Two worlds collide as Gwen is forced to investigate Rhys’ involvement in alien meat smuggling. But neither of them can prepare for what they discover about the meat… and each other…
Length 50’11”
First Transmitted
9:00pm,6th February 2008 (and in edited form at 7pm the day after), BBC Two.
Guest Cast
Kai Owen (Rhys Williams); Colin Baxter (Policeman); Patti Clarke (Ruth); Garry Lake (Vic); Gerard Carey (Greg); Matt Ryan (Dale)
Writer Catherine Tregenna
Director Colin Teague
Setting
One day in and around a 15-mile radius of Cardiff, around a year after Everything Changes (at least according to Rhys, although he may be exaggerating in the heat of the argument).
Did You Spot?
Owen says “I’m so sorry” much in the manner of David Tennant.
Twisted Reality
The meat was being delivered to the nonexistent A417 . Gwen accuses Rhys of confusing Torchwood with Scooby Doo – we’ve made the same mistake ourselves occasionally. Ianto references classic song Do They Know It’s Christmas Time and the book Moby Dick. Harwood’s Haulage has a phone number using the Cardiff prefix (02920) but a fake locale (18).
Love is in the Air
Jack once ate alien meat – “he seemed to enjoy it”. The look in his eyes as he pins Gwen to the wall at the pickup point also speaks volumes, as does the look he gives her when she kisses Rhys in the Hub. Owen claims to enjoy being single but Tosh makes two advances at him. Jack flirts with Rhys’ receptionist.
If it’s Alien, it’s Ours
Retcon gets used again. And, of course, the big meat creature.
Captain Jack’s Large Weapon
Owen has a gun with a silencer and Ianto has a taser of some sort.
Cymru am Byth
One of the rescue vehicles at the start is branded Dragon Rescue, and the Welsh words Heddlu and Brigad Dan can also be seen during this sequence. We see bilingual road signs at the site of the car crash. Rhys’ lorry has a Welsh flag hanging in the back of the cab.
To Live and Die in Cardiff
The 24 year old driver at the beginning, Leyton, meets a sticky end. The meat alien is euthanised by Owen.
Sounds Brilliant
The Harwood’s Lorry jingle definitely doesn’t sound brilliant, but Rhys seems happy enough with it.
Quotables
Ianto: Pizza’s arrived – thought it would be another late night.
Owen: What did you get?
Ianto: The usual. Meat feast.
Owen: (looking disdainfully at newly discovered alien meat) Lovely.
Rhys: What do I exactly need protecting FROM?
Gwen: I…catch ALIENS!
Tosh: Maybe the answer is to go out with someone who knows what you do?
Owen: Look around you Tosh…only we know what we do.
Rhys: Well if you stopped and ASKED me exactly what I saw in there instead of showin’ off…
Jack: Do I show off?
Ianto: Just a bit.
Rhys: …you’d know that I got out by telling them I wanted a job as a delivery boy, so rather than cock things up, I found you a way to get in. But if you can’t handle that, big boy, you can stuff it!
Jack: This is quite homoerotic.
Rhys: You lot can hide in the back of the van.
Gwen: What is this, Scooby Doo? …
Rhys (to Jack): You’re not gay, by any chance are you?
Ianto: Pray they survive.
Jack: Do you really think you could go back to your life before Torchwood?
Gwen: I wouldn’t know any different.
Jack: I would.
Weren’t You In?
Gerard Carey played Darris Carin in PreyAlone (2005). He also appeared in Screwback (2004) as Dave.
Unanswered Questions
Rhys can see Jack appear as he leaves the perception filter area – was this only because he was looking right at Gwen? How many others may have idly followed one of the team with their eyes and seen them appear/disappear? Since when do Torchwood use stun guns? Are they alien weapons? What is an alarm deactivator? Is that alien as well? How big was the alien when it was found? Jack says that pterodactyls are extinct “in your timeline”. So far we’d assumed it had travelled through time, or been extremely old, but this implies that it’s from an alternate timeline altogether. Why are the plant workers armed? How many people could really attempt to break in to their operation? Could the gunshots really have been accurate enough to break the alien’s restraints? How did the scientist know that sedatives would no longer be enough? Did the alien nearly break free once before? What happened in the past that Torchwood had to make everyone forget that they existed, even the closest of friends/family? They certainly do not keep themselves secret in the city – everyone seems to know who they are! More importantly, why does Jack allow this exception? Does he care enough about Gwen to allow her to have this? The team seem to be unsure of this decision – or jealous?
Fuck Ups
Gwen, a trained policewoman, doesn’t recognize Rhys’ car when it’s right in front of her. Owen is back to being his usual cantankerous self, brusquely rejecting Tosh as per normal. In the first three weeks of the series, he was notably more gentle, as well as displaying some sort of affection towards Tosh. Was this the writers not coordinating their efforts? What will Owen be like next week?
Torchwood: Declassified Episode 2.04 (9’27”)
Broadcast BBC Two, Thursday 7th February, 7:50pm, immediately after the edited version of the main episode.
Catherine Tregenna and Russell T Davies explain the genesis of the plot.
Richard Stokes, Davies and Tregenna talk about the meat design.
Colin Teague discusses why they returned to the same warehouse they had often used before.
Eve Myles and Kai Owen revel in getting to play with the meat prop while Barney Curnow explains a little further how the beast was created.
Davies, Myles, Owen and Teague talk about Rhys and his journey this week. Davies admits the character really was almost written out in End of Days.
Owen and Teague show us behind the scenes of the final moments of the episode.
Site Review by Arthur Penn
Fancy a bacon sandwich?
No, thought not.
High hopes for this episode, after Catherine wrote both my favourite episodes of last year, and I wasn’t disappointed. Any show that can turn a meat-eater like me (yes, yes, pigs cute, slaughtering bad, blah blah – but bacon sandwiches are irresistible!) to weep for an animal and have to turn to veggies for a few days has to be a powerful thing indeed.
Surprisingly, though, this wasn’t the big vegan-agenda story everyone expected (just from the title, Meat – ah, we fans can read so much into a word sometimes) although the writer (and more importantly, the sound effects crew) did elicit much sympathy for the meat in question. This was a real character piece. In much the way that Out of Time wasn’t about time travel, it was about guest characters revealing unseen traits in our heroes, here Rhys forces Gwen to show a side we hadn’t seen before. The side she’d never planned on revealing – the side she was forced to use when both her worlds collided.
Yes, this is truly an episode of growth for Rhys (it seems unfair to class him as a guest star any more) and Gwen (the ever reliable Myles – at least this answers what she’s been doing for the last three weeks – rehearsing for this no doubt!). In the hands of lesser actors, this would have been a good story. With Miles and Owen… well, last year I was claiming Myles was the most underrated actress in Wales – with her star now rising considerably, the torch of undiscovered genius must pass to Kai Owen, who gave Myles so much to work with this week.
While Gorman still struggles with inconsistent characterisation this year, Mori and David-Lloyd both continue benefit from the writers understanding their abilities far more (Ianto once again getting some comedy gold moments) and Barrowman again rises to the challenge of… whatever journey he’s taking this year (we’re still not certain, but he’s doing it well).
Watch it. Enjoy it. Eat some sprouts. That’s my advice.
