A burglary turns into a slaughter and Torchwood suspect alien involvement. When the investigation escalates into a city-wide assault, Jack realises the whole planet is in danger.
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Rewatched this episode this morning. It was fine but felt a bit too much from time to time. I gave it 3.5/5
3 Likes
I remember only one section of this episode:
The section in question
TOSH: No, I can’t just hook something up. The entire telephone network is down.
OWEN: What about a mobile connection?
TOSH: The entire telephone network is down.
IANTO: Mobiles, landlines, tin cans with bits of string. Everything. Absolutely everything. No phones. Phones all broken. Hello? Anyone there? No, cos the phones aren’t working.
What’s great is someone left some tin cans with bits of string on Ianto’s shrine
10 Likes
I think the concept of these alien sleeper agents who actually believe that they’re humans up until the moment they’re activated is a really compelling one. At least I did right up until some of them were activated and then they were remarkably boring.
That’s honestly how I feel about this episode. It’s an episode that starts out with a lot of promise that ultimately feels more like broken promises.
The Sleepers are interesting when they’re human (at least I thought Beth was) but so boring once activated. They sound like a scary, formidable threat but are pretty quickly & easily defeated. We’re told that there’s a force of them already on Earth, but spoilers
they’re never mentioned again. At least not on the main show, I believe Big Finish have used them. I don’t know it’s just cheap to throw in the fact that a sleeper force is already on Earth if it doesn’t ever mean anything.
I do quite like Beth though, and when the episode is focused on her it’s not bad. When it wants to be an action movie it disappoints.
7 Likes
This is probably my least favourite Torchwood episode to be honest, the ideas are kinda interesting but the execution was just so dull in my opinion, I rewatched it recently and honestly can’t remember a thing
7 Likes
Watched this last night and, it’s pretty enjoyable. I think the premise is good, albeit a little drawn out and boring once the sleeper agents actually activate. Beth is definitely the most interesting part of the plot here. The main thing holding this episode up in my estimations is the interactions between the Torchwood team as they’re just great.
3.5/5
4 Likes
Even as a one-off (far as the main show is concerned, at least), I like the concept of Cell 114. It’s the kind of threat that works better on TW than mainline DW, really sinking into just how truly unsettling this flavour of sleeper cell is. Quite like its balance of tension and some alleviating humour; I’ll echo what @TrakeniteAdventuress said with that Ianto bit, one of my favourites from him.
6 Likes
@TrakeniteAdventuress mentioned my favorite part of this episode, so I won’t discuss it more here. Other than that though, I didn’t find it particularly memorable. Had some interesting concepts, but the execution of them felt lacking. 5/10.
5 Likes
Watched this again last night and I agree with everyone above - it has a good premise but is actually pretty boring. And doesn’t lead anywhere. What a waste!
5 Likes
The fact that this episode ends with the main Sleeper guy saying that there are more Sleepers already on Earth, but the show never does anything with this is a little frustrating.
I hope Big Finish got around to doing something with this, because the show just sets up a compelling plotline and then seems to completely forget about it.
5 Likes
I really enjoyed this episode when I first saw it, I loved the premise and I think it was done pretty good, but I had forgotten this point
And now that I’m thinking about it, that’s insanely annoying
3 Likes
As others have mentioned about, they did.
But I’ve heard this audio and it didn’t even click with me that it was the same alien. I can barely remember it now lol
5 Likes
That’s a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they did something with the Sleepers. But I think it’s a great concept, and I think there’s plenty of stories you could tell with it. It all feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me.
4 Likes
I’m actually surprised at how disliked the episode is - last time I watched, I was thinking that it was pretty good, even if the sleeper concept isn’t followed up again in the show.
4 Likes
Rewatched this one recently and had zero memory of it.
I now understand why.
it’s like it builds up to something interesting, but then has this quite quiet ending with her holding Gwen hostage and getting them to shoot her.
I wonder if the ending was limited to the hub for budget reasons?
5 Likes
I’m in agreement with most of the posts. It was an interesting idea and interesting concepts but they didn’t seem to execute it well. And they didn’t revisit it in the show either. But between this and the previous episode I think there was some good development with Torchwood characters. I watched season 2 before season 1 the first go around, so I actually liked Ianto, Gwen, and Owen. Had I seen season 1 first I may have not liked them.
3 Likes
7/10
A really good concept in this one and Beth’s tragedy is played very well. My review below.
1 Like