‘I know what you’ve done. I know what you’ll do.” A harmless meme? Or something far more sinister? Yvonne Hartman and her team investigate in Torchwood: ‘Aliens Among Us: Tagged’!
Tagged begins from the perspective of a very ordinary person called Serena. She’s a perfectly nice and innocent character. She’s been through a lot. But she comes across as the kind of person that wouldn’t hurt a fly. Then she reads a card that’s been sent to many people. And it’s not long before she becomes a murderer.
Tagged is the kind of episode that tells a story both wide-range and personal. With a “meme” that inspires people to violence, it explores the kind of effect something like that can have. How society can direct its fear, guilt and hate. How we decide the value of someone’s life. Even how we choose which people should die, based on something they’ve done, or even just said.
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With the personal, it looks at how we all have secrets. How we all have something to feel guilty about. It doesn’t even matter if it’s something we should feel guilty about or not, because the guilt is still there. And sometimes, a person will do anything to deny or hide it.
This kind of psychologically driven episode is written by none other than Torchwood and Big Finish veteran Joseph Lidster. He’s written several brilliant Torchwood stories already (Broken especially is a must listen), and Tagged is no exception. The character of Serena is especially brilliant. Even when she does terrible things, she’s still an incredibly sympathetic character. Kezrena James gives a brilliant performance in the role.
The new boss
Tagged is also interesting for getting to hear Yvonne Hartman as the new boss of Torchwood Three. It’s fascinating to hear how she works in such a different environment. After all, she’s far more used to the high level of organization that Torchwood One had.
Not only does she treat Torchwood a lot more as an actual organization, complete with office meetings and motivational speeches. She’s also far more uncompromising than Jack. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Even when it causes so much suffering to one of her own members.
But she wouldn’t make someone suffer needlessly. And she’s certainly not without an empathic side. She just believes that the ends always justify the means. No matter how difficult those means are.
It’s really not surprising that Lidster writes Hartman so well. After all, he wrote One Rule, the first Torchwood story that entirely focused on her character. He knows the character inside and out. He doesn’t make her too nasty or villainous. But neither does he make her sentimental. He’s the perfect writer for showing what she’s really like as the new boss.
A very relevant story with some excellent character writing as well as allegorical, not to mention some fantastic performances, Tagged is another strong piece of science-fiction drama for both Torchwood and Joseph Lidster.
Next: Billie Piper announces worldwide contest to see her Broadway’s Yerma