March 3: "To the Last Man" (TW)

Like "Sleeper", this is an episode that attempts to put a human face on the more abstract, SF-ish issues Torchwood wants to deal with.  But because there's not an action break in the middle, "To the Last Man" is more successful in its aims than the previous episode was.

And so while the SF part deals with two time zones colliding and intermingling (er, just like "End of Days", albeit without the giant demon), "To the Last Man" chooses to focus on the human element, in the form of Private Tommy Brockless, a shellshocked soldier taken away by Torchwood and frozen, to be awoken once a year, until the hour that he's needed to go back to 1918 through the Rift and seal it up behind him.  We get some interesting exploration of the nature of warfare -- such as Tommy seeing tanks driving through Iraq and commenting, "First year they woke me up, 1919, they told me it was all over.  We won.  The war to end all wars, they said.  And then three weeks later, you had the Second World War.  After all that.  Do you never wonder if we're worth saving?" -- and some bitter recriminations of the way soldiers used to be treated.  Tommy's outburst when he learns he has to go back is rather pointed -- "I know what'll happen.  They'll send me back to the Front.  I'll be back in the trenches. ... You're no better than the generals.  Sitting safely behind the lines, sending us over the top.  Any one of you lot could go, but you're not, are you?  You're sending me. ... I've been shoved from pillar to post all my life by the Army, by Torchwood.  All this time I've had, it means nothing" -- and the discovery that he's going to be executed for "cowardice" (aka PTSD, essentially) three weeks after he returns is distressing.  (Incidentally, this is where the episode title comes from: Field Marshal Haig announced in response to the German Spring Offensive of 1918 that "Every position must be held to the last man", which meant that shell shocked soldiers would be sent back to the front.)

Toshiko convinces Tommy to use the Rift key. ("To the Last Man")
©BBC

The problem, though, is that a lot of this is territory that Torchwood has already explored (most notably in "Captain Jack Harkness", although it's not the only episode), and it's not clear what "To the Last Man" can contribute to the argument.  This means that much of the burden of the episode lies squarely on Tommy's shoulders, and while Anthony Lewis does a commendable job with the material, and the relationship between Tommy and Tosh is interesting, not enough time is given to examining this element, to discuss what it's like to have a relationship that has essentially only lasted four days.  It seems like a missed opportunity; there's a lot they could have done with that scenario, but they elected not to, in favor of more familiar grounds.

And so maybe that's why "To the Last Man" ultimately feels somewhat underwhelming.  There's a really lovely human element at the heart of it, and some intriguing anti-war commentary, but the best ideas are relegated to the background, while the episode moves on to its safer (albeit depressing) conclusion.  There's a lot that you can admire about "To the Last Man", but there's not quite enough there to make it truly compelling.