Small Worlds
by Peter J. Hammond
The mystery of Capt. Jack deepens as the Torchwood team comes up against their most formidable opponent yet: fairies.
Summary
A quintessentially eccentric British old lady (QEBOL) stalks silently through the forest. She is hunting and finds a circle of glowing fairies, flittering around a stone circle. She takes a few photos and leaves. Her intrusion does not go unnoticed.
Meanwhile, Capt. Jack has a nightmare and awakes to find a rose petal. At the same time, the Torchwood monitoring systems notice freak weather patterns.
The next day, a pedophile attempts to abduct a young girl, but something invisible and unseen attacks him, attempting to choke him with rose petals. Jack and Gwen go to visit the QEBOL, who turns out to be a former lover of Jack’s “father†from the 1940’s. [Her name is Estelle, but I’m going to keep calling her QEBOL.] She’s a researcher into fairies, and she’s been giving a talk about her recent photographs. Jack asks to see all her photos and data and warns her that these fairies aren’t nice, sweet little creatures. QEBOL explains to Gwen that she and Jack have had disagreement on their nature before.
As the investigations progress, it is clear no one is safe from them and their pursuit of one young girl, their next “chosen oneâ€.
Analysis
This story was by Peter J Hammond, creator of Sapphire & Steel and it shows: It plays fast and loose with the concept of linear time, features creatures “from outside of time†and doesn’t bother to explain the real nature of the antagonists. That might sound like a criticism, but it isn’t. There are very few TV writers who can pull that off and Hammond is certainly one of them. The episode is well written and constructed and isn’t nearly as “unexplained†as episodes of Sapphire & Steel. This may be the best episode of Torchwood yet.
In fact, most of the unexplained “mystery†in this episode does more to make the story of Capt. Jack more complicated rather than bog down the main narrative.
The QEBOL’s lover was, in fact, Jack himself. That’s not so much of a surprise as the Doctor first met Jack in 1940’s London. Although we know Jack was a renegade Time Agent, we never learned what Time Agents do. Perhaps I was reading something into it that wasn’t there, but it seemed in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances that Jack hadn’t been there more than a few months. QEBOLs explanation in Small Worlds makes it sound like he’s been there much longer.
Later, Jack reveals (to the audience, if not specifically to Gwen) that he was commanding troupes in 1909. Again, what does a Time Agent do? Would Jack as an agent or a con man have spent enough time in 1909 to take command of troupes going into war?
Considering how world-weary Jack’s character seems in Torchwood, compared to Doctor Who, I almost think they’re going to reveal that he somehow after the Dalek battle in space and his resurrection by Rose and the time vortex that perhaps he was sent way back in time and has been living for ages as an immortal being.
Acting and production were again impeccable, the only reservation I had was that the CGI fairies in “scary†mode had a slightly rushed feel to them.
This episode relied on story, action and characters and required no superficial insertions of sex scenes, innuendo nor Capt. Jack’s “kiss of life.â€
This story makes me wish they’d bring back Sapphire & Steel.