Suckers

"I shouldn't be here."

Writer: Alexander Stewart

Format: Audio

Released: August 2022

Series: Torchwood Monthly 64

Featuring: Tosh

Synopsis

Shireen's not exactly enjoying being sectioned, but she's been in worse places. That psychiatric right unit in Brecon was a right dump. This one's alight, though. There's table tennis, art therapy and they even get to do a bit of gardening. 

There's only one problem. Shireen's roommate. Toshiko – she's a total space cadet, convinced the unit is overrun by aliens. Yeah, right.

Verdict

Suckers was an excellent episode to continue my way through the Torchwood monthly range! This was a really interesting story that invoked a lot of emotion. I thought it was also a spectacular performance from Naoko Mori in reprising her role as Tosh. She was honestly tremendous which was a joy to hear as for the majority of the episode she was in a mentally altered state. That was portrayed just brilliantly here. I must admit I got ahead of myself with regards to the front cover as I had convinced myself that the suckers depicted on there were either the Zygons or the Nestene Consciousness. It didn’t take anything away from the episode but neither did show up. And the being that was possessing the suckers didn’t actually prove to be all that present which was completely fine. Tosh being in solitary confinement was almost immediately uncomfortable because of her condition. The way she sounded was just heartbreaking as she was clearly not herself and over-medicated. I find the whole concept of confinement in this regard quite worrying and I can’t see any good coming of it. The setting of this story as pre-Series 1 and Everything Changes was fantastic and not something I knew was coming. That was a real treat as I love going places beyond or before what we saw on television. Tosh was retconned into featuring in Aliens of London which is glorious and now here she is following on from what we saw in Fragments where Jack rescued her as a newbie. I loved hearing her try and call into Torchwood and asking for Suzie because we all know what happened to her! That was great to focus on and just her saying that name meant I knew exactly when this was set in Tosh’s timeline. It was difficult to hear her almost confide in Shireen that she believed she’d actually made Torchwood up! Sure it sounded fanciful and this showed what kind of effect solitary confinement can have. That was powerful stuff. I liked how Shireen was a new transfer in from Brecon and she initially didn’t like the idea of having a roommate. Solitary confinement might actually be welcomed for some! The whole thing about her having a personality disorder felt off as she seemed completely normal and was a really nice person. It was amusing to hear her battle internally with herself about what she was hearing because given where she was at the psychiatric unit and what Tosh was saying, it sounded completely reasonable for her to be an inmate! I wouldn’t be going along with what she was saying that’s for sure. So of course she ended up getting suckered to death by the alien creature that was feeding upon the people at the psych unit. That was a devastating moment as she pleaded for help and Tosh was almost dumbfounded by the situation. Felicia then emerging and trying to convince her that Shireen was just a hallucination was uncomfortable. She was a very strong villain and I was almost surprised she emerged as late as she did in the story. She was just evil and the way Tosh turned things on her by putting anti-psychiatries in the coffee was fantastic. It was so simple yet so effective and the creature then coming for her was a fitting way to end what was an excellent listen. Thought provoking, full of emotion and just an incredibly strong episode. 

Rating: 9/10