TORCHWOOD 2.2 – "Sleeper"

Writer: James Moran
Director: Colin Teague

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Beth), Tom Price (PC Andy Davidson), Paul Kasey (Janet), Dyfed Potter (Mike), Doug Rollins (David), Claire Cage (David's Wife), Sean Carlsen (Mr Grainger) & Victoria Pugh (Mrs Grainger)

After a burglary ends in unexplained deaths, the team believe a seemingly innocent survivor holds the answers...

"Let's all have sex."

-- Owen Harper (Burn Gorman)

Sleeper posits the idea of alien "sleeper cells" living amongst us; a notion with particular resonance in our post-9/11 world, but ultimately this episode is more concerned with the nature of identity, before culminating with miniature campaigns of terror...

Beth (Nikki Amuka-Bird) is the survivor of a botched burglary, where the two intruders were viciously slashed and hospitalized, and her husband likewise. The criminals both die from their injuries, but not before one implicates Beth as the mystery attacker.

Captain Jack (John Barrowman) suspects Beth is an alien, despite Gwen's (Eve Myles) protestations and Beth's convincing performance under interrogation. However, the fact her skin's impervious to needles and scalpels seems to proves Jack is right, and Beth agrees to a "mind-probe" into her subconscious to reveal the truth.

Of course, there's really been no mystery over Beth's extra-terrestrial identity since the episode began (not helped by some publicity stills of Beth in villainous mode), so the mind-probe can't come soon enough. In a nod to Marathon Man, Owen (Burn Gorman: "it's safe") uses a silver bicycle helmet (okay, "mind-probe") to detect Beth's buried memories, and her deadpan alter-ego reveals itself – most visibly when her forearm grows scales, elongates into a blade, and begins to glow.

It all confirms Jack's suspicion: Beth is a sleeper agent for "Cell 114", aliens that impersonate humans, gather information, before launching a coordinated attack. Her slaughter of the burglars was an act of self-preservation.

The meat of the story focuses on Beth's reaction to being told she's actually an alien terrorist, which throws up enjoyable thoughts about "nature vs. nurture". The script doesn't spend much time considering the human aspects of Beth's situation, but Nikki Amuka-Bird's fractured performance is very plausible and rather touching at times, while Gwen once again provides Torchwood's moral compass.

It's decided to cryogenically freeze Beth, thus nullifying her threat, but after she's placed into cold storage, she sends a signal that "activates" her fellow sleeper agents across Cardiff: David (Doug Rollins), who kills his wife; a paramedic who leaves the scene of an accident, and a young mother who abandons her child's pram.

Beth escapes, conveniently deciding to leave quietly instead of eliminate her captors, and Torchwood realize she had somehow managed to falsify her vital signs to trick them. A little bizarrely, Beth suddenly becomes more able to restrain her villainous nature, and goes to her injured husband's bedside – before her homicidal side takes over, killing him with her arm-blade.

Back with the other sleepers, a small campaign of terror is taking place; David murders a family in true T-1000 style, the paramedic attaches a shell-like bomb to a petrol tanker and blows himself up over a fuel pipe, and the young mum commits suicide by blowing up a building (in a magnificent explosion from the production team.)

With Torchwood by her side, Beth struggles with her inner demons to help Gwen stop the last remaining sleeper agent, David, before he can carry out his mission: to detonate nuclear warheads the MoD keep in an old mine shaft.

It all leads to an extended attack on MoD property, with David advancing Terminator-like on soldiers firing bullets that bounce off his body, whilst spearing anyone who crosses his path. Jack, Gwen and Beth race to the scene in the SUV, as Owen proposes group sex with Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) and Tosh (Naoko Mori) – but in a cheeky/humorous way, not the uncomfortable way Torchwood usually employs.

Jack arrives and drives over David, disabling him enough so Gwen can destroy his inbuilt force-field and transmitter (stopping him calling for alien backup), before David opts to kill himself with a "shell-bomb" – another fine bit of pyrotechnics for the crew.

In the denouement, Beth is still racked with guilt and fear about the evil lurking deep within her, so takes Gwen hostage inside Torchwood, giving everyone no option but to kill her when she threatens Gwen's life – as she intended them to. In a chilly end, Gwen and Jack share a moment as they ponder the undoubted return of the sleeper threat...

Overall, Sleeper was a well-paced allegorical threat (obviously finding inspiration in many films), with a few gruesome kills and a fantastic performance from Amuka-Bird as the anguished hero/villain. It was a shame it didn’t have more time to explore its compelling twist on the Manchurian Candidate idea, although it did enough to make you invest in Beth's character and care about her outcome.

The dialogue was more fluid than usual on Torchwood, with the team banter more plausible whilst still pushing the plot along. There was the customary saucy banter, but it was more subtle and genuinely funny at times, while Jack and Gwen shared a good rapport.

It was also strange to see Ianto suddenly develop a playful, comedic tone, which Gareth David-Lloyd seemed to enjoy performing. I suppose it made a welcome change from Ianto's usually stiff, mannered personality. I hope Ianto's new vibe continues into future episodes, and wasn't just writer James Moran's way to inject added fun into his story.

My only complaints stem from the typical Torchwood problem of suddenly lurching into a frantically-explained rush to a climax (particularly because the sleeper's masterplan was a bit daft), and Beth's on/off ability to keep her humanity was always in service of plot demands – which might have been necessary, but it should have been explained. And I'd have preferred Beth to become the emotionless killer for the finale, rather than the sudden threat of David.

But these are small complaints, as the overall energy of the story carried everything along, and the strong performances covered most cracks in the plot. It wasn't quite the emotional wringer it could have been, given the juicy "brainwashing" premise, but it was definitely a good example of the metaphorical science-fiction I wish Torchwood did more often.


23 January 2008
BBC2, 9.00 pm