So after two days of ominous warnings, the aliens known only as 456 finally arrived.
Again, this Torchwood event is proving just how good the show can be. However, last night, it wasn’t particularly down to the actions of anyone actually in the main team. Yes, we had the twist with Jack, which was largely predictible, but still played out well (the trailers have shown us clips for weeks hinting that Jack had already been involved with 456′s previous visit).
However for me, the real meat in the episode was Peter Capaldi as John Frobisher. The civil servant who’s been at the heart of events, and who clearly knows more about the 456 than most of the others. However, he’s still terrified of them, but gets put in the position of Earth’s ambassador by a Prime Minister determined to keep his hands clean during this whole mess (I wonder how Harriet Jones’ Government handled this before The Doctor changed everything).
Peter Capaldi has been superb throughout this story so far. He’s brilliantly played Frobisher as a layered individual, who’s both shown as manipulated by the Prime Minister as a fallguy, terrified for what 456 are doing to his children, but at the same time, willing to go to ruthless extremes, authorising the deaths of those involved in 1965, and capturing Jack’s daughter and Grandson to gain leverage over him. He’s maybe not going to sleep at night because of what he’s done, but he’s still willing to do it.
The 456 themselves remain mysterious. The disembodied voice coming from the speakers connected to the smoke-filled tank is suitably ominous. Exactly what they’re up to remains to be seen, and why they keep thrashing against the tank could turn out to be significant.
Great stuff. Is it 9pm yet?
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