The Backwards Men

"There's no such thing as unicorns."

Writer: Andy Lane

Format: Audio

Released: October 2014

Series: Jago & Litefoot 8.02

Featuring: Jago, Litefoot

Synopsis

There's unrest on the streets of London, and strange creatures who walk backwards. What is the link to Wednesday's World of Weird Wonders?

Verdict

The Backwards Men was another great episode to continue my way through the eighth series of Jago and Litefoot! My assumptions of this being more of a collection of standalone adventures seems to be ringing true and that’s a nice pace to go after a really eventful seven series of continuity heavy arcs. It was good to bring Sergeant Quick into the fold to bring Jago and Litefoot the information of something potentially up their alley, and I quite liked the approach of them getting ahead of the game and nipping things in the bud before it was too late. I think that’s quite fun. Jago seems to have firmly put the torment of the Scorchies behind him and his relationship with Litefoot felt as strong as ever. Their discussion about their own deaths was pretty poignant and emotional stuff, especially since one of them has now passed. Litefoot believing that he would perish either shortly before or after his old chum was rather sad and I found the whole discussion quite a shame to be honest! They shouldn’t be talking about them dying, but Jago wanting Litefoot and not some stranger to carry out his autopsy was a nice moment. These were the best of friends and I got that feeling in a big way. I thought the pair getting into their alien investigative mode was great fun and having them invite Ellie to help their disguise was terrific, especially when she thought initially that she was just being invited out for a night of leisure. Of course, it was always going to be something else with Jago and Litefoot involved and the mystery soon revealed itself. I thought Litefoot’s discussion in his own mind with Brontach was very intriguing and quite a surprise for the professor as a corpse was communicating with him! The idea behind the stiff people was interesting as they didn’t do much other than defend themselves. I liked the titular concept very much even if the explanation was a bit lacking in logic, the image created was incredibly disturbing and well suited to this kind of dark Victorian atmosphere. Wednesday made for a brilliant villain and his desire to bring the species back to life was good even if the means were quite conspicuous. Replacing minds in bodies wasn’t new but Litefoot living in unison with Brontach was quite unusual and good fun as they both talked. Brontach’s sacrifice at the end in splintering himself to wipe out Wednesday and his backwards men was really admirable and a neat way to tidy everything up, but I do think a little more excitement and urgency could have boosted the rating for this episode even further. It’s nice to have Ellie in full flow again although I do hope we reach the moment where Jago and Litefoot reveal to her about her fate in the future. Surely that has to come into play? But for now, I’m just glad she’s a major player in the series. As the last episode discussed, when’s that spin-off coming? The final discussion and meeting of powers between Brontach and Wednesday was solid stuff. Overall, another entertaining listen to continue the series! 

Rating: 8/10