Crush

"This was meant to be a treat."

Writer: Guy Adams

Format: Audio

Released: March 2020

Series: Lives of Captain Jack 3.01

Featuring: Captain Jack, Jackie

Synopsis

Captain Jack Harkness – time-travelling con-man, saviour of the Earth, and intergalactic adventurer. He has lived many lives.

Captain Jack takes Mrs Tyler on a luxury cruise in space.

Verdict

Crush was a good start to the third series of The Lives of Captain Jack! I'll admit that the meeting that took place here between Captain Jack and Jackie was not the main reason I am excited for this series, but I'm all for getting more between the pair. Of course, I'm most looking forward to Jack and River meeting up, but it seems like that will have to wait until the finale and that's absolutely fine. I thought this was a solid opener and starting with Jackie being on the phone to Rose was nice and it made a good change and contrast to have her needing to rush off because she had something planned. And boy was it an adventure! Jack arrived to take her on a space trip which is a really fun concept and I like that there's continuity from Wednesday for Beginners with these two characters enjoying a relationship. They compliment each other well and have a fun chemistry. It was amusing that the planned luxury journey to Luxuria was replaced by the space equivalent of a rail replacement bus and I empathise with Jackie regarding that occurrence! There really isn't anything worse. The passengers needed a bit more elaboration on who and what they were, but it was a good concept to have them upset by interaction and Jackie's loud voice in particular. I expected her to take more offence to that comment! The audio took a dark turn when the crowded shuttle was described as being so overcrowded that a man that had died couldn't fall because there was no room. That was disturbing. When more people started dying, the idea of the contagion being airborne was good but that didn't turn out to be the case. I liked the prospect of the murderer being on board and the conversation Jack and Jackie had with the Pilot about the video surveillance and how permission in writing from everyone on board was required to access it was hilarious. It was like a time loop going to nowhere! Jackie went through a lot emotionally in this one, especially when the woman next to her and Jack was shot and she was forced to accept that they didn't want comfort. It was a totally different culture for her to try and comprehend. Jack deducing that the angle of the darts responsible for the deaths meant it had to come rom above was good and the security cameras provided the perfect angle. Jack was hit himself by one when trying to disable a camera which eliminated any suggestion of a coincidence, and the Pilot revealed he was responsible for the deaths simply because he never got a thank you or shown any interest. That was hardly a motive for murder! He was a robot though. Jackie's plea to him and her outpouring of relating to feeling invisible for being a widow and seeing her daughter go off with the Doctor was brilliant and undoubtedly the story highlight. The Pilot responding by realising he'd gone too far and heading the shuttle into a sun instead was a stark turn but the Passengers finally spoke up which allowed Jackie to convince the Pilot to head back on course before it deactivated itself. It was a bit of a hokey finish, but as a whole this was still a good audio to start the series!

Rating: 7/10