Dead of Night
Torchwood Season 4 Episode 3
In a muddling episode of Torchwood, we get closer to unraveling the plot behind a world without death.
The Review
I’ll be honest, when thinking of the premise of a world without death, I didn’t think about the enormous profits generated by pharmaceutical companies selling painkillers. Infections and colds will stick with people long past when they should’ve died, meaning people with painkillers are in the perfect position to profit. The good parts of this episode revolve around Phicorp, finding that they have a large stockpile of drugs, and seemingly were prepared for the Miracle. Gwen infiltrates the office of Jillian, the obviously up to no good seemingly sweet PR woman for Phicorp. Then, I really shouldn’t have trusted RTD, we learn that Oswald truly has zero remorse and calls the moment he murdered Susie the best moment of his life in a chilling final scene. Jack is horrified to find people are now worshipping him as some sort of Messianic figure. All this stuff works. Too bad a lot doesn’t.
After an opening sting getting a mysterious cellphone from evil Wayne Knight, the team briefly breaks up for no discernible reason. Rex gets frustrated not being in charge, but really just has sex with Dr. Juarez to pressure her into helping their OP. Completely out of character, in the middle of a crisis, Jack goes to a gay bar and sleeps with the bartender. Oh, and Esther has a scene with Gwen saying she’s not used to all this that comes off as sort of pathetic instead of sweet. Oswald also gets beaten up, which is good to see, but also a waste of our time. The whole middle of the episode is a complete mess. At least we get to see Gwen talking to Rhys and her daughter on a video call (how common were video calls in 2011?). Overall: a muddled third episode
The sex was unnecessary, and Gwen is clearly the most capable character so far along with Dr. Juarez. I’m also not sure Pharma companies is the most interesting route for a world without death.
7/10 All the silliness at the beginning about differences between the UK and the US…didn’t quite land
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