Torchwood #6: Countrycide

Torchwood Team; 

• Captain Jack

• Gwen

• Owen

• Tosh

• Ianto

Notable Characters;

• Evan Sherman- Cannibal

• Helen Sherman- Cannibal

Detailed Plot; 

Shocks, sexual tension and sublime. Countrycide was an excellent story, an extremely gruesome one, but still excellent nonetheless. It began with a familiar sight to me; the Brecon Beacons and on the long windy lonesome road during the night was a women on a phone in her car. She comes to halt after seeing what she presumes is a body on the road. She exits her vehicle and showing that she's typically Welsh- pulls out a baseball bat for her protection. The body was a decoy, and in fact not a body at all. It was a football and a few blankets. Somebody was playing a sick joke. As she'd exited her car, her tyres were deflated and the keys were gone. On top of a hill range in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, things didn't look good for this women. She was being hunted. And there was someone outside her car, and whoever (or whatever) it was, attacked. 

It was time for Torchwood to investigate. There'd been 17 disappearances all in the last five moths within a short radius. Somebody had a camp. The Beacons region seemed the area where the missing people were last seen. Owen was heard mocking the police as he previously had done in Day One. Ianto was still with the team, with the results of Cyberwomen still fresh. But Jack was giving him a chance. Anyway, it was time to set up camp. I loved how Jack said humans are unique in they're the only species in the universe who camp. With Owen helping put the tent up, and struggling, my opening quote was humorously heard. As the team were setting up camp, something was watching from a distance. Torchwood were being spied on. 

Gwen starts off what she thought would be an innocent game. Asking her fellow members who they last snogged. There were many references to Cyberwomen with the passionate kiss between Gwen and Owen and Ianto's love for Lisa. He still very much missed her. 

The chemistry between Gwen and Owen was at an absolute maximum. There were so many sexual references and it was clear Owen wanted her claiming they'd be 'great together.' As the two were millimetres away from kissing, Gwen saw something was watching them. The pair stayed calm, holding their position before quickly splitting in attempt to find the stalker. 

They had no luck, as all that was found was a body, well not even that, a skeleton completely skinned. Something had a sadistic cannibalism hunger. With the team distracted, the SUV was stolen and the camp was trashed. Torchwood were now trapped on the Beacons, and the majority of their technology stolen. Within seconds the SUV was over 3 miles away, and stationery. The thief had arrived where it had wanted- and was close. 

Still armed with a tracking device the Torchwood team locate the SUV and they find a very small agglomeration of houses. As the team approach for interrogation, the viewer is taken inside from the point of view of someone. The houses are not empty. The team investigate and firstly enter a pub at the bar. Gwen searches around and within the till is money, lots of it, just abandoned. Nobody was here. The community seemingly had just stopped. Gwen searches around further and comes across a half skinned corpse, she understandably spews. It's a horrific sight! With Tosh and Ianto gone in search of the SUV, the other three Torchwood members investigate the other houses. Blood is covering the floor and yet another body was found and had been skinned. The community had not abandoned the area, the community was the target of murder. 

Tosh and Ianto are tracking the SUV and are getting closer, but something is also watching them. The pair briefly split up around a house as screams are heard. They reunite momentarily before Tosh silently disappears. Ianto was all on his own. He was attacked from behind. Tosh and Ianto had been caught, were they next to be skinned in this horrific scheme? 

With the other half of the team continuing their interrogation of houses, upon the opening of one house Gwen is shockingly shot! A young male had fired at her, was she dead? At this moment I was silent praying for her survival. I was enthralled entirely by this shocking moment. Gwen was quickly rushed to a flat surface in the kitchen, Owen was working on her. The incident was not as worse feared. Owen retrieved the bullet and for now Gwen was okay. Owen had saved her, she thankfully had survived. 

Also a relieving moment was the sight of Tosh and Ianto, albeit they were held captive, they were still alive. Ianto quickly worked out that the pair were underground while Tosh was confident of escape and straight into action. She seemed to get a high off of danger, her job was worth the risk if it meant protecting people. I admired her greatly here. As she searched around the basement-like room for escape, she discovered shoes. Piles of them. Dozens upon dozens of them. They were the remains of those previously captured. Was there an escape route? Apparently not. And the doubts were cemented as the pair found a fridge. What was inside the fridge was shocking and downright disturbing. There was meat, human meat. Whatever had been skinning the victims was eating human skin as food. Just what were the team up against? 

Meanwhile in the houses, Gwen continued to work despite her wound. She wasn't going down without a fight, she was determined. The talk of the rift spreading was intriguing, how far could it spread? Could Torchwood cover it all on their own? The team had seemingly taken the pub as their base, but somebody was outside. The lights were out, the team, along with Kieran (the young man who shot Gwen) barricaded the door. But they were so concentrated on keeping things out, they'd kept something in. The cellar wasn't checked and something was within. It kidnapped Kieran while taking three shots (to the claim of Jack) but Gwen was determined. She wanted it dead. 

Back in the basement with Tosh and Ianto still captive, a door opened. Was it skinning time? Thankfully it appeared it was not. There was a women, Helen, with a gun and she wasn't harming the pair. She claimed to be a 'collector.' It was now that we found out what was happening to the humans in the Beacons community. It was a harvest. Frankly, it was sickening. But it made for a very good story. The harvest occurred every ten years, just how had it previously gone unnoticed? Ianto and Tosh were being taken, presumably to be harvested. 

Meanwhile, Jack didn't seem worried about Tosh and Ianto and said they could look after themselves. He carried on investigating and found another man who was alive. This man laughed at Jack's complete lack of knowledge of the situation. But Jack doesn't like the mocking and quickly turns angry and aggressive. He threatens the man. As Owen and Gwen are investigating the lanes, a police man appears, a sign of help? Were they back in the game? It was unclear yet. 

As Ianto and Tosh were taken into a sickening room, full of human meat hanging like a doner kebab, the woman revealed all. She was not a collector at all. She was a creature, despite being human, and an architect of this vile scheme. Another man, Evan, appears claiming how else would they look other than human? They feed on humans. The harvest was in full function and more meat was about to be carved as Ianto and Tosh were both cuffed. They were helpless. Kieran was seen to be present also, but he was trapped. The sickening references to humans as 'meat' and the claim that it 'has to be tenderised first' was very disturbing. These creatures were vile. But all hope was not lost as Ianto head-butted the male harvester which allowed Tosh to escape. Sadly he wasn't able to follow. Ianto was trapped and then knocked out. Tosh was scared and attempted hiding in the woods. The sadistic male creature enjoyed the impromptu game of hide and seek. Sadly Tosh was the loser as she was caught. But still she displayed mass courage and didn't give up. She escaped once more and now a chase ensued. But due to her cuffing she was again caught. The games were over and Tosh was being strangled. Sadly all seemed lost. The harvest would resume. 

But Owen was closely to save the day! He quickly prevented the death of Tosh, for now she had survived. But the policeman close to Gwen quickly turned the table on its head. He was part of the sick cannibals. It was now a battle of wits with guns being pointed at the policeman and Owen alike. Gwen had no choice but to give in. The cannibalisers were in control. They had the guns and a family link. The male who enjoyed hide and seek was the uncle of the policeman. So he had a brother or sister. There were more out there somewhere. With Tosh, Ianto and now Gwen and Owen caught, it was just Captain Jack left. With Ianto moments away from being tenderised for his harvesting, Jack stormed the room with a tractor. A successful invasion. Jack has no hesitation in shooting the cannibals. But Gwen is intrigued, she prevents the apparent leader from being shot for now, she wants to interrogate him. She was curious. Jack desperately wanted to kill him, but listened to Gwen. She was to interview him. 

We learned of the history of the cannibalisers in a sick interview of sorts. The whole village was involved, every generation past and present was used. The sadistic creatures butchered the people who passed by. But he was hesitant to reveal his reason. Gwen allowed him to whisper the reason and if stunned her. It made him 'happy.' He was a sick creature. Gwen was disgusted. The cannibals were taken away and arrested by the team and official police force. For now the danger was averted but it does leave the door open for a return. 

The story quickly took a different turn as Gwen was heard narrating. She talked of her plan in life before Torchwood, but now she'd got her new job things were changing, they were changing her and her perspective on life. She wanted to share her thoughts and discoveries- but couldn't. That was until now. A massive cliffhanger was revealed. Gwen was sign Owen in a flat, snogging and completely together. It seemed Torchwood had a couple working for them...

My analysis; 

I already cannot wait to watch episode seven after that cliffhanger. I think it's brilliant how it followed such a gruesome episode. It was full of shock and none greater than the cliffhanger. The villains were by far the most extreme and viscous ever seen in the Whoniverse. Cannibals are just wrong, and having them as villains was excellent! Overall, it was fantastic but there was slight room for improvement. I just wish it wasn't quite as sadistic as it was (despite it adding to the story) and I now hope we could've seen the villains revealed earlier. However- it was still great! 

Rating; 9/10- a little too gruesome and I just think the canniballs could've been revealed earlier.