Spoil of War
Shades of Alien Bodies as Alex and Cass become wrapped up in an auction between alien foes over a mystery artefact. Said macguffin is rather more abstract than the Doctor's mortal remains and it's arguable that if this had just been a straight Who story it would have been a bit less interesting. Instead we have the Doctor's not exactly great grandson trying to do things differently to his old man even though inevitably he ends up falling into the same patterns. The story does much the same to Cass who's essentially been kidnapped and should be quite cross about this but because of the needs of the story is somewhat forced to fulfil the companion role. But honestly, I probably found the sniping between the Doctor and Hieronyma as they try to hold her ship together whilst pursing Alex more my sort of hot beverage.
The Tale of Alex
As is this complicated synecdoche of the whole conflict as the Doctor and Alex move backwards and forward in time trying to fix and original sin, suspicious of each other's motives and causing a colony to become temporally unstuck as competing causalities fight for supremacy. Finally the two meet and it's clear that their irreconcilable difference is down to the betrayal of the Doctor wanting his great grandson back in the universe but then keeping the Alex's original origins from him. Meanwhile, the Doctor covertly makes Cass aware of her own origins and how her death is in flux in a way which presents the intriguing idea that when she and the Eighth Doctor met again for the first time in Night of the Doctor she might have been well aware of what was about to happen, what needed to happen perhaps and that's why she wouldn't fly away with him in the TARDIS.
See-Saw
This superficially reminded me of the Head Over Heals, the 80s computer game from the Bitmap Brothers (or at least the opening part of it), with the competing TARDIS teams are on different time tracks solving the same mystery and helping one another. How have they managed to land on Earth, a time-locked world which no one should be able to visit during the war and what's with all the nursery rhymes? This inevitably leads to the same discoveries being made by both groups which is tricky to do on audio without becoming repetitious but it mostly happens simultaneously for various reasons and cross cutting between groups of characters largely stops annoyance setting in. Something I only noticed on second listen (don't ask) is that Hieronyma is recast in this installment, with Lizzie Hopley filling in for Niky Wardley, who plays the character across the other three episodes. Scheduling perhaps or an illness?
The First Forest
After two stories which hinge on two realities occupying the same space and time, here's a tale about a place where numerous time zones are happening in the same area, ala Voyager's brilliant Shattered, featuring a Tom Bombadil type character who spends his life trying to avoid bumping into himself (rather like the Doctor). Caught in the middle of all this is Sharon, one of the Time Lord Sontarans who has found himself lost in the forest and goddam if Dan Starkey doesn't once again manage to give us yet another very individual example of the clone race using the same voice as the others but also perfectly distinct. But I particularly love how, when the Eighth Doctor and Alex finally do (sort-of) reconcile, it's like many family members after an arguement, calmly saying the things they may have said when bawling at each other, but lacked the ability to listen.