Yes, Martha’s back and she’s qualified as a doctor. Apparently upon qualification she received a ‘feisty’ upgrade, seeing as she’s now full of sassy backchat to anyone and everyone. That’s probably the result of taking a character that was previously part of a double act and making them go solo. It’s not… bad, but it does take a bit of getting used to. Actually, this is the third time that someone has been introduced as a sort-of extra team member this series and made it better – James Marsters, Rhys, and now Martha (not Adam. That was just silly).
Even with that left out the episode, the plot developed such a massive arch that I was very surprised that this wasn’t a double bill – there’s a wonder drug, Martha goes undercover as a medical test subject (secretly creeping around the medical facility at night in the LOUDEST SHOES EVER MADE), lots of people start exploding with insects, and she’s potentially next. All a bit predictable, but competently done. For Torchwood.
Still, it seems odd just last week, shots of the mayfly were being trailed inside BBC Two idents. Perhaps we’re going to hear more from the medical labs later in the series, considering how it also wasn’t explained why they were so powerful, nor why they have so many aliens to hand.
THE MAHOOSIVE ENDING
Of course, this was all just passing the time before Alan Dale accidentally killed off the wrong Torchwood member. Gwen’s about four metres to the left, Al! What a blunder – and actually a loss to the programme. Tosh and Owen were finally coming to an end of their period of faff and get it together. Owen and Martha were working and clashing quite nicely on medical stuff. Indeed, bringing Martha in this week showed that having two people doing the same thing actually works quite well, rather than everyone bringing their own severely delineated niche to the Torchwood table.
Read the previous week’s Torchwood review here.
