Alex Hewitt gives his thoughts on the final boxset in this year’s Torchwood Among Us series.
Individual reviews of each of the four episodes can be found here:
There’s very little to say about Among Us 3 other than that it’s really, really good. Once again, the team of Ash Darby, Tim Foley, and James Goss – for the first time aided by incoming director David O’Mahony – have crafted a boxset that is simultaneously familiar and unlike anything else that’s shown up in the world of Torchwood. The quality is astoundingly high, the story completely unpredictable, and it’s all wrapped in the most unlikely way possible, yet it works incredibly well.
Much like the previous instalments in Torchwood‘s seventh series, Among Us 3 has things to say. The stories don’t shy away from getting political, and this time the linking theme is social media and the dangers of being online. While these ideas have been explored in previous episodes in the series, Among Us 3 ensures that its episodes are more connected than before. While the first seven episodes of the series could have been released as standalone monthly stories, this boxset, plus Pariahs from Among Us 2, feel very much like one story told across five episodes. Retroactively, it allows the previous episodes to be seen as part of this ongoing narrative as well. As such, the exploration of the different facets of what it means to be online feel raw and unfiltered, each episode turning things up a notch until The Apocalypse Starts at 6PM deals with unflinchingly accurate portrayals of far-right conspiracy theories.
The cast are all on top form. Other than the final episode of the second boxset, there hadn’t been even an episode to feature more than two of the main Torchwood cast. However, Among Us 3 gives team-ups in every story, and it’s lovely to hear the interplay between everyone – it feels like too long since this ensemble has been together. Samantha Béart, Paul Clayton, Jonny Green, Tracy-Ann Oberman, and Alexandria Riley (plus appearances from Kai Owen) deserve such high praise for elevating already excellent scripts to levels that haven’t been heard before. This is truly the most real these characters have ever felt. It’s not unlikely that this was the intention of the writers – keep our protagonists apart for the first two-thirds of the series, do character pieces with each of them, and bring them together in time for an explosive final act. If this was the plan, it worked.
Production-wise this was a flawless set as well. It’s almost not worth mentioning Blair Mowat‘s music, as he so rarely misses that having such an illustrious score is, by this point, expected – and he delivers the goods again, with an incredibly evocative score across all four episodes, bombastic and pacey where it needs to be whilst also incorporating subtler, calmer pieces at the more intimate moments in the stories. Characters’ themes introduced in previous series are used effectively, and there are new pieces in there as well that really fit the theme of the boxset. Likewise, Steve Foxon‘s sound design brings out the technologically-driven storylines, treating listeners to terrifying portrayals of being inside the mind of a sentient form of social media, while also forming huge, international soundscapes taking us from a luxury beach resort to the confines of a TV studio.
Sean Longmore‘s cover art is fantastic as usual, and particular applause has to go to the artwork for The Apocalypse Starts at 6PM, which echoes the overall piece for Among Us 1 but with Ng front and centre to demonstrate her evolution into something so much more than just a stand-in for Gwen. At the other end of the scale, the cover for How I Conquered the World is simply five phones on a table, yet composited beautifully with the screens of each phone implying that they belong to the five members of Torchwood. Longmore’s work is greatly appreciated, and he’s made a real name for himself given that the Among Us series was his first work for the Story Continues range.
Among Us 3 – and the whole Among Us series – has been a resounding success. Undoubtedly, this is the best that Big Finish has ever tackled Torchwood. Particular credit has to go to writers Ash Darby and Tim Foley (as well as Una McCormack for Colin Alone), directors Scott Handcock for the first two boxsets and David O’Mahony for rising to the challenge and making his first boxset Torchwood‘s best yet, and of course to writer/producer James Goss.
This has been an incredible series, and this final boxset has taken it to even higher heights. Let’s hope there’s more in store very soon.
Torchwood: Among Us Part 3 is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com/.
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