TV Club enters a world that is not for the faint-hearted in one of Torchwood’s most brutal episodes.
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This is one of the best episodes of the season. Definitely the best we’ve seen yet for the club. I really like the mystic vibe the whole episode has. But I don’t find it to be that amazing. The villains feel kind of generic, and I would have loved if they were more fleshed out than we got. I like the whole “humans are the real monsters” plot as much as the next guy, but I want motivations behind the madness.
Then we have the main problem with the show: the characters. I still feel nothing about Ianto and Tosh. Jack and Gwen are okay. Owen is awful. I think that @dema1020 said it well in his review of this episode on the site, and I am just going to quote him here:
It feels a little overplayed and I just don’t get much of anything out of Gwen and Owen. Owen’s character is just presented as so ugly from the start it really is hard to feel much other than disdain for him so it is rough to see him paired with the audience stand-in. Once again, it feels more like Torchwood’s trademark version of haphazardly “adulting” Doctor Who, and the effects are laid pretty bare.
11 Likes
I watched this again the other day in preparation for this 
Definitely one of the best standard episodes of Torchwood. Simply because of the spookiness, the feeling of impending doom and hopelessness.
I also like the “humans are the real monsters” angle but also would have been all for some kind of alien doing the killings, that could have made it a cool spooky sci-fi episode.
I love Gwen and Ianto in this the most. Tosh is great. Jack has his hero moment.
This is one case where I do think Big Finish kinda ruin a character - the idea that this is Ianto’s first involvement in a mission, that he really doesn’t know what he’s doing but he’s put into such danger, is a good one. But with Big Finish we find that he’s been on loads of missions before this. (Yes I’m currently listening to Torchwood One).
Although don’t get me wrong, Torchwood One is brilliant!!
I agree about Owen, I just don’t like him, and the last scene is awful. Wish that hadn’t happened.
Just a really good, shocking episode, different and interesting. I wish they’d done more horror like this!
10 Likes
Not sure if I’m just a fan of horror but I’d say this is one of, if not the best story in the Whoniverse in my opinion, the character drama, setting and high stakes action, not to mention the iconic quote at the end makes this one of the easiest 5 stars I’ve ever given
10 Likes
I think it’s a good story. Really, really creepy.
Cannibalism always sends a chill down my spine, it is so very gruesome and grotesque.
There’s a lot of atmosphere in this story.
Gwen carries this show for me.
Jack tends to be a little too over the top.
Owen is not a particularly good character, he lacks any nuance.
Tosh is boring.
I don’t think Ianto really became a proper character in season 1.
You could say this story makes me happ - nope can’t do it…
7 Likes
I mean, this could be said for any Torchwood story tbh
But yeah that torture scene he’s definitely OTT in
6 Likes
I did actually mean that he is too over the top in general in Torchwood, not just this story 
6 Likes
Love this episode, and the surprise actually hit because I knew nothing about Torchwood when first watching.
I think regarding Ianto’s first mission thing it more links into how before this he was never a leader in a mission or having to do anything solo/alone. He was always with a more experienced operative, or surrounded by multiple operatives.
And I love the atmosphere in this episode too, it’s great help for imagining other audios set in remote areas.
also Ianto spoiling the cute “who was your last snog” convo is absolutely top tier humour
8 Likes
I remember really enjoying this first time round, especially not knowing ‘the twist’, and did enjoy it the second time. But I found the Owen/Gwen stuff in the forest to be really sleazy and I commented at the time of my rewatch how I was struck by how flat and ‘90s video’ it all feels visually.
10 Likes
This one really really freaked me out, so though it is good I don’t really want to rewatch it
8 Likes
As I mentioned in the Torchwood thread, I don’t love this story as much as most people do!
Perhaps it’s because I can’t see as much more than ’Torchwood does a slasher’. The only reason why the story is any more than just a ball of slasher tropes is the fact that it is a Torchwood story; we’re excepting aliens and we just get… people. That’s a gutting moment in the context of a series of Torchwood, but it’s pretty bland compared to other slashers?
(Or maybe it’s because that although I am a big horror fan I don’t love slashers very much… could be that!)
What I do love about this episode is the use of place and setting; individual rooms and spaces feel real and therefore dangerous, and the characters’ fates depend not on fancy technology or clever ideas but brute speed, strength and deciding who to trust.
I don’t think the character work is very good, though. Especially, as mentioned, Owen and Gwen.
10 Likes
Yeah I’m inclined to agree with lots of what everyone’s said here - as much as this is one of the best episodes in s1, we have to admit it doesn’t have steep competition
It’s funny because I had the same thought, but for me it was Torchwood Does A Slasher (positive). Maybe I have some fondness in my heart for it because the first time I watched it was Halloween season, the perfect time for a slasher!, even (or especially 
) one lacking in character work or any massively new ideas
8 Likes
To be fair, it’s still his first mission in nearly three years
Not the same impact, but yeah
7 Likes
My thoughts on the episode from when I watched it last July:
5 Likes
Also adding to this, a big part of Ianto’s story in this with it being his ‘first’ mission, is talking about how the others all get that look in their eyes, like they get a high from the danger and that
Honestly knowing Ianto has been on missions before this kind of adds to it, he’s seen that look before, he’s felt what it’s like to be on that side of things, and that didn’t save anyone in Canary Wharf
“AND WHO PROTECTS US?”
This isn’t just him wondering because he hasn’t thought about it before, it’s him wondering because he’s thought about it every day for the last two years
10 Likes
This got me thinking about The Last Beacon. Two Torchwood stories that take place in the Brecons, with strange locals, an offbeat mystery and camping… I know which one I prefer!
Hmm, might relisten to that one soon… 
7 Likes
I’m one of those who finds Countrycide one of the best Torchwood episodes. It’s dark, brutal, scary, effective, and memorable. It has some problems with characterisation, but overall, it’s a brilliant episode.
A visceral, harrowing episode that leans fully into horror, delivering Torchwood at its most brutal. The unsettling atmosphere, tense pacing, and Owen Teale’s unnerving performance make it one of the most memorable and disturbing episodes of the series.
8 Likes
Absolutely love this episode, probably my second fave (CoE notwithstanding) story Torchwood has ever done. Something about the atmosphere is just so unsettling and I don’t think Torchwood ever recaptured that vibe
7 Likes