The Conspiracy

"The world we see is the world they want us to see."

Writer: David Llewellyn

Format: Audio

Released: September 2015

Series: Torchwood Monthly Range 01

Featuring: Captain Jack

Synopsis

Captain Jack Harkness has always had his suspicions about the Committee. And now Wilson is also talking about the Committee. Apparently the world really is under the control of alien lizards. That's what Wilson says. People have died, disaster have been staged, the suspicious have disappeared.

It's outrageous.

Only Jack knows that Wilson is right. The Committee has arrived.

Verdict

The Conspiracy was an excellent start to the monthly range of Torchwood Big Finish audios! Sadly, I know a little already of what goes on with the Committee due to their involvement in Aliens Among Us and God Among Us as part of Torchwood's official continuation as the fifth and sixth series, but I look forward to almost treating this as a prequel from my personal perspective. I completely disagree with their inclusion in the official continuation, but hey ho. I'm far from being a conspiracy theorist but I am hugely intrigued in conspiracy theories and George Wilson being a pro-conspiracy theorist was great. His history as a news reporter and his outburst against the battle between politics and businesses was fantastic. George making claims about the Committee was great and the concept behind them of being experts undercover that controlled everything from the planet Erabus was excellent. Jack knowing this to be the truth was brilliant and that had meant he was keeping an eye on George Wilson for a long time so when his roadshow came to Cardiff, Jack went undercover at Plexus magazine. That was really fun and even though Wilson's career was off limits for discussion, Jack prodded right in. The hierarchy of society being the Committee, Enablers and Drones was superb and I thought it was really intriguing that they had supposedly orchestrated every famine, war and genocide. Sam sitting next to Jack at the roadshow was very good and he knew about Jack and Torchwood as a blogger and followed him after the event, but Jack was onto him which was really good. Jack getting an interview with Wilson was really good and I liked how he claimed to have a CIA contact that provided him with the name of the Committee. He had several contacts across a number of organisations that were aware of the Committee which was fun to play with. The claim that both the Nazis and the Allied Forces were stooges of the Committee and the Second World War was all a fabrication was quite something! The clam that the causes of the War were fictional is quite incredible. Jack questioning the motive of the Committee and how they'd done a bad job in eradicating the human race was good because his points of the population doubling was magnificent. But was the War all a plan to provide the atomic bomb as a means of wiping out? Sam confronting Jack and having photos with Torchwood and calling Gwen fit was quite amusing. His calling Jack with a plea of sorts after being threatened by the Committee was a powerful scene as Jack got their message when Sam was hanged. Whether he fell or was pushed, Jack's determination that followed the bogus last testament video was palpable. It was brilliant to hear John Barrowman again in a lead role. Jack confronting George with a gun wanting the name of his contact was quite something, but then an unexpected revelation came as George revealed that his contacts didn't actually exist and he had made everything up! That was marvellous and his revelling in the humour of the ridiculousness of his Committee claims was really good. He had initial paranoia, and Kate, his daughter, had come up with the idea for his book. Jack suggesting to George that everything was all true was good and I liked that George was willing to retire if that was what Jack wanted. Jack being confused by how he got so much right was fantastic. George drinking was good despite his issues and it was a nice development to have him hurt by Sam's death. Jack spying on George and Kate and noticing her rehearsed sympathy was great. Kate had been deep cover for the Committee as an adopted daughter which was good and the meeting at the hotel between Jack and Kate was nicely done. The Kepri 5 story with the Committee knowing about Jack was terrific and the question of why Kate fed details was very interesting. This was exactly what they wanted after studying Earth for 100 years and their loving a lie was fascinating. George thinking Kate was playacting was fun and Sam's death was perfect for the Committee. Her calm comment with how she revealed George would be dead and killed him to have Torchwood's fingerprints all over events, and then killed Jack, made her a terrific villain! The sirens were coming so Jack had to leave before covering his tracks. He left the Torchwood team because he needed to stop them, because now the Committee were everywhere. Overall, a fine start to the range! 

Rating: 9/10