The fourth episode of Big Finish’s Thirteenth Doctor Adventures, Ride or Die is a big improvement on the preceding release and another strong script from one of Big Finish’s lesser-used top talents Rochana Patel. It “was a dream come true” for Patel to write for the duo of Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill as the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan, and that is clear with how she captures the main characters and gets the most out of them in Ride or Die.
The material is clearly also enjoyed by the lead actors, particularly Whittaker who puts in a performance that will really please fans of her era.
The core strength of the story, in a narrative context, is it is fast-paced yet still manages to have intimate moments by packing in key dialogue that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the episode. On the production side, the music always delivers and the sound design is superb at all times. This is a huge contrast to the previous episode, Lionesses in Winter.
Ride or Die starts off with the pair in the TARDIS, which had soundscape intricacies unique to the Thirteenth Doctor era, and this helps immediately immerse the listener into the story.
The colloquial language used by the Doctor and Yaz is totally of its time, and shows how relaxed they are in each other’s presence. So the story works to create situations where friction and second-thoughts about their companionship (a carefully chosen word given the “Thasmin” subtext that is very clear throughout the script) can get in the way.
Following the opening scene in the TARDIS, the story relocates to Afghanistan in 2018. This era loved to visit rocky, desert-like environments (higher budget than quarries), and the war-torn nation would be an incredibly interesting place to set a story, but instead, Ride or Die swiftly moves on as a dimensional rift takes a vehicle full of US soldiers to a neighbouring sub-dimension.
The world those soldiers are relocated to seems to be a deliberate parallel or representation of Afghanistan, a way of being able to tell a story about the pointlessness of war, who profits from it, and how violence becomes normalised without having to explore the atrocities actually committed in Afghanistan this century. These two lines really stand out, from a story packed with brilliant dialogue:
“You don’t need villains, you just need people doing their jobs.”
“When you put it like that, sounds like some dystopian nightmare.”
The route taken to those two lines packs in a lot, and also heavily features two US soldiers, Sergeant Johnson and Corporal Chapman, and Yaz’s old friend Megan Miller who is a Sheffield-based paramedic also transported to the sub-dimension. Once the Doctor and Yaz reach the alien world, three years have passed for the soldiers transported there and they’re fighting a new war. Three years have also passed since Yaz effectively disappeared from the local police force, and therefore the last time Megan saw her.
Megan used to have a crush on Yaz, who is still in the process of admitting she has a crush on the Doctor. It’s easy to understand what Megan’s presence is supposed to instigate in character development for the two leads and expose the awkwardness both carry. But Megan also has a secondary purpose, which is far more interesting.
The soldiers and the TARDIS team are obviously used to conflict and war, while Megan has to adapt to the situation she’s thrown into via a The Wizard of Oz-style dimensional rift. Her coping mechanism is normalising the ‘kill or be killed’ way of living, despite being a paramedic, and it creates really good character conflict with Yaz who has plenty of experience to show there’s another way. But eventually Yaz considers the more violent route herself, and that sets up an even better scene for her and the Doctor.
While the story shies away from mentioning what US soldiers are best known for this century, it’s interesting that they flit from trusting and being dismissive of the Doctor who is a woman entering ‘their’ warzone and telling them what to do. It’s also another example of the Doctor showing her preference for flat team structures when confronting hierarchical figures and organisations.
The villains, named banshees by the soldiers, are pretty simple and the rate the humans hold them back (and treats their prisoner of war, which must surely be reflecting Afghanistan) diminishes how threatening they supposedly are. But for the story’s third act, the pace really speeds up and the banshees are seen under a totally different lens as another villain (also pretty simple and generic, but better executed) is brought in.
A lot is said with few words thanks to Whittaker’s performance (one “oh?” perfectly carries the weight of the situation the Doctor is in), but she also speeds through explanations so the story can reach its resolution.
Recent Doctor Who media on television has tried to tackle timely issues, but has been a decade behind on or muddled the messages it was trying to send. This story, however, feels incredibly relevant to now, and pulls it off expertly. Every listener can have their own preference on what the Doctor’s beliefs and motivations should be, and this story paints this incarnation as a radical left-wing, anti-capitalist who confronts authority by walking up to it in her charity shop outfit and showing that words can win against weapons.
Other strengths of Ride or Die include a few all-female scenes (which there aren’t many of in Doctor Who, and with more characters, it feels so refreshing), the action and messaging being pitched in a way that juvenile and adult audiences can take enjoyment from, and how references to past Doctors and stories are woven in.
This story exists in the same world as Doomsday, Deep Breath, and Big Finish’s own Thirteenth Doctor opener, Vampire Weekend, but never deflects attention to those connections when there’s a better story to tell. In fact, the Doctor’s dismissal of Torchwood’s existence is particularly fun to hear.
There is the equivalent of three codas to this episode, beautifully wrapping up the story for all the main characters. The last one, for the Doctor and Yaz, also ends on a cliffhanger that suggests Big Finish’s Thirteenth Doctor Adventures will have an arc beyond the emotional journey of “Thasmin”.
Russell T Davies has boasted how he’s trying to tell stories that tackle the issues of today in his latest era of Doctor Who, but with the exception of Dot and Bubble, none have done as well as this 2026 release.
The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Ride or Die is out now from Big Finish.
