Aliens Among Us: Zero Hour

"That app runs your life."

Writer: Janine H Jones
Format: Audio
Released: 19th October 2017
Series: Torchwood 5.07

Featuring: Gwen, Tyler, Mr Colchester, Orr

Synopsis

Welcome to Deliverables. Thanks to us, Cardiff is enjoying an economic miracle. We have created thousands of jobs. We have wiped out homelessness.

More importantly, there are so many benefits to you. Deliverables will deliver your post, your packages, your meals. We are Deliverables, and we never stop.

Deliverables - we always know where to find you. Deliverables - put your life in our hands.

Verdict

Aliens Among Us continued in sublime fashion with Zero Hour. It really was outstanding and is definitely the best episode of the brand new fifth series of Torchwood thus far. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and I find it quite surprising that the story that is easily the best yet did not feature Captain Jack. He was off out in a chemical factory in Neath which is a line I found quite humorous as that is the town I am from and unless there's some secret and hidden place in the town, I don't know of any chemical factories. It was nice to hear my hometown get a mention and the prospect of finding Captain Jack out and about when I go home from university is quite amusing but his absence wasn't felt at all. Instead, Tyler took centre stage and did a stellar job. He had a crush on Hasan and was quite taken aback by not being able to get what he wanted. He tried to convince Gwen there was more than him just wanting to get laid but he really didn't handle rejection well at all. After some pursuing he finally got talking to Hasan and found that things in Cardiff had gotten into quite a repetitive pattern. I thought there was going to be a timey-wimey element with how the audio started and the replaying of the first credit following a pause in the opening credits but what we actually got suited Torchwood a whole lot better. Following the meddling in the Rift by Bilis in the previous episode, Torchwood was struggling to keep ahold of what it was doing and the Rift Manipulator wasn't performing too greatly. Something was interfering and the result of that turned out to be superb. I thought the whole concept of Deliverables was excellent and I liked how it was met with mystery right from the offset with the voice we heard instructing Hasan. Everything was the same. Cardiff was in a state of repeat frenzy and when Orr showed Mr Colchester through the act of tossing a coin, a smile came onto my face. I really loved the concept. The pattern being developed to get a grip on the Rift was really intriguing and I also thought Ro-Jedda's comments about the usefulness of Tyler were interesting. She values him but she didn't seem to care too much that he had joined Deliverables and would most likely end up as ash inside a box. The revelation that the sand that was being packaged was actually human ash was quite disturbing and the way the pattern had taken over Tyler's sanity was also very good. It was working and with unemployment in the city solved, Deliverables needed a way to get around the zero hour contract laws. And that was death. Sick pay and other working rights would interfere with the pattern that was gaining control of the Rift so they simply eradicated them once those variables would come into play. Gwen spending some time with Anwen was good but I get the feeling that the reason the latter isn't quite acting herself is because she knows something is up with her mother. It's not Gwen and I continue to anticipate the revelation regarding that aspect of the story arc. I'm now not so convinced that Rhys is in the same boat but my ears are now confusing me so I await developments there. The way that Gwen defeated the Deliverables pattern was terrific and I really did think it was a brilliant resolution. I liked how impressed Mr Colchester was by it. Gwen avoiding Jack because of the events of Love Rat was good and overall I thought this was an incredible episode! The best of the series so far.

Rating: 10/10