Doctor Who spin-off review: Heroes clash in the third part of Dalek Empire: The Fearless

Salus Kade meets earlier Dalek Empire protagonist Susan Mendes. But not to join forces. Instead, he has to kill her, in the third episode of the Doctor Who spin-off’s fourth series…

The third chapter in Doctor Who audio spin-off Dalek Empire: The Fearless features a clash of protagonists. Salus Kade, the lead in this particular series, has been given the task of assassinating Susan Mendes – one of the lead characters from the original series.

What makes this interesting is that, since The Fearless is set right in the middle of the first series of Dalek Empire, we know that Kade won’t succeed. That somehow, Mendes will escape execution for being a “traitor” to the Earth Empire. What we don’t initially know of course is how.

But what really makes this interesting is how it explores two very different protagonists. You can see why Kade is OK with killing “the Angel of Mercy”, as she’s known to millions of slaves across the galaxy. To the Earth Empire, she’s only helping to make the Dalek’s workforce more efficient. As a result, her speeches are simply making the Dalek Empire more unstoppable. It’s understandable why some in the Earth Empire want her dead.

Kade is desperate to kill Susan Mendes. But what he doesn’t know is her plan that’s unleashed in first series episode, “Death to the Daleks!”

(Image credit: Dalek Empire/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Flawed heroes

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But at the same time, we know what’s really going on. Thanks to the first series, we know that Susan Mendes is planning a rebellion with her friend Kalendorf. We know that it is eventually unleashed with the cry of, “Death to the Daleks!” But not for a few years yet.

Beyond that, we also know something else that’s important in this chapter: Kade is far from a perfect hero himself. He’s still struggling with the grief and the trauma of losing his family. He’s a man who still has a lot of anger in him, perhaps too much at times. And it almost pushes him into making bad decisions in this story.

Once again, we get great performances from both Noel Clarke as Kade and Sarah Mowat as Mendes. It’s great that this episode features both actors, and to hear them opposite each other for a large number of scenes.

On top of that, we also get some great action sequences involving the Fearless, some slaves and the Daleks. We also get another solid cliffhanger, as Kade discovers a shocking betrayal. Overall, this is another solid episode, one that leads rather nicely into the final chapter of this series.

Have you listened to the third part of The Fearless? What did you think of Salus Kade meeting Susan Mendes? Do you prefer your heroes to be flawed? Let us know in the comments below.