Twenty six half hour episodes, thirteen viewing days... why does it feel like I have been watching K9 forever? As of today I am done forever, although with some minor regret. For such an awful show, it sure ended well.

Hound of the Korven

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

This episode carries on directly from the previous one, with a key part of the story having to do with the fate of Darius' father in the VR prison. Inspector Thorne wants K9's regeneration unit, and attempts to enlist Darius' aid with a carrot-and-stick offer showing that PrisonerCopDaddy can either be tormented for the rest of his life in a hellish prison environment, or he can be given the lightest possible punishment. Thorne also offers a doggie treat to K9, proposing to exchange K9's memory circuit for the regeneration unit. The exchange happens, and then K9 goes all evil with some kind of viral programming encoded in the memory circuit. So yes, this is another combination of Thorne is up to something nefarious and K9 might be evil (but isn't), but the execution is really quite good.

There is also a twist in which one of the AlienTurtleMonsters from the very first episode turns up in the sewers, and it is revealed that in fact they were the good guys trying to prevent a Korven invasion while K9 was under the influence of bad programming. I genuinely did not see that coming, so nicely done.

In the end of course K9 overcomes the bad programming and regains his normal behavior. Unfortunately he is now left without the ability to heal himself, and Thorne is in possession of the regeneration unit. Oops.

Eclipse of the Korven

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

And then in this grand finale it is revealed that the Korven were behind the creation of the dystopian Department with Thorne as their loyal collaborator. Oh, and also Thorne is actually an alien (or at least partially alien?). 

It is also also revealed that Thorne's evil lair is located at the O2 arena over in the Canary Wharf district of London, which was a bit weird. Probably less so for people who aren't familiar with that part of London, since to be fair it is a weirdly futuristic-looking dome structure with giant spikey girder things shooting out from the roof. For me, though, it is the place where I got to see a live performance of Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds rock musical back in 2012 with a full orchestra, thirty foot tall fire-spraying Martian tripods, and a holographic Liam Neeson as the narrator. So, you know, kind of a memorable night for me.

Anyway, back to the story: Thorne now has everything he needs to bring the Korven invasion force through he space time portal (yes, I know, Inspector Thorne is up to something nefarious and something has come through the space time portal). He has even built a giant mostly-invisible alien hybrid beast with a terrible case of halitosis. The only thing that could possibly prevent the invasion from happening is if Professor Gryffen were to manually enter in his override code, which is impossible since everything is going down at the O2 arena while agoraphobe Gryffen is stuck back home.

Except, the entire agoraphobe plot line pays off with Gryffen finally braving the outdoors unprotected for the first time in years -- a bravely traumatic experience that is played surprisingly well. In the end the Korven are defeated, Thorne is eaten by his alien hybrid beast, the dystopian Department is effectively destroyed, and all is well with the world.

Well, except for the part where K9 dies.

Which, obviously with five minutes of running time left he isn't really dead, but we get a touching sequence in which all of the leads get to pay their respects and just generally respond to the aftermath of the action. And then, of course, K9 winds up being resurrected by his regeneration unit that magically appears due to some deus ex machina thing, and it's a happy ending all around.

Look, the very ending was obvious and telegraphed from a mile away. But I can forgive that because everything else worked so well. Ultimately the final sequence of four episodes showed what this series could have been with less studio-enforced blandness and more complex characterizations. Given that the entire series was produced in one long 18-week shoot, and that plot threads were introduced in the first several episodes that paid off in the last several, the potential was absolutely there. It is a real tragedy that I cannot recommend this series to anyone but the most die-hard completist Doctor Who fan, because most of the show is just wretched. Out of twenty six episodes there  are five that I would consider to be genuinely good, and all of them happen within the final block. And even then, they are interrupted by a goddamned clips episode. Which means you have to wade through nearly ten hours of mediocre-to-awful before you get to anything enjoyable. What a waste.

STATS:

Companion(s): K9, Starkey, Jorjie Turner, Darius Pike, Alistair Gryffen
Episode(s): Hound of the Korven / The Eclipse of the Korven
Steps Walked: 7,596 today, 4,327,752 total
Distance Walked: 4.03 miles today, 2,264.57 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 10,300 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 4,265 total
Weight: 265.80 lbs (five day moving average), net change -41.50 lbs