The Vigil

"You will never be enough."

Writer: Lou Morgan

Format: Audio

Released: September 2019

Series: Torchwood Monthly 31

Featuring: Tosh

Synopsis 

Sebastian Vaughan is the brightest, newest recruit to Torchwood. He's come from a very good family, an excellent school, and with a degree from the finest College. He's the kind of person bred for Torchwood. 

Sebastian Vaughan is exactly the person Torchwood needs. He's charming, he's smart, and he's good in a fight. He's taken Torchwood's other new recruit under his wing. With his help, Toshiko Sato will make something of herself and fit in at Torchwood. 

Sebastian Vaughan is dead. Toshiko Sato's been given permission to bring his body home to give him the send-off he deserves. How will Torchwood cope without him?

Verdict 

The Vigil was a really strong story to continue my way through the Torchwood monthly releases from Big Finish! I’m a big fan of Tosh and I’m thoroughly enjoying her character development when taking centre stage in this range as a solo main character. That really benefits her and allows her to shine. She was put down a little bit here which was sad to hear and I have to say I was not a fan in the slightest of Sebastian. He was pretty rubbish as a member of the Torchwood team and I can only describe him as a bit of a snobby knob. I really hated him to be honest and whilst that’s what I assume the intention was, I couldn’t help but want Tosh to just slap him! He deserved it as whilst it was clear that Tosh was quite new to the Torchwood team at this point, he just kept putting her down. He really did and that was a shame because she offers a lot and was a valued member of the team. Her investigation into the Cortex Leeches was good and the threat they provided was intriguing and never really came into fruition until late in the story. That was fine because Sebastian’s mother was scary enough! Madeline Vaughan was a frosty character and she wasn’t too happy with Torchwood. The Torchwood protocols of keeping one’s body after death was fantastic to play with, so having a family tradition where all members were buried at the same place proved a little bit of an issue. It was nice that even after the way he had treated her, Tosh was doing everything she could to uphold the Vaughan family tradition. The relationship she had with Madeline was touchy to say the least, especially when her son’s body had vanished! The flashback format mixing in with the present was pretty good and I liked shifting between clearly different times. Tosh was noticeably more confident without Sebastian around and she really came into her own as she immediately owned the field as an instantly more senior member of the team. I think this definitely could have been aided by having a few more members of the team featured, but just getting mentions of Suzie and Ianto were really nice. I’d love for there to be a Big Finish series set during this timeframe as I think there would be a lot to offer and explore, but just getting stories like this into the era is more than welcomed for now. The action and excitement that came from Sebastian being reanimated by the leeches was good and it was clear that his mother was not going to listen to Tosh. She soon shifted in blaming Torchwood for her son’s body disappearing to being overjoyed that he was back alive, despite him obviously not being himself. The fact he killed his beloved dog was answer enough of that, but she wasn’t having it. Tosh having to use a gun was an emotional moment and Sebastian even taunting her after death that she didn’t have it in her was incredibly powerful. It’s nice to see Tosh a little vulnerable here as we know she will actually go onto die for Torchwood which is a fine example of her character development. Finishing the story with Sebastian’s message after death as we would see in the tv series was a nice touch and a strong way to further continuity. Overall, a great adventure!

Rating: 8/10