March 02, 2008

A Day in the Death (2008)

Joseph Lidster is a man known to many in the Doctor Who fandom. He has written many Big Finish audios such as The Rapture, The Reaping and Terror Firma so I was looking forward to his episode before the storyline with Owen was even aired. This episode marks the third and final appearance of Martha in this series. It also marks the third episode of the Owen’s Dead storyline and it isn’t as good as the previous two episodes. The idea of telling a story in flashback might seem perfectly normal with shows like Lost using it frequently but for a British drama and a Sci-Fi one like Torchwood it is quite rare. Throughout the episode you get the impression that Owen is going to kill himself with some women that he has just met but by the end and after seeing everything in the episode you realise that he is actually trying to save her.

The first part of the episode was just Owen trying to get used to being dead was enjoyable as it didn’t get to dull or repetitive. The funniest moment was when he was watching To Buy or Not To Buy on the TV and his reaction was the same as everybody who hates daytime telly. The only thing that I thought was boring was the Tosh/Owen thing. Its obvious that they are going to get together so why bother having them not so. The star of the episode was Richard ‘The Good Life’ Briers who played a dying recluse who’s brief appearance was the turning point for Owen and was quite powerful.

Whilst this episode isn’t as strong as the previous two it was still an entertaining 50 minutes of drama. Richard Briers was a good guest star with a subtle yet powerful performance and Freema Agyemen was also very good as Martha. It’s a shame that she left now because I think with a few more episodes she could have become even better. But the performance of the episode was Burn Gorman who was absolutely brilliant. His acceptance of being dead was well played and shows a new side to the role.

A good episode that continues to maintain the great quality of the series

No comments:

Post a Comment