When
a plane from 1953 makes an unexpected landing in present-day
Cardiff, its three passengers are shocked to learn they
can never go back to their own time. Torchwood helps them
settle in contemporary society, but this simple task has
painful emotional consequences.
People
from the past turning up in the future is a science fiction
story stalwart, but can Torchwood bring something
new to the plotline?
In another
stand-alone episode that forgets about the dark themes introduced
in ‘They
Keep Killing Susie’, the Torchwood team has to
take care of a three people who arrive in Cardiff fifty-three
years after they departed. This is a storyline that has
been used many times in science fiction and unfortunately
this show does nothing new with it.
Pilot
Diana, teenager Emma and shopkeeper John have travelled
through the rift that draws everything to Cardiff and onto
Torchwood’s radar. Unable to go back to their time,
the three of them have to try and fit in to modern society.
Again
we have the reactions to how attitudes towards sex, women
and everything else have changed and each of them react
in different ways. One can’t cope, one tries to embrace
it and one finds love, but again, nothing is new.
Louise
Delamere’s Diana is probably the strongest of the
characters and the one that makes the biggest impact, especially
on Owen. The other two bring out some well-kept secrets
and their arrival has serious repercussions for Gwen and
Captain Jack.
Each
of them have to face their own demons, with more of Jack’s
past finally coming to light and Gwen’s relationship
with her hapless boyfriend Rhys finally coming to a head.
While
the plot maybe a science fiction favourite that the writing
team do nothing new with, ‘Out of Time’ is worth
watching just for the Captain Jack Harkness revelations
alone. It brings more to the character and explains why
he is starting to distance himself from the team and how
he might react to the perils to come.
