Torchwood: Aliens Among Us #3.2 - "Tagged" by Joseph Lidster

These episodes have got to get worse at some point, I'm running out of ways to say "it's good" over and over again. Once again, The Story Continues, well, continues to impress with legendary Big Finish writer Joseph Lidster taking the helm to produce a great bit of Torchwood that unsurprisingly excels with characters and themes, as does most of Lidster's work. The world knows what you've done and what you'll do, and it's plunging everything into chaos.

It began innocuously enough. Cards were slipped through people's doors: "I know what you've done. I know what you'll do.". It's considered a prank, until a wave of vigilante justice sweeps Cardiff. Now everybody knows what you've done. And exactly what you'll do.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Lidster is a favourite of mine because of his incredible talent when writing character pieces. Terror Firma is one of my favourite main range audios because of this skill and Tagged is no different. For one, the Ng/Gwen subplot finally starts moving again and we actually have some trace of a resolution. Ng/Gwen's whole b-plot this time around, being hit by a car and having to drag herself across Cardiff, not trying to give away the fact she isn't really Gwen, is a great little highlight of the episode. Yvonne's fully in control of Torchwood-3 now and seeing the team having to adjust to her way leadership is really fun. Her cold, calculating approach makes for a great listen. The stuff she forces Orr to do is genuinely really heartbreaking and shows two sides to our new leader as well as giving Orr some much needed action as she's been sidelined for pretty much every audio since Superiority Complex. Serena, Andy's assistant and a woman who's just murdered her rapist due to the influence of the cards, is a wonderful one off character who really ties the whole story together; her narration is a great little plot device and her monologues are fantastically written, it's really very impressive when you get me properly invested in a character who tries to murder Gwen with her car.

Whilst Lidster is a brilliant character writer, his plots sometimes need a little work. Our main antagonist - The Meme - is a good idea that really isn't explored. We barely see it in action, have little interaction with it, and it's basically defeated off screen - we never get to see the extent of its influence past Serena. For all the great writing in it, the story feels quite barebones. Also, Andy's return feels a little fast, he's back on the force and same old Andy again, which really degrades the brilliance of The Empty Hand, you'd expect him to be just a little bit more shaken up by the whole ordeal.

Tagged is great, unsurprisingly. Lidster is a legendary writer and I expected nothing less than something great out of him, even if his focus on character work leads to the actual story being left a little rough and unpolished. Frankly, I'm tired of giving all these stories 9/10s, the ranking board is beginning to look crowded with them.

9/10

Pros:

+ Great character work from every single member of our main cast

+ The Ng/Gwen subplot finally seems like it's going somewhere

+ Does some much needed development for Orr

+ Serena is incredibly well written for a one off character

+ Yvonne effortlessly slips into main cast as its leader

Cons:

- The Meme is a pretty underdeveloped and underwhelming villain with a great idea

- Andy seems to have backtracked in characterisation since The Empty Hand

- The story is nothing to write home about, even if the idea's good.

Torchwood: Aliens Among Us | Ranked
12.
11.
10.Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy by James Goss - 5/10
9. Love Rat by Christopher Cooper - 6/10
8. Orr by Juno Dawson - 7/10
7. Changes Everything by James Goss - 8/10
6. Zero Hour by Jay Harley - 8/10
5. Superiority Complex by AK Benedict - 8/10
4. Tagged by Joseph Lidster - 9/10
3. The Empty Hand by Tim Foley - 9/10
2. A Kill to a View by Mac Rogers - 9/10
1. Poker Face by Tim Foley - 10/10

Overall - 7.9/10