![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeSo, I have finished season 8 of Bernice Summerfield. And I am feeling a bit torn, because I'm worried that Braxiatel's shades of grey have gotten too dark, even for me.
I have pretty high standards for fictional villainry. I think the Daleks in "The Apocalypse Element" missed a perfectly good opportunity to open up Romana's brain, extract the presidential codes from the squishy bits and invade Gallifrey twenty years ahead of schedule. I thought Voldemort lacked imagination, and seriously, I don't even know what the Master is thinking most of the time, unless it's "How do I get the Doctor's pants off?".
Nevertheless, Braxiatel in "The Wake"...
Let's be clear: I cheered when he killed Jason. I didn't loathe Jason as much by the end as I did when I first met him, but in all seriousness, if Brax wanted to kill them, and then go back and do it another six times, I'd be okay with that. Using Benny's son as the weapon was just the icing on the delicious cake.
On the other hand, setting up Benny to be raped by Doggles is just beyond the pale. Yes, my priorities are a little screwy, but there you go.
I can sort of see why did it -- Benny has just found out that Hass and Brax destroyed the Mimsphere -- genocide, there's another bit of fictional villainry that I'll take over rape -- and Brax wants to ensure that anything she says will be disregarded as the delusions of a grieving, hysterical (word chosen with due consideration) victim/liar. But, like the implication in LotTL that the Master was beating Lucy, it was a little more real world than I like my evil.
...Honestly, though, Doggles? Did Brax specifically go searching for the crudest tool on the Collection? Bleurgh.
Having said all that, I really loved the way season 8 played out. "Freedom of Information" was a really wonderful story, quite light on Brax, but brilliant for Benny. And Bev realising there's a puppetmaster behind the Draconians and faking her death accordingly -- that made me cheer. That the puppetmaster was Brax just improves matters, in my opinon.
I'm still not entirely sure what Braxiatel's long game is. He's fixated on (a) protecting the Collection at all costs and (b) grooming Benny for some future ... thing. Simon Guerrier said on the DWF that Brax thinks he's the last of his kind, but that doesn't tally against the conclusion of Gallifrey, in which the Collection has been sold off and only the planetoid remains. My theory, which is unlikely to be bourne out by audio-canon on account of how it breaks the BBC's restrictions on what BF can do, is that Brax knows the Time War is coming, and is ensuring that KS-159 (which will, by the end of Gallifrey, house nothing more than the Time Lord bio-data archives and a handful of bickering Gallifreyans) will be protected. Both by the Draconians and his own defenses. What role he intended for Benny to play in this, is not clear. He's been grooming her to be as ruthless as he is, and keeps talking about how she "understands history". Does he intend for her to play a leadership role in the Time War? Defending the Collection, perhaps? It's not clear, and in any case, she wants no part of it.
The real problem, of course, is that it's Pandora who is pulling the strings, as much as Brax himself. Or so I choose to believe. Not that Braxiatel isn't perfecty capable of being shady on his own terms, but this is Master-standard of evil (and Brax is rather more competent). Also, the fixation on preserving Gallifrey is very ... Pandora-esque, albeit filtered through Braxiatel's obsession with his Collection.
I don't know. I'm a little bit glad he won't be in season 9, as it's going to take some serious work to redeem Braxiatel -- and if he's not to be redeemed, then I want to postpone his inevitable death for as long as possible.
I have pretty high standards for fictional villainry. I think the Daleks in "The Apocalypse Element" missed a perfectly good opportunity to open up Romana's brain, extract the presidential codes from the squishy bits and invade Gallifrey twenty years ahead of schedule. I thought Voldemort lacked imagination, and seriously, I don't even know what the Master is thinking most of the time, unless it's "How do I get the Doctor's pants off?".
Nevertheless, Braxiatel in "The Wake"...
Let's be clear: I cheered when he killed Jason. I didn't loathe Jason as much by the end as I did when I first met him, but in all seriousness, if Brax wanted to kill them, and then go back and do it another six times, I'd be okay with that. Using Benny's son as the weapon was just the icing on the delicious cake.
On the other hand, setting up Benny to be raped by Doggles is just beyond the pale. Yes, my priorities are a little screwy, but there you go.
I can sort of see why did it -- Benny has just found out that Hass and Brax destroyed the Mimsphere -- genocide, there's another bit of fictional villainry that I'll take over rape -- and Brax wants to ensure that anything she says will be disregarded as the delusions of a grieving, hysterical (word chosen with due consideration) victim/liar. But, like the implication in LotTL that the Master was beating Lucy, it was a little more real world than I like my evil.
...Honestly, though, Doggles? Did Brax specifically go searching for the crudest tool on the Collection? Bleurgh.
Having said all that, I really loved the way season 8 played out. "Freedom of Information" was a really wonderful story, quite light on Brax, but brilliant for Benny. And Bev realising there's a puppetmaster behind the Draconians and faking her death accordingly -- that made me cheer. That the puppetmaster was Brax just improves matters, in my opinon.
I'm still not entirely sure what Braxiatel's long game is. He's fixated on (a) protecting the Collection at all costs and (b) grooming Benny for some future ... thing. Simon Guerrier said on the DWF that Brax thinks he's the last of his kind, but that doesn't tally against the conclusion of Gallifrey, in which the Collection has been sold off and only the planetoid remains. My theory, which is unlikely to be bourne out by audio-canon on account of how it breaks the BBC's restrictions on what BF can do, is that Brax knows the Time War is coming, and is ensuring that KS-159 (which will, by the end of Gallifrey, house nothing more than the Time Lord bio-data archives and a handful of bickering Gallifreyans) will be protected. Both by the Draconians and his own defenses. What role he intended for Benny to play in this, is not clear. He's been grooming her to be as ruthless as he is, and keeps talking about how she "understands history". Does he intend for her to play a leadership role in the Time War? Defending the Collection, perhaps? It's not clear, and in any case, she wants no part of it.
The real problem, of course, is that it's Pandora who is pulling the strings, as much as Brax himself. Or so I choose to believe. Not that Braxiatel isn't perfecty capable of being shady on his own terms, but this is Master-standard of evil (and Brax is rather more competent). Also, the fixation on preserving Gallifrey is very ... Pandora-esque, albeit filtered through Braxiatel's obsession with his Collection.
I don't know. I'm a little bit glad he won't be in season 9, as it's going to take some serious work to redeem Braxiatel -- and if he's not to be redeemed, then I want to postpone his inevitable death for as long as possible.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 12:29 am (UTC)At some point in the near future, probably this weekend, I'll do a post explaining who Brax is, and which audios I recommend.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 01:53 am (UTC)...wait, you thought he had plans that didn't revolve around this?
also: oh, is "bev", bev tarant? she's in a couple of seven n' ace audios ("the genocide machine" and "dust breeding").
and: i still cannot forgive anyone involved for letting a character named "doggles" to exist.
to conclude: i am afraid of listening to these and hating brax. ;_____;
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 02:09 am (UTC)And yes, that's Bev Tarrant. She winds up running the Collection in Braxiatel's absence.
ALSO, I think you should at least give them a go, otherwise you're the equivalent of a chipper who can't cope with the fact that Rose is a bit selfish sometimes. Not that Rose has committed genocide -- wait, yes she did -- but still. There's good and bad, and there's the head!Pandora to excuse all major crimes.