Gooseberry (James Goss) – audio

James Goss (2021) Gooseberry. Big Finish Productions, Torchwood Monthly Range 49, audio drama.

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I’ve not listened to all Big Finish audio dramas (since there are so many!) but at least I’m trying to keep up with those that have Owen Harper in them. I just love Owen and Burn Gorman! Owen is often put together with Andy Davidson (Tom Price) because they have a great chemistry. This is the case with Gooseberry, where Andy has a new girlfriend, Caite. This drama takes palce in the timeline where Owen is already a dead man walking.

“So, Andy doesn’t know you’re dead, does he?”

Owen meets Caite the first time in a café and realizes right away: Caite is dead. Little by littke he finds out more. Caite is not only dead, she’s an alien, too. Great!

Caite is the kind of alien who can elongate the time between life and death by taking energy from the living. She calls her people Threshold. Caite makes Owen keep her secret and pays him by giving him life for just a few moments at a time.

All this life gets Owen overwhelmed. He can eat! He can feel! He can sense things! He is addicted right away.

So Caite and Owen have this huge secret where they take some life from the living (without them knowing) and live together these huge high moments. Until one living host dies. This begins a long and distressing period where Owen is covering up the murder. All the while Andy is trying to find the murderers.

But it is not that simple. Caite has been very active in making Owen addicted to life and she has also murdered the host in purpose. She has all the time only wanted an access to Torchwood hub and time rift manipulator. She wants to let her people through.

This is a really good and intense story. Owen wanting to live just one moment more is realistic and I feel compassion for him. The story asks how good friends Owen and Andy actually are. Who are they going to be loyal to when things get really bad?