Current mood:	thoughtful
Entry tags:	episode comments, teevee, torchwood

Torchwood 1x06 - Countrycide

This was another episode that started quite strongly but slackened towards the end, and I can't make up my mind whether having the threat revealed to be completely human - and pretty lo-tech - was a great twist or something of a misstep for a series which touts itself firmly as science fiction.

For the most part Torchwood has been horror with sci-fi trappings, but we're squarely in slasher movie territory with "Countrycide". Meat hooks, wilderness, weird locals, filthy cellars, flyblown corpses missing their skin. The cannibal couple (a bit like a non-comedy version of Tubbs and Edward from The League of Gentlemen - perhaps they should have got Mark Gatiss in to write this episode?) were disappointing. I hate it when the villain turns out to be a cackling psychopath, reveling in their own evilness. It's a cliché and it's boring. The end of The Wicker Man, for instance, works much better for me because the villagers believe they are being completely reasonable.

Question: Would you let a cannibal whisper in your ear?

The creepiest parts of the episode were the elements that merely teased you about potential horror. The deserted houses, the piles of discarded shoes and the half-glimpse of something unidentifiable moving through the trees.

What I did like about the episode was the team scenes towards the beginning. Banter and burgers (and given what the villagers stock their freezers with, maybe Toshiko was wise not to eat anything). Continuity! Character stuff! The team are still awkward around Ianto because of Lisa, Toshiko fancies Owen unrequitedly and is jealous of Gwen, Jack remains evasive about his past. The scene where Gwen and Owen push each other up against trees came close to being something wholly nasty, but I liked the later scene where he tends to her buckshot wound