Audience scores on average 7.8/10, with common praise for Bradley’s performance and criticism that the Master’s appearance, while exciting, undermines the Dalek threat slightly.
Before she became a fan-favorite companion (continuing through Doom Coalition and Ravenous ), Liv was introduced as an antidote to melodrama. Nicola Walker plays her as a woman who has seen the worst of the universe and treats the TARDIS like a particularly annoying ambulance. Her scene in The White Room where she talks down a suicidal alternate-timeline version of the Doctor is a masterclass in understated acting. She doesn’t hug him. She says, "You’re bleeding. Let me fix that." That is heroism. Dark Eyes II - Big Finish-
McGann delivers a career-best performance here. In Dark Eyes II , his Doctor oscillates between manic energy and hollow silence. Listen to how he says, "I am not a good man." In previous audios, that would be a quip. Here, it’s a confession. McGann understands that the joy of the Eighth Doctor has curdled into responsibility. He is kind, but he has stopped laughing. Audience scores on average 7
: Often cited as the weakest link in the box set. While it introduces "The Eminence," some felt the execution was over-complex and the villains felt like "stock sci-fi zombies". Her scene in The White Room where she
Dark Eyes II is available as a 4-CD set or digital download from Big Finish. It is best enjoyed after Dark Eyes I (2012). A knowledge of the Eighth Doctor’s previous adventures ( Blood of the Daleks , Lucie Miller / To the Death ) is helpful but not essential.