The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Dalek Empire III - Chapter Three

"How can you be sure what's real and what isn't?"

It's been said that you can never truly know if a person is who they seem to be, and this is an idea rampantly deployed in The Survivors, the third part of Nicholas Briggs' Dalek Empire III, where the question of identity is a key consideration. In many ways this is a play with a similar intent to its predecessor The Healers, in that Briggs is still exploring his characters but the emphasis is different, as those that took a backseat to the Wardens' Dalek troubles in the last instalment, like Selestru, Tarkov and Amur, come to the fore. But in doing this, Briggs throws up even more questions that intensify the central mystery with little sign that we're any closer to getting any answers….

Perhaps the biggest enigma of Dalek Empire III so far is not what the Daleks' plan is (after all we know it's likely that will be something deeply nefarious despite their apparent good intentions) but whom Galanar is addressing in his frequent asides. This is very reminiscent of the way Briggs played the Tarkov and Hardew scenes throughout the first three chapters of Dalek War as we had information but no context to define their conversation. It's the same here but while the narration has implications for the future course of the story, it also gives an insight into Galanar's own character and the abilities that make him "more than just an agent."

In structuring The Survivors, Briggs adopts an almost pari parsu approach with each of the four main narrative strands getting an equal share of the drama. This provides a good sense of contrast to the previous instalments where the Wardens took the focus and helps him flesh out the characters whom have seldom featured until now. A particularly successful aspect of this approach is the manner in which Briggs can draw the chapter to a conclusion with quick edits that ensure the drama is continually emphasising itself, so for example when Selestru is informed that someone cannot be who they appear, we witness that character doing something totally strikingly abnormal to how we perceive them at this point in the state of play.

This ambiguous thinking regarding identity is something that Briggs has underlined before both in his Doctor Who work and within past Dalek Empire stories. Even after only two episodes the listener will have built up ideas about who these people are and what they can do in the fight against the Daleks but nothing is ever that simple. While Galanar has been built up as an almost Bond-like agent (everything Alby Brook wasn't?) who goes in and gets the job done whatever the cost, the truth about him is rather more sinister and it will earn him an audience with the furtive Dalek Supreme before the drama is over.

Briggs also forces the listener to re-evaluate how we feel about Commander Selestru as the level-headed security chief is caught out by the Galactic Union Chairman Bulis Mietok (whose stock bureaucratic mentality is redeemed by an excellent performance from the redoubtable Ian Brooker) who not only knows about Selestru's covert operations but has discovered something shocking which Georgi has overlooked. This demonstrates part of the appeal of Dalek Empire as it is Briggs' ability to surprise that makes the drama so compulsive - something that some other Big Finish mini-series have sorely lacked.

More time is given across to the Amur and Tarkov relationship here with Claudia Elmhirst playing the dutiful daughter role perfectly while Steven Elder continues to impress as the man whose knowledge of the Daleks makes him very valuable but as an NFS sufferer, he becomes an easy target for dismissal by the bureaucracy of the Galactic Union. The role of the Graxis Wardens is greatly reduced here but Ishia Bennison gets to show how determined she is as The Survivors make their escape before the Dalek geoforming begins while Laura Rees reveals a different side to Kaymee in a very tender scene. It will be interesting to see where Briggs takes his ecologists now they are away from their home on Graxis Major.

Perhaps the best aspect of this play is how adeptly Briggs brings all these plot strands together to form a satisfyingly dramatic conclusion to the story. The tension becomes almost unbearable as he interweaves these scenes together through exhilaration at Galanar's daring dash for the secret of the Daleks, an ominous sense of dread as one of the characters has been led into the most heinous trap and hope at the Warden's escape and their new freedom it has brought them.

There are two drawbacks to the balanced approach taken by The Survivors. The first of these is that it's low on Dalek action - even with a greater role for the unusual Dalek Supreme - and accordingly there is no real hint as to their true agenda despite their conspicuous desperation to stop Galanar discovering the secrets of their Variant 7 solution. The other problem is that some of the supporting characters we're still getting to know like Japrice and Carneill feature a lot less here than they might have done. There's still a strong sense that neither are entirely happy with the Dalek situation but while Carneill is prepared to accept his discomfort if it means the end of the NFS plague, Japrice seems more likely to do something about her concerns.

Briggs' love of sound is clear once more in the layered and filmic atmosphere he has strived to create for the drama. As has been shown in his previous work (and especially Jim Mortimore's The Natural History Of Fear), when a writer creates his own drama's sound design it can be so much more of an involving experience because he is far closer to the material and knows when to let the sound speak for itself. A perfect example of this comes when a crewman discovers an unexpected presence in a restricted area. Whereas a lesser writer might have made the scene clearer with an extra line of dialogue from the perpetrator, Briggs is content to let the sickening snap effect shape the listener's insight into what's happening as the character instinctively neutralises the threat before carrying on coolly with their business.

While the drama of The Survivors remains agreeably gripping, this chapter is lacking in narrative progression and the overriding plot hasn't moved along much from where The Healers left it. In the old four part Dalek Empire series, this would have been potentially disastrous (as it nearly was for Dalek War - Chapter Two) but given this is only the halfway stage of a larger, six part storyline then it is unlikely to prove fatal. While there was a purposefulness behind the steady direction of the first two releases, the downturn in development has weakened the series' momentum Briggs has skilfully created. If Dalek Empire III is to surpass the quality of its illustrious predecessors - something it clearly has the potential to do - then Briggs needs to cultivate a greater sense of urgency in the next chapter to begin achieving that promise. Given the bleakness of the ending with the fates of several main characters hanging in the balance, there remains plenty of space for Briggs to manoeuvre himself back into a winning position but at half time Dalek Empire III is delicately poised and could go either way.

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