Torchwood: They Keep Killing Suzie (S1,E8)

"Tread carefully people, with respect. This is the life of Suzie Costello."

They Keep Killing Suzie, Season One, Episode Eight

("When the word Torchwood is daubed in blood at a murder scene, the investigation leads back to a familiar face.")

What I Liked

* Detective Swanson. Both the opening scene where she stands up to Jack and the hilarious scene where she puts him on speaker phone and makes him admit he's locked in his own headquarters.

* A solid mystery hook: murder victims who have ret-con in their blood.

* Suzie Costello. A great character and a great performance by Indira Varma. Is it wrong that I think she's far more interesting than Gwen?

* GWEN: "I'm a lot more than just a replacement." SUZIE: "Have you slept with Owen yet?"

* The twist: Suzie hates her Dad and kills him.

* The final line: "That's the thing about gloves, sir. They come in pairs."

What I Didn't Like

* The "Previously on . . . ." is so heavily-focussed on Suzie that her appearance isn't much of a surprise.

* Ianto's names for Torchwood artifacts ("Risen Mitten" and "Life Knife") are just horrible.

What I'm Not Sure About

* I never made the connection before, but the resurrection gauntlet functions almost identically to Ned's powers in Pushing Daisies (and kinda like that Eliza Dushku series from a few years back--y'know, the one she reportedly opted to do instead of a Faith series).

* Suzy's getaway plan doesn't really seem to make a lot of sense. Specifically, how could she calculate that Gwen is going to help her leave the Hub just minutes before the guy locked up in the basement says the shutdown code?

* Why are there computer monitors behind the rear seats in the Torchwood SUV? Can anyone really twist around to read them?

* The famous Jack/Ianto stopwatch entendre. I have a reasonably vivid imagination, but nothing particularly sexy comes to mind ("You may pleasure me for thirty seconds. . . . and . . . . stop.")

COMMENTARY

By: James Strong (Director), Chris Chibnall (co-producer), and Brian Minchin (script editor)

Tone: Two comfortable guys (Strong & Chibnall) trying to prop up a very nervous third guy (Minchin)

Semi-Interesting Things:

* They decided to make this episode after seeing Indira Varma's performance in Episode One.

* The character of Owen was originally to be played by a "Welsh beefcake".

* This episode has the first use of the Hub's interrogation room, which was an original part of the set.

TORCHWOOD DECLASSIFIED: "Beyond the Grave"

* I think these have gotten more unfocussed compared to the early ones--this is just a bunch of talking heads discussing the episode generally.

DELETED SCENES

* Detective Swanson offers to intercept Gwen's car, but Jack turns her down

* Creepy basement guy shows his back tattoos