WRITER: Jacquetta May DIRECTOR: James Eskrine
CAST: John Barrowman (Capt Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Naoka Mori (Toshiko Sato), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Paul Chequer (Eugene), Luke Bromley (Young Eugene), Nicola Duffett (Bronwen Jones), Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Mr Garret), Steve Meo (Josh), Celyn Jones (Gary), Robyn Isaac (Linda), Gareth Potter (Shaun Jones), Joshua Hughes (Terry Jones), Amy Starling (Waitress), Leroy Liburd (Cafe Owner) & Ryan Chappell (Pete)
Eugene, a young man obsessed with aliens, is killed in a road accident, but returns as a ghost to help Gwen piece together the circumstances surrounding his demise...Random Shoes is one of those amenable episodes that washes over you. It occassionally pricks your interest, but ultimately it's perfectly happy to go through the motions, becoming gradually more disappointing as it unfolds.
The premise is nothing original, with the idea of a ghost investigating its own death famously utilized in Ghost and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), but the idea is always worth revisiting if it's given a new spin. Sadly, only Eugene's general inability to interact with Gwen offers anything different. If Eugene could interact the episode would be 30 minutes shorter and if his situation didn't mysteriously prompt amnesia -- heck, this episode would be 10 minutes long!
There are similarities in Jacquetta May's script to the Doctor Who episode Love & Monsters (a loner obsessed with aliens who knows about the series' protagonists), but while it's undoubtedly superior to that ghastly Doctor Who effort, it's still slapdash. The potential is there, but the execution is uninspired.
As with many Torchwood episodes, the opening 10 minutes is promising and the plot generally moves along nicely for 20 minutes, but then the mystery surrounding Eugene's death becomes plodding and limps to its conclusion.
The macguffin of the story is an "alien eye" Eugene acquired from a teacher in 1992 that "fell from the sky". 14 years later, Eurgene puts the eye on Ebay and is surprised to find the bidding reach £15,000. This aspect of the episode is intriguing when it arises, but doesn't combine with the overall mystery very well. The titular "clue" (photos of shoes on a mobile phone) is explained away as just an unimportant accident, while the reason for Eugene's spiritual return is just silly (swallowing an alien eye?)
May's script creaks and groans in its third act, unable to competently pull the story together without reverting to silly measures (best way to hide a prized alien eye -- swallow it with banana milkshake!) It's a shame, because some elements of the story work well...
Paul Chequer is excellent as Eugene, bringing a quiet humanity and pathos to the role, while Gwen (Eve Myles) finally gets to investigate something properly for once! Myles has been disappointing throughout this series -- underused, ineffective, often a liability and two-timing her boyfriend within weeks of joining the team!
As a character, Gwen Cooper is treated better here, but she's still gormless and boring, wandering through the story with very little passion or emotion. A romantic undercurrent between Gwen and Eugene is forced and too one-sided, which is a shame because Paul Chequer's performance is a cut above the script.
Overall, Random Shoes (original title, Invisible Eugene, was sillier but more relevant) is an odd episode. The intention to create a whimsical investigative ghost story is there, but the strength of writing isn't. By the time the finale arrives, complete with an embarassing rendition of Danny Boy from Eugene's estranged father, the story has been exposed for what it is -- a good idea lacking a decent plot. It's one saving grace is that the message behind the episode (to make the most of your life because it's fleeting) actually remains untarnished, thanks to Chequer's performance and an ending that stays true to itself.
The lesson to be learned is clear: if you're going to write a supernatural mystery, don't throw stuff into the mix and expect it to stick. Random Shoes proves that approach will never work; you just get a convoluted third act that fails to provide a satisfying resolution and puts the entire episode in a bad light.
