Torchwood: God Among Us, Part 1

Torchwood - The Story Continues #4

by James Goss, Guy Adams, John Dorney

When a God comes to Cardiff, the world goes to Hell.

6.1 Future Pain by James Goss

Torchwood pick up the pieces and move on. After all, there’s a whole new set of alien threats to deal with.

While Yvonne Hartman is asserting her authority as the new leader of Torchwood, Jack Harkness is hunting an alien god in the sewers – but what’s he really hiding from?

6.2 The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood by Guy Adams

Brent Hayden. To some he’s the darling of the alt-right, to others he’s a far-left crusader. A lot of people watch his videos, hang off his every word. Crisis actors? Conspiracies? Black Ops? Brent knows you deserve the truth. And Brent’s come to Cardiff, because he’s going to expose Torchwood. Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe.

6.3 See No Evil by John Dorney

Cardiff goes blind.

There’s a hunter out there in the darkness. With no escape, and the screaming getting louder, Jack Harkness and Yvonne Hartman each set out to save the city in their own ways.

6.4 Night Watch by Tim Foley

The Black Sun has come through the Rift. When it visits, sleep comes with it. Orr is the guardian, appointed to watch over the city while it slumbers. What will they find as they wander the streets?

Who are the lost souls, trapped with their demons? Who are the ones fighting even sleep? Who are the broken meeting their dreams?

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, British Literature

Audio CD

First published October 23, 2018

About the author

James Goss has written two Torchwood novels and a radio play, as well as a Being Human book. His Doctor Who audiobook Dead Air won Best Audiobook 2010. James also spent seven years working on the BBC's official Doctor Who website and co-wrote the website for Torchwood Series One. In 2007, he won the Best Adaptation category in the annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards for his version of Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Reviews

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This feels more like a second half of one whole season, with Aliens Among Us being the first half. I’m loving it so far! 5/5 Stars

[The Post Monument · Rating 4 out of 5]

Future Pain - 4.5 stars
The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood - 3.5 stars
See No Evil - 4 stars
Night Watch - 3 stars

Overall - 4 stars

[Seb Hasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Future Pain -

Future Pain opens series 6 of Torchwood and really does change things up. It quite literally (and metaphorically) puts a bullet in the head of the stupidly overcomplicated story arcs of the previous series, with that comes no more boring stuff with the Sorvix. Instead god is here, and she’s just getting to know this new world and this one really is more of a character piece than anything. It has a throwaway monster that is only there to trigger events but is involved with the far more interesting side of the story; with Jack, Colin & god all being involved with the wake for Mr Colchester. There are some nice emotional moments and we see that Tyler has more compassion and empathy than he used to, spurring scenes with god to be far more meaningful and entertaining. On the other side we have the stuff with Yvonne, Orr and Ng. Eh. Yvonne is just so boring, and frankly her having all the power makes her even more uninteresting given she goes around making bad calls and never has to take responsibility for her actions. If they were going for the ‘you love to hate her’ idea it didn’t work, I just find her tedious and her boring clinical nature a complete dampener coming in between the fun scenes at the wake.

The story also sheds off the baggage of the whole ‘Gwen’ storyline, and thank christ for that. It’s ludicrous blatancy in that it is obviously not Gwen just got to be so frustrating and made our protagonists look like morons, and although I’m not a massive fan of Gwen; her and Rhys being gone and replaced with Ng…. another eh from me. So there are absolutely zero repercussions for someone who stole one of our heroes lives, murdered their loved ones, murdered more people and only stopped with the charade when caught? Yeah totally feels like there was a point to that story arc. Instead Jack is made out to be wrong for despising her and she just becomes a member of the team, which is not a subversion of expectations or blurred morality, it’s just stupid. So now half of the Torchwood team are boring, morally bankrupt people, and we’re still supposed to root for them and see them as a force for good? These criticisms are more towards series 6 as a whole but given these aspects are established in this story, it doesn’t really make listening too fantastic an experience. The story comes together cohesively which is a good thing, but that is partially because the story had such a thin plot that all you had to do was eventually have all the characters exchange what has happened to do that.

The theme of this story is clearly change, and the whole idea is that the city of Cardiff grows to overcome the events of the series 5 finale, I just wish the story had been more focused on the character development for the good ones and not the repugnant ones. Colin Colchester gets so much more presence here than he ever got in series 5, yet that is still cut short mid-alien battle because we definitely need another scene of Ng acting like a victim and blaming god for everything when she independently did all these horrific things in series 5. Jack too really does need more to do given he really is cucked when it comes to having authority in Torchwood, so a sort of romance made sense but he really ought to have more to do than that. There is a nice twist near the end, and at least there is fun stuff with Orr whose body horror scenes make for good entertainment. It’s quite apt to say that this story is half fantastic and half terrible, it’s just a shame that the fun half is the driving force behind this stories narrative, whereas the terrible half is clearly established as the more important for the series arcs. A weird creative decision in my opinion, just a bit misguided, and they clearly try to offset aspects of it; for example pairing Andy with Yvonne for comedic relief, but they make for fun tiny scenes and contribute little to the plot. This story is perfectly fine and the nicest thing about it is it sheds all the stupid four hundred things going on at any one time like series 5, so as a fresh start it works; even if what is left in its place isn’t exactly the best Torchwood to date.

The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood -

I love this story. People seem to whinge about it online but it’s obvious why they do that, it isn’t a proper Torchwood story, it’s more experimental in a silly yet horrific way. I like to imagine some of them are shocked by looking at their mirror reflection in the form of our ‘protagonist’ Brent Hayden, a real loser incel who deludes himself into believing he’s right and has all these pathetic views about women and other races/sexualities. The story plays out in a similar way to the TV story ‘Random Shoes’ but with extended dream sequences that aren’t hard to tell are dreams given they are always unnervingly geared towards him and his horrific views. Tyler is the main member of the team in this one, given the rest only appear as part of the fantasies, and we see him intermittently as the rest is fashioned as if we are watching Brent’s youtube videos. Frankly I loved the idea alone as it felt like something really new and fresh, plus the brutal takedown of a self-glorifying incel is always satisfying.

I just love how the story builds as if he’s actually got something meaningful to say or as if he is going to come out of this a ‘winner’ when it’s pretty obvious Torchwood are using him for their own ulterior motives. What makes the story interesting is in watching his ‘rise to fame’ you don’t really know what it’s all for. Obviously God is still just getting a feel for humanity and that easily explains his subscriber count blowing up, but it’s kept very unclear right until the end why Torchwood are involved with him. It allowed for us to finally see Tyler be ‘moral good’ and that was so lovely, he really can lead a story well when not attending orgies or doing coke. The way Torchwood orchestrate Brent’s takedown is just so satisfying and definitely overboard, but in a very Torchwood way (you hardly get Dr Who to fill someones hard drive with you know what, and then call the police on them while making quips about 70s BBC presenters).

This story is effectively Torchwood doing a clean-up job in regard to the events of all of Aliens Among Us, and while conceptually I love it, in practise… I love it. I just appreciated a break from all the story arcs, and what feels like forty different characters to develop, here we simply have a despicable human being who you are rooting for to lose even as favour seems to endless fortune them. Ironic really given all the completely likeable characters in God Among Us really do win, so if anything it’s actually quite a relief to see someone unbearable get their comeuppance. The regular cast give some great performances in the dream sequences, and it’s lovely to get to see them play a fully comedic role for a change, it was a clever way to include them without costing the narrative at all. I just love when Torchwood does real world issues, and people Brent Hayden are all to commonplace nowadays so this story did feel meaningful as well as fun, just a fantastic listen, something different, and massive improvement on Future Pain.

See No Evil -

On paper this story is a bit odd. ‘Everyone in Cardiff is blind, and there’s some evil alien eating people’. Obviously that premise is soooo Torchwood, but it was just a very odd choice to have given it does somewhat limit what the characters can do and only really opens the doors to seeing human nature at its most baseless for about a single scene. I think the actual quirky concept here does somewhat take away from the story given it is literally just an alien that could easily be shot dead, so this story does then only have the runtime it does because of the handicap the characters face. There is more development of the budding Andy/Yvonne romance and frankly this is the only story since her reappearance about seven stories ago, where she is remotely interesting. Ironically that is only because she serves as comedic relief and not really much more, of course they stop the alien but given the big plan is ‘shoot it’ it does really make alien feel less intimidating and powerful than is set up.

Colin and Jack’s romance is amped up a bit too (kissing and that) which is fun if not random, plus the only scene I really liked in the story was on their side of the plot; in that instead of accepting Jack’s help these people who have also gone blind decide to attack and try and steal the goggles allowing him to see (and save) them. Always is interesting to see what humanity is like stripped back to basics so it was a thought provoking scene, but probably the only of its nature. Ng is also in it too, now deciding that Jack is immature for not wanting to be friends after she stole his friends like, killed her parents and nearly destroyed the world. Shocker. Anyways, the actual story has some great one-liners, and a really good cliffhanger but beyond that is really little to say about it. Orr ends up paired with God which really was a good idea because sadly she really doesn’t have much to do in these recent stories, more than an extended sex joke she just offers general exposition and a bit of a push to the narrative.

The improvement in dialogue is marked here, and obviously giving certain characters more agency really is nice but the story is just a bit forgettable. It’s a fun sixty minutes and there some great comedic moments but beyond that it doesn’t leave much of a mark. I think that is the biggest problem with stories in these new Torchwood boxsets, there are no memorable villains (discounting the Sorvix who are so boring they are burned into my memory). I would say this story is worth a listen, just more to limit your expectations as this isn’t one of those stories that surprise you and blow you away.

Night Watch -

Night Watch really is one of the more off boxset finales for Torchwood. Obviously there is some pretty crazy development of the ‘God’ arc and that does leave an impression, but beyond that it is just Torchwood fighting their average existential threat. The blue light is a fun concept, and the dreams that our protagonists experience really are moving in some ways; not a thing you’d expect from an antagonist that makes people really mean at an orgy. There is still this ongoing rubbish with Jack being expected to befriend the person who destroyed Gwen’s life but hey maybe he should forgive her even if she almost sided with the person who is going round murdering people last episode! Christ the concepts in these stories are really trying their hardest to go ‘ooh look how cool and morally ambiguous we are’ when they all just come away looking awful; especially given none of them have the charisma Jack has.

Bringing Mr Colchester back to life properly (hardly a spoiler he’s quite literally on the cover) was a brilliant idea, as he all the dramatic presence yet is able to provide humour that doesn’t feel out of place. His sardonic wit really does give the incredibly dark scenes, i.e people melting, a bit of a lighter edge. His love for his husband is just so sweet, and he plays perfectly against Jack which is something that makes their scenes together really enjoyable. All the stuff with Yvonne, Ng, and Jack forced together by a plot device keeping them from falling asleep didn’t work for me, given a lot of it was Ng genuinely going ‘okay Jack, why do you hate me?’. Each line like that I rolled my eyes so hard I thought I’d lose them in my head. Yvonne just provides nothing to the story bar the cliffhanger but as ever she is just there narratively to make things happen, rather than be a character you look forward to having moments with.

Truly the story does centre around Orr as she is the guardian of Cardiff and that framework was perfect, as I said giving her some agency at last, but also providing each member of the team with fascinating scenes as they face their greatest nightmares. Obviously rather confusing until you look at it retrospectively, and I love that the story did just make me want a happy ending; something that I don’t think bringing Norton Folgate into the fray provides. Hush, it’s not really a spoiler he’s on the cover of God Among Us 2 and it’s been about 6 years since the set came out. The story does wrap up quite a lot of the character conflict up and that is a blessing, but this story doesn’t feel like the big exciting thing that makes you desperate to buy the next set. It has a lot of balls in the air which makes the overall story arc exciting, even if I’m not so desperate to have another new morally bankrupt character up to some duplicitous nonsense.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although titled as if it were a new series, this collection carries on directly where Aliens Among Us left off. The length of it means that it is, in a sense, an imagined ‘sixth season’ for the TV show, where its predecessor was the fifth, but it’s more like the second half of a 24-episode season in which (as often in such shows) the original Big Bad turned out at the half-way mark to have been hiding a bigger one.

• Future Pain – The first episode sees the characters trying to come to terms with the fallout of the previous cliffhanger. The focus is largely on Colchester and his husband in a mostly sedate tale about love and loss, and different people’s reactions to it. This alternates with a less successful and more traditional story about an alien leech monster which, even at this stage, is obviously a misdirection away from the real villain of the piece (whose brief appearance is, it has to be said, well-played). There’s also a thread that’s simply wrapping up the plotline of the previous ‘season’, ending it all in a bit of an anti-climax, sweeping things clean for the new plotline. It’s a necessary link between that season and this but, taken on its own, it’s a bit of a muddle. 3 stars.

• The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood – From that, we move to something that’s closer to a comedy in style. This is about an alt-right vlogger who believes that they have stumbled across the truth about Torchwood and wants to bring the organisation down by shining the light of publicity on it. The episode will likely not sit well with anyone who has sympathies with the alt-right viewpoint, since it so thoroughly denigrates its ostensible protagonist, a stereotyped loner with a persecution complex. Taken as a black comedy about a rather pathetic man completely out of his depth, though, it works well, especially when it slips into his fantasies about what Torchwood and its agents are really like. The connection with the larger plot arc is minor, but this works as a one-off change of pace. 4 stars.

• See No Evil – Another strong, although largely standalone story as Cardiff is mysteriously plunged into darkness. The story is stylistically dark as well as literally, with the disaster suddenly bringing out the worst in ordinary people and a number of gruesome deaths adding to the atmosphere. Obviously, it’s the sort of story that works better on audio than it could on video (a sort of reverse of ‘Hush’ from Buffy), although Big Finish have done similar things before, even if here, it’s more exploring a pessimistic view of human nature than fear of an unseen menace (although there’s that, too). Hartmann is at her cold and calculating best, while Jack shows his more positive and heroic side in a story that nicely contrasts the two. 4 stars.

• Night Watch – No sooner has one crisis ended than another starts as, this time, the city falls peacefully asleep. For differing reasons, the various main characters of the series manage to fight it off and there is, once again, a threat from a monster. But it’s a non-physical threat that allows us to explore the characters’ flaws and past traumas – one grieving for the death of a lover, another seeking refuge in drugs and meaningless sex (and no, that isn’t Jack), and so on. This makes it a particularly effective story, despite the relative lack of action, and the fact that none of these internal problems are really resolved by the end. While there is a resolution to the episode’s central plot, there is also a cliffhanger ending that leads into the next part of the series. 5 stars.

[Taksya · Rating 4 out of 5]

6.1 Pain by James Goss
Si riparte poco dopo la fine di Torchwood: Aliens Among Us - Part 3, con qualche triste conferma... per ora...
Si collega qualche punto e si prepara la scacchiera per il nuovo set.
6.2 The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood by Guy Adams
Apparentemente slegato dal soggetto principale della serie, ottima disamina delle istant star di youtube & co.
6.3 See No Evil by John Dorney
Episodio che non avrebbe reso sullo schermo, essendo ambientato al buio.
Buona interazione tra Yvonne e Andy, mentre ci sarà una sorpresa nel fiale per il povero Colin Colchester-Price e passaggio diretto a...
6.4 Night Watch by Tim Foley
Dopo la notte senza fine, tutti dormoni a Cardiff. Sonno indotto da un misgterioso sole alieno passato attraverso la frattura.
Yvonne, Jack e Ng cercano di collaborare, senza esito, sfruttando un artefatto che simula una overdose di caffeina.
Colin, prima di addormentarsi, continua a non credere alla visita appena ricevuta (non posso fare spoiler, ma potete immaginare chi sia tornato).
Orr vaga per la città, cercando strane creature, favorendo la sparizione del sole e il risveglio di tutti, e operando con una misteriosa donna che si rivelerà essere più pericolosa di quello che sembra.
Per finire in bellezza Yvonne decide di risvegliare qualche vecchio componente di Torchwood 3... un nome che farebbe la gioia di molti fan. Ma, per fortuna, chi arriva non è chi si aspettano tutti.

Buon colpo per l'inizio della sesta stagione di Torchwood, continuo a sostenere che la BBC dovrebbe sfruttare la Big Finish anche per la serie ufficiale.

[Daniel Cork · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll admit I enjoyed Torchwood Aliens Among Us a lot more than I thought I would, it wasn't perfect by any means sure. But when the stories were great, they were truly spectacular. God Among Us is the main reason why I wanted to listen to the continuation stuff as a lot of the stories in this series sound incredibly interesting to me and I've been dying to find time to listen to it all. So here we are in 2024 and I finally have time!

Future Pain:
God has arrived, but hundreds of people across the city have died in its arrival. Mr Colcester is one of many casualties and now Colin his grieving husband is left behind to attend his funeral. However, a vampiric creature sensitive to time is on the loose and it'll do anything to feed on the future pains of people in Cardiff. Is this creature god, or is something more terrifying hiding in the shadows?

I wasn't too impressed with how Goss concluded Aliens Among Us, but I'll give him credit for the start of God Among Us because Future Pain was brilliant. A very emotionally impactful story dealing with the fallout of Herald of The Dawn, it's a story that concludes the Sorvix arc left open from the last series, whilst also starting our new one with their so-called God. It is a story with so much going on, a vampiric entity on the loose, Yvonne Hartman scheming in the shadows, and Colin grieving over his husband at the funeral. Despite how many elements this story is juggling, James Goss has done an amazing job bringing them all together in a satisfying way. 10/10

The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood:
Brent Hayden right-wing conspiracy theorist running a podcast has a mission, with help from Tyler Steele it's up to him to destroy Torchwood and expose them all for who they are.

I'm honestly surprised by the mixed reviews on this one because I honestly thought this audio by Guy Adams was fantastic. It's very blunt sure, but it's fascinating to see this series deal with a right-wing nutcase who runs a podcast, and what fantasies he finds himself in to help justify his bigoted views. I know some people took issue with some of the acting, but honestly, the acting being hammy and over the top in the fantasy scenes I thought was pretty fun, especially since that's pretty much the point. A fantastic story with a very brutal ending. 9/10

See No Evil:
It's a normal day in Cardiff... that is until the entire city becomes blind. Something is picking off people in the darkness and it's up to Torchwood to stop it. But the team will be put to the test for no matter how much you try to deny it, we're all afraid of the dark...

John Dorney has written an incredible script that could only work on audio and he utilizes it brilliantly. Everyone in the city becoming blind leads to some chaotic and creepy scenes throughout the narrative. It's a very atmospheric and unsettling story that challenges all the characters in new ways, whilst also helping along with their respective character arcs. An outstanding story that is both unique and terrifying and for me that's when Torchwood is at its best. 10/10

Night Watch:
The people of Cardiff are forced into a tired slumber and something haunts their dreams. A black sun has descended over the city and it's up to Orr to help those who need her, for she walks the night and only she can protect the city whilst the people sleep.

Tim Foley has written a terrific script that despite some unsettling scenes and very dramatic moments that have characters up against one another, it's quite a calm and laid-back type of story that ends (for its time) on a surprising cliffhanger. 9/10

Overall: 38/40

[Yvonne Alf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Season 6 starts right off after Season 5 and it's such a brilliant ride. I still feel a bit overwhelmed with all the cliffhangers, but let's see.

Future Pain - 5/5
After all the cliffhangers from the finale of last season, this was not what I was expected. I didn't expect a funeral episode and I did not expect the Sorvix storyline would go as it now did. This episode did have an alien threat, but it was more about the characters which is always a huge plus. Also Colin is turning into one of my characters by now, his speech was certainly the highlight of the whole episode. Great start into the new season.

The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood - 4/5
This episode is quite different to all the others, since Brent Hayden - blogger and conspiracy theorist - is the main character in the episode with a bit of Tyler Steele on th side. With things going on nowadays, on one side it felt done a bit way over the top, but eerily real at the same time. Do you ever wonder about fake news, conspiracy lies and things are created? Take a tiny bit of truth and spin it into some totally crazy shit. And there will always be people believing it. You really have to pay attention to the story since its jumps back and forth in time, real world/fantasy world without much notice. I think it was a great way to tell the story and it was a hoot to listen to the team in the twisted way Brent Hayden imagined them. The end was brutal, I'm really not sure how I feel about that, but how far fetched is it really?

See No Evil - 5/5
I think this story has a really fun concept since this is audio and we as listeners don't really see anything while the stories unfold. So the whole city goes blind and our heroes see as much as we do - nothing. Just imagine this happening - instant and total chaos. Best thing of the story is, that while the story goes on it divides into two pairings that really odd, but also absolutely awesome: Yvonne/Andy and Jack/Colin. Especially Yvonne and And - despite being SO different, have such great chemistry, I hope we get a lot more of that in the future!
Jack's conversation with Colin in his apartement was really cryptic but I liked Colin's talk about people being invisible. Oh and - bloody cliffhanger!

Night Watch - 5/5
What a night for Cardiff! So, Night Watch is a direct continuation from See No Evil. Everyone's parts were really really great, so many emotions everywhere.. I kinda felt overwhelmed when the story was finished. Finally some interaction between Jack and Ng, I really feel so sorry for Tyler, his life is seriously out of control. Orr had such a wonderful journey keeping the city safe and Colin..... that cliffhanger made me shout out loud in frustration! I really like how Yvonne gets more and more depth. I can see now that she really is good and inventive solving problems. But so far even she fails to get any order into Torchwood Three. And that final cliffhanger.. cannot wait what that's all about.

I enjoyed the first box a lot. While Season 5 focused more on the bigger picture with the Sorvix in Cardiff, Season 6 concentrates more on the character developement on the main characters. And that's great!

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Torchwood Gods Among Us Part 1 - 4.25/5 stars
6.1 Future Pain by James Goss - 5/5 stars
A dark opening where the main villain from the previous set is killed at the end. There’s a finale moment with Gwen and Rhys, a fight with God, and a beautiful bit where Colechstors husband has a bit of a yell about how angry he is about his husband's death. This is a great opening with a lot of character drama.
6.2 The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood by Guy Adams - 3/5 stars
An interesting character piece with a dark ending.
6.3 See No Evil by John Dorney - 4/5 stars
All of Cardiff is blind as a creature hunts down everyone. There’s some follow-up to Colin (Colchestors husband) and some character drama between the will they won’t they Yvonne and Andy. This ends with a shocking moment where Jack and Colin are kissing and… GASP! Colchester is alive?
6.4 Night Watch by Tim Foley - 5/5 stars
Three character dramas tied together with Orr saving the world. Colchester and his husband have an emotional talk about the aftermath of his death. Tyler dealing with the feelings of being unwanted. And Yvonne finding it hard to trust Ng and Jack. God and Orr’s conversations are great in this.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une suite tout aussi ambitieuse que la saison précédente et ne déçoit à aucun moment. Cette première partie de saison (4 épisodes) touchent énormément les questions de deuil, notamment avec la mort de Mr Colchester et de départ (celui de Gwen, mais Ianto revient souvent thématiquement). On a affaire à une équipe brisée, hostile à l'un·e/l'autre, sans confiance et chaque personnage est coincé dans ses propres problèmes qu'ils n'arrivent pas à résoudre ce qui menace l'ensemble de l'équipe.

Il y a des développements intéressants et inattendus, Yvonne Hartman trouve un quelque sorte son Ianto dans un autre personnage, et des personnages comme Orr trouve quelques développements même si ses directions sont multiples et sans conséquences sur les épisodes suivants (je pense qu'il y a une solidification du personnage nécessaire, mais c'est peut-être dû aussi à sa condition d'existence même de ne jamais être vraiment défini pour iel-même).

J'ai hâte à la suite!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow definetly one of the best Volumes of the Among Us series. So immersive and the stories are incredible. For a die hard Torchwood fan this makes my heart so warm but shoots it dead at the same time, as you never know what is going to happen yet.

[Joseph S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant! I had a hard time following some of it. But I liked it overall.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Torchwood gang deals with 4 enemies trying to control the team.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great addition to the Torchwood universe!