Uncanny Valley

"Humans find perfection unsettling."

Writer: David Llewellyn

Format: Audio

Released: January 2016

Series: Torchwood Monthly 05

Featuring: Captain Jack

Synopsis

What has made billionaire Neil Redmond emerge from his long seclusion? Captain Jack knows the answer, and is prepared to go to any lengths to prove it.

A couple of years ago, Neil Redmond was in a terrible accident. His recovery has been long and slow, but now he's back and looking better than ever. Much better than ever.

Dark forces have been behind Neil's transformation. Dark forces that Jack has been hunting for a long time. But Captain Jack's never been able to resist the darkness.

Verdict

Uncanny Valley was a decent continuation of the Torchwood monthly range from Big Finish! This was certainly a very unique tale and a good adventure for Captain Jack in the sole lead role. John Barrowman was excellent in the role and the way this casually fitted in with the Committee arc of the first four episodes in the range that came before it was really good. The seamless way that everything is linked whilst being their own individual stories is definitely a big positive of the range and this one certainly was no different. I liked the format of Jack telling a story in something akin to the Companion Chronicles and whilst it was very noticeable that we only had two actors as the main cast for much of the duration, the way the episode was written worked well in covering that. Of course, it helps when one of those characters is duplicated but that was obviously the key plot element. Jack turning up at Neil's home in a threatening way whilst ringing the doorbell was lovely and I liked how he knew all about this billionaire and his past. Jack had been watching the television and knew that the man on screen couldn't be the same man who suffered life-threatening injuries in an accident in France over a decade previously. That was fun and Jack revelled in the knowledge and making Neil uncomfortable whilst also being reassuring. It was an intriguing combination of qualities. I liked how there was no messing around in mentioning the Committee and I was a little surprised to find that Neil had heard of them. They are certainly an organisation out in the open, so much so that they were getting mentions on late night documentaries which I thought was fun. The discussion of conspiracy theories was good and the idea of the best ones being where people didn't know they were a part of one was very good. I enjoyed how almost anyone connected to Neil and his company with the artificial intelligence for missiles and the production factory he shut down mysteriously died. There were no loose ends and everything was being covered up pretty thoroughly. Jack continuing to get messages that former employees had passed away as he feigned being a salesman was quite harrowing. Of course, the main focus of this audio was on NJ, the robotic duplicate of Neil who would go on to take his place. This supposedly being created by Ovid was very good and Miss Trent was a fun character for her little cameo. NJ having to learn how to act more casual and not elongate sentences was decent, but I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of Neil falling in love with his robot duplicate. How can one actually be in love with one's self? I mean, that is a really fun concept but I just found it quite off-putting as I thought that was pomposity on another level. The mental anguish that Neil was experiencing as he lived life through his duplicate was powerful, especially when Jack and NJ got romantic with the latter taking things into his own hands and doing it for spite. For Jack, that was obviously the plan all along and it worked a treat in showing Neil that NJ had a motive and that he needed to be shut down. Except the supposed deactivator was just a plastic toy so that meant Jack had to take matters into his own hands. The way Jack was killed was savage, but the brutality in the way NJ killed Neil was shocking. I thought it was good for Jack to initiate a terrible car crash to kill the robot once and for all, and the seeds planted with the Committee having been invited to rather than invading Earth was great and sets things up nicely for the future. Overall, a good and unique story but there were some unsettling moments for me. 

Rating: 7/10