Sleeper

"She has no idea she's not human."

Writer: James Moran

Format: TV

Broadcast: 23 January 2008

Series: Torchwood 2.02

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

Synopsis

When a burglary turns into a slaughter, the team suspect alien involvement. Before long, the whole planet, and the entire future of mankind, is in danger.

Verdict

Sleeper was a very good episode to continue the second series of Torchwood! I must admit that prior to watching this with Gemma from the name alone I couldn't remember anything about the episode which made me question how good it would be, but within ten minutes my memory returned of some details and what we got was quite an emotional tale! Starting with a burglary was good and I liked the mystery of how the burglars got killed. It seemed like it would have to be either Beth or Mike, but she was seemingly innocent and he had gotten injured so there was quite the kerfuffle! Gemma was confused alongside me and it wasn't until this moment that I remembered it was Beth who wasn't all she seemed. To her credit, Gemma guessed the basis of what the truth was with Beth being inhabited by an alien, and I guess the episode title should have given that away really. I liked the tension amongst the Torchwood ranks in this story with Jack showing his ruthless streak rather brilliantly. I was impressed with that and the completely different approach he had towards Beth compared to Gwen was startling. He was aggressive and wanted to push her to the extreme when it came to the mind probe, but Gwen was less eager and believed that Beth was human. Of course, Beth was far from human and the humour that came with Owen breaking two needles and a scalpel on her skin was terrific. He was obviously delighted when the truth about her came out! The concept of the Sleeper Agents was excellent and it was quite scary to think of an invasion that was so detailed. They gathered information and would only carry out an attack once they had gathered enough information to ensure success. Going so far as to make their agents believe they were human was fool proof and it was very emotional to see how much Beth loved her husband and reacting to finding out the truth about what was contained inside her. The reaction to seeing a Weevil was good and I was impressed with how scared she was about the situation. Going so far as to freeze her seemed logical but her immediate escape really plunged the episode into action. It was an exciting finish as the other agents activated and we had the Councillor murdered in front of his wife and children and a petrol explosion taking out military pipelines. The abandonment of a child on more than one occasion was a little sad and too much for Gemma, especially with the car crash on the pram sound effect. But I thought that uncomfortableness really sold the threat of the Sleeper Agents. The last agent headed for the nuclear warheads was good and I was initially thinking that the invasion was on too small of a scale in Cardiff, but when weaponry like that is introduced then it's a whole new ball game. The calmness of Jack in being a dashing hero to save the day was fun but they wouldn't feel a thing if they were released. I thought Tosh's device of disabling the transmitter and forcefield was a little naff and easy, but I'm not sure what else could be done to take them out when they seemed that indestructible! Jack's running over the final agent was brutal, but I liked the twist at the end with Beth threatening Gwen in order to get herself shot because she didn't want to live as an agent after what she did to her husband. Overall, a strong episode to keep moving the series forward! 

Rating: 8/10