Aliens Among Us: Poker Face

"Captain Jack with none of his crew..."

Writer: Tim Foley
Format: Audio
Released: February 2018
Series: Torchwood 5.09

Featuring: Captain Jack, Gwen, Mr Colchester, Orr, Yvonne

Synopsis

Torchwood are in trouble. Terrorist attacks are rocking the city. Control of the police has been ceded to Cardiff's alien masters. And it looks like it's all been arranged by Captain Jack Harkness.

Worse, there's a dead woman in the cells who says that Torchwood will be hers by dawn.

Verdict

Aliens Among Us continued in excellent style with Poker Face! I have finally gotten around to purchasing (for a reasonable price) and listening to the third and final instalment of Torchwood's official fifth series and I could not be more excited. It's been an agonising six month wait since I listened to The Empty Hand with the brilliant cliffhanger that somehow saw Yvonne Hartman return. The events of this episode ran pretty much straight after that of the aforementioned story but there was quite a power coup going on in Torchwood. Yvonne Hartman managed to end the episode in complete control of the Hub and the team and she spent most of it inside a cell. That was quite a feat. Cardiff was in somewhat of a flux with what had been going during recent events with 3Sol and Red Doors and the Sorvix but this story really was just all about Torchwood and I thought that was tremendous. How Yvonne came to still be alive following the events of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday was something I have been wanting to know for a long time as I really couldn't see a way back for her after she was upgraded into a Cyberman. However, she wasn't actually still alive at all. Yvonne was dead. The Yvonne from this universe, that is. This Yvonne being from the parallel universe commonly known as Pete's World was quite a shock but one I am a big fan of indeed. It worked perfectly and here she seemingly set things up perfectly to take control of Torchwood. I remain unconvinced that her motive is to simply do good for her Queen and country but that should be revealed over the next three episodes. The heartfelt mentions of Ianto were a lovely nod to the past and it's great to hear that he still means so much to Jack and Gwen. Their relationship in this story was quite tumultuous and she seemed to have lost all faith in him. She shot him dead and she believed that he was working for Red Doors. Of course, it's difficult to judge Gwen when we know that she's not the real Gwen but it was still surprising that she pulled the trigger. The ways Mr Colchester and Orr became sceptical of Jack were very good too and I like how Yvonne completed her uprising. Jack was helpless. He'd lost control. Yvonne told him what he should do and I suspect there's a plan for him in motion but she just pushed him off a rooftop to conclude the story so I'm not sure she has that much respect for him. Overall, an eventful and excellent episode. Torchwood's very own uprising! We have a new head of the team now and the future looks more intriguing than ever.

Rating: 9/10