Fragments

"You've seen how we deal with threats."

Writer: Chris Chibnall

Format: TV

Broadcast: 21 March 2008

Series: Torchwood 2.12

Featuring: Captain Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Ianto

Synopsis

After the gets signs of an unidentified life from, they go to investigate (minus Gwen who's running late). Searching an abandoned building, the team discover they've been trapped and the building explodes. The explosion causes the team to be trapped in various places; unable to contact each other. Gwen and Rhys arrive, and as they dig everyone out, the team's lives flash before their eyes revealing how Jack, Ianto, Owen and Tosh got recruited to Torchwood.

Verdict

Fragments was an excellent penultimate episode of the second series of Torchwood! This really was magnificent from start to finish and was the perfect way to set up what is sure to be a fantastic finale. I love the idea of showing how each Torchwood member found their way into the team and into Jack's service, and it obviously works with Gwen being the one not to be present at the explosion thanks to oversleeping as we saw her arrival in Everything Changes. It's such a fun situation to see Owen, Tosh and Ianto in life before Torchwood and they're a little different to what we might have expected, excluding Ianto. The explosion at the building that was abandoned worked well as a pre-titles scene and having the bombs giving off signatures that seemed to indicate alien life forms was brilliant stuff. The reactions of the team as they split off and found what they were faced with was terrific. A proper oops moment. I thought starting with Tosh was fun and seeing her working at the Ministry of Defence was fantastic and tied in well with the position we saw her in Aliens of London. I think a little bit more of a link to that would have been beneficial for continuity, but it didn't really matter as it was great to see Tosh's mind at work in bypassing the camera feeds and getting the access codes to fix up a sonic manipulator as her mum was being held hostage. Her being a victim of her own success was good and I liked that UNIT were on hand to burst in and save Tosh and her mother. I loved Jack's arrival and saving her from prison because of what she'd stolen, they owed him a few favours which was fun. Her reaction when offered the job was terrific. I thought Ianto referencing the events of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday was really strong and his insistence in getting a job was very amusing. I thought it was wonderful to present the capturing of the pterodactyl as well in his job advertisement. Owen getting set for a marriage is not what I would have expected for him prior to Torchwood but when an alien parasite takes over your fiancé's brain and sees her suffering from memory loss and then kills the surgeons before killing her, I guess the committed relationship life takes a dark turn. Jack needing a medic was a nice touch and he could live his life with purpose now. I thought the best of the lot though was seeing Jack join Torchwood Three relatively soon after the events of The Parting of the Ways where he was seeking the Doctor to come and fix him after several deaths where he resurrected from. He was still not used to the hangover, and the women at Torchwood Three were revelling in it. It showed how he was trying to change Torchwood as well after the needless Blowfish killing. I like that a lot. The 1999 New Year's Eve killings of his previous team was extraordinary as well. That must have been a huge shock! I thought the ending with the emergence of Captain John and showing Jack his brother was a perfect lead into the final episode, and he was going to take everything Jack had and loved so he would finally spend some time with him. Gemma said he was a petty man, and that's a fine explanation. Overall, a brilliant episode! 

Rating: 10/10