Torchwood Team;
• Captain Jack
• Gwen
• Owen
• Tosh
• Ianto
Notable Characters;
• Eugene- Dead man with an alien eye
• Gary- Best friend of Eugene
Detailed Plot;
Continuing the Torchwood task and I near the end of the first season. After eight spectacular episodes in a row I guess there was always going to be one that didn't live up to the standard previously set. Sadly Random Shoes was the episode that didn't meet the huge heights. It was a relatively intriguing episode but to me it seemed to drag a bit and I didn't really see the relevance for the Torchwood team to be involved. The narration I wasn't a fan of and a major reason in my huge disliking of Love and Monsters. It sadly seemed like a life story, but there were some good aspects.
It began with the narration of an unknown voice, he was spilling out some fascinating facts about life and space, Bd he claimed his life flies by. Nor argument there from me. He revealed himself to be Eugene Jones, but he was in the middle of a deserted road on the floor. He awoke and seemed confused. Eugene entered a crime scene where Torchwood were present. But who was he? He named the members, he knew about Torchwood.
But amazingly, it seemed Eugene was dead. It was determined he'd been run over. The evidence was clear, but there Eugene was knowing of Torchwood and seemingly alive. He tried to touch Tosh to alert her of his presence, but he definitely was dead. His arm passed straight through Tosh- he was a ghost.
So he definitely was dead, but he had something important. The team also recognised him. He'd been trying to contact them, but what did he have? Eugene's mother called his mobile, but Gwen had to answer and meet with her. Although dead, Eugene seemed excited, he was invisible and was travelling with Torchwood in the SUV. He claimed how he always wanted to be a part of Torchwood.
On his phone were pictures of random shoes, which was the episode title, but what relevance would they play? We found out a lot about Eugene's past and that he loved maths. But when taking part in a maths quiz final, he had lost and was disappointed. His teacher though was forgiving and talked about his own collection. He described how when playing golf, in the bunker a small object fell from the sky, it was an eye. But not the eye of a human, it was an alien's eye. This was probably the most exciting part of the episode. For too long for my liking we were seeing flashbacks of Eugene's past, he was a child and his teacher gave him the eye. His teacher determined it was alien, and after finding this out Eugene was desperate for an encounter with its owner.
Eugene's maths quiz failure led to arguments between his parents and ultimately resulted in his Dad walking out on his Mother. Still seeing flashbacks, I have to say it was getting tiresome and woefully resembling my least favourite Doctor Who episode ever Love and Monsters, we were given how Eugene found Torchwood, and it was quite clear he took an immediate shine to Gwen. I couldn't blame him, she's beautiful. He always seemed to stutter on seeing the term who to his disadvantage were always busy and in a rush. He could never quite gain their attention.
The team went to Eugene's house to tell his Mother of the bad news. I didn't understand why Torchwood were dealing with a simple road accident, was it just because they vaguely knew him? The team searched his bedroom and he was known to have interest and a collection in alien artefacts.
Eugene, invisible, entered the hub with the team and he was greatly impressed. He thought he was dreaming. The hand of the Doctor's was seen still in its jar. While in the medical room some bickering between Gwen and Owen was seen. It was apparent any relationship the two shared was over. Gwen took control and was to conduct the autopsy of Eugene. It was discovered by Ianto who had killed Eugene, it was a drunk man who was now caught in Carmarthen and admitted to the knock down. It was interesting from Gwen that she felt as though something was odd. And of course she was right. She was searching for answers and went for lunch at Eugene's usual workplace. Eugene followed and when Gwen was searching through his phone Eugene somehow influenced Gwen into calling Gary, one of Eugene's best friends. Could she hear Eugene? She continued her investigating and went to a video store to return his videos, costing her a hefty £34. Eugene seemed to have forgotten some recent events. The cashier worker seemed a bit of a knob chatting up Gwen as if she were an object, and he also referred to Eugene as a failure. But Gwen carried on, now going to his workplace. To Eugene, the last few weeks of his life were a blur. I liked how Gwen was following her instinct that something wasn't right and took the case into her own initiative. She was also doing it secretly, as the Torchwood team didn't know where she was.
Gwen met Linda, and she revealed a lot of information. By now, some way into the episode, not much had actually happened. But Linda revealed Eugene's intentions- he was to sell his alien eye on eBay so he could give Linda some money to fly her to Australia. He was a great friend it seemed. The bids started low but as time went on the prices rose higher and higher by the day. In the end, somebody had bid a staggering £15,005.50. So who had he sold it to?
In the house of Eugene's, his Mother didn't like talking about his Father and covered up his walking with employment. But Eugene's younger brother knew the truth. He was close by and worked in a garage. Gwen planned on visiting him, but when she was about to depart to see him, Eugene called out not wanting anything to do with him. Gwen was again influenced and she retreated, but she did more. She replied. Could she see Eugene? It was all unclear.
Back in the hub and Gwen talked about the eye to Jack. He somehow knew about it and described it as some sort of sixth eye in the back of a head. It could make you see behind you. Gwen was given permission to continue her case, but she didn't have long. She headed up to Aberystwyth for a talk on black holes and anti matter, one that Eugene and Gary had planned on attending prior to his death. Arriving west and Gwen met Gary, and he immediately ran away. Gary revealed that he was a fake bidder of the eye, he was just trying to please his friend. But it was basically a stupid thing to do. He did reveal though that there was genuine interest and before the £5.50 was added, someone had in fact bid £15,000. Eugene thought he was going to meet his alien eBay user (something that seemed ridiculous) and exchange the eye. There was still the looming mystery of why he'd taken photos of random shoes. It was though revealed that he loved Gwen.
Gwen still was determined and continued her investigation. She went to The Happy Cook restaurant, the destination where Eugene was to meet his buyer, but flashbacks were continuing and it showed Eugene seeing his mates instead. He was annoyed that his mates were the buyers and had outbid the real interested user. But of course they didn't have the money. It was all a 'sodding joke.' In a struggle, Eugene took photos of the shoes so quickly and it wasn't clear why. Josh, the knob of a DVD shop worker, attempted to steal the eye and cash in on it. Some friend he was. Eugene though in order to protect it, swallowed the eye. Gary now admitted to Gwen and Josh, as they entered the restaurant trying to clear their name, that he missed Eugene.
Yet more flashbacks continued and the two 'friends' of his were chasing Eugene for the eye. How they would retrieve it I'm not sure. He had ran away successfully. Meanwhile, in the present time stream, Gwen now rang Eugene's Father. She told him of the tragic news. Back to the flashback and it was after running away, Eugene found himself on a quiet road, but this was where he was run over.
It was revealed that because Eugene swallowed the eye, that's why he was like a ghost and could see after death. He could see his life for what it was. The funeral of Eugene now took place, and his dad was there reunited with his family after fourteen years. He sang at the funeral and you could see his regrets. Gwen now had possession of the eye after it was taken from the body of Eugene seemingly at the church which was weird seeing as Gwen was to conduct the autopsy. But why was Eugene still present if the eye no longer inhabited his insides? Gwen again seemed to be thinking or knowing that Eugene was there. But she was distracted by the arrival of the SUV at Eugene's house. Eugene's dad came home, and met with his younger son.
Gwen seemed happy but she was standing in the middle of the road and a car was quickly approaching. Eugene, still a 'ghost' ran to her rescue. He somehow saved her despite being dead. It was a great act but it didn't make sense how it had occurred. He was dead. Gwen though was over the moon and kissed him in the moment. Eugene gave Gwen the eye to keep after it fell, but now Torchwood and even Eugene's family could see him. He was temporarily existing. He said goodbye and Gwen reluctantly said the same. The team were fascinated as Eugene ascended to the sky. His family now saw his death. Eugene died happily.
My analysis;
To conclude, it was sadly, by some considerable distance, the worst episode of Torchwood so far. It was an interesting story, too much resembling but thankfully a lot better than Love and Monsters. I didn't like the overuse of flashbacks and narration, it seemed more a detective story than sci-fi. I did though love the determination of Gwen, she was the shining light of this episode and saved it from disaster. I look forward to episode ten and just hope it returns to the phenomenal standard of the first eight episodes! I hope Torchwood actually have relevance to the plot!
Rating; 7/10- generous but it was partially intriguing and Gwen was the saviour from complete disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment