Torchwood: To The Last Man

(Originally written 22/9/13, modified 2/1/14)

In which Tosh falls in love with what appears to be a young Steve Coogan.

This episode certainly has parallels with Out of Time – what with talk of people ‘belonging’ in one time or another, and this situation sparking a few words about Jack’s time in the past (and future). It’s also quite obvious when Owen tells Tosh that he doesn’t want her to get hurt when she has to say goodbye. I did feel that a small mention of Owen's lost love Diane wouldn’t have gone astray here, as it would have been about a year since viewers saw that episode, so they might not realise why Owen’s actually acting like a decent human being for once.

The episode works fine as a love story (definitely a better love story than Tosh’s previous outing), but not so much as a horror story. Cliched scary movie noises don’t really work if they’re revealing such horrifying figures as... nurses and patients in a 1918 hospital.

There’s some nice foreshadowing about Torchwood employees dying young, setting up later episodes this season. But there was a missed foreshadowing (or backshadowing) opportunity when Tommy asks for Tosh’s confirmation that she wasn’t “conscripted” to join Torchwood, and once again she says it was her own choice. I don’t care that Fragments happened in the past – I want it acknowledged, dammit!

Speaking of people’s pasts, I thought the Jack/Ianto conversation could have been a good opportunity to mention the events of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; just a little reminder that there’s a mystery about Gray. But on the plus side, that conversation leads to kissing, which makes it all okay.

 I always got the impression in Series 1 that Ianto hadn’t been working at Torchwood for much longer than Gwen, yet he apparently knows about Tommy. The last time he was opened must have been not long before Gwen joined, so that means Gwen must have been made temporary leader after less than a year in the job. Once again, I think her credentials need to be called into question.

I'd also like to call into question the fact that Torchwood just happens to have technology which can send psychic projections into people’s dreams, and this is just casually mentioned towards the end of the episode - it seems pretty significant! One mention I don't mind towards the end, however, is Tommy's reference to saving the world in his pyjamas (see Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion).