Fortitude

 Fortitude by James Goss

With a quick return to the Torchwood range, I find myself once more encountering Queen Victoria. Fortitude is certainly an interesting one, the closest of the plays I’ve listened to to the Queen’s actual life. Her depiction in Fortitude is quite an unsympathetic one, portraying her as a brutal oppresser which is something that took me some time to get used to after her prior turns as something almost close to a protagonist (although to be fair, I did hear Save Our Souls before this one although it comes after) and one could say ultimate villain of the piece. She’s a venomous figure in this one, her kind depths feel like nothing but a front. That’s not to say that the other characters come across as very sympathetic either - it’s hard to find a point of view to latch onto as a protagonist. I’m not sure I’m happy with its portrayal of Maharaja Singh - it starts out quite well, but he does have a moment where our supposed protagonist and view point falls into hysterical Saturday Morning Cartoon Villainy, proclaiming that the creature should “destroy the world!!” This does not jive well at all with his descriptions of his childhood as essentially a slave to the monarchy - usually the Torchwood range does well to make the protagonist sympathetic or at the very least allow a character to be that, like how Amira in Iceberg or Gary in Forgotten Lives off play the jaded protagonists - and if he was, and was to unleash the creature accidentally, the ending would be all the more better and chilling if he was a genuinely good person. It would be all the more a stunning piece, and it would probably be a lot better, but the story instead goes for the Queen and Maharaja discussing about how “life is complicated,” quite an uninspired thesis statement for a story in a range that is filled with so many three dimensional and brilliant characters. Fortitude is also a slow burn, which may not work to it’s credit - it’s best pieces are it’s moments of horror, the very idea of the Queen sleepwalking down a corridor carrying a knife is honestly chilling. If it played up this aspect a lot more early on, the story would be a lot more exciting, and better paced. The highlights of the story are this said atmosphere and description of Maharaja’s past, and I am actually not sure if I care for the ending, as it portrays the Queen In a little too positive a light even though she’s been an evil bitch for an hour. It’s certainly a more problematic installment of the main range, with good bits to be found within - certainly pieces of a phenomenal story beneath, featuring the Queen as the ultimate manipulator that we know her to be, but on the whole, it’s Save Our Souls with more themes about systemic racism and honestly just worse. Not exactly a triumph for the Torchwood range, but it shows more depth in it than most audio plays…it just misfires at the crucial moments. 7/10