Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Written by: James Moran
Directed by: Colin Teague
Rating:
The One Where: A young woman is an unwitting member of an alien sleeper cell, advance guard for a force Jack knows as “Cell 114”. When three more sleepers activate, Torchwood must stop their plan to detonate a secret cache of nukes.
Verdict: Sleeper cells of suicide bombers are dark subject matter, so the fact that this episode is not only action-packed and wince-inducingly gory but also touching and laugh-out-loud funny is some achievement.
It’s tightly-plotted – there aren’t any obvious loose ends to tug. Nikki Amuka-Bird totally sells Beth’s fear and confusion, but she’s almost upstaged by Gareth David-Lloyd’s perfect delivery of half a dozen rewindably droll lines – Ianto’s fast becoming the best character! Only flaw: confusing editing at the end of the teaser. And those arms look a bit silly sometimes...
Highlight: When the other sleepers activate and one lets her pram roll into the road...
Influences: T2 (confirming a victim’s identity before shish-kebabing ’em]; Murder, She Wrote [Owen mentions OAP sleuth Jessica Fletcher).
Did You Spot? The Preacher and Human Dalek guns in display cases in the Hub.
Nitpick: How come Beth doesn’t get covered in blood?
Best Line:
Owen: "Let’s all have sex."
Ianto: "Just when I thought the end of the world couldn’t get any worse..."
Ian Berriman
Next Torchwood review: "To The Last Man"
Previous Torchwood review: "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"
Marvel Rivals made Jeff the Land Shark so stinkin' adorable that the MCU is bringing him on as an official hero: "We're all Jeff fans around here. Man is he fun to play"
Daredevil actor Charlie Cox says Born Again won't be "dumbed down" on Disney Plus and in "some ways" it's "even darker" than the original Netflix series
