Torchwood review: Jack balances pregnancy with his job in Expectant
By James Aggas
During a difficult time for the organization, Jack makes a rather bizarre choice in this month’s Torchwood audio Expectant.
Well. That was certainly different. With Jack heavily pregnant and still trying to do his job, Expectant is a rather odd story from Xanna Eve Chown, even for Torchwood.
There is of course plenty of fun to be had with Jack being pregnant. Especially as this clearly isn’t the first time it’s happened to him. (He very casually mentioned that he’s “never doing that again” in opening episode Everything Changes.) Jack tries hard to do his job, while having to balance out mood swings and cravings.
I must admit, I was initially worried that this would be a little too light. That this would be a story with a quirky idea, but not much substance. And then that’s when we find out when this story takes place. I won’t spoil anything, but this takes place in the aftermath of a major event in Torchwood, an event that the characters are still trying hard to process in their own way.
In some ways, this event wasn’t addressed too much in following series. It was of course briefly acknowledged, but that’s it. So it’s great to see the aftermath explored in more detail, particularly its effect on the surviving characters.
(L to R) Catherine Ayers (Paula), Aaron Anthony (Jonty) and Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto) star in Torchwood: Expectant.
Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
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Meet the midwife
Another thing that helps balance out the bizarreness of the situation is why Jack is doing this. Jack is trying to help prevent the Yalnix Empire from collapsing into war. We’re given a clear picture of the politics and history of the Empire through Jack’s midwife Jonty.
Jonty’s a rather strange character. It would be easy for a character like him to become annoying very quickly – particularly as he has a strong habit of always speaking in the third-person. But with Jack constantly throwing himself into danger and getting involved in as much trouble as possible, you can’t help but sympathize for Jonty. Especially as he’s pretty much with Jack the entire time.
Expectant is definitely a very strange and different kind of Torchwood story. It’s also clearly an episode where John Barrowman got to have a lot of fun. In a year of extremely strong Torchwood releases, (particularly last month’s Dead Man’s Switch,) this isn’t one of my favorites, as it’s just a little too quirky for my taste. But that doesn’t stop it from being an enjoyable adventure, and the exploration of a major event in the series is definitely welcome. A strange but fun little story.
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Do you wish Jack had gotten pregnant in the TV series? Did you think a story like this would ever be told at all? Let us know in the comments below.