TWBTLATS (3): The Deep

Before we move on to the third episode of the new spin-off, a couple more things to mention about the opening instalments, now that I've had a chance to think about them.

First of all there's that character from the Albion Party - Doctor Who's version of Reform UK, first introduced in Series 14's 73 Yards. He's just too much of a caricature - a ranting racist. I suspect that this is what the producers intend, rather than just cliched writing - or so I hope.

Then there's UNIT, and this series has very much been spun as a UNIT spin-off. But they've mostly been simply watching events from the background so far. Barclay works for them, granted, and Kate is in overall charge of the conference, but for the most part we see her, Shirley and Colonel Ibrahim simply watching and commenting on what is going on in the hall from a back room somewhere.

Thoughts have also turned to just who or what Salt is. In Plastic Apocalypse we saw her lose her temper briefly and change to masculine appearance. Would this be explained?

Not yet, though The Deep does let us see a lot more of UNIT. For the most part, however, the episode is simply set up for the dramatic closing moments. In some ways you could simply start watching the last five minutes and you wouldn't have missed a lot. It's mainly Barclay and his team preparing for their descent in a bathysphere to a mid Atlantic trench to begin round two of the talks - and the long journey they then undertake. There is a scene set in a COBRA meeting, in which Kate suspects that UNIT are being side-lined, and we have the unholy trio of conspirators bending the will of the weak British PM.

One of Barclay's party is carrying a gift which conceals a bomb, and just as he produces it we see Colonel Ibrahim, back in London at Kate's flat, get shot by a sniper - taking a bullet meant for her. As he lies dying on the floor, the sniper sets their laser sight on Kate.

We naturally assume this is all part of Sir Keith's conspiracy...

I must confess I was more upset at the loss of General Pearce than I was at that of Ibrahim, as he had come across as a much more sympathetic character after his initial appearance on Torchwood.

We got a couple of scenes between Kate and Ibrahim earlier in the episode, but frankly their relationship has never been set up well. It was hinted at only in Doctor Who, but he just hasn't been around long enough to establish himself - and I'm not at all convinced by them entering into a romantic relationship in the first place. She certainly comes across as far too professional and committed to her father's legacy to endanger it with a workplace romance.

They are obviously trying to replicate the structure of TW: Children of Earth, with a shock death in the middle episode - but Ibrahim is no Ianto Jones.

The descent in the bathysphere reminds us of the Third Doctor's descent in a diving bell to establish contact with the Sea Devils - and we do finally get to see some of the classic design in the scene where Barclay and his group emerge into a vast chamber in which thousands of Homo Aqua are gathered for the talks.