History Recap / BigFinishDoctorWho062TheLast

[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho053TheCreedOfTheKromon The Kro'ka]] mentally tortures the Eighth Doctor a bit with memories of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan Katarina]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Adric.]] He then proceeds to shove the Doctor into a nuclear wasteland, just days after the mass destruction of a city.

* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Requiem is revealed to be this as, he tries to communicating with Excelsior, despite her stalwart attempts to pretend he is not there.

"Landscar", an avatar for the whole planet, confronts the Doctor about the fact that his presence has thrown a spanner in the usual system. He explains that all that the horror that the Doctor has witnessed is part of a regular cycle. A war sparks on the planet, which always ends up wiping out all life, always ending with Excelsior being the last one to die, and then the planet reboots and the cycle starts over. The Doctor tries questioning Landscar on what the purpose of this cycle is, but he has no answer and neither does he have any idea who or what [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho050Zagreus the Divergence]] are, which the Doctor finds rather interesting. If the cycle of the experiment is to start over, the Doctor, too, will have to die. If he refuses, the planet will die before he does, and the experiment and its associated cycle of death and rebirth will never be repeated. He relents and commits HeroicSuicide.

C'rizz arrives at the vault doors, and Requiem and his comrades turn out to be visible only to him. The Doctor has better things to do than to worry about C'rizz sanity, and the group plans an escape in the last remaining rocket. Charley realises she's a crippled burden and asks C'rizz if he'd be capable of another MercyKilling after what he did for L'da. Excelsior, meanwhile, has been taking advice from a mysterious counsellor named "Landscar", who's teaching her how to be one with the planet and control the elements. She will be "the last". She also reveals that her race has no way to procreate, and that there is never any beginning of new life, just the end of existing lives. Requiem also turns out to be not so invisible after all, as he tries to confront Excelsior with the crimes she has done to, as well as allowed to happen to her people, while she tries her hardest to pretend that he is not there.

* WarIsHell: Said over, and over, and over, and over again. SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

"Landscar", an avatar for the whole planet, confronts the Doctor about the fact that his presence has upset the usual system. He explains that all that the horror that the Doctor has witnessed is part of a regular cycle. A war sparks on the planet, which always ends up wiping out all life, always ending with Excelsior being the last one to die, and then the planet reboots and the cycle starts over. The Doctor tries questioning Landscar on what the purpose of this cycle is, but he has no answer and neither does he have any idea who or what [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho050Zagreus the Divergence]] are, which the Doctor finds rather interesting. If the cycle of the experiment is to start over, the Doctor, too, will have to die. If he refuses, the planet will die before he does, and the experiment and its associated cycle of death and rebirth will never be repeated. He relents and commits HeroicSuicide.

Charley decides to straight up tell Excelsior that the war was lost. Excelsior responds with disbelief and, when that fails, by violently killing one of her ministers, then Charley, then C'rizz. The Doctor realises that since he's now stuck on a rocket high above a dead planet, without his TARDIS, without his friends, he doesn't have a thing to live for. Suicide becomes a very viable option. When the planet pulls him and Excelsior back in towards itself, Excelsior manages to [[TooDumbToLive walk into a volcano]], which would have fulfilled the prophecy of her being "the last" living thing to die. But the Doctor's presence on the planet has upset that prophecy a bit. "Landscar", an avatar for the whole planet, explains that the planet will be rebooted -- although he has no idea who or what [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho050Zagreus the Divergence]] are, which the Doctor finds rather interesting. If the cycle of the experiment is to start over, the Doctor, too, will have to die. If he refuses, the planet will die before he does, and the experiment and its associated cycle of death and rebirth will never be repeated. He relents and commits HeroicSuicide.

It is not the end though as the reboot turns out to work as intended. The Doctor wakes up to the sound of Charley and C'rizz's voices. He is greeted by them and an alive Requiem, who explain to him that he is just in time for the victory parade. Apparently, the planet was saved from brink of war by a successful diplomatic negation, and Excelsior, apparently much more sane this time around, is about to hold a speech on how a new era of peace is about to begin. The Doctor's RippleEffectProofMemory, however, leaves him just a tiny bit traumatised, so when he feels the pull of the Interzone, he quickly hurries Charley and C'rizz along, despite their outspoken disappointment at not getting to hear the speech.

C'rizz arrives at the vault doors, and Requiem and his comrades turn out to be visible only to him. The Doctor has better things to do than to worry about C'rizz sanity, and the group plans an escape in the last remaining rocket. Charley realises she's a crippled burden and asks C'rizz if he'd be capable of another MercyKilling after what he did for L'da. Excelsior, meanwhile, has been taking advice from a mysterious counsellor named "Landscar", who's teaching her how to be one with the planet and control the elements. She will be "the last". She also reveals that her race has no way to procreate, and that there is never any beginning of new life, just the end of existing lives.

Charley and C'rizz are terrified by the ruined cityscape. The group all get separated from each other: Charley and the Doctor get trapped underneath a building, and when C'rizz tries to get help, the only person he can find is a very confused-sounding librarian called Requiem. When Charley and the Doctor wake up in the government bunker's hospital, Charley realises that she's paralysed from the neck down. She and the Doctor both try really hard to keep a StiffUpperLip, but they have to face the fact that Charley will never walk again.

* [[spoiler: AnthropomorphicPersonification]]

* BigNo: C'rizz lets one out when he realizes [[spoiler: Charley has been killed]].

* [[spoiler: DeadAllAlong]]: Requiem and the other survivors.

* [[spoiler: GeniusLoci]]
* [[spoiler: GhostlyGoals]]

* [[spoiler: GroundhogDayLoop]]
* [[spoiler: HeroicSuicide]]

* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}]]
* [[spoiler: RiseToTheChallenge]]: The insides of the shelter break at one point.

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Cruelly subverted when [[spoiler: Charley]] says it's impossible.
* [[spoiler: TooDumbToLive]]: Excelsior.
* [[spoiler: OurGhostsAreDifferent]]

Charley and C'rizz are terrified by the ruined cityscape. The group all get separated from each other: Charley and the Doctor get trapped underneath a building, and when C'rizz tries to get help, the only person he can find is a very confused-sounding librarian. When Charley and the Doctor wake up in the government bunker's hospital, Charley realises that she's paralysed from the neck down. She and the Doctor both try really hard to keep a StiffUpperLip, but they have to face the fact that Charley will never walk again.

C'rizz arrives at the vault doors, and his new librarian friend and his comrades turn out to be visible only to him. The Doctor has better things to do than to worry about C'rizz sanity, and the group plans an escape in the last remaining rocket. Charley realises she's a crippled burden and asks C'rizz if he'd be capable of another MercyKilling after what he did for L'da. Excelsior, meanwhile, has been taking advice from a mysterious counsellor named "Landscar", who's teaching her how to be one with the planet and control the elements. She will be "the last". She also reveals that her race has no way to procreate, and that there is never any beginning of new life, just the end of existing lives.

The story starts over again, this time with a victory parade and C'rizz' librarian friend alive to greet them. The Doctor's RippleEffectProofMemory leaves him just a tiny bit traumatised.

!Tropes

* WarIsHell: Said over, and over, and over, and over again. SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

* ForeShadowing: ''Plenty'' of it for [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho064TheNextLife "The Next Life"]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EverybodysDeadDave Everybody's dead, Doctor.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And if you thought [[HarsherInHindsight this war was bad...]]]]

Charley decides to straight up tell Excelsior that the war was lost. Excelsior responds with disbelief and, when that fails, by violently killing one of her ministers, then Charley, then C'rizz. The Doctor realises that since he's now stuck on a rocket high above a dead planet, without his TARDIS, without his friends, he doesn't have a thing to live for. Suicide becomes a very viable option. When the planet pulls him and Excelsior back in towards itself, Excelsior manages to [[TooDumbToLive walk into a vulcano]], which would have fulfilled the prophecy of her being "the last" living thing to die. But the Doctor's presence on the planet has upset that prophecy a bit. "Landscar", an avatar for the whole planet, explains that the planet will be rebooted -- although he has no idea who or what [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho050Zagreus the Divergence]] are, which the Doctor finds rather interesting. If the cycle of the experiment is to start over, the Doctor, too, will have to die. If he refuses, the planet will die before he does, and the experiment and its associated cycle of death and rebirth will never be repeated. He relents and commits HeroicSuicide.

[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho053TheCreedOfTheKromon The Kro'ka]] mentally tortures the Eighth Doctor a bit with memories of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan Katarina]] and [[ecap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Adric.]] He then proceeds to shove the Doctor into a nuclear wasteland, just days after the mass destruction of a city.

[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho053TheCreedOfTheKromon The Kro'ka]] mentally tortures the Eighth Doctor a bit with memories of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan Katarina]] and Adric. He then proceeds to shove the Doctor into a nuclear wasteland, just days after the mass destruction of a city .

* BlatantLies: The minsters have been fibbing to Excelsior about the state of the world.

* [[spoiler: DeadAllAlong]]: Requim and the other survivors.

* ArcWords: Many of the Divergent arc's elements: revolution, reincarnation, evolution, death and rebirth, spinning in a circle, breaking free of the cycle, the next life and the beyond.