Review: I, Davros: Corruption

Big Finish’s I, Davros miniseries, chronicling the unknown life of the eponymous super-villain, enters its third and penultimate episode with Corruption, penned by Lance Parkin.

As the play begins, Davros (Terry Molloy) is still slightly mentally disturbed (and disturbing) - sometimes grounded in science and striving for new discoveries, but at other times unreservedly and obsessively thirsty for power. Physically, he’s still a normal Kaled, but that’s about to change, as his interest in genetic mutation grows and he finds himself involved in a horrific accident.

Corruption, really, is the turning point for the lead character, where we see him transform from the young man we’ve met in Innocence and Purity into the monstrous figure from the television series. Interestingly, despite the significant changes that Davros undergoes in this story, it probably provides the least character development of the miniseries so far; the subtle changes in his character – the many smaller brush-strokes in terms of his evolution – are gone, replaced by a few bigger, more dramatic twists. That’s not to say that his character (or any other) is handled badly, but this important chapter in Davros’s life is told through exciting set pieces, rather than ongoing gradual changes. On the whole, this works, making for a tense and engaging story – you know what’s going to come eventually, and waiting to see how and when it occurs is hugely exciting.

There are a lot of big dramatic moments away from Davros, too – the death of his mother, Lady Calcula (played once again by the splendid Carolyn Jones) is one of the miniseries’ best scenes so far; Davros’s betrayal of Shan (Katarina Olsson, who is superb though underused, never developing enough of a relationship with Davros for her fate to resonate as it should) is also well-performed and surprising.

Jones is brilliant throughout the play, in fact, skillfully seizing the opportunity to add a little humour to her character without taking away any of the coldness or menace. Her reaction when watching a Thal massacre is so wonderfully unexpected and inappropriate as to be laugh-out-loud funny, whilst remaining dark and unnerving enough as to complement her frosty character, rather than taking away from what’s been previously established.

However, Terry Molloy is once again the star of the show. His performance is pitched just at the right level – Davros is scary, but not quite insane; twisted, but far from being unlikeable. At one point, he’s experimenting on newborn Kaled foetuses, which are all dying from his interference, but Molloy’s acting is so engrossing and convincing that his actions never repulse; they simply intrigue and unnerve. The final scenes of the main flashback story, in which Davros has become (physically and – more significantly for the audio medium – vocally) the familiar character who the Doctor encounters, are simultaneously very chilling and very exciting.

Corruption is dark, unexpectedly funny, and utterly horrifying. It’s a contender for the strongest instalment of this series to date, and perhaps as one of Parkin’s best stories, too. At this point, I couldn’t really be any more excited about the final chapter . . .