Let me reiterate that I absolutely adore the show, because despite its faults it managed to produce some stellar television that was touching, sophisticated and really down-to-earth. It hit its stride with the last few episodes of series 2 and produced the extraordinary Children of Earth and epic (if stretched) Miracle Day. It is such a shame that the show ended when it had really found itself. Thank God for Big Finish.
The New Torchwood
This is a fresh start for Torchwood and its name (a play on the first episode, Everything Changes) invites comparison to the earliest episodes of the show. Just as was done with the soft reboot of Miracle Day, we're introduced to new characters. Don't worry - they're better than Rex and Esther.
We're introduced to Tyler Steele, an overconfident and sexually-charged journalist looking to redeem his career after being disgraced. We are reintroduced to Torchwood Cardiff through his eyes just as we first met the group through Gwen. Tyler can be thought of as an anti-Gwen - whilst she was supposed to be the heart of the show (we'll ignore her disgusting affair with Owen and shameful pining for Jack), Tyler is a dick. And he works perfectly. He's the sort of person you would hate to know in real life but makes for a good flawed protagonist in that he's open and accessible in a way that Dr Owen Harper was rarely allowed to be onscreen.
We don't see as much of Mr Colchester, but he's fine. An old civil servant is just the sort of character that can shake up the dynamic of Torchwood and admonish any of the other members for engaging in the sexual immorality they all got up to early in the show. He's gay, which makes me wonder if Owen the only straight man to ever work for the organisation and what it is about being LGBT that attracts you to alien-fighting.
As for the oldies, Jack has, thankfully, not completely reverted back to the cold and inhuman leader that he so often was for the first two series and is written somewhere between that and the more relatable and likeable Jack of Children of Earth and Miracle Day. He's having sex, standing on roofs overlooking Cardiff and fighting aliens - what more could you want from him?
It's a shame that Eve Myles's role in Aliens Among Us is practically non-existent, but Alexandria Riley makes a very good Gwen Cooper. They sound enough alike that it's very easy to imagine her as Gwen rather than as an impressionist or stand-in. My initial reaction to the reveal at the end that Riley has been playing Gwen made me very worried that Gwen had been recast, so I was very pleased to learn what we do in future stories.
The Plot
Children of Earth began just before the 456 stopped all of the children. Miracle Day began with the Miracle. Aliens Among Us starts much later than both of these series, with Cardiff long since having been taken over by aliens. We're introduced to controversial and relevant issues like racism, immigration and refugees. It's an interesting approach that fills us with questions - who's taken over, how and why? It's a far looser arc than the aforementioned series but these questions are, of course, answered as it plays out.
Changes Everything can't just introduce the arc, though. It has to have its own self-contained story to avoid being forgettable and as more of a prologue than an actual story, much like Everything Changes was. (The story just wasn't all that good and we really didn't get to know Suzie well enough.) We have Tyler's attempted assassination at the beginning of the story, reintroducing Torchwood and learning about what's happened in Cardiff and then discovering and stopping the would-be assassin before a sad ending where Tyler is rejected by Torchwood.
A Good Quotation
"Tyler Steele, keep yourself in shape?"
"Yeah."
"Weights
or cardio?"
"Hot yoga and crossfit."
"A bit London but it'll have to do."
This Reminds Me...
Didn't we get pretty much the same Gwen driving scene in More Than This? Not that I'm complaining.
I'll Explain Later
How come Tyler doubts the existence of aliens? Has he never been in London at Christmas? Did the 456 incident and the Miracle pass him by? I know the Miracle wasn't alien but you'd think it would open people's minds a bit.
The Judgement
Is this a story that will set your world on fire? No, of course not, but it's a great start for Aliens Among Us, introducing us to an intriguing post-Miracle Cardiff and a brand new Torchwood that's had its base blown up and that's matured greatly before returning. This is the type of story that Everything Changes should have been. Long live Torchwood! B
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