An Autist Reviews: The Emporium At The End (The New Adventures Bernice Summerfield Volume 3: The Unbound Universe 4)

*This is an older review, it is not as detailed as my more modern reviews*

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

The Universe is ending. The Doctor and Benny have rescued a collection of survivors and the Sisterhood of Beedlix and have arrived at the Universe’s last remaining and largest superstore. Everything is on sale, including a chance to win a one-way trip out of the Universe… but something sinister lurks beneath the surface of the Emporium. Who is the mysterious Manager? How does the Doctor know him? And how does he know Benny?

Ooh boy… okay… I’m not gonna spoil anything until the second paragraph of this review, so just skip that if you want to remain unspoiled. This story is generally very good… but there really are some glaring issues. It ends way too quickly and so many plot points make no sense and should have never been approved as they make so many plot holes. Also, the twists are basic and you can probably figure them out with just a passing thought. The relationship between the Manager and Benny is lovely, the same as the relationship between the cyborg family and Benny. The Doctor gets some awesome and powerful moments, and the Sisterhood is even better than in their first appearance and… oddly enough… I feel like they didn’t sing enough… hmmm…

-SPOILER SECTION START-

WHAT THE H*LL IS THAT REVEAL ABOUT THE DOCTOR HAVING NO MEMORIES??? HE DOES! WE SEE THEM, HE ACCESSES THEM IN TWO STORIES AND PLAY MAJOR ROLES IN THEM! This reveal makes no f*cking sense. The Doctor has memories, if he didn’t he would know, and also, how the h*ll can he have no memories when he knows he does, and even if he only ‘cannibalized’ them, why did the f*cking machine read his mind as empty??? Did the Manager do something to it??? This just f*cking pissed me off! Who let this happen, it ruins an amazing story!

-SPOILER SECTION END-

The acting in this story is one of the best parts! Benny, the Doctor, the Manager, and Mother Superior all give their best performances yet and exude authority and emotion. Cheesy lines come across dramatic and wholesome solely because of the level of acting! The worst acting comes from the side characters, but they are still generally amazing. I’d give the worst actor in this a 7/10, and that’s really good considering what I could say about some other stories in this box set. The cyborg family is awesome, but they do have some less than great acting, and so do some of the superstore workers.

The music in this is lovely. For the first half, though, it just seems to fade into nothingness, but the epic, romantic, and stressful scores are great when they do pop up. The vocal effects are really good, but the cyborg family should have had different ones, but it doesn’t stop them from being perfectly serviceable. The effects are also on point, with plenty that aren't ‘necessary,’ but there are also a number of times where effects are missing and really shouldn’t be. Still, a great set of effects.

Ooh boy, this ain't fun to listen to again. I cannot stress how painful it is to listen to this again given all of the plot holes and painfully obvious twists. It’s just not fun. Probably isn’t worth this low of a score, but it seriously hurts my heart and mind.

All in all, this is a good enough story. If it weren't for the terrible plot holes, this would be a 10/10 story, but sadly it hurts me just to listen to this. There are so many issues in this, but let’s move past those. The acting is superb, the Manager is dastardly and suave, and the side characters are good, but not great. The music is lovely when it exists and it enhances the mood of every scene it exists in. The effects are awesome, but sometimes they’re a little off, or some need to be added. The replay value is abysmal. It hurts to listen to this again due to the plot holes, but I suppose if you can ignore them, go ahead and listen.

Total - 7 (Mathematically it could be 7 or 8… I choose 7!)

Plot - 7
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Story - 8
Writing - 6
Enjoyment - 8
Twists - 6

Acting - 9
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MCs - 10
SCs - 8
BGs - 10

Effects - 9
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Music - 8
Voices - 9
Actions - 9

Replay - 5
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Re-Enjoyment - 4
New Details - 6

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