Torchwood: Aliens Among Us 3
Poker Face by Tim Foley
I said that we needed some serious "what the hell did you just do Jack" moments in the third set when listening to the Empty Hand, and well, this story is entirely that and also great, so guess my opinion on it. Yvonne Hartman has shown up at Torchwood, and well, she's pretty much as awesome as her first appearance, One Rule. She's absolutely amazing, and what's this story? Yvonne Hartman singlehandedly manipulating all of Torchwood into making her their boss. It's almost like a stage play in it's simplicity, I'd compare it to Master, in that regard. Viciously smart and clever dialogue, and unlike Zero Hour, which was 10/10 but not fun, this one is unashamedly fun and completely and totally awesome. You know what this episode is like? The Four Lights scene from Star Trek TNG. You know Yvonne's manipulating them all. You know there are three lights. But the way she does it so effortlessly, the way that Jack is screaming irrationally that it's Yvonne when all the blame is on him, the way she sits in her cell waiting for the Torchwood team, untrusting of eachother to all eventually come to her, it almost convinces you there are Four Lights.
Tagged by Joe Lidster
Tagged takes the previous story, a brilliant 10/10 story in it's own right, and blows it, along with half of everything Big Finish has ever done, out of the water. Tagged is ludicrously good, wonderfully dark, and quite possibly invalidates half of my top 25 big finish list from a while back. The emotional level to the story, which initially seems like a throwaway to introduce us to Yvonne's Torchwood, is phenomenal, giving Orr, Colchester, Gwen/Ng, Yvonne and Jack all phenomenal moments. Gwen/Ng gets a meaty role dealing with her facade, and it starting to slip away, Orr gets a phenomenal exploration of what it is to be an empath in our day and age, Yvonne gets the awesome defeat of the bad guy, and Colchester, well, Colchester shares the final scene with Jack that entirely breaks my rating scale. All of this, and yet, this episode's guest star Serena as played by Kezrena James is probably the MVP, in a guest star role unlike any other in quality. This story is perfect, I can't even explain how- My brain has melted. This is audio. This is Big Finish at it's very, very, very best on a level I haven't seen for a long time. Like, I'm gushing, but I literally have to redo my entire top 25 because this is my second favorite Big Finish now- 10/10 (Look, it's probably the best 10/10 I've put on this website that's not the Chimes of Midnight)
Escape Room by Helen Goldwyn
Escape Room is Aliens Among Us's first misfire. It has the okay concept of an Escape Room that tries to force people to follow a new god, but this seems half-baked, especially when none of it really makes sense as to why. Like, I get that the phrases on the walls attempt to convince them, but it's seriously weird. The story has two death fakeouts, both of which are resolved with pathetically little fanfare, in a way that makes the failure of the bomb going off in Orr's first episode utterly brilliant in comparison. None of the alien technology in the rooms are explained, the way they escape the room is so easy I honestly didn't believe they escaped, It doesn't forward the Gwen/Ng arc in any way despite featuring her so heavily, as well as has her literally pull a lever that she is told will kill Colchester, Rhys and Colin, without any remorse in a way that seriously makes me question why she hasn't blown her cover yet. All of this is capped off by the straight up baffling choice to have Gwen/Ng capture Escape and put him in the Escape Room? Somehow? In a way that's not explained for no discernible reason? And then it ends suddenly? What? There? I mean, there's so much in the air!! Escape Room has some very lovely character scenes, which is why it get's it's pretty astonishing six and a half points, but the plot is just so, so, stupid. Colin, Gwen/Ng, Colchester and Rhys are all characterized exceedingly well, the performances are frankly excellent, and the writing made me feel emotions. In that regard, Escape Room is as strong as any other episode. Stronger than some. But when I write a review, I consider plot, and when I consider plot, Escape Room falls apart. It says something when I prefer an episode with the terrible idea of a Jack/Gwen affair to this. Literally made me throw up my hands and scream "That's it?!?" 6.5/10
Herald of The Dawn by James Goss
Herald of The Dawn is basically a better Empty Hand, a runaround finale that utilizes the entire cast extremely well, and frankly, is pretty much flawless. Similar to stories such as The Marian Conspiracy, it's only a 9 because of the stories surrounding it being better. And frankly, Herald is Magical. Gwen finally gets her due in a fantastic monologue written by Russell T Bloody Davies, and for once, Eve Myles gets to say something besides "Don't pay attention to her, it's me!" The entire cast also gets something to do. I adore this episode as a finale, but also it does feel incredibly set-up-y for God Among Us, a series that evidently you have to start if you want any answers on these characters futures, which does leave a feeling of frustration. Why would Jack work with a terrorist group founded on Racism? Is Yvonne playing Ro-Jedda or is she actually kind of crap now? How's Colchester gonna deal with the whole blindness, gunshot wound and possible death thing? What's Ng going to do now that she's revealed! When the hell is Orr getting their own episode!?? All these questions and more, for an extra 35 quid. Lovely. 9/10
Aliens Among Us, A Verdict:
Aliens Among Us as a series, is one of the strongest Torchwood products released so far, solidly better than Series One, and arguably Series Two, although I won't go there as Series Two is damn near flawless and doesn't get enough credit from the universe, but all in all, Aliens Among Us is lovely. The strongest set is Three, and the weakest is Two, but even two has the Bilis Manger episode. What Aliens Among Us does best is 1. Introduce a new team and frankly iconic characters that have as much right to exist as Tosh, Ianto and Owen. Justify this new team 100 times over. Colchester and Orr are phenomenal. 2. Continue the mood evoked from previous Torchwood series, making it feel legitimate as a continuation, rather than mere Big Finish episodes that however good, are just episodes existing in the Doctor Who or Torchwood narratives. It's fantastic for the same reason the early Eight stuff was so great. 3. Introduce Yvonne to the series. Yvonne is the breath of fresh air Torchwood needs, especially after five series of watching/listening to Jack being one chaotic morally decrepit individual. How many stories have involved Jack being an enigmatic bastard, telling the team not to do something because he says so, and acting surprised and angry when they do it, even though it's pretty much entirely his fault? This is why Poker Face is so cathartic. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to hear God Among Us until Yvonne solidified herself as part of the cast. 4. Everything else I haven't mentioned is pretty great too like holy crap
What Aliens Among Us doesn't do well on the other hand
1. Neglecting Orr. It's not like they don't have as much appearances, but even Tyler got his own main focus episode in Zero Hour, and Colchester, Jack and Gwen got multiple. Orr gets the Toshiko Sato award for being the best character given the least amount of love by the writers. 2. The incompleteness of certain plot elements. This is of course, entirely due to the fact that series six continues immediately on, but usually series in the DWU are much more self contained, with much less questions in the fall-out. As mentioned previously, so many character arcs are up in the air. A mere explanation of what Ng is would do wonders here, but I've been over this. 3. Minor dropped plot elements: Bilis Manger for example, is introduced as a major player in an fantastic episode, and then whoops he's gone. Jack and Ng have an affair and although this would be a really great thing to bring up at the end when Gwen is free again, it isn't mentioned, and Gwen is just like "I love you, Captain Jack Harkness" when someone used her fricking body with him about a week ago. Tyler not really showing the aftermath of losing Hasan. All minor things that randomly hurt the whole, and should have been brought up.
All in all, my opinion on Aliens Among Us? Pretty Magnificent.
To finish up this super long review, an episode ranking, based on enjoyment:
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