March 16: "Planet of the Ood"

Hooray!  Another alien planet!  That makes four of any note since the series came back in 2005.  Perhaps Russell T Davies finally thinks the audience won't disappear if we spend a week somewhere other than Earth.  Oh, and another Hartnell reference, as we learn that the Ood Sphere is close to the Sense-Sphere (The Sensorites).

But I'm not quite sure what this story wants to be.  In some ways it wants to be a straightforward action story, with evil guards against the righteous Doctor.  There's even a (frankly silly) sequence where the lead guard, Kess, tries to play a giant version of the crane game with the Doctor.  But it also wants to be a pointed commentary about the Ood, to explicitly address the problem of slavery that was brought up and then set aside in "The Impossible Planet" / "The Satan Pit".  But because it wants to be both this and the action plot, it ends up pulling some of its punches.  So of course all the humans are generally terrible people -- the bit with the PR representative Solana calling the guards over rather than helping the Doctor is a nice reversal of how these things normally work, with the Doctor completely failing to win her over, but it does lump her in with the rest of the nasty humans.  Commander Kess literally cackles with delight at the thought of killing the Doctor and has no qualms with gassing the red-eye Ood, and even Halpen appears to be looking forward to the thought of killing the main Ood brain and starting over in another business, with no second thoughts about the fate of the Ood.

An unprocessed Ood with his hindbrain. ("Planet of the Ood") ©BBC

As such, there's no question whatsoever that humanity is in the wrong.  I'm not trying to argue that slavery is ever a good thing, but it might have been more interesting to have had a race of beings who genuinely wanted nothing more than to serve others (which is sort of what "The Impossible Planet" / "The Satan Pit" was getting at) -- what then would be the answer?  Would the Ood be better off with their freedom?  But I suppose there wasn't enough time in a single episode to explore something more nuanced, so instead we get evil humans and oppressed Ood.  And while there's an effort to be pointed in the commentary ("Who do you think made your clothes?" the Doctor asks, after Donna says she doesn't have slaves), they back down -- Donna gets snarky and the Doctor apologizes.  All this and weird alien biology to boot.  (They have a second, exposed brain that they have to carry in their hands?  How did they possibly survive on their own with something like this?)

The other thing to note about "Planet of the Ood" is how little the Doctor and Donna's presence actually matters.  Nothing they learn is a revelation to the people in power or to the Ood, and none of their actions make any difference until the very end -- and even then, it's not like Ood Sigma couldn't have deactivated the bombs and shut off the telepathic barrier around the big shared Ood brain.  The events we see here were set in motion before the Doctor and Donna arrived (i.e., Dr. Ryder's actions and the slow conversion of Halpen into an Ood... er, yes...) and almost certainly would have happened without them running around.  And yet Ood Sigma says "the Doctor-Donna" will be revered forever because of what they did there.  Hmm.

It's not a bad episode -- there's a lot that this does right -- but it never quite gels into the story that it should be.  It's not exciting enough to work as an action story, and it's too straightforward to work as a political drama.  It's a good effort, but "Planet of the Ood" never quite makes it to the place it wants to end up at.

March 15: "The Fires of Pompeii"

There's a part of me that hoped, just for a minute, that this would be a straight historical about the destruction of Pompeii, à la the Big Finish audio The Fires of Vulcan.  Alas, it wasn't to be; the aliens (rock creatures who live in Mount Vesuvius) show up pretty quickly.  Still, shouldn't blame episodes for not being something they're not trying to be.  And there are some nice jokes scattered about, like the recurring "I don't speak Celtic" bit, or the reference back to "The Empty Child" / "The Doctor Dances": "We're in Pompeii.  And it's volcano day."  Oh, and an offhand reference to The Romans: "Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me.  Well, a little bit."

But what's up with the cast of this episode?  I don't mean the performances -- they're generally rather good (even if the efforts to make Caecilius's family seem "just like us" feel a little strange and out of place -- it's like they don't think we can relate to a family unless they behave like a modern one¹⁹⁵).  No, there must have been something in the air, as we get not just a future companion (Karen Gillan, who will be Amy Pond, is the first of the Sibylline Sisterhood that we see), but also a future Doctor, as Caecilius is played by Peter Capaldi.  It's initially a bit difficult to get past that, actually, as you notice mannerisms that will become more familiar as twelfth Doctor ones, but you get used to it soon enough.  Oh, and as long as we're discussing production things...  Look!  It's our first overseas filming of the 21st century (well, except for some brief background plates shot in New York for "Daleks in Manhattan"), and it's really wonderfully impressive to see what the team did in Italy.  There are some shots that were definitely not taken in Cardiff, and the episode is better for it.

Metella, Caecilius, and the Doctor look at the obliterated
Pompeii. ("The Fires of Pompeii") ©BBC

As far as the actual content, though, there are some minor problems.  The discussions between the Doctor and Donna about whether or not the people of Pompeii can be saved are really nice, and we get some small insight into what it's like for the Doctor as he travels: "Some things are fixed, some things are in flux.  Pompeii is fixed."  "How do you know which is which?" Donna asks.  "Because that's how I see the universe," the Doctor replies.  "Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not."  (This also seems to be the episode where the term "fixed point" really gains traction as a convenient way to wave away the problems with changing history (or not).)  Donna just wants him to save the people, even though the Doctor knows he can't.  I do like how it turns out that it's the Doctor's actions that cause established history -- it's a good move that doesn't happen often enough (except as a quick joke/reveal, frequently at the end of an episode -- see, for instance, The Romans or The Visitation).  It's a bit odd, the "everyone has to die" dilemma though, as the fatality rate for Pompeii, while high, wasn't 100%.  (Oh, and while we're quibbling: the Romans had seen volcanoes before Vesuvius erupted, so the word wasn't created on 24 August 79.)  Still, it gives us a nice dilemma that shows that Donna does have an effect on the Doctor.  "You were right," he tells her afterwards.  "Sometimes I need someone."

But when you take out the main "condemning everyone to die" part, the rest is rather weak.  I've mentioned the concerns with Caecilius's family, but the stuff with the Pyroviles also feels awkward, as if we need a monster in this story just for the sake of having an alien monster.  There's only the thinnest veneer of motivations given, in order to force the Doctor to doom Pompeii -- and the reasoning behind the accuracy of the Sibylline prophecies is also just technobabble and unsatisfying as a result.

Still, there's not much actually wrong with the episode -- much that could have probably been done better, but few actual missteps.  There's enough that's right with "The Fires of Pompeii" to maintain your interest, even if it's not likely to be one of your favorite episodes of the show (or even of series 4).  And it's fun to watch Capaldi in Doctor Who before he became the Doctor, so there's that at least.







¹⁹⁵ The family comes from the Cambridge Latin Course -- although in that Caecilius and Metella die in the eruption, and only Quintus survives.  (Evelina is a new creation for this episode.)

March 14: "Partners in Crime"

It took me longer than it probably should have to realize "Partners in Crime" is meant to be a farce.

In retrospect, all the signs are there.  There are definitely genuinely funny moments in this -- the mime between the Doctor and Donna is truly wonderful (and Miss Foster's dry interjection -- "Are we interrupting you?" -- is superbly delivered), and there are tons of funny moments and lines scattered throughout.  The first clear sign that this is meant to be less than serious is the way Donna and the Doctor keep just missing each other in the Adipose Industries office.  The whole episode has moments like this as a result -- and in particular, Miss Foster's fate (where she remains suspended in the air for a moment before falling) looks incredibly strange without this piece of information.

Donna gives the Doctor a second pendant. ("Partners in Crime")
©BBC

Part of the problem, I suspect, is that "Partners in Crime" isn't only a farce -- there are also more serious emotional moments as well.  Donna is redefined as a more nuanced character than she was in "The Runaway Bride" -- she's thankfully significantly less shouty and abrasive than she was there, and her interactions with the Doctor are far more varied as a result.  Her conversation with her grandfather (as played by national British treasure Bernard Cribbins, last seen in "Voyage of the Damned") is really lovely -- even if I'm utterly sick of parts of this speech, thanks to them being in the series 4 trailer that I've been seeing off and on for fifteen months now.  Nevertheless it's still a nice conversation, and both Cribbins and Catherine Tate do a great job with the material.  (Oh, and it's nice how the episode is dedicated to Howard Attfield, who played Donna's dad in "The Runaway Bride" and started to film scenes for this episode before he died.)

It's this blend of styles, though, that makes it difficult at times to see what "Partners in Crime" is trying to do.  It's not as much of a problem as it was in Torchwood's "Something Borrowed" -- though that's possibly because the jokes are better here, and everyone is more committed to making them work.  Catherine Tate obviously excels here, but even a character like Penny Carter¹⁹⁴ works well by actress Verona Joseph being fully committed to her role.  But nevertheless the seriousness of some scenes, and the bizarre horror of the Adipose being formed from people being fully converted into Adipose children, does mean that the juxtaposition can be jarring, and the farcical nature of the episode isn't as strong as it was intended to be.

Still, repeated viewings lessen that jarring sensation, and what's left is a very entertaining season opener.  "Partners in Crime" does well with what it's given, and the end result is very satisfying.







¹⁹⁴ Before Catherine Tate agreed to come back to Doctor Who Russell T Davies created a provisional new companion named Penny Carter, although her character didn't get very far before Donna Noble was confirmed.  But the character's name lives on.

March 13: "Exit Wounds" (TW)

Well.  That was quite the finale.  It's hard not to be entertained by an episode with as many big moments, and fortunately "Exit Wounds" delivers.

The basic idea (Captain John Hart comes back to Cardiff to wreak some vengeance against Captain Jack and the rest of Torchwood) has enough mileage to sustain the episode, and the way the other members of Torchwood handle things after a major terrorist attack that I'm willing to bet never gets mentioned in either Doctor Who or The Sarah Jane Adventures goes down in Cardiff is very engaging.  Gwen shines as she gives the police force a motivational speech, and the part where Tosh and Ianto investigate "ghosts" at the Central IT Server Station and deal with them by shooting them dead when they advance menacingly on Ianto and Tosh ("There we are then," Ianto says.  "Sorted," Tosh agrees) is really nice as well.

Captain John Hart handcuffs Jack while Gray prepares to make him
suffer. ("Exit Wounds") ©BBC

But what makes "Exit Wounds" even better is the twist regarding Hart: he's actually being coerced by Jack's brother Gray into destroying Jack's life, as punishment for Jack letting go of Gray's hand and allowing him to be captured by aliens when they were children.  Hart rescued him, but it was too late; Gray had been driven mad by hatred, and he's now using Hart to get his revenge on Jack.  Hart is as much a victim as Jack is, but he's willing to help Torchwood try and right Gray's wrongs.  But it's really interesting to see how Jack reacts to Gray, how he's willing to endure his "penance" because of the guilt he feels at losing Gray.  Of course, that doesn't excuse Gray's activities, and so Jack has to stop Gray after enduring the punishment.  Still, it's really well done.

But before that, the rest of the team has to deal with Gray's attack -- primarily the one that's causing the nearby nuclear power station to go into meltdown.  This leads to the saddest part of the episode, as Tosh (after having been shot by Gray) realizes that they can't stop the meltdown unless they flood the place with the river -- except Owen is trapped inside the control room, and thus is going to (very slowly) die, in a really rather horrible death when you think about it.  So we lose both Owen and Tosh, who dies from her gunshot wound.  It's a shocking ending, and it's very effective as a result.  It demonstrates that there actually are consequences of what we see, that the team members aren't invulnerable.

It's definitely a "big" episode, but "Exit Wounds" delivers.  They've managed to create an action-packed finale that is primarily about character relationships, and it's this anchoring of the episode that really makes it work.  "Exit Wounds" is a story about change and about loss, about the consequences of the past catching up to you.  It does its job, and it does it well.

And that's frequently been the case for this series of Torchwood.  It's impressive just how much this show has turned around.  Series 1 was, to be frank, something of a disaster, and while things started to get better by the end, all too often it felt like a waste of time.  Series 2, on the other hand, looks like it's been making a conscious effort to see what went wrong with series 1 and fix those problems.  At times it's difficult to imagine this is the same show -- that's how much things have improved.  It's genuinely a pleasure to see Torchwood turn itself around the way it did, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the show goes next.

March 12: "Fragments" (TW)

This is something of a hard episode to get a grip on.  At its heart, it's simply recounting how each member of Torchwood bar Gwen (who we already know about) joined Torchwood Three in Cardiff.  As such there's not really any sort of storyline or a thread to follow all the way through the episode -- instead, "Fragments" relies on the audience being interested in the main characters and wanting to learn more about their back stories.

Jack is interrogated by Torchwood Cardiff. ("Fragments") ©BBC

Fortunately, each of the four storylines are relatively interesting; Jack's is probably the best, simply because he's the most intriguing character on the show, and there's still a lot we don't know about him.  It's also neat to see a younger Jack, one who's ended up in post-1879 Cardiff and is waiting for the Doctor to show up.  This is what brings him to Torchwood's attention -- remember, they've been told that the Doctor is Public Enemy No. 1, and Jack's apparently been going around saying things like, "The Doctor, he'll be able to fix me."  Torchwood at this point is a distinctly nasty bunch (well, pair) -- they seem to be taking genuine pleasure in torturing (and repeatedly killing) Jack, and when Jack helps them bring in an alien, they shoot that alien (a "kid", according to Jack) in the head in front of Jack.  The only reason he stays with them, it seems, is because he won't see the Doctor for over a hundred years, and he needs something to do.  (And he hopes to change Torchwood Three for the better from the inside, it seems -- this isn't explicit, but it seems like a reasonable bet.)  It seems he's considered something of a troublemaker for most of this time (judging from the various files we see bits of), and it isn't until New Year's Eve 1999 that he gains control -- after the leader kills everyone else to save them from the coming "storm".

The other stories aren't quite as intriguing, just because they don't tie into the history of Torchwood (and Doctor Who) quite as much, but they're still neat to see.  Tosh was stuck in a UNIT prison without hope of appeal or release because she built a sonic modulator for some villains so that they would release her mother when Jack got her out in exchange for working for him (and boy, UNIT sure became a lot more intimidating and brutal since Jon Pertwee's time -- it's clearly meant to parallel the War on Terror and prisons like Guantanamo Bay, but still); Ianto begged his way into the organization after the Battle of Canary Wharf and the destruction of Torchwood London; and Owen was a doctor whose fiancée had a brain tumor that turned out to be an alien lifeform -- his efforts to find out what happened, and what happened afterwards despite the Torchwood cover-up, sufficiently impressed Jack to recruit him as Torchwood's medic.  They're all decent stories, and they work better because we've come to care for these characters -- but one does wonder what someone whose first episode was "Fragments" would make of this.

Still, it's nice to get some of the team's past details filled in before the series 2 finale, and even if there isn't a thread linking all these together (beyond "everyone's (Torchwood) life flashes before their eyes"), what we get gives us some nice insights into the characters.  That's enough to sustain the episode, and it seems we actually get a cliffhanger -- Captain John Hart is back to cause trouble for Jack, and he's brought Jack's brother Gray along with him...

March 11: "Adrift" (TW)

Boy, talk about a tearjerker of an episode, huh?

In some ways this is portrayed as something of a conspiracy thriller -- Gwen and Tosh discover that not only are things deposited in Cardiff from the Rift (as we've already known), but sometimes people are taken from Cardiff by the Rift and sent somewhere else.  Except Jack seems oddly reluctant to do anything about it.  Thus "Adrift" spends its time from Gwen's point of view, as her investigation into a missing boy leads her to this discovery.

This storyline is presented in a really nice way, as Gwen (after being confronted by her old police partner Andy about becoming too hard and uncaring) starts investigating what seems to be a slightly odd disappearance that snowballs to become bigger and bigger.  This part is handled very well, as Gwen delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, only to find it gets larger and larger -- the scene where more and more people come to Nikki's "missing persons" support group being a particularly effective moment.  Chris Chibnall also does a good job of casting doubt and suspicion on Jack; Gwen is repeatedly told by him to drop this investigation, which makes us wonder about his motives.  After all, there's still an awful lot we don't know about Jack, and frequently we're not sure why he does things.  Did he therefore know about the Rift taking people and is choosing to cover it up?  It's really well handled, and we can't help but be drawn in.  And balanced against this is Gwen's relationship with Rhys, where he lays into her about forgetting why she's in Torchwood in the first place -- to fight so people can have a normal life.  This is also a highlight of the episode, and Eve Myles and Kai Owen both do a great job in this scene.

The adult Jonah. ("Adrift") ©BBC

But it's when Gwen finally discovers the truth of everything that's going on that things get really good.  We learn why Jack has been so secretive, and what's really been happening to many of those missing people: they have indeed been disappearing into the Rift -- but some of them come back.  Except those that return seem significantly worse than when they left; they're being cared for in a secret facility, and they all seem damaged in some way, both physically and mentally.  They're also displaced in time -- for instance, the fifteen-year-old boy that Gwen is searching for, Jonah Bevan, is now in his fifties and very badly scarred from events he witnessed while on another planet.  These are people that can't be integrated back into society, and so Jack has been keeping them comfortable away from everyone.  But Gwen still wants to try, so she brings Jonah's mother to see him -- and while she eventually is willing to handle his being forty years older and scarred, she can't cope with his constant primal screaming, the result of being driven insane while out in space.  And worse, Gwen has taken Nikki's hope away -- now she knows what happened to Jonah, and that for all intents and purposes she'll never see her son again.  That, for Nikki, is the worst thing.  "Promise me you won't do this to anyone else," she tells Gwen.  "Before, I had the memory.  Whenever I thought of him, I'd see him laughing with his mates, playing football, scoffing his breakfast.  And now I just hear that that terrible noise."  "I thought you wanted to know what happened to him," Gwen replies.  "I did," says Nikki.  "I was wrong.  It was better when I didn't know.  Before you, I had hope."  For all Gwen's efforts, we see that Jack was right after all.

This is an adept, well-constructed episode.  Once again, by focusing on the characters and the people affected by the weird events, Torchwood comes out ahead.  Clearly they've figured out what works best on this show, and "Adrift" is a prime example of this. 

March 10: "From Out of the Rain" (TW)

This must have looked good on paper; a somewhat mysterious circus that steals people's "last breaths", which drains them of all the moisture in their bodies.  Throw in some inexplicable stuff about surviving on old nitrate film stock and it seems like this should have come out OK.

But somewhere along the line something went askew, and the final result is missing something.  To their credit, the main cast try to make this as believable as possible -- Ianto in particular seems extremely affected by all the events -- but it's just not enough.  Not even Jack showing up in the old films really makes it work.

The Ghostmaker and Pearl regard their silver flask. ("From Out
of the Rain") ©BBC

Far and away the biggest problem is that no explanation whatsoever is given for these events.  There's not even a semblance of a rationale provided.  Okay fine, these Night Travelers can essentially steal people's souls (that's not how it's pitched, but that's basically what's happening) -- maybe that's what that silver flask does.  But nothing remotely accounts for why these Travelers were able to escape from the film in the first place, and that's something of a problem.  No rules are established; so when Jack decides that the way to stop them is to film them and overexpose the film, while there's a sort of logic at work it feels like they could have made just about anything up.  The way the other Travelers emerge from the screen, meanwhile, feels totally random, as if it's time to introduce a new threat without really coming up with a reason why.  (It also doesn't help that Julian Bleach, as the ringleader of the Night Travelers, seems to be trying to do his best Vincent Price imitation, which is a bit distracting.)

I don't know; this could have worked if they'd played up the mysterious angle more and given the Travelers some sort of fig leaf explanation as to why they were around.  But as is, where we just learn bits and pieces from Jack with little context, it's hard to be invested in it.  "From Out of the Rain" is thus unfortunately something of a disappointment.