#there is a visceral intimate horror in war room that is different from prior boxsets

[magicofthepen]

gallifrey week, gallifrey week!! war room sneak peek thoughts and feelings (under the cut bc spoilers):

major dehumanization themes oh my god — from Leela being compared to a tool, to her being collared like an animal

very much thinking about Louise’s comment in the BTS preview that she thought at first the writers had taken Leela too far from her center—but that she comes back to her core instincts and loyalty and honor and lack of deviousness. very ahhhh about how Leela is violently forced into a box, forced to become something she hates more than ever—and that’s saying something, considering the corrupting influence of Gallifrey in general. but I’m excited for a story that potentially examines both the horrors of dehumanization and control and how that changes someone—and how it’s possible (maybe) to break away from that (although if War Room is tying into the War Doctor stories in the end, I don’t think Leela can truly break away from Gallifrey?)

god but Louise saying that Leela’s whole motivation is to free Romana even if it means sacrificing her morality…..I am Distraught 🥺🥺

three distinct moments of Leela’s fierce loyalty to Romana already — “I will not give in, Romana. I swear it.” / “You need to let Romana go. You need to let them all go.” “Never.” / “Just as you promised your late mistress you would.” “I would fight for her. I will not fight for you. Not your Gallifrey.” 😭😭

I’m having some kind of feelings about how Leela was so bitter towards Romana in tw3, but then she lost her and found her and lost her again—and she has been separated from everyone else, the last person she has to directly fight for is Romana. so her bitterness and the hurt and complicated feelings towards Romana can’t be fully addressed. there are worse things happening, so Leela isn’t getting a chance to properly confront, like…..anything about Unity (or Dissolution, or Homecoming). (also a Time War 4 problem. and yes I know it’s that the writers have already decided not to properly follow up Time War 3 and aren’t going to start now, but I will forever keep looking at this from an in-universe perspective and pointing out that it has been barely any time since Leela lost Veega! barely any time since Romana lied to her to stay behind on Unity! also: barely any time since she was separated from Rayo and never saw him again! barely any time since (as far as she knows) Narvin died! and she can’t process any of it! her emotions, her self is being literally stifled by the Time Lords’ collar.)

side note: Rassilon calls Romana her late mistress. I wonder if either 1. he’s decided he doesn’t actually care to use Romana as leverage (in an “obey me or she dies” way) since they have other methods of controlling Leela, and he’d rather just hurt Leela by referring to Romana as if she’s dead, or if 2. none of the other Time Lords in the room know that Romana’s still alive in a pocket dimension, and he wants to keep it that way, for whatever reason. because he was very clearly imprisoning her, not killing her, at the end of time war 4, and Leela knows that…..so it’s odd that he’d suddenly choose to refer to Romana as if she’s dead.

(and if he doesn’t care to use Romana as leverage…..what is he keeping her for? it could very well be just to torment her, but yeah.)

I wonder if there’s going to be some purpose to the biological monitoring other than “they can use her vitals to tell if she’s lying or afraid.” bc I totally get why they wrote in the compliance collar—it makes Leela working for the Time Lords make more sense; it’s more than just using Romana as leverage—but they really emphasized how they can detect all her bio-signals. interesting.

Leela refers to Romana as the true president, which. hmm. I feel like it’s probably Big Finish’s tendency to default to referencing Romana as President, but she hasn’t actually been President for a while.

Louise describing Leela as “slightly paranoid, very angry, very controlled” yeah yeah yeah this series seems like it’s gonna be devastating and fucked up for Leela and I already love her bottomless depths of rage—and now that they’re literally collaring her, I feel like she’s storing up just an unending scream at everything she has endured and is enduring and when she has the slightest opening, she’s going to snap. which, good!! I’m glad the writers are letting her be this angry

there is this devastating hint of despair though at “What else can he do to me?” Leela has always turned to anger in her most grief-stricken moments, throwing herself into a fight as a way to cope. this is no exception—she’s lost so much, and she doesn’t care anyone how much she’s hurt. she’s reckless, daring them to starve her or torture her. she’s carrying around a deep well of grief and it’s coming out as rage and a thirst for vengeance, like it always does in her lowest moments

only 15 minutes in and Leela’s already explicitly threatens to kill Rassilon twice. iconic. @ big finish, let her stab Rassilon at some point, she deserves it

new theme!! i’d say of the prior themes, it feels closest to the era 3/time war theme, but where that one was solemn this one has a crackling energy to it. i like it! new vibes!