Torchwood: Aliens Among Us, Part 3

The third and final part of the imagined fifth season of the TV show moves the story back closer to the main plot arc than the second instalment did. Which obviously makes sense, and is what we'd expect in the last few episodes of a modern TV series, although the ending of this is more open than any of the real Torchwood seasons – probably because they were more confident of getting another one to follow. Good to see Orr getting used properly again though, after feeling more like a handy plot device in vol. 2.

• Poker Face – The first episode follows on directly from the cliffhanger ending of the previous volume. The obvious question of why Hartmann isn't dead is barely touched on, and more or less handwaved away when it is, but perhaps it's being saved for something later. Instead, the focus is on her attempts to subvert Torchwood, helped by the fact that Jack is being unnecessarily secretive. Even so, it seems that the rest of the team take her side rather too quickly and much of the episode consists of them bickering. It does at least give a good share of the screen time to all of the characters and mostly treats them well, but it does all feel a little too easy. 4 stars.

• Tagged – The second episode is much stronger as Torchwood takes on a psychically empowered internet meme that feeds on anger. This is a dark tale, although the horror is in how people are twisted and the lengths they will go to to resolve past traumas rather than anything gory. Hartmann is particularly ruthless here, mentally torturing one of the other characters to get what she wants and coming across as almost psychopathic at times. There's also a significant development with the Ng subplot that's been bubbling under for the whole season, creating a complex story that's better at probing its characters' weaknesses than the prior episode's attempt to do the same. 5 stars.

• Escape Room – Gwen, Mr Colchester, and their respective spouses enter an ‘escape room' for an evening's entertainment, only to discover that it's an actual dungeon filled with death traps. While the villain's motivation turns out to be related to the overall plot arc, and teases some of what's to come in the next episode, the story would have worked with a different one, making this feel comparatively standalone. Putting the characters under stress helps show us what they're capable of, and this element works well. The weakness, unfortunately, is that it's not a setup conducive to audio, and there were many occasions where I simply couldn't work what was going on from the character's descriptions of what they were seeing and doing. An interesting idea, somewhat failing in the execution. 3.5 stars.

• Herald of the Dawn – There are a lot of plotlines left to wrap up as we head into the season finale... and so few of them are that this feels more like a mid-season cliffhanger. Which isn't to say that there aren't major developments, including one that will have a long-lasting impact on the show going forward. There's plenty of drama and peril with high-stakes action, and all the main characters get something to do. Furthermore, feeling like a mid-season cliffhanger isn't really a problem when the release schedule means that there's no more gap between this and the start of ‘season six' than there was between any of the instalments within ‘season five'. Just don't expect everything to be resolved just yet. 4.5 stars.