classic Who Six Parters, even the best ones are prone of that - it's so impressive that at the equivalent of what would have been an eight parter, There is next to no slack or filler present whatsoever in this piece. 

Really, the largest problem with Friend of the Family, an ambitious, well-paced and gargantuan adventure that never really seems to mess up, is the fact that so few humans will probably ever end up doing it. If you don't live in Britain, it's not gonna be in your average bookstore. This is more of a problem with Big Finish itself and that they're a small company that can't afford to do such a thing, but Statistically speaking, this isn't a product you can find just anywhere - it's an audiobook that has to be shipped out of Britain, and indeed, it is an expensive one. Because of it's expense, it could be difficult to recommend this to the average joe as due to the steadily increasing price points at Big Finish, rather than some older stories that are likely nearly as good for 3 pounds each. However, if you do have a few doubloons going spare, I physically, like, as a human, could not recommend this any MORE.

This story could be the best thing I've ever heard.