Torchwood: S04E06 - The Middle Men

And Russell’s still pulling up cards like it’s the last ever Torchwood series… again. With the prospect of delving straight back into Handsome Jack’s long lost past looming ever-so ‘joyously’ in the foreground for the next episode, it can’t be helped to wonder if this series is actually going to get anywhere soon. Now don’t get me wrong I seriously loved this episode, it was brilliantly played out but like Bilbo Baggins once said “…like butter spread over too much bread.” We have four episodes left for conclusion, almost four hours of show; please for the love of all that is good and fair in this world DON’T reveal everything in the last ten minutes of the final episode, Mr. Davies!

Right, now that I have that off my chest, I have to again announce some praise to the team behind the episode; although not much happened exactly, it was done beautifully. The character of Esther is developing wonderfully, – almost to the point where I take back my ‘new Tosh’ remark of last week - she is definitely the ‘normal’ person dragged into the dark world of Torchwood. Spending most of the episode locked in an office, sort of, desperate to know why her phone wont connect to Vera’s and of course pestering (and brilliantly) the creep from last episode, she really had a wonderful basis to act from. Of course Esther truly becomes a life-saver too, of sorts, even if she didn’t exactly kill that Creep (and right on to that guard who finally chose the moral high ground above the orders he’d been given and saved both Esther and Rex’s life!) but she saved Rex all the same, and almost died doing it, I hasten to add!

Rex of course, well I officially love Rex now, his whole “Sod it, I’m Torchwood now” speech to himself while recording scenes from the Concentration Category Camp really did it for me, finally showing his most soft of sides and even an inappropriately done comical side (getting out of the camp in ‘disguise’ only to walk into about fifty soldiers) which was done with impeccable timing. It has to be noted too, that Rex has to be the most difficult of characters to write, having so many layers behind his hard persona (as compared to Esther who is quite literally a ‘what you see is what you get’ character) that it’s understandable how it’s taken this long to actually like the man - although how can you NOT like him after the attitude he kept towards Creep even when he was being tortured? An extremely painful-to-watch, wince-inducing scene…

Only was it when both Rex and Esther escaped the Camp could one also truly remark at the horror not only both had witnessed, but at what was going on inside the place. As the two characters reminisce quietly in the car outside, does it cleverly allow the viewer to do the same; to look back at what had happened, what could happen and of course to admire the sick and twisted mind of not only Russell T Davies, but the entire writing team he has over there in the U.S. I mean, I know we in Britain are twisted, but come on! Then again, in the current climate over here if that episode had been backed entirely by a British team, there’d be riots going on both in and out of those Category Camps – something to think about at least.

Now I’ve gone on about the pure American affiliates of the Torchwood team long enough; moving on to the more fortunate but equally desperate Gwen Williams. Now although her part of the episode took up at least a quarter of the hour, unevenly spread throughout the episode I have to voice, her part was fantastic – and who couldn’t fall straight back in love with her after THAT speech she made to Doctor Hollyoaks (nice step up for that actress might I add)? Heartwarming and emotional though it was, in the end it got her nowhere, but unlike my predictions of last week (again another thing I have to take back), Father Rescue Attempt Take Two went off almost like a treat, with a few hiccups of course along the way, but he got out, amid a lot of shouts from fans to Rhys along the lines of ‘Just drive you Plonker!’ and ‘Run him over!’

Okay, maybe that was just me, but you get the idea. Poor lovable Rhys; even when he was in a vehicle that could outrun a man with ease did he panic about getting orders to transport Gwen’s father, going so far as to reference Jack, with a slight twinkle in the eye. Of course, timing within the episode was a little off, and the death toll took a considerable rise when Gwen blew up the Welsh Category Camp, but as I believe, Gwen was looking at the bigger picture, plus she was angry. Awesome explosions though, one of those moments when the viewer, or maybe just me, just punches the air with a positive cry, which was soon taken from them (me, us?) at the conclusion of the episode.

Before we go THERE though, may it be myself to point out that this was the first episode in the Miracle Day saga (oooh, a random late thought: this Miracle Day saga, and the previous Children of Earth are similar to a modern day take on an old Doctor Who ‘episode’, you know the four/five/six-part episodes – must be seriously fun to do for Russell) that lacked in Oswald and the second to lack lovely Jilly. Maybe Russell T (and Julie Gardner, did I mention she was still a fellow Executive Producer? No? Well surprise!) understood that there really is so much of those two one can take before you want to do a Esther and accidentally almost strangle someone you meant to but didn’t want to cause the death of… heh.

Anyway! Onto everyone’s favorite subject: Jack Harkness! Off and up to his own bit of business, trying to discover what exactly PhiCorp has to do with the Miracle, and going so far as to get an interview from ex-Ghostbuster, Winston! Jack pulled up all his otherworldly charms and mentality within his own scenes; including a nicely done ‘hostage’ scene of PhiCorp COO (Winston) assistanst, along with the selfless interruption of said COO’s dinner with his wife and a suspicious interview that leads to the belief that PhiCorp isn’t directly part of the Miracle Day weirdness – although I have to wonder if it was all just lies and deception…

Moving on: Anyone else thinking that, although very useful, those Torchwood Contact Lenses are getting a little over-used this series? They now even have a ‘radio link’… In fact, they’re like the Doctor’s trusty Sonic, by which they seem to be the main gadget used for the team (and yeah, they are the only surviving original Torchwood tech, although I can’t remember them being used in series one or two, so comment here if they WERE used prior to Children of Earth and in which episodes) but I suppose not SO trustworthy considering someone managed to hack into the software used to communicate through them. THAT was a shocker of a final: “We have you Mother. We have your Husband. We have your… Child” – wonderful acting from Eve at this point too, although one has to wonder: they’ve got Gwen’s dad too, right?

So with Gwen having to ship Jack off to parts unknown to get her family back, what could possibly be in store for the next episode? Well after being thoroughly spoilt by Vera’s death two weeks ago, this blogger has become somewhat reluctant to find out more, which leaves us simply to wonder what THAT next time trailer is all about and WHY they seemed to have hired the weird sand worm thing from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan… Also, there might be a surprise in store once Torchwood concludes on Thursday as I’m preparing to accommodate the return of Doctor Who into the cycle of things. You have been told! And now to the usual:

• Jack = 7/10 – A low mark to represent his lack of use within the episode, but one’s hoping the bar is raised after Thursday as it seems he’s going to be used a LOT next time.
• Gwen = 10/10 – I think it’s more Eve’s acting than the character of Gwen that wins the marks this week, what with her fantastic speech, her Lara Croft-esque escape from the Camp and of course her reaction to the abduction of the family and demanded repayment of one Jack Harkness...
• Esther = 10/10 – Man that sweet girl can kick some backside! Not in the usual ‘girl becomes Buffy in one move’ situation most movies and television shows seem to play upon, but she does it well for the untrained person – anyone else here on Team Esther? Thought so!
• Rex = 10/10 – FINALLY he earns the marks, and quite rightly so! It seems one has to watch their lover and friend die before their eyes and get horribly tortured before they win my liking, but hey, I run a tough bargain.

Episodic Rating: 7.5 outta 10. Now don’t get me wrong it WAS a great episode, but there wasn’t really an awful lot going on for most of it. The most interesting parts took up at least 15 minutes of the 55, which really says something. Indeed, the episode would have worked really well and got top marks if it was condensed along with ‘The Categories of Life’, maybe retimed in some places, so it was action after action after shock after action, but still a worthy episode. Of course the conclusion (before the whole Gwen thing) was a little bit predictable and Resident Evil-ish, with the ‘powers that be’ almost dismissing the footage Torchwood had released into the media, but hey, it didn’t make the two ‘Concentration Camp’ episodes completely pointless, and in retrospect the plot too is moving forward, if in a direction unexpected and a wee bit slow…