There’s an empty office block in Cardiff. That’s nothing special – plenty of businesses go under, clear out, cease to exist. All that’s left behind is an empty building. But there’s one office block that refuses to be forgotten about.
There have been stories about that building – strange lights, funny goings on, faces pressed up against the glass. Enough to get the locals worried. Enough to ask Torchwood to get involved.
It’s Friday night. Ianto Jones has better things to do with his time than look round a haunted building. But he goes anyway, and it turns out that The Office has been waiting for him.
TORCHWOOD: THE OFFICE OF NEVER WAS
Torchwood was never intended to portray the adventures of a group of hyper-competent government agents. Indeed, as seen on television, Torchwood Three was intended to be out on the edge – a group of intelligent yet untested agents constantly replacing those killed in action. They’re supposed to screw up, supposed to sometimes make bad situations worse. But we haven’t really explored that element of Torchwood in the audio range until now, in “The Office of Never Was” by James Goss.
The premise is very simple: Ianto investigates an abandoned Cardiff office block that is rumored to be haunted. Once there, he discovers that things are not how they seem. The building doesn’t seem to respond to his presence: the motion sensors don’t recognize him, for example, and strange voices seem to call his name. Soon, he meets a young woman (Bethan Rose Young) who thinks she’s the security guard but doesn’t seem to remember anything about her own life. Has Ianto been there before? Does he know her? He doesn’t remember either. The first two-thirds of the story take place entirely within this eerie, mysterious setting, building a legitimate sense of dread.
The revelation, however, turns the story on its head, when former executive Oliver (David Shields) emerges from the shadows to confront Ianto. It’s a big info-dump that slows the story to a halt, but the questions it poses are interesting nonetheless. The company purchased alien brain modifications, possibly from the Committee, to enhance its employees. Torchwood found out and sent Ianto to intervene, putting Retcon in the water supply to reverse the modifications. But they got it wrong: rather than curing the employees, the Retcon caused massive neural failures and killed them. And finally, rather than living with his guilt, Ianto took Retcon himself and forgot about the entire affair. What’s presented as a ghost story, then, is actually about lost memories and how Ianto’s mind is dredging them up despite the influence of the drug. Oliver is manipulating him, trying to get Ianto to a place where he will remember his actions and face his guilty conscience. It’s unclear exactly how much of the “haunting” was Oliver and how much was in Ianto’s head, but in any case we learn a lot about Ianto and how he deals with the consequences of the actions he takes as a Torchwood operative. The ending is particularly effective: the story is about the importance of memory and how Retcon is simply a way to avoid responsibility, and while it appears to be building toward Ianto realizing this and accepting his past, it takes a sharp turn in the opposite direction right at the climax.
Overall, “The Office of Never Was” is another strong entry in the Torchwood range. There are a few niggles with the script, particularly the mid-story info-dump, but it’s largely successful. Scott Handcock directs and the results are excellent: along with Rob Harvey’s sound design, the haunted feeling is inescapable. As with so much of this range, “The Office of Never Was” is highly recommended.
8/10