Madam I'm

 

"Why, Norton Sodomy Folgate!" "Lizbeth Fellatio Hayhoe!"

Madam I'm by James Goss

Madam I'm is a jolt that the Torchwood Monthly Range very much deserved - it's essentially just a 60 minute Torchwood Soho episode where Lizbeth and Norton have to deal with a threat with their memories. Quite obviously, the threat is Adam. We know what Adam does, we know what his deal is, the creepy sod, and so the story doesn't need to waste any time in explaining him, and segments the story into an almost dreamlike state as a result, the story being confusing in the right way, as you understand what's going on, but you're not sure why any of it is really occurring or what Adam is aiming to do with the Soho duo. Norton and Lizbeth are really what makes this probably unoriginal audio very very good. They're a team with excellent chemistry, and they're written in such a way that they're excellent for either newcomers to their characters or Soho stalwarts. Madam I'm is a master of the usage of repetition without being boring. Essentially each few scenes the characters will come to a conclusion about something, before they promptly forget. Unlike the work of a similar manner in UNIT: Silenced, this is well done because it's something to at least some degree different each time, so you don't feel like your time is wasted, and the plot has a forward momentum despite the characters going backwards. Adam fans will be pleased that Bryan Dick has adapted the character well to audio - the performance is good, he's equivalently smarmy, and at no point did I really think that anything he was doing was necessarily out of character, but I do have to mention something related to him. 

Quick trigger warning before the next paragraph. 

I do have to quickly mention that this audio is the first time that in any audio I've done, there's been an actual rape scene. They've come close, of course, with all of the horror taking place mostly offscreen in Corpse Day, or they've had an offscreen rape affect a plot, like in Tagged (which incidentally was really tasteful) or they've had scenes where neither character is really in their right mind like in Love Rat. This is the first time that it's been fairly explicit and we've actually heard all the noises for it and everything, and I might quickly like to mention that perhaps it was kinda way too far. The audio in general had a few sex scenes beforehand, and they were also kind of a lot, but you could sort of get by in them, whereas this was actively distressing and also unneeded. No review of the audio I think is really complete without bringing it up, so I kinda had too, and yes, it is in character for Adam to perform vile shit, but I really could have done without experiencing it. 

This being said, it's thankfully short, and also somewhat near the end, so it didn't impact the entire experience of the audio for me too much, I just had to go and like, get some water. I can still really respect Madam I'm, because, well, it's the Torchwood Range doing something new by actively inserting another range's cast into it for an episode and really letting them shine. It's the sort of thing that makes this range a lot more fun, variety, than well, constantly having Ianto and Owen faff about. While Madam I'm is flawed, it's a pretty good exhibition of some stellar characters, and does an enormous amount with a damn small cast. It's just, so, fucking ludicrously good, and yet, it has that one scene. While problematic, I feel ultimately, there's more good about this one than bad - I'll just take off a few points for that one scene though, thanks: 8/10