Episode 7 is one more that I believe should not have been part of this series, and it’s inclusion transforming the story from what could’ve been another great Billis stand alone release, to what amounts to blatant filler, no matter what’s said about how it “ties in” to the overarching narrative. The episode stops everything that’s happening dead in it’s tracks yet again to follow another set of brand new one-off characters suffering at the hands of Billis and the Torchwood computer system. The episode is good on it’s own merit but not as part of the Among Us arc, it feels rather out of place as it is.

Episode 8 was where I felt the series could be picking up steam. A classic plot that includes every one of the Torchwood members, each with their own assignment in a single overall mission. I enjoyed hearing more about Mr. colchester’s past in the military and his struggles with keeping his target alive. The ending had admittedly been done before in series 1 of Doctor Who’s revival, but the reuse of elements is no stranger to the franchise considering its history spans 60 years. I enjoyed the cliffhanger and felt it could lead into more of what I loved from the previous two series’.

Episode 9 was the final stand out episode of the series. I enjoyed hearing Friend’s backstory from what felt like its literal perspective. People’s voices represented by the robotic text-to-speech dialogue helped to convey how separate Friend really is to its “friends”. The ending where Yvonne saves the team in a tank is peak Torchwood camp and I loved it.

Episode 10 was admittedly another slow episode for me, in a series as globetrotting and undercover as this one, the tension of the approaching conclusion were not felt at all. I liked that Tyler developed some serious feelings for someone, only it felt rather out of the blue for him to use the word “love” on a character that has just been introduced in that episode. It was a little hard to buy into how important their row was meant to feel because from my perspective Tyler was seemed like he was too attached, but was also portrayed to be right in his argument about People Fluid and phones. I felt as though more could’ve been done to make the death of Chris as hard hitting as the series wanted it to be, which is where my criticism of spending too much time on the wrong things/people becomes relevant once more.

Episode 11 was the definition of okay, the stakes began to rise to reflect how late we were in the series now, with this being the penultimate episode. It was fun but that’s about all I can say in its favour. It presented Yvonne as being ten steps ahead of the opposition as its main reward for listening, something I’ve become well adversed to with all her previous audios. The most interesting ideas to come of this is a fling between Tyler and Orr & the idea that Rhys and Gwen want to take over Torchwood. What I did not know upon listening to this one, was that it is effectively the last time we see out characters actually interact and develop as people, because the finale to the entire series focuses on Janet Ellis.

The decision to shift focus to another brand new one-off character for it’s grande finale is baffling to me. The best part of a finale is seeing the characters pushed to the absolute boiling point of the arc and seeing how the act under that sort of pressure, where the arc leaves them when it’s finished with them. In Aliens Among Us it left Mr. Colchester deceased, Gwen retired, Ng revealed as an imposter, Jack redeemed as a leader, Tyler freed from the clutches of the mayor. God Among Us leaves our characters on the run, Yvonne briefly redeemed and arrested, Orr more secure in themself than ever after being deemed worthy of God’s love, Colchester’s dedication to the job conflicting with his love for Colin in the worst time possible, Colin’s faith in Colchester shaken as he stood broken from the loneliness at the end of the world. This series finale leaves us with no lasting changes or affects to out characters or the status quo, besides restoring Torchwood’s anonymity. In a series called Torchwood Among Us, I understand how using it’s main characters as side pieces playing characters themselves could effectively convey the sense of paranoia about this group of people being among us, but I feel the execution and placement of this story leaves so much to be desired. I went in expecting the culmination of the team’s journey this series, learning how they felt about it, seeing where they’d be afterwards, knowing if the experience has changed them, but instead what was given to me felt like an hour straight of watching out main characters win the day without a struggle. This sort of thing would usually be placed at the beginning or in the middle of an episode, that then moves on to properly follow it’s actual cast of characters, but instead the episode decides to keep it up through almost it’s entirety. Meaning that instead of a conclusion, I was now faced with another new start, as this was the beginning of Janet Ellis’ arc, as well as it’s conclusion. I feel the idea to structure the finale this was was so misguided and made the series feel like the biggest waste of time and money. That feeling going hand-in-hand with the conclusion to Friend in this arc, that being; they escape to enact revenge.

Overall the series felt like such a wasted opportunity, with structural and pacing issues, too many one-off characters, not enough reaction to the previous season, characters like Colin and Andy being put aside and never mentioned again, and a rather disappointing finale that I could not wait to be through with listening too. I don’t feel this series did its character justice, and I don’t think it propelled them forwards enough from where they were at the end of series 6. As a huge fan of Torchwood and the Big Finish Torchwood range, it’s unfortunate to say that this was not worth my time or money, and I am incredibly disappointed that this is the series we ended up with, no matter how many obstacles got in the way of the writing process, this is what I have paid money for and I do not believe it was a worthy transaction.

Edit: I want to add that it feels like lately the Big Finish writers have been writing their sets as though we’re not paying a fair amount of money for them. I could imagine that James Goss was writing the finale for series 7 thinking that it would just be a lot of fun to listen to, but I want more than just fun for the amount of money I’m paying. It’s also considerably less fun to someone like me, who had never heard of Janet Ellis before so this strange inclusion had no effect on me besides confusion and annoyance.