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The Reaping is the second in Big Finish’s so-called Cyber-Trilogy — though honestly, calling it a trilogy is like calling Back to the Future a single coherent narrative or Star Wars a carefully planned epic. It’s really one self-contained story (The Harvest) followed by a two-parter desperately stapled together for marketing symmetry. But fine. Labels aside, this one’s actually excellent — a story that remembers the Cybermen can be tragic, and that Doctor Who is at its best when it slows down long enough to feel something.
Set in Baltimore, The Reaping drops us into companion Peri’s homecoming — and it’s messy. Six brings her to Earth to look into the murder of her childhood friend and father figure, which she learns about while browsing something called the “Gogglebox,” a giant archive of all of Earth’s recorded media. The Doctor mentions it contains every film ever made — including all the Police Academy movies — at which point I’d also start considering murder as a mercy.
From there, it’s pure Americana drenched in grief. Peri reconnects with her mother and the local community, but the reunion has all the tension of a family dinner where every unresolved trauma is invited. Cue family drama: the sort that teeters between Neighbours and Dallas, only grounded enough that it doesn’t tip into melodrama. Think Rose and Jackie Tyler if the emotional volume knob was twisted to “quiet anguish.”
And then the horror hits. People start behaving strangely, whispering like pod people, their minds not entirely their own. It’s got that classic Body Snatchers paranoia filtered through Cold War unease — suspicion simmering beneath suburbia. And then comes the moment: Peri’s friend Anthony bursts out of his grave, half-man, half-Cyberman. It’s grotesque and beautiful — the perfect symbol of a world where grief and technology have merged into something monstrous.
That’s the thing about this story: it’s about loss and transformation, but also about the horror of seeing love mechanised. These Cybermen aren’t an invading army — they’re the ghosts of the people you failed to save. And when Six finally confronts their dying leader, it’s almost Shakespearean. There’s no plan for conquest, no master scheme — just a dying relic trying to ensure his species survives. The tragedy hits harder than any laser blast ever could.
Six and Peri’s relationship, usually spiky and snippy, feels softer here. He’s less bluster and more empathy — perhaps still haunted by Evelyn’s influence from earlier adventures. Their affection feels earned now, battle-worn but genuine. When Peri nearly leaves him to stay with her family, it hurts — because for once, you can see why she’d want to.
Final Thoughts:
The Reaping is a story that marries domestic pain to cosmic horror. It gives grief weight and betrayal a sting. It’s one of the strongest stories for Peri in Big Finish, one of the few Cybermen tales that pull your heart tight and then squeeze. It’s not flawless, but it’s compelling, ugly, and emotionally true. It’s a story which is all about how painful it is to come home, and executes that tension flawlessly.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 half-cybermen clawing their way out of their own graves.