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Torchwood Review: ‘Aliens Among Us’ Episode 4: ‘Superiority Complex’

By James Aggas

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When guests at a hotel are horrifically murdered, it’s up to the Torchwood team to solve them, and fast. Because all the guests are aliens, and with tensions at an all-time high, it’s only a matter of time before the situation escalates completely out of control…

One thing that leaps out about Superiority Complex is how it’s completely a “back to work” story, at least for the Torchwood team. They’ve been brought in to investigate murders occurring at a hotel. The hotel is exclusive to alien “refugees”, which a lot of people are intensely angry about. That leaves a lot of suspects for the team to investigate.

What I liked about this episode is that we haven’t really had a story like this, at least chronologically, since the very beginning of Children of Earth at least, if not before. Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy almost had a plot like this, but Gwen’s and Mr. Colchester’s investigation was a little more casual in that episode. Aside from that, the stories have mainly focused on the team as fugitives (in both Children of Earth and Miracle Day). Or, in the case of the audios, they have been about trying to get both a new team and base set-up.

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Here, the full team are brought in to investigate a serious case. It makes sense that, for this season, at least, the story is only being told now, four episodes in. After all, the new team has only just finished becoming fully formed.

On the whole, I’d say it’s a little less character focused than the previous three episodes. Not surprising, considering the first three episodes focused on members of the team as individuals. This one seems more focused on showing them as an actual team and how they work together, at least. So it’s great to have a story that allows us to hear how they work as a whole, thus taking Torchwood back to its roots.

A larger world

Having said that, I like that Superiority Complex isn’t quite a standalone story. What I enjoyed about Children of Earth – and, to a much smaller extent, Miracle Day – was how each of the arcs explored huge events not just from the perspective of Torchwood, but on a much larger scale, too.

While Torchwood investigates the murders, we find out what a great deal of humans think of these new “refugees”. This is especially true of the angry protesters right outside the hotel, where there are clearly strong feelings of prejudice among the community. And that’s without knowing that the refugees aren’t even from the same planet as they are!

Of course, the aliens themselves don’t seem to think much of humans, either. The only humans in the hotel other than the Torchwood members are the hotel employees. And they’re not treated exactly brilliantly by either the guests or the alien management.

An explosive climax

When the murderer is eventually revealed, I must admit, I thought it was quite a clever and satisfying solution. Of course, this being Torchwood, it’s not as simple as identifying the murderer and then everything’s back to normal. All of the elements in Superiority Complex – the murders, the angry protesters and the tensions between humans and aliens – collide and explode in a big way by the end.

That allows for a decent and satisfying resolution to this particular episode. But then, in the final ten minutes, things are really taken up a notch. The series is shaken up in several major ways, and lets us know that by time the second box set arrives, the team of Torchwood can’t trust anyone. Even their closest allies. Or themselves…

Next: The Eighth Doctor: ‘The Time War 1’ – Cover and story details revealed!

This first box set of Torchwood: Aliens Among Us has been absolutely brilliant, from start to finish. It’s a completely fresh start for the Torchwood gang, it’s a great introduction to interesting new characters, and it’s set up a really exciting new arc. I can’t wait to see where the series goes next!

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