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Torchwood Review: ‘Aliens Among Us’ Episode 8: ‘The Empty Hand’

By James Aggas

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A murder kicks off a series of events that threaten to tear Cardiff apart in ‘The Empty Hand’. And Sgt. Andy is right in the middle of it!

The Empty Hand, the last episode of Aliens Among Us Part 2, unsurprisingly shakes things up for the Torchwood crew. It begins with Sgt. Andy caught in a bad situation, and things just get worse for him from there. Especially as tensions begin to rise higher than ever in Cardiff, and he’s right in the middle of it all.

I’m so happy that there’s an episode focused on Andy in this season. On TV, he was always a bit of a minor character. Likable, but essentially just the point of view from Gwen’s old life before Torchwood. And that was only when the script required that unique perspective.

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Across the audios, however, his character has been fleshed out a lot more, particularly in the releases Ghost Mission and Corpse Day. He hasn’t featured much in Aliens Among Us, but The Empty Hand fixes that. In a big way.

What’s so great about this episode is that it explores a nice guy like Andy in a very different way. He finds himself in the middle of a terrible situation, and it really pushes him to the edge. It seems like the only friends he has left are Gwen and Rhys. The rest of the city seems to be completely set against him. Even other members of Torchwood have difficulty trusting him.

Rhys trying hard to help Andy out in a difficult time is probably my favorite part of The Empty Hand. We haven’t seen Rhys and Andy talk much together, which isn’t surprising. Back in series 2, it was made very clear that Andy had a crush on Gwen, even while she was getting married.

So it’s nice to hear Rhys being such a great friend to Andy when he really needs one. And, while Andy is reluctant to accept any help at times, it’s clear that he is glad to have someone like Rhys defending him. In some ways, Rhys believes more than anyone that Andy is innocent of what he’s been accused of.

Conspiracy

Of course, there’s a lot more to The Empty Hand than just Andy’s story. What happens to Andy is primarily the catalyst for a huge investigation among all the Torchwood members. Interestingly, they’re following very different strands of investigation: Gwen, Orr and Colchester are looking into what the Mayor has planned for the city. Jack meanwhile looks more deeply into terrorist group “the Red Doors”.

While the revelations they both find along the way are interesting, it’s clear that something is wrong with the team. After Love Rat, Jack hasn’t appeared much in the previous two episodes. The team don’t know what he’s been up to, and it’s deeply affecting their morale. It’s been a background element in previous episodes, but it’s really becoming important now.

When The Empty Hand concludes, Torchwood is close to falling apart, and it’s clear that there a lot of questions left to be answered. But, just when you think you know where the series is heading next, along comes a massive cliffhanger that changes everything.

I was expecting something big from Big Finish’s earlier announcements for the series. There were certainly a lot of hints that suggested something major was going to be revealed at some point. But I wasn’t expecting anything that big.

Torchwood: Aliens Among Us has really shaped up to be an incredible season. It started out strong, and has only grown in confidence with this second box set. If it continues this high level of quality, it could be the best season of Torchwood yet, in any media. It’s going to be a long wait for the release of Part 3 in February.

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