The Church of the Outsiders believe that mankind is about to evolve, to reach out into the stars. Owen Harper believes that Torchwood has to do whatever it takes to stop them.
The Church of the Outsiders believe that mankind is about to evolve, to reach out into the stars. Owen Harper believes that Torchwood has to do whatever it takes to stop them.
TORCHWOOD: BELIEVE
“Believe,” a three-episode Torchwood release from Guy Adams, is significant for a couple of reasons: first, it marks the first reunion on audio of the complete original Torchwood cast; second, it’s a surprisingly small-scale, character-oriented story that doesn’t seem like an ideal subject for a special box set release yet works exceptionally well. Add in some social commentary and some fine performances and you’ve got a very strong release.
The last “special release” like this, “Outbreak,” was a generic, apocalyptic tale about a deadly disease and an evil pharmaceutical company. “Believe” is clearly about the Church of Scientology, allegorically represented here as the Church of the Outsiders, but the story opts to examine the people within the Church rather than any supervillain’s plan to take over or destroy the Earth. Indeed, one of the overarching themes of the story is that not everything is a grand conspiracy and not everyone is as important as they think. The story kicks off with Owen arguing that the Church of the Outsiders and its interest in aliens poses a unique threat to Earth, one that must be investigated by Torchwood. Jack is reluctant, and carrying his own agenda as usual, but the team sides with Owen and the investigation begins. Perhaps the most disappointing part of the story is that the team splits up to investigate the Church and is not reunited until the very end, such that the story features the original regular cast but barely has them sharing any scenes.
Still, each individual story is quite compelling. Tosh’s experience is the most harrowing, as she and Owen investigate businessman Frank Layton, played by a creepy, almost unrecognizable Arthur Darvill. He’s a financial backer of the Church and Owen is convinced that damning evidence about the Church must be located somewhere in his personal files. Thus, Owen sends Tosh to meet undercover with Layton, intending to carry out a simple plan: convince Layton to take her home, drug his drink once there, and steal his secrets after he’s passed out. Unfortunately, one of the points of this story is that leadership is harder than it appears, and this simple plan rapidly spirals out of Owen’s control. She has to choose between sleeping with Layton or abandoning the mission, and Owen somehow convinces her, against her better judgment, to choose the former. What follows is easily the most uncomfortable part of the script, and indeed one of the most uncomfortable moments in any Torchwood story, and it’s somehow compounded at the end by the discovery that he didn’t actually have any worthwhile information. I’m in two minds about this sequence: there’s a long, sordid history in media of putting women through sexual abuse and framing it as character development, and on the surface, this seems to be heading down that same road. On the other hand, Adams takes particular care to ensure that Tosh has agency throughout: she makes the decision to go through with the sexual encounter, she engages with Layton on her own terms, and she addresses the fallout in her own way. I think it’s done appropriately, in the end, but I would not be surprised at all if this sequence caused offense to some listeners.
The other characters do not require nearly as much discussion. Ianto infiltrates the Church itself, pretending to be a new recruit and befriending Erin (Rhian Blundell), the member responsible for shepherding him into the fold. While he certainly discovers some illegal conduct – the Greys attempt to experiment on him in a particularly harrowing sequence – he never unearths any deeper conspiracies, and while he’s convinced by the end that the Church isn’t a force for good, he’s at a loss for words trying to explain that to Erin. After all, she’s a lost, lonely soul, who has found a welcoming group of people – and while they may believe misleading things, they’re not bringing her any harm. The Scientology parallel breaks down a bit here, because that church has faced repeated allegations of bringing actual harm to its members, but philosophically this is more interesting. Jack’s part of the story beats a very familiar drum: he doesn’t tell the others what he’s doing, it looks like he’s working for the enemy, and it turns out that he’s actually been working undercover all along. We don’t learn anything new from this element of the plot, unfortunately. Gwen gets the bulk of the violent action in the script, but she’s largely there as a storytelling device helping to move characters into position for the conclusion.
Speaking of the conclusion, it’s fantastic. Andromeda (Lois Meleri Jones), daughter of the Church’s founders, aspires to open the Rift and welcome everything on the other side to Earth. Everyone prepares for the worst, but Jack lets it happen, knowing that there aren’t any massed aliens on the other side. The Rift opens and nothing comes through: no extraterrestrial is listening to the Church and none ever have. It brings home the falsehoods of the Church with more impact than any argument ever could.
The production is excellent, both David Nagel’s sound design and Blair Mowat’s score. Scott Handcock directs to a high standard, capturing the feel of the original Torchwood cast. The performances are fantastic across the board. Really, only a few flaws keep this from achieving the highest score – this would have been among the best TV stories had it aired in that medium.
Highly recommended.
9/10