March 5: "Adam" (TW)

Oh, come on!  It's not bad enough you have to name your failed companion Adam, now we're naming alien monsters Adam too?

Of course, if you're going to share a first name with a parasite, you could do worse than the one we get in this episode.  "Adam" the episode is an entertaining, intriguing tale.  I like the way shots of Adam are inserted into the opening "this is Torchwood" montage (although they missed a trick by not putting him into the closing slow-motion walking shot -- but maybe it was too difficult to do for such a quick moment).  And it's clear that there's something vaguely creepy about Adam, even before it's clear he's manipulating people's memories -- so kudos to Bryan Dick for an engaging performance.

It's a really well-constructed episode -- Catherine Tregenna does a great job of inserting Adam into Torchwood's day-to-day operations and only making it apparent that something's wrong later, as Gwen fails to remember Rhys and Ianto can't find any trace of Adam in his diary, even though he's supposedly been around for three years.  The scenes between Gwen and Rhys are surprisingly powerful -- Eve Myles does a great job of acting frightened by this stranger in her apartment, who's gone around putting up pictures of himself, while Kai Owen is lovely as the confused and hurt Rhys.  The scenes where Jack tapes Rhys remembering some of their experiences together is sweet and moving.

Adam implants unpleasant false memories in Ianto's mind.
("Adam") ©BBC

And in fact, Adam's true nature is rather clever, of a type we haven't really seen in Doctor Who or any of its spinoffs before: he's a being that exists purely based on memory, by implanting false memories that enable him to survive and thrive.  He also has the power to change people's personalities by suppressing some memories and implanting others -- so Tosh is confident and self-assured, and Owen is nerdy and meek (and we see how much of Burn Gorman's performance as Owen is just that, a performance).  It's an interesting change that adds some new dynamics to what we've been getting.  And Adam has additional powers -- not only can he implant unhappy memories (such as making Ianto believe he's a murderer), but he can insert himself in existing memories -- in particular, Jack's childhood memories, where we learn more about the "Gray" that John Hart mentioned in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang".  Adam possesses an impressive power, and it's only when things keep failing to add up that Jack becomes suspicious and works it out.

This is a clever, solid episode, with some nice elements that keep it from being similar to a lot we've gotten before.  The relationships are well-balanced, and the drama is definitely present.  It's a way to get "alternate universe" performances without having to construct an alternate universe, and the episode is stronger for that.  So I guess if you're going to share a name with an amoral alien, you certainly could do far worse than "Adam".