When
Gwen (Eve Myles) retrieves an alien object from a fleeing
hooded criminal, she’s haunted by a vision of a lonely
young boy. As the team track down the object's owner, the
elusive Bernie Harris, Owen (Burn Gorman) experiences an
even more terrifying vision and a long buried crime resurfaces.
With
some of the highest set of viewing figures ever recorded
for a show on BBC 3, the Doctor Who spin-off series
continues and we start to learn a little more about the
Cardiff Torchwood team.
The
third episode has the team discover an alien device that
activates in areas of great emotional turbulence, transporting
the holder to the time that the incident happened. Gwen
sees a lost boy at the railway station who was evacuated
during the Second World War and starts an investigation
into what she thinks is a ghost. Things get even worse when
Owen holds the device and witnesses a brutal murder that
has remained unsolved since the 1960s.
This
plotline again moves the series into a much darker tone,
with the only light relief coming from the growing relationship
between Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen as he teaches her
how to fire a gun.
Both
John Barrowman and Eve Myles are really growing into their
roles and have a good screen chemistry that continues to
develop, especially with Gwen been the only member of Torchwood
to know Jack’s dramatic secret.
The
episode also gives us the chance to learn more about Burn
Gorman’s character Owen Harper. We get to know more
about his state of mind and his emotional connections to
cases. After witnessing such a brutal attack, this drives
Owen away from the fun loving tech guy we were introduced
to and into a man driven to drastic measures to find the
culprit responsible.
Sci-Fi
fans should rejoice as the presence of Gareth Thomas, Roj
Blake from the classic BBC series Blake’s 7.
He has a pivotal role that fans will enjoy watching him
getting his teeth into.
‘Ghost
Machine’ continues the momentum of the first to episodes
and makes you realise that, along with the revitalised Doctor
Who, British science fiction television might well
be getting back to its best.
