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A Gwen vehicle this, rather like "Random Shoes" last season - and as that one was followed by "Captain Jack Harkness", which gave the rest of the cast more to do in her relative absence, so this one is followed by "Fragments" which does likewise. For now, though, "Adrift" is almost The Gwen Show. Tosh, and particularly Owen, have very little do, and Gwen is teamed largely with her former police colleague PC Andy. He does have a surname, I know, but I'm so used to him being "PC Andy" that I've forgotten what it is. *shrug* Still, that name suits him, so so what.
PC Andy calls Gwen to ask for her input into the case of a missing schoolboy, the impressively curly fifteen year old Jonah. CCTV footage shows the boy apparently vanishing into thin air, and also shows Jack arriving on the scene shortly afterwards. Knowing that Torchwood deals in the weird, Andy's suspicions have been raised. He wants to help Jonah's mother find some answers, and because Jack was nearby, Andy assumes that Gwen will know something. She doesn't, and when she attempts to get some answers from Jack, he tells her that he doesn't know anything. She investigates further, though, and with Tosh's help finds that there were interesting readings from the Rift when Jonah disappeared. It's a small hop from there to find out that Cardiff has many, many other missing people, and that an awful lot of them also disappeared when there was identical Rift activity. Far from just dropping alien flotsam and jetsam into Cardiff, it now seems that the Rift also takes things, and drops them who knows where. Gwen attempts to bring this to Jack's attention, but he not unreasonably tells her that there's nothing they can do. It's impossible to predict when the Rift will take somebody, and with all of time and space to search for them in, it's impossible to find them once they're gone. He tells her to drop it. Gwen being Gwen, though, of course she doesn't.
It's good to see the case taking over Gwen's life. She's always billed as the "heart" of Torchwood; the one who understands people's feelings, and retains her "humanity", whilst the others are off with their heads in space and alien matters. We've seen precious little of that lately, though. Gwen often seems to run roughshod over other people's feelings, and only consider her own, so it's good to see her really connecting with Jonah's desperate mother, Nikki. Nikki is an interesting character in her own right, utterly determined to find her son, and equally determined to reach out to other people in a similar position. It's her Searchlight group, set up to help the families of other missing persons, that first sets Gwen on the road to discovering the truth about this previously undiscovered kind of Rift activity. I like Nikki. She's smart and she's strong, and she's clearly a devoted mother. She's a layered character, and her Searchlight group shows promise, too. I can almost imagine seeing them again in the future, still looking for answers.
Gwen's single-mindedness in the case has far-reaching effects, though, as Rhys isn't at all impressed by her inability to devote time to their new marriage. He wants children, and she doesn't. At the very least, he wants to discuss the issue. She's more interested in work, though, and her new emotional involvement in Nikki and Jonah. Poor old Rhys. Gwen might be the "heart" of Torchwood, but her much vaunted humanity doesn't often extend to her nearest and dearest. Not only did we find out a few weeks ago, in "Something Borrowed", that she's not been in touch with her parents for ages, but now she's clearly neglecting her new husband as well. Still, Rhys's insistence that she sort things is good, as it sends her dashing off to the Hub after hours, for a rendezvous with the episode's only really light-hearted moment; and it's a greatly appreciated one. Not just because it's the only real moment of respite in a pretty serious and hard-hitting episode, but also because it's a great moment for Jack and Ianto. And also because it's pissed off a lot of people. Yes, I am that childish. The Hub isn't just Torchwood 3's headquarters, of course - it's also Jack's home; and with everybody else gone for the day, he and Ianto are engaged in a little... homework... together. Of the largely unclad kind. ;) Gwen bursting in on them is a lovely moment, both for her amusement and embarrassment, and for the reactions of the boys. Ianto initial mortification ebbs away nicely into good humour, and of course Jack predictably doesn't give a hoot. As Ianto dresses in a rush, Jack swaggers about half-dressed still, as cheerfully 51st century as ever, despite all these years stuck in a more repressed era. Gwen tries to tell him that they need to continue her investigation, but again he tells her to leave it. I'm not sure why he thinks that she'll do as he says. She never does, after all. Jack can be endearingly clueless at times, and really seems to think that if he tells her to drop it, she will. It's Ianto who realises that she won't, and gives her the clue that she needs to complete her investigation. As always he and Jack are way ahead, and far from uncovering something new, all that Gwen has done is to stumble onto a pet project of Jack's. Sent by Ianto's clue to an apparently deserted island, she finds that some of Cardiff's Rift-napped citizens, returned quite by chance, are hidden in subterranean bunkers. Jack has been keeping them there since they were returned by the Rift, shells now, and scarred mentally and physically by their experiences. Gwen of course wants to tell their relatives everything, and Jack, apparently beginning to realise that she's never going to listen to him, stands back and lets her make her own mistakes. She finds Jonah amongst Jack's hidden patients; a man in his forties now, burnt by the flames of the dying world he was thrown to by the Rift. Gwen insists on taking Nikki to see him, but she's no sooner accepted that this misshapen man is the fifteen year old son that she last saw seven months ago, than she discovers he is terribly affected by all that's happened, and spends some twenty hours of every day screaming in uncontrollable fear. There's no way that she can take him home, or live with him normally, and she claims that she wishes she had never found him again. It's hard to believe that she'll still feel that way in a week or two, but for the time being at least she's distraught, and blaming Gwen for killing her hope. It's a lose-lose situation, really. I understand why Gwen was so desperate to try to help reunite mother and son, but I do wish that she would trust Jack a little more. He's a complicated soul, true, and his understanding of what makes people tick isn't always all that great. He does usually have people's best interests at heart though, at least as he understands them. Gwen is far too quick to believe that he's up to something terrible here. She suspects him of goodness knows what when she finds out that he has some of the missing people on that tiny island. He's Jack Harkness, for goodness sakes. What exactly does she think that he's doing? He saves people. Sometimes a little heavy-handedly, yes; and almost always with an outsider's perspective. He does try to do the right thing, though, and if she had only listened to him from the start, she would certainly have saved herself a good deal of heartache. In the event it's probably best that Nikki does know the truth now, but I doubt that everybody who has lost somebody to the Rift could deal with that truth. Nikki is painted as a strong character from the outset, but Jack has a makeshift hospital full of people who can't be treated in the normal way, traumatised by things that other people can't begin to imagine. He can't very well go telling all of Cardiff what's going on, and risk causing all kinds of panic. So he keeps it a secret, and just tries to do his best. Listen to him next time, Gwen.
Or don't, actually, 'cause we got a bloody good episode out of your stubbornness, so obviously it can be a good thing.
On to the pictures, then:
Young Jonah walks home, on the last normal night of his life.
The Rift plays its tricks, and zaps him away to a burning planet.
Gwen and Tosh investigate Rift activity.
PC Andy tries to ascertain whether Gwen is still the same person he's always known,
or if Torchwood has made her hard.
Jonah's mother, Nikki.
Jack and Ianto taking care of the potted plants. ;)
Jack reiterates the order that Gwen should just butt out.
But she refuses, and finds her way to his secret hospital.
Jonah, no longer fifteen, and deeply affected by thirty years of wandering in search of home.
Gwen tells Jack that Nikki deserves the truth.
However the truth of Jonah's tortured existence may be more than Nikki can bear.
Confused as to whether she did the right thing, Gwen seeks solace in the arms of the ever-patient Rhys.
Well - almost ever-patient. ;)
Next time, things that go "Boom!" very loudly. Also, bondage and a pterodactyl. Cool. :)
PC Andy calls Gwen to ask for her input into the case of a missing schoolboy, the impressively curly fifteen year old Jonah. CCTV footage shows the boy apparently vanishing into thin air, and also shows Jack arriving on the scene shortly afterwards. Knowing that Torchwood deals in the weird, Andy's suspicions have been raised. He wants to help Jonah's mother find some answers, and because Jack was nearby, Andy assumes that Gwen will know something. She doesn't, and when she attempts to get some answers from Jack, he tells her that he doesn't know anything. She investigates further, though, and with Tosh's help finds that there were interesting readings from the Rift when Jonah disappeared. It's a small hop from there to find out that Cardiff has many, many other missing people, and that an awful lot of them also disappeared when there was identical Rift activity. Far from just dropping alien flotsam and jetsam into Cardiff, it now seems that the Rift also takes things, and drops them who knows where. Gwen attempts to bring this to Jack's attention, but he not unreasonably tells her that there's nothing they can do. It's impossible to predict when the Rift will take somebody, and with all of time and space to search for them in, it's impossible to find them once they're gone. He tells her to drop it. Gwen being Gwen, though, of course she doesn't.
It's good to see the case taking over Gwen's life. She's always billed as the "heart" of Torchwood; the one who understands people's feelings, and retains her "humanity", whilst the others are off with their heads in space and alien matters. We've seen precious little of that lately, though. Gwen often seems to run roughshod over other people's feelings, and only consider her own, so it's good to see her really connecting with Jonah's desperate mother, Nikki. Nikki is an interesting character in her own right, utterly determined to find her son, and equally determined to reach out to other people in a similar position. It's her Searchlight group, set up to help the families of other missing persons, that first sets Gwen on the road to discovering the truth about this previously undiscovered kind of Rift activity. I like Nikki. She's smart and she's strong, and she's clearly a devoted mother. She's a layered character, and her Searchlight group shows promise, too. I can almost imagine seeing them again in the future, still looking for answers.
Gwen's single-mindedness in the case has far-reaching effects, though, as Rhys isn't at all impressed by her inability to devote time to their new marriage. He wants children, and she doesn't. At the very least, he wants to discuss the issue. She's more interested in work, though, and her new emotional involvement in Nikki and Jonah. Poor old Rhys. Gwen might be the "heart" of Torchwood, but her much vaunted humanity doesn't often extend to her nearest and dearest. Not only did we find out a few weeks ago, in "Something Borrowed", that she's not been in touch with her parents for ages, but now she's clearly neglecting her new husband as well. Still, Rhys's insistence that she sort things is good, as it sends her dashing off to the Hub after hours, for a rendezvous with the episode's only really light-hearted moment; and it's a greatly appreciated one. Not just because it's the only real moment of respite in a pretty serious and hard-hitting episode, but also because it's a great moment for Jack and Ianto. And also because it's pissed off a lot of people. Yes, I am that childish. The Hub isn't just Torchwood 3's headquarters, of course - it's also Jack's home; and with everybody else gone for the day, he and Ianto are engaged in a little... homework... together. Of the largely unclad kind. ;) Gwen bursting in on them is a lovely moment, both for her amusement and embarrassment, and for the reactions of the boys. Ianto initial mortification ebbs away nicely into good humour, and of course Jack predictably doesn't give a hoot. As Ianto dresses in a rush, Jack swaggers about half-dressed still, as cheerfully 51st century as ever, despite all these years stuck in a more repressed era. Gwen tries to tell him that they need to continue her investigation, but again he tells her to leave it. I'm not sure why he thinks that she'll do as he says. She never does, after all. Jack can be endearingly clueless at times, and really seems to think that if he tells her to drop it, she will. It's Ianto who realises that she won't, and gives her the clue that she needs to complete her investigation. As always he and Jack are way ahead, and far from uncovering something new, all that Gwen has done is to stumble onto a pet project of Jack's. Sent by Ianto's clue to an apparently deserted island, she finds that some of Cardiff's Rift-napped citizens, returned quite by chance, are hidden in subterranean bunkers. Jack has been keeping them there since they were returned by the Rift, shells now, and scarred mentally and physically by their experiences. Gwen of course wants to tell their relatives everything, and Jack, apparently beginning to realise that she's never going to listen to him, stands back and lets her make her own mistakes. She finds Jonah amongst Jack's hidden patients; a man in his forties now, burnt by the flames of the dying world he was thrown to by the Rift. Gwen insists on taking Nikki to see him, but she's no sooner accepted that this misshapen man is the fifteen year old son that she last saw seven months ago, than she discovers he is terribly affected by all that's happened, and spends some twenty hours of every day screaming in uncontrollable fear. There's no way that she can take him home, or live with him normally, and she claims that she wishes she had never found him again. It's hard to believe that she'll still feel that way in a week or two, but for the time being at least she's distraught, and blaming Gwen for killing her hope. It's a lose-lose situation, really. I understand why Gwen was so desperate to try to help reunite mother and son, but I do wish that she would trust Jack a little more. He's a complicated soul, true, and his understanding of what makes people tick isn't always all that great. He does usually have people's best interests at heart though, at least as he understands them. Gwen is far too quick to believe that he's up to something terrible here. She suspects him of goodness knows what when she finds out that he has some of the missing people on that tiny island. He's Jack Harkness, for goodness sakes. What exactly does she think that he's doing? He saves people. Sometimes a little heavy-handedly, yes; and almost always with an outsider's perspective. He does try to do the right thing, though, and if she had only listened to him from the start, she would certainly have saved herself a good deal of heartache. In the event it's probably best that Nikki does know the truth now, but I doubt that everybody who has lost somebody to the Rift could deal with that truth. Nikki is painted as a strong character from the outset, but Jack has a makeshift hospital full of people who can't be treated in the normal way, traumatised by things that other people can't begin to imagine. He can't very well go telling all of Cardiff what's going on, and risk causing all kinds of panic. So he keeps it a secret, and just tries to do his best. Listen to him next time, Gwen.
Or don't, actually, 'cause we got a bloody good episode out of your stubbornness, so obviously it can be a good thing.
On to the pictures, then:
Young Jonah walks home, on the last normal night of his life.
The Rift plays its tricks, and zaps him away to a burning planet.
Gwen and Tosh investigate Rift activity.
PC Andy tries to ascertain whether Gwen is still the same person he's always known,
or if Torchwood has made her hard.
Jonah's mother, Nikki.
Jack and Ianto taking care of the potted plants. ;)
Jack reiterates the order that Gwen should just butt out.
But she refuses, and finds her way to his secret hospital.
Jonah, no longer fifteen, and deeply affected by thirty years of wandering in search of home.
Gwen tells Jack that Nikki deserves the truth.
However the truth of Jonah's tortured existence may be more than Nikki can bear.
Confused as to whether she did the right thing, Gwen seeks solace in the arms of the ever-patient Rhys.
Well - almost ever-patient. ;)
Next time, things that go "Boom!" very loudly. Also, bondage and a pterodactyl. Cool. :)
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