Torchwood review: We Always Get Out Alive (audio)
By James Aggas
On a long drive home, Gwen and Rhys face both the unnatural and each other, in the latest Torchwood audio story, We Always Get Out Alive.
We Always Get Out Alive is a rather special Torchwood episode by Guy Adams. It’s definitely my favorite episode of the monthly range this year. It might even be my favorite Torchwood story since Broken.
The entire episode is set in Gwen and Rhys’s car, on a long drive back from a mission. At first, things seem to be alright, and they’re eager to get back home to their daughter.
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But as the night goes on, strange things start to happen. As hard as they try, they can’t find a way home, and tensions start to increase.
There are two clear reasons why this story stands out so brilliantly.
Horror
We Always Get Out Alive is a fantastic horror story. Not one that focuses on gore or violence. It’s far more intimate and unsettling than that.
Instead, Guy Adams focuses on building up the suspense. He plays with the unknown, with bizarre things happening for no clear reason, both outside the car and inside it. And the longer strange things continue to happen, the more the tension builds.
Even worse, we don’t know everything that happens to Gwen or Rhys. While Eve Myles and Kai Owen are literally the only actors in this episode, the story’s perspective isn’t fixed on them.
Instead, it’s always inside the car. That means that whenever one or both of them get out of it, we don’t know what happens to them. When they walk off into the distance, it’s up to our imaginations to try to work out what happens, with only the faintest noises to give us clues. Moments like that are almost unbearable due to the complete uncertainty of what’s going on.
Eve Myles and Kai Owen star in the latest Torchwood audio, We Always Get Out Alive.
(Photo credit: Torchwood/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
Drama
The other reason this story is so brilliant? The drama. We Always Get Out Alive takes a very close look at Gwen and Rhys. Both of them as individuals and as a married couple.
From the very start of the episode, Guy Adams enjoys exploring every aspect of their lives. Their marriage, the dangers they face, their fears. All of this and so much more are fleshed out in great detail in the extensive dialogue between the two.
And both Eve Myles and Kai Owen perform all of these scenes wonderfully. They’re given a lot to work with, especially as the only two cast members of the entire story. But they work with it wonderfully, and they really bring back to life the married couple we all know and love.
We Always Get Out Alive is strongly recommended listening for any Torchwood fan. It’s another brilliant example of what Torchwood always did best: balancing the strange and the horrific with the ordinary and the humanity. It’s not an easy listen, but it is a brilliant one, and very likely one of the best Torchwood audios this year.
Next: Review: Pyramids of Mars (and why it’s one of the greatest stories)
Are you a fan of Gwen and Rhys? Do you enjoy the darker or more horrific episodes of Torchwood such as We Always Get Out Alive? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.