When: Gwen will later mention the Nostrovites, meaning that this takes place between Something Borrowed and Fragments. Tosh tells Owen that she's sorry for what he's going through, so it's presumably sooner rather than later.
The Doctor's Case:
- A Good Quotation:
- "Am I the only one who still treats Torchwood as top-secret?"
- "I've got a brain." / "Yeah, but he doesn't want to have a go on that so, you know, we'll just have to fall back on other body parts."
- "Auberginus from the planet Balti."
- It retrospectively seems a missed opportunity that neither Doctor Who nor Torchwood have done the Church of Scientology before. A controversial and controlling cult that believe in intergalactic wars and aliens seems obvious for a science fiction show but it's not been done until now.
- Owen could often be an unlikeable character onscreen, but here Burn Gorman's given some very good material. His talking to Tosh through her earpiece is frequently hilarious and his confession that he hates the Church for giving people false hope when he knows there's nothing beyond life adds more richness to his character. He was always a better character dead than alive, so Big Finish's choice to have him so was definitely the right one. Another character that was done a disservice on the show is the quiet and under-explored Tosh. In Part 1, we learn a lot about her attitude towards sex and her making Owen listen to her is a weird new dimension to her.
- The Greys strip away everything about themselves. They sew alien masks onto their faces and insert robotics into their limbs. The idea that someone could be so lonely and so full of self-hatred that they could go to this extent to do away with their old-selves and start anew is intriguing.
- Ianto's time at the Church is a great listen. The sad young woman who never felt she belonged until she joined the Church; the weird consultation in the same vein as Scientology's audits; the body horror of the greys; and the fact that the Church seems to be preying on those who think themselves worthless.
- The ending of Part 3 is made up of a handful of great scenes. We've got Jack's powerful speech to Val about how she has to accept responsibility for the actions and welfare of the members of her church; Tosh tells Owen about her anger and tells him that he was a bad leader; and Gwen tells Andromeda that, ultimately, no one cares about outer-space.
- Jack involved himself with the Church because he feels somewhat trapped in Cardiff. This is a facet of Jack rarely seen and is far better than overlong shots of Jack watching over the city from a rooftop.
- Arthur Darvill is unrecognisable as the absolutely disgusting Layten. Was that really sweet Rory Williams? I didn't realise until I looked at the cast after listening. What a scumbag.
The Valeyard's Case:
- This is the first time we've seen the original Torchwood together since the end of series 2, but when Part 1 begins it's business as usual. It would have been nice to reintroduce the team and remind us of the warmth between them before the plot kicks in. Instead we get an awful lot of exposition over the Torchwood theme song, about the real-life Kevin Warwick and the fictional Church.
- Jack is involved with the Church. This doesn't come as a huge surprise after he knew about the disappearances in Adrift and he turned out to be working with Red Doors in Aliens Among Us. It's presented as something groundbreaking but we've seen it before, plenty of times.
- Cutting away from Ianto to the other teammates in Part 2 is something of a nuisance. Scheduling was obviously not very easy, but if you can't get them all together then perhaps focusing each episode on a different character (or pair of characters) is the way to go.
- Gwen's thread throughout Believe was important in that it got Andromeda to the Hub, but it wasn't too interesting to listen to and was easily the weakest part of each episode.
- Jack knows more than he's letting on again.
- Bandrils appeared in Timelash.
- Jack's speech is very Oswald Danes.
The Deliberation:
- Episode 1 is a promising start to the box set. It's dominated by an Owen-Tosh team-up, which we've never really seen before, and we learn new things about both characters, like why Owen hates religion and what Tosh thinks about sex. Although the whole team are together at the beginning and won't be again until the end, little is made about the long-awaited reunion with it mainly being about expositing information as quickly as possible.
- Episode 2 introduces a load of new questions and with it a thirst for answers. Just as we learnt more about Owen and Tosh in the first episode, in this one we get a glimpse of how Ianto felt before he became close with his colleagues. Things seem to be build to a crescendo.
- Episode 3 is somewhat underwhelming in how the Church is defeated, but the ramifications of its destruction are bittersweet. The most interesting thing about the story other than Tosh and Owen was the members of the Church, why they joined and what they got from it. This is explored well with Davey Russell, Erin and Jack's speech to Val, but the Greys weren't explored as well as they could have been. It would have been fascinating to learn more about them and why they do what they do, as well as what they'll do now.
The Inquisitor's Judgement: Believe avoids being self-indulgent about the reunion of the original Torchwood and chooses to play out as just another adventure for them, which is the right decision to make however disappointing their time all together at the beginning feels. It finds new things to say about characters that we've seen introduced, evolve and die, but it can't be said that Believe belongs to anyone but Owen and Tosh. On the show they might have been largely unlikeable and boring respectively but Big Finish have done wonders for them, adding depth and here giving us a reunion between the two that I didn't know I needed. The Church (a great idea) isn't explored a whole lot, Gwen's plot is utterly forgettable and the finale was slightly underwhelming, but otherwise this is a very good story deserving of an A.
Herald of the Dawn | Believe | Machines
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