As the second part of ‘Torchwood: Aliens Among Us’ begins, Jack is facing a lot of problems after a one-night stand in ‘Love Rat’. Starting with waking up in the morgue…
The second thing I noticed about Love Rat (I’ll get to the first in a minute) is, despite being the first episode of this box set, it doesn’t feel like the start of a story. I’ve listened to many of Big Finish’s box sets over the years. Most of the time, their first episode opens an arc, even one told across just four episodes. Torchwood: Aliens Among Us Part 2 isn’t like that. (At least, not from what I’ve listened to so far.)
Love Rat continues directly from where the previous box set left off. With the exception of a new mayor for the city, it doesn’t begin any new threads. But it does develop existing ones further. I’m not surprised that this new set isn’t accessible to fans who have yet to listen to volume 1. But it is good to know that it’s carrying on the flow from previous episodes so smoothly.
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Sex and violence and character exploration
The first thing I noticed about Love Rat was the opening scene. When an episode begins with sex and murder at the same time, you know immediately what kind of story you’re getting. Love Rat is absolutely filled with sex, violence and horror. In some ways, it’s very reminiscent of early Torchwood, especially season one. That’s when it really aimed to push boundaries in terms of mature content.
How well does it work in this episode? If the strong content had been there purely for the sake of it, then Love Rat would’ve been a rather weak episode. But there is a great story to it, as we learn more about what’s really happening. And surprisingly, it’s also great at exploring the main characters, particularly Jack and Gwen.
Gwen’s story is especially interesting. Ever since Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy, we’ve been wondering what had happened to her. We still don’t get any answers, but we do learn more about how different things are for her now.
Full of sex, violence and some very uncomfortable scenes, I’m not sure Love Rat will be quite to everyone’s taste. But it’s another great example of how much further Torchwood can really push their stories. As time goes on, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Aliens Among Us is striking a nice balance between the epic events of Children of Earth and Miracle Day, and the early weekly cases of seasons 1 and 2. It’s exciting to see where the series goes next.
Next: Did Season 11 of Doctor Who begin filming this week?
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