God Among Us: The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood

"Let's take down Torchwood!"

Writer: Guy Adams
Format: Audio
Released: October 2018
Series: Torchwood 6.02

Featuring: Captain Jack, Orr, Tyler, Yvonne, Mr Colchester

Synopsis

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.

Verdict

God Among Us continued in below par fashion with The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood. Unfortunately, this episode really didn't live up to its name which was a big shame. It started off intriguingly with the documentary format from Hayden and how he was looking to vlog about the truth concerning Torchwood. That was a good premise, but then the documentary just went on and on and when I realised that it was going to be the whole episode, I was very disappointed. It wasn't quite Torchwood's equivalent of Love and Monsters, but it was close! I wasn't surprised to find that Tyler would be Hayden's source on the inside. The initial psych that Tyler had to work with Hayden and expose the truth about Torchwood was quite intriguing and shows just how far he has developed as a character. The mention of 'Up the Bluebirds' was a nice inclusion for me personally as it was only a few weeks ago that I was actually attending Cardiff City's fixture with rivals Swansea City. Any local football mention works well for me. Hayden's thoughts on the internet and how it could be used was probably the highlight of the audio with a sublime line about how the internet could be the field where the sows for revolution could grow. I liked that a lot. After that, my feelings were mostly mixed. Hayden wasn't an enjoyable or likeable character and that was obvious from his strange outburst near the beginning of the story when Tyler questioned him. His speech about dealing with politics and being accused of racism seemed very current but I didn't like the line about political correctness being used to silence 'us'. Not everyone thinks those in power have an agenda! Orr being the one that had stood up and agreed with Hayden's speech was interesting but you always knew that she was working for Torchwood and didn't truly believe in everything he'd said. The blurred lines between what had actually occurred in the past and what was taking place inside Hayden's head were very unclear at times which made the story seem something like a jumble. I wasn't a fan of the format in the slightest. Hayden was just arrogant and annoying and thinking that because he was right he was dangerous. The use of the fish tank for analogies though was a really good moment and it made me think of my own two fish as I was on the commute home from Cardiff, where this story took place. The little cameos of Mr Colchester were intriguing and only furthers my belief that he remains very much alive, but I guess that was the point. Tyler revealing how his plan involved drip feeding Hayden some information here and there whilst distinguishing that he had only worked with Torchwood in the past and not for them. Hayden's tendency to distort the information he was given from Tyler was quite frustrating and I just felt my annoyance in the character grow throughout the episode. The use of the Weevil image was decent but the prospect of food companies increasing additives to food so human faeces would be nicer for them was just ridiculous. Hayden seemed to think that it was all about the fact that they could do such a thing, but could they really? Come off it. The mentions of the Sorvix and going back to the events of Aliens Among Us was good but the claims that they weren't really were strange. The moment Hayden confronted a frightened Sorvix was just disturbing to listen to and the fact that he left it dying believing still that it was all a hoax was just awful. Yvonne's dramatised performance in attempting to capture Hayden was great, but I felt that it was all overshadowed by the continuing political nature of the episode. The mention of not needing a spaceship but rather boats to send the 'aliens' back was a callback to the history of centuries ago. Hayden was just a despicable character and the moment at the end where Tyler revealed the true intentions and shut down the prick was justified, but the damage in the story was already done. Another moment that irked me was the mention of that 'stupid American wrestling' which is something I am a huge fan of watching! This just wasn't for me, was it? Overall, some moments and humorous performances, but as a whole this was one of the poorest ever Torchwood stories. Maybe the worst.

Rating: 5/10