God Among Us: Flight 405

"I've just listened to myself die."

Writer: Lou Morgan
Format: Audio
Released: February 2019
Series: Torchwood 6.05

Featuring: Yvonne, Andy, Norton

Synopsis

Flight 405 went missing over 60 years ago, but tonight the plane finally lands. Norton Folgate's a Torchwood agent from the 1950s and he swears Flight 405 contains the secret to the end of the world, but can Torchwood trust him?

Verdict 

The second boxset of God Among Us and Torchwood’s official sixth series started in a fantastic way with Flight 405! I wasn’t quite expecting this adventure to go in the direction that it did, but it turned out to be a brilliant story. After the arrival of Norton Folgate at the back end of the first boxset, his arrival at Andy’s house with Yvonne seemed to continue things along on a smaller scale which was interesting and differed from my expectations. The only appearance or Captain Jack and Mr Colchester was good and I liked that they were on good terms after everything that went on with Colin in the first third of the series. Colchester was now a little similar to Jack in that he’d been resurrected and was now not sleeping. He probably wouldn’t be able to resurrect like Jack can, but the similarities could provide an interesting dynamic moving forward. This episode wasn’t about them though. We had some good humour with the pronunciation of Llandau Airport and I really enjoyed the idea of a ghost flight from the 1950s being trapped on the edge of the Rift. There was so much potential and throwing in the fact that there was an alien artefact on board was excellent. A lot of potential from the offset. I wanted to know more about the Lens artefact but the first objective was to ensure that the plane would land safely because today was the day it would come out of the Rift. That was the danger that Norton had come to stop which didn’t initially seem to fit in with the overall story arc of God Among Us. Norton being a pharadime projection was good and it was great when he just beamed himself up to the plane. The idea of the pilots on board phasing between being flesh and then skeletons was fantastic. There was the potential of crashing and falling into a time loop which I enjoyed a lot and it was good to know that despite being beamed up, there was no chance of escape. One thing I thought should have happened in the story was some background noise of an aeroplane because the silence didn’t quite suit what I was listening to. It wasn’t a major issue though. Norton not knowing what the Lens is nor looked like was humorous and it seemed to just fit his character even though I knew very little of his background. It just seemed right. Maybe that’s why Andy suspected that he was keeping something from him and Yvonne. He wanted to know why they were on the plane as there needed to be more of a reason. The mention of heavy rain in Cardiff was very apt and as I was making the morning commute into my capital city, I was hoping the heavens wouldn’t open up like they did yesterday morning ensuring I walked into work dripping. Norton hearing the transmissions from the future was fantastic and I loved that it revealed that his plan hadn’t worked. With Andy’s help, Yvonne realising that Norton was in fact terrified was very good. One of the best moments in the episode was the brief cameo of the Scottish woman that featured throughout the first boxset! I am a big fan of her and I can’t wait to discover how she ties in with everything in the series. My gut feeling at the moment is that she might be God. She knew all about Norton which was a great development. Andy and Yvonne getting to hear the radio now was good and they heard that things had gone wrong. It was all time dilation because of the Rift and these were just possible futures, a concept which I very much enjoy. It was almost certainly a trap, but the mention of one of the pilots having the same suit as Norton was very intriguing and I had expected that element to be developed further. Maybe it will tie in again as the series continues. All of the different futures being heard resulting in them all failing and getting trapped was dangerous and exciting to see where things would go. I thought it was very clever of Yvonne to try and send her past self a message to change her fate. Her greatness is definitely becoming more known as the episodes continue. Her and Andy suspecting that Norton had sent them on a wild goose chase was interesting, but she had a plan to ensure safety. She wanted to land the plane in the water and have her team extract the fuselage from the wreckage because that’s the only place the Lens could be after extensive searching. Norton expecting Yvonne and Andy to just land the plane nicely was an interesting development and he definitely knew more than he was letting on. He had to get off, but Yvonne brilliantly called his bluff which meant he quickly produced the Lens which had them blown a hole in the side of the plane! They wouldn’t zap back into their bodies and they needed to seal it quickly. There was just one problem there because they were projections and couldn’t physically pick up anything to seal it. Norton conveniently was more in phase with the ship and sealed things up rather quickly when placed in danger. He was certainly up to something. The pilots being permanently out of phase, which was contradicted a few minutes later, was intriguing because Norton then was able to be in control. Things then were revealed that the pilots were in different phasing and that allowed Yvonne to find the solution in having her and Andy take control of their bodies mid-phase. A horrifying but terrific concept. I really enjoyed the fear that they could get trapped inside the bodies forever if they didn’t time the phasing exit properly. Yvonne wanting to kill the engines after hearing her potential future self was good and I enjoyed her determination to carry that out. The plane was close to Cardiff now and when the danger had occurred but the plane was free of the Rift, Norton quickly departed the aeroplane after thanking them for their help. It was all very interesting. They had to get out of the bodies as time was catching up with the plane and they safely landed it and beamed out. It was still raining which was very Cardiff. Andy has questions for Norton and whether it was all his plan along. It certainly had that feeling. Did he know where the Lens was? I think so, and I enjoyed that Andy kept probing. Yvonne claiming ownership of the alien artefact was very good and finding out that it could beam energy from dimensions was really interesting. The idea that Norton was still around after the plane danger was eradicated was intriguing because that meant the world would still be ending. Maybe that’s how we get back to the God story arc? The conclusion was hugely unexpected with Norton standing before the Committee and it didn’t matter that he didn’t quite have the artefact. Their plans for the planet had been delayed before so it could happen again. Norton referring to Torchwood as something different to what he was part of was good and not too surprising, but the emergence of Yvonne to the Committee was outstanding! She had the Lens at their disposal which I found very surprising and I’m excited to hear where things go from here. What I didn't expect was a mini episode in the form of a podcast straight after the end credits. We were introduced to Niamh and Jeff who were presenting 'Cardiff Unknown' and it was just brilliant. The mentioning of Cardiff being the city that was forgotten was good and I liked how they interviewed Andy and Tyler about the existence of a secret organisation that was obviously referring to Torchwood. The idea of the lack of evidence of Torchwood being the evidence needed to prove Torchwood existed was terrific. This served well as a foreshadowing of events to come whilst reminding everyone of the journey of how we got here right back from the beginnings of Aliens Among Us. George Wilson's theory about the world being controlled by an alien Committee seemed apt after we were introduced to them. Him dying along with Sam Hallet, who we were told had written an enlightening 'Eye of Providence' blog about aliens in Cardiff and Torchwood but it had disappeared now, with just blurry screenshots remaining, was great and I liked how the crime scene didn't make sense. Torchwood covering up their existence of course. The mention of Niamh having gone to university in Bath was fantastic because that's where I spent three years as an undergraduate! The reference to the Blue Doors and Red Doors when it came to believers and non-believers of alien goings on in Cardiff was brilliant and I liked how the latter's terrorist organisation was mentioned and how the leader of that had been found with no memory. Describing the alien hotel that housed so many of the Sorvix was great and I enjoyed how things liked with the flight 405 from this episode. The emergence of Brent Hayden as a guest on the podcast was wonderful after The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood because even though that wasn't the best story, he was the perfect character to appear. His annoyance and description of Cardiff's alpha lies was good and I liked how he stormed off. The recounting of the events of Future Pain with the God devotions was fantastic and this made for a wonderful little add on to what was already a brilliant episode!

Rating: 9/10