Latter Days: Locker 15

"Memories. That's all some of us have."

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: September 2019

Series: Torchwood One 3.02

Featuring: Ianto, Yvonne

Synopsis

A mysterious force is wiping out Torchwood, and the only person who can save London is a cleaner called Dave.

Verdict

Locker 15 was a terrific little story to continue the Latter Days third series of Torchwood One! I must admit that I thought the title that serves as the umbrella for this boxset was going to refer to the last days of Torchwood prior to the events of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, and whilst there was reference to that with the mention of the sphere being seemingly newly acquired, it appears that the title will actually refer to retirement! I didn't expect that to last for the series following on from Retirement Plan, but things started here with Ianto visiting his uncle Dave at the retirement care home. His efforts to try and get him to remember Torchwood and using Tommy as a character reference didn't seem very family like, but I did enjoy that Dave had worked at Torchwood as learning anything about the organisation's past is always something I'm interested in and it's a big reason of why I am loving this spinoff range. Of course, with Ianto referring to him as Mr Cook it was clear that he wasn't actually his nephew and was feigning a familial connection to try and obtain the locker key to a mysterious Locker 15 that was causing chaos at Torchwood Tower. The only problem was that Dave had been retired for three years now and his brain functions had all but ceased. Quite the predicament for Ianto and Yvonne! Hearing Kara try and deal with Locker 15 herself was good and I liked the danger of anyone getting too close just having their memories wipe. Nobody could get close without that happening to them which was great stuff. It seemed that there were three months until the entire Torchwood Tower was a no go zone which was a strong threat. Yvonne going to Dave and feigning being her niece was perhaps a step too ridiculous, but the outing that was arranged was done well and taking him to the infamous locker may spark some memories. He initially only remembered storing mops as his occupation was as a janitor, but it all began to come back slowly which was paced pretty well. He knew he'd left something in Locker 15 and the little flashback sequences definitely helped with us learning that there were aliens involved. That wasn't exactly a surprise. The bio-lock on the locker was excellent and Yvonne's calm reaction in realising that Dave was effective was good stuff. The skeleton dead body inside was a bit grim, especially with the surprise that it was Dave Cook! I didn't see it coming that the real article was actually dead. The psychic warp field around the locker vicinity was good and more could have been made of tat with two killed from it and I'd have just liked slightly more detail on the alien security node that was within, it didn't seem enough that the alien just wanted to defend itself. Yvonne refusing to abandon the locker was good and I liked the irony of it absorbing the attempted blast. The flashback to the brain waves absorption of Dave was decent and the sequence of the alien actually becoming Dave was good, but then it just hid away and locked the real person away! That was both sad and cruel. Yvonne wanting to restore the core memory to the alien Dave was ruthless and Ianto expressed his worries about the prolonged effect of retcon on an alien, as that happened every six weeks in small doses to the likes of janitors, and now look at the impact! The deactivation of the security node was an expected end amidst an exciting conclusion, but the final touch of Yvonne going back to the home with Dave and suffocating the alien was brutal. That showed just how dark she could be. Overall, a very good audio! 

Rating: 8/10