From Out of the Rain

"Would you like a ticket for the travelling show?"

Writer: Peter J. Hammond

Format: TV

Broadcast: 12 March 2008

Series: Torchwood 2.10

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

Synopsis

When an old cinema reopens, past horrors emerge to stalk the streets of Cardiff. As bodies are found with heartbeats but no breath, Torchwood must act fast. Who are the Night Travellers? How can Torchwood capture these mysterious breath takers?

Verdict

From Out of the Rain was an excellent episode to continue our rewatch through the second series of Torchwood! I remember enjoying this story a lot when last watching it around eight years ago, and it definitely didn't disappoint this time around. I thought this was a fun and scary episode that really had a lot to offer. I loved the freaky nature of the Night Travellers and the pre-titles scene with the ticket given to the little girl and then her and the show disappearing before her stunned mother was brilliant. It set the tone and I have to say that one big positive for this episode was the atmosphere. It was sublime. I thought the two head Night Travellers who escaped from the film were magnificent as the main villains and they just looked and acted so freaky. It was quite chilling at times which was great stuff. It was fun for the idea of enemies to literally escape from a reel of film and the Electro Cinema was the perfect backdrop for that. I thought this was another standout episode for Ianto and he really is coming into his own now. He revelled in childhood memories at the cinema which was really nice and I am a sucker for the history of film and cinema, so this was right up my alley. I loved the idea of a little film showing the streets of Cardiff of a century past but the quick shift to the travelling show was good, and Ianto spotting Jack was a fun addition. I liked the anecdote and look into Jack's past and his knowledge of the Night Travellers was very good. The music playing was terrific and there was a lot going wrong with the likes of Tosh detecting the sea in the middle of Cardiff and then all of a sudden there being no trace. I thought the concept of the Night Travellers taking the last breath of their victims was chilling and the imagery of them having no saliva and no breaths but still a heartbeat was quite something! It's certainly a unique action and not really death, but it was as good as. I liked that the Night Travellers had a special silver flask to hold the breaths in and hearing the mermaid woman describe that she wanted to taste tears was eery! I liked it a lot. I enjoyed Jack and Ianto coming up with the plan to be rid of the Night Travellers by catching people made of film after eighty years on the tape on their own film and then exposing it to light. I enjoyed the logic and just as the whole show were coming through at the Electro, Jack was there to capture them all and when out in the open, he exposed the reel to the sunlight and just like that in a flash the Night Travellers were no more. I thought they were great special effects and I was just a big fan of that resolution. It was sudden and tidy. The ambitious ending was really well done as well with the child dropping the reel purchased at a car boot market sale and Jack getting the glimpse of the music suggested that the Night Travellers might not be all done. Overall, a really fun episode! I always enjoy when Gemma succumbs to a jump scare next to me and this episode delivered as expected.

Rating: 9/10