Torchwood One: Latter Days
"Who Needs A Conscience When You Have A Calling?"
Torchwood One: Latter Days
Latter Days is brilliant, and it's what every boxset should be doing - the thematic link is a lot more fascinating as a hook for a set rather than a set where every other story features WOTAN (Torchwood One: Machines) or every story is a Distress Call (Ninth Doctor Respond to All Calls) or even a set where the entire point of it is that the stories' aren't really connected. (Ravenous 1) Latter Days linking the Three Retirements is done so naturally, so prettily that I can't help but appreciate what it's doing, because really, each story has next to nothing to do with each other, yet together they form a complete package that is so incredibly articulate that any complaint that I might ultimately have about the direction of the set is next to irrelevant. The Ninth Doctor sets have tried this thematic link (Old Friends or Lost Warriors for instance) but never quite so well, as they often seem to attack the theme from the same direction. Latter Days goes at everything it does differently, and because of that, I have this deep overwhelming sense of respect for the beautiful work it does.
Retirement Plan by Gareth David-Lloyd
Whilst I think Retirement Plan is probably one of the weaker scripts from Gareth David-Lloyd, that’s merely a statement of how good he is as a writer for not just Ianto, but Torchwood in general. When I say that it's the weakest story in the set, that's only a statement about how damn incredible the next two are. It’s truly struck me how well David-Lloyd characterizes not just Ianto, but the other members of the cast whenever he writes an episode. The Last Beacon is truly a tour-de force tale for Owen, Dinner and a Show is miles ahead of every other Tosh Main Range, and Blind Summit does some very sweet work with Yvonne. Retirement Plan is them doing the same thing for essentially the only main character that’s not Yvonne or Ianto in Torchwood One, Tommy. Tommy’s not gotten much focus at all until now, especially for a “main character,” being in Before the Fall and a rollicking one episode of Machines (and it was the worst one too, so I can’t really judge him on that.) Hence, Tommy has sort of been a consistently characterized and quite good blank-slate. He’s a more in-line version of Colchester, I feel, but where Colchester sort of tricks you by making his surface level one thing and actual characterization the other, Tommy really is just kind of a bit of a sexist jackass, with a bit of a side as a boffin. He’s a fairly entertaining sexist jackass, a member of the old guard or whatever, but I’ve never been really attracted to him as a character. Retirement Plan is basically the series’ Tommy episode, and while it makes him 10x better than he has been before this, you sort of can’t really make a character one of the best ever in one episode. He’s got some excellent monologues, and he straddles the line of sympathy quite well, a classical sympathetic bastard man, but perhaps a little too bastardy. Over the years of Torchwood I’ve done, I’ve learned to tolerate the resident jerks (Tyler, Owen, etc) but Tommy just may be a little too much in his womanizing. It just rubs me the wrong way. Still, The story’s best work is characterizing him. It’s an excellent portrayal of the depression found in the elderly, and it’s affecting, just the Yvonne stuff is so icky it almost cancels it out. Almost. Beyond that, The story is sort of a Next Generation Holodeck episode. We all know the safety protocols are going to go mad and the cast are going to play some silly new characters or whatever by a few minutes in. The James Bond spoof is fun - a lot of it being framed with some excellent music from Blair Mowat, but I can’t feel like Fever Island from the Fourth Doctor adventures did Bond parody better. The last thing I’ve got to say is that I’m starting to get somewhat annoyed with Prime-Universe Yvonne at times. She’s not been given as much depth as the GAU Yvonne, who actually has a weird distorted morality to her. This Yvonne needs to get a few more moments where we can sympathize with her for her girlbossery to achieve its maximum power. Retirement Plan isn’t awful, and there’s far more good than bad, but it sort of expounds on the few problems I had with 9 to 5. A solid listen, Gareth David Lloyd understands Torchwood better than next to anyone. 7/10
Locker 15 by Matt Fitton
A utterly delicious story that perfectly incapsulates what I want from Torchwood One. It’s an excellent exploration of the Office structure, how Torchwood One works based off of what has been previously established. It’s dark, but it’s not bleak. It’s slow, but it’s not badly paced. It’s a serious triumph, really, how unique it is as an audio drama. The whole thing is based around the nature of memory, and we get these strange haunting segments of an old man trying to remember his job as a janitor, these fairly long segments where he doesn’t really do much, and you hear him whistling to himself for a bit, but it’s all very considered, it’s all careful. For a slow story, it’s important to be sure that the moments aren’t wasted, and Locker 15 knows exactly how to use it’s time. It’s got the same sort of theme that 9 to 5 had - the whole sort of thing about how businesses treat people nicely until they have everything they possibly can get out of you. I think it uses that theme better than 9 to 5, because it’s a lot more subtle and veiled and insidious - Ianto and Tommy are both treated very nicely by Yvonne in Locker 15. I love a subtle thesis, and oh boy does Locker 15 have one - No Matter How Much You Love a Company It doesn’t Love you back. It also knows how to use it’s characters. In addition to the usual trio, the story also features Ony Uhiara as Kara, a wonderful one off Torchwood character. I really enjoyed Kara, and her just being introduced as just another Torchwood worker was interesting, and something that really, only Torchwood One can do. Actually the guest cast in general was a triumph, Dave too is really well played, especially since he’s essentially the point of the entire thing. The best aspect of the story I felt, although I love the office stuff, was Yvonne and Ianto’s relationship, which this story delves into a bit more. I understand Yvonne and I understand Ianto, but it always was strange to me that they have their own spin-off together, a whole era, really. There’s some excellent drama behind as to why Ianto, who we know to be principled, would even respect Yvonne - and the gorgeous answer is she wants him to. She likes that he has a conscience, because she’s learned to ignore her’s for so long. And she doesn’t want him to lose faith in her, so she tries to at least appear less callous - which I think is a downright improvement on the heartless Yvonne we see in Machines, even though she’s still just as wicked here, it’s a textured wickedness, because while she's wicked, she really genuinely thinks she's doing the kindest thing. This really does lend a whole lot of gorgeous new context to the whole series, and indeed, it’s best episodes, like Blind Summit for instance’s work on Retcon has even more weight now. This is just a great one, and I really love it in a way I haven’t loved a Torchwood story in a long time. Proof that one off stories without anything in the way of arc can be positively spectacular: 10/10
Latter Days is brilliant, and it's what every boxset should be doing - the thematic link is a lot more fascinating as a hook for a set rather than a set where every other story features WOTAN (Torchwood One: Machines) or every story is a Distress Call (Ninth Doctor Respond to All Calls) or even a set where the entire point of it is that the stories' aren't really connected. (Ravenous 1) Latter Days linking the Three Retirements is done so naturally, so prettily that I can't help but appreciate what it's doing, because really, each story has next to nothing to do with each other, yet together they form a complete package that is so incredibly articulate that any complaint that I might ultimately have about the direction of the set is next to irrelevant. The Ninth Doctor sets have tried this thematic link (Old Friends or Lost Warriors for instance) but never quite so well, as they often seem to attack the theme from the same direction. Latter Days goes at everything it does differently, and because of that, I have this deep overwhelming sense of respect for the beautiful work it does.
Retirement Plan by Gareth David-Lloyd
Whilst I think Retirement Plan is probably one of the weaker scripts from Gareth David-Lloyd, that’s merely a statement of how good he is as a writer for not just Ianto, but Torchwood in general. When I say that it's the weakest story in the set, that's only a statement about how damn incredible the next two are. It’s truly struck me how well David-Lloyd characterizes not just Ianto, but the other members of the cast whenever he writes an episode. The Last Beacon is truly a tour-de force tale for Owen, Dinner and a Show is miles ahead of every other Tosh Main Range, and Blind Summit does some very sweet work with Yvonne. Retirement Plan is them doing the same thing for essentially the only main character that’s not Yvonne or Ianto in Torchwood One, Tommy. Tommy’s not gotten much focus at all until now, especially for a “main character,” being in Before the Fall and a rollicking one episode of Machines (and it was the worst one too, so I can’t really judge him on that.) Hence, Tommy has sort of been a consistently characterized and quite good blank-slate. He’s a more in-line version of Colchester, I feel, but where Colchester sort of tricks you by making his surface level one thing and actual characterization the other, Tommy really is just kind of a bit of a sexist jackass, with a bit of a side as a boffin. He’s a fairly entertaining sexist jackass, a member of the old guard or whatever, but I’ve never been really attracted to him as a character. Retirement Plan is basically the series’ Tommy episode, and while it makes him 10x better than he has been before this, you sort of can’t really make a character one of the best ever in one episode. He’s got some excellent monologues, and he straddles the line of sympathy quite well, a classical sympathetic bastard man, but perhaps a little too bastardy. Over the years of Torchwood I’ve done, I’ve learned to tolerate the resident jerks (Tyler, Owen, etc) but Tommy just may be a little too much in his womanizing. It just rubs me the wrong way. Still, The story’s best work is characterizing him. It’s an excellent portrayal of the depression found in the elderly, and it’s affecting, just the Yvonne stuff is so icky it almost cancels it out. Almost. Beyond that, The story is sort of a Next Generation Holodeck episode. We all know the safety protocols are going to go mad and the cast are going to play some silly new characters or whatever by a few minutes in. The James Bond spoof is fun - a lot of it being framed with some excellent music from Blair Mowat, but I can’t feel like Fever Island from the Fourth Doctor adventures did Bond parody better. The last thing I’ve got to say is that I’m starting to get somewhat annoyed with Prime-Universe Yvonne at times. She’s not been given as much depth as the GAU Yvonne, who actually has a weird distorted morality to her. This Yvonne needs to get a few more moments where we can sympathize with her for her girlbossery to achieve its maximum power. Retirement Plan isn’t awful, and there’s far more good than bad, but it sort of expounds on the few problems I had with 9 to 5. A solid listen, Gareth David Lloyd understands Torchwood better than next to anyone. 7/10
Locker 15 by Matt Fitton
A utterly delicious story that perfectly incapsulates what I want from Torchwood One. It’s an excellent exploration of the Office structure, how Torchwood One works based off of what has been previously established. It’s dark, but it’s not bleak. It’s slow, but it’s not badly paced. It’s a serious triumph, really, how unique it is as an audio drama. The whole thing is based around the nature of memory, and we get these strange haunting segments of an old man trying to remember his job as a janitor, these fairly long segments where he doesn’t really do much, and you hear him whistling to himself for a bit, but it’s all very considered, it’s all careful. For a slow story, it’s important to be sure that the moments aren’t wasted, and Locker 15 knows exactly how to use it’s time. It’s got the same sort of theme that 9 to 5 had - the whole sort of thing about how businesses treat people nicely until they have everything they possibly can get out of you. I think it uses that theme better than 9 to 5, because it’s a lot more subtle and veiled and insidious - Ianto and Tommy are both treated very nicely by Yvonne in Locker 15. I love a subtle thesis, and oh boy does Locker 15 have one - No Matter How Much You Love a Company It doesn’t Love you back. It also knows how to use it’s characters. In addition to the usual trio, the story also features Ony Uhiara as Kara, a wonderful one off Torchwood character. I really enjoyed Kara, and her just being introduced as just another Torchwood worker was interesting, and something that really, only Torchwood One can do. Actually the guest cast in general was a triumph, Dave too is really well played, especially since he’s essentially the point of the entire thing. The best aspect of the story I felt, although I love the office stuff, was Yvonne and Ianto’s relationship, which this story delves into a bit more. I understand Yvonne and I understand Ianto, but it always was strange to me that they have their own spin-off together, a whole era, really. There’s some excellent drama behind as to why Ianto, who we know to be principled, would even respect Yvonne - and the gorgeous answer is she wants him to. She likes that he has a conscience, because she’s learned to ignore her’s for so long. And she doesn’t want him to lose faith in her, so she tries to at least appear less callous - which I think is a downright improvement on the heartless Yvonne we see in Machines, even though she’s still just as wicked here, it’s a textured wickedness, because while she's wicked, she really genuinely thinks she's doing the kindest thing. This really does lend a whole lot of gorgeous new context to the whole series, and indeed, it’s best episodes, like Blind Summit for instance’s work on Retcon has even more weight now. This is just a great one, and I really love it in a way I haven’t loved a Torchwood story in a long time. Proof that one off stories without anything in the way of arc can be positively spectacular: 10/10
The Rockery by Tim Foley
The Rockery is the sort of story that REALLY had an emotional impact on me, and when Torchwood usually does the kind of story like that that REALLY has an impact on you, I usually end up screeching about how brutal it was or whatever. The Rockery isn't that. The Rockery is subtle, and delicate. Which is especially important considering how raw the themes it tackles are. Tommy is given a bit of amount of time in Retirement Plan to discuss depression, but The Rockery's entire thesis is the nature of grief itself, and it does so with such a sickly beautiful allegory that frankly I don't care to spoil it, so in a rarity for these reviews, I will refer to no events in the plot while discussing it. Because in truth, I don't need to. The Rockery tells such a complete and gorgeous story that I truly don't feel like I have anything to add, or any particular elements to critique. This of course, is a fallacy of the perfect story, that you can't critique it, and it only happens once in a while, but I'm always really happy to encounter it. Anne Hartman is the main character of this audio, Yvonne's Mother, as played by the inestimable Barbara Flynn, who you may better know as motherfucking Tecteun. While she was enjoyable on television as a hissing villainess, it was as you enjoyed most things in Flux, knowing it's flawed. The Rockery on the other hand presents her with such an astonishing script that she next to completely carries the whole thing. Yvonne herself appears for half of it, there's a guest star, and Ianto appears so briefly, you might as well cut him. As such, this is the only Anne Hartman audio. I criticized Retirement Plan as not being able to fully develop Tommy in an hour, but I must concede, that actually it is possible, because Anne shows up and upstages every other Torchwood audio character despite having only 75 minutes to do it. Yeah, 75 minutes. Even though this one is long, and technically slow at certain periods, I wouldn't cut a single minute. It's the kind of story that's so good that it lets you know what it's twist is thirty minutes in advance and you're still stuck with your jaw on the floor, ugly crying, straight up sobbing like mad when the whole thing ends. Miraculous. 10/10
The Rockery sounds like one of those things ive slowly came to understand in a way i think most people never do.
ReplyDeleteThat how something hits you is gonna depend on 100 other factors that you wont even notice when the media does.
And as such you really want to share that unique experience and when others cant see it, well the internet turns to resentment (you overhyped it/its GOOD THO.) anger (ITS NOT THAT GOOD/you just dont understand it) OR just plain ol confusion
That said since our tastes are remarkably similar i imagine i will enjoy the rockery at an 8 level at the very least.
None of this is a comment on your review, more of a rambling monologue.