Torchwood: Aliens Among Us 2

 

Love Rat by Christopher Cooper

Trust Big Finish to remake Day One, and not only make it good, but also make it somewhat heartbreaking. Of course, Day One is a terrible and horny bit of TV, and Love Rat is also sort of that way, but it makes up for it (in my book) by dealing with the aftereffects of what this kind of story would actually do to the team. Jack's actions in this episode, although prompted by the parasite, aren't even out of character, and the way he seduces Tyler and Ng and the fallout of that is dealt with in a surprisingly mature and emotional manner. Unlike Day One, which strives to be mature, Love Rat is actually mature, and the Gwen and Ng arc is actually a gutpunch to hear, especially the final few scenes with Rhys, as throughout this series, Ng has taken over Gwen's life and utterly ruined it. It's amazing what Eve Myles can do with just a few words, the emotion she can convey that this isn't what she wants, how horrified she is at not being in control of her own life. It's precise and mature character drama, but that's only in pieces of it. The rest of it is a lot of the stuff that makes Day One bad. Love Rat is certainly the weakest installment yet in an incredibly consistent series, although that's not to say there's not joy to be had here.  I was overjoyed with the respect that the series continues to have for the character of Orr, they really have struck gold with this character, and I absolutely adore that despite their character origin, they have not been objectified in any way. They continue, along with Colchester, to be a highlight of this series. Another highlight is Andy's expanded role, (although he's been expanded from a few lines, to plenty, he still doesn't have much barring on the plot, but I still like his presence a lot more, especially since Ghost Mission.) My biggest problem though this Jack/Gwen relationship has always been a problem I have had with Torchwood not respecting Gwen's marriage. It is somewhat justified in that it is not Gwen, it is a different personality (ng) in her body, but Ng's character is very similar to Gwen's in many ways, and it's difficult to see where one begins and the other ends. The "romantic" tension between Jack and Gwen always pleased me to be a road not taken in the television stories, and I'm kind of disappointed with that, but then again it brings me back out to that great final scene with Rhys, which of course, leaves me incredibly conflicted on whether this was a good choice or not. We'll see where the road takes us from here. 7/10

A Kill To A View by Mac Rogers

The series' new characters have definitely been the highlight so far, and guess what A Kill To A View does? It just puts one of the best ones front and center, giving them an almost entirely dedicated episode, and oops, it's the best one in the series so far. Colchester and his husband Colin (newly introduced in this episode and also fabulous) get some fabulous character scenes, and their bond is really endearing and amazingly touching. Another great aspect of the story is Bilis Manger (who frankly, I'm not sure if he really really needed to be here, but he slots into the random villainous mastermind that can't be the Sorvix slot the episode needs exceedingly well. Bilis is the same as TV, a perfectly played understated and intimidating villain. If Murray Melvin wasn't Bilis, he'd be the Master. The concept of the story is also fabulous, with a flat place where everyone invites each other over to dinner, kills them and takes their flat, and pretty much the entire episode is perfect except for the confusing aspect of how Bilis convinced them all to turn on the other flat members. Was he modifying their aggression, or was the bribe enough, or what was it, as it's not really said. The resolution with Bilis opening the rift thanks to Colchester is similarly not developed enough. We needed 5 or maybe 6 lines of dialogue to turn this into a perfect score. As it is, it's still bloody marvelous. 9.5/10

Zero Hour by Janine H Jones

Zero Hour is one of those ones that definitely did it's job, yep. It just...literally murdered me, throughout it's run time, and as one of those stories, it did it's job. The simplest comparison would be 5:29, in that by the end of it, I just felt really impressed with the writing and that it managed to make me feel that bad and connect to it's character's so much. 

I love the characters here, Tyler is characterized well in that he is twattish as usual, and does stalk a person without much reciprocation of interest, but it actually develops into a nice chemistry with Hasan that I actually really liked, and felt connected to. Hasan is also masterfully played by Sacha Dhawan who sounds nothing like his TV appearances. It's just, to be plain, a pretty dang good episode, that kind of hurt me a bit. Which is definitely a trend continued in the next one: I enjoyed A Kill To A View far more, and it's still a highlight of a boxset, but when an audio sticks with you like this, you do what you have to do: 10/10

The Empty Hand by Tim Foley

The set comes to a conclusion in The Empty Hand, which consists pretty much entirely of "Oh, this feels too close to home," especially in the turbulent time of 2020 with current events literally being paralleled here. As a result, I'm not entirely sure, if the Empty Hand made the right choice with the side it ultimately comes up with at the end, which kind of infuriated me, which perhaps was the goal, but if not, is just plain yucky, and I'm trying to be vague with politics here, because it genuinely, like straight up genuinely, feels too close to home in the wake of the riots of 2020 and how the police and Black Lives Matters movements have been going. This one's ending hurts, and maybe the goal was to make us really hate what Jack does at the end of this, for the fantastic Yvonne thing, but this is the man who did all that stuff in Children of Earth and I still don't know what to think of him for doing this? This feels incredibly heavy handed, and although it's a well-written runaround, I don't know what to think of a story that is literally about a brain-washed police officer killing an innocent immigrant, especially right now. I'm hoping the thing doesn't crap itself in set 3, because this is so uber-political, it treads the line, and well, as I said, is similar into Zero Hour in that it's good, but unlike Zero Hour, I just don't know what to think of it, right now, okay, and I'm struggling with my feelings on the score, which I will set as a cautious 8/10 for unlike Zero Hour, which aims for emotional impact of dealing with humans as commodities, and character death, The Empty Hand strikes onto almost unenjoyable for how near it feels. Am I going over and over? Possibly, but I almost don't know what to think. If this story knows what it's doing as it moves on in set 3, and moves this Ro-Jedda police state into real dark territory, and punishes Jack for it, this story is unconditionally brilliant, and retroactively worth a score update. If it sort of falls into the realm of Episode of the week, and the ending isn't explored for all it's worth, as well as giving serious "What the hell did you just do Jack" moments, I'm gonna be genuinely angry.

Well, I'm already angry at Jack and Ro-Jedda, but you get what I mean.