Review: Torchwood 1.5: Small Worlds

Jasmine laughs as the Fairies frighten her bullies.

Torchwood Series One is, over all other things, inconsistant in quality. After the silliness of Day One came the serious sci-fi of Ghost Machine, and now to follow the farce that was Cyberwoman we're given Small Worlds, a chilling episode that focuses on a mix of ancient myth and real adult fears about the world. It also deepened Jack's character some more, which is always welcome, yet again leaving Tosh in the lurk. What strikes one most about Small Worlds is its relative maturity and quality in comparison to the rest of the series so far, with Peter J Hammond's (who also wrote one of the best stories of the following series) script on shining form.
     The episode follows Jack's investigation into the Fairies - a group of timeless, time-travelling creatures with almost omnipotent powers. They disguise themselves as the fairies of legend and choose little girls to "take" and turn into them. The sightings are first made by Jack's now-aged wartime-girlfriend Estelle Cole, which frightens Jack who has experience with the Fairies from an incedent in 1909. Meanwhile, a peadophile stalks a little girl, Jasmine Pearce, and finds himself being chased by the fairies until they kill him in his sleep by suffocating him with rose petals.
     As the Fairies are invisible to any trackers, the team has to rely upon strange weather patterns. They investigate the death of the peadophile and Jack surmises that the Fairies are back and protecting their chosen one. Jasmine returns home to her worrying mother and her evil stepdad Roy, who makes fun of her for having few friends and always wandering into the forests behind the house. Estelle meanwhile gets a little too close, and the Fairies come and drown her with an incredibly localised storm. Jack mourns her, but moves on when Gwen returns home to discover the place trashed by the Fairies.

Estelle photos Fairies.

     The next day Jasmine is bullied by two other girls and the Fairies intervene with a sudden storm. Torchwood arrive for the aftermath and find out about Jasmine, who's come home to her parents' five-year anniversary party. Roy, who's been a bit of a cock in boarding up the back fence and slapping Jasmine across the face, riles up the Fairies as the Torchwood team arrive. They kill him and open up a path back into the forest as Jasmine wanders off with Jack and Gwen following. Initially Jack is reluctant, but when the girl threatens to destroy the earth (as there are more Chosen Ones in the past) he is forced to let her become one of them.
    The episode's themes are particularly more adult than the previous episode as well as being perfectly executed. The theme of cherishing youth expanded not only over Jasmine's storyline but also in Estelle and Jack's relationship, with the episode eventually leaving the viewer to ask the question as to whether Jasmine, who is by this point a complete social outcast, is better for being with the Fairies, her only friends. Jack, in a way, must envy her new existence as his immortality leaves him alone for billions of years, destined to watch all of his friends (like Estelle) die around him.
     So steeped in mythology, metaphor and meaning this episode is that it's hard to view it when coming off the back of an episode like Cyberwoman. John Barrowman is certainly one of the key parts in this endeavour, his acting experience paying off as his silent gireving was much more poignant and meaningful than any of Ianto's sobbing. This episode's morose moments actually stemmed from real, "adult," fears - a double whammy of the fear of death and the fear of losing one's children - things much easier to empathise with than having one's girlfriend turn into a cybernetic killing machine. The only downpoint is the rather obvious CGI for the the Fairies, but that doesn't dampen their impact.   

The (obviously CGI) Fairies attack Roy.

    Really what Small Worlds does, in the wake of the previous episode, is give an example of how these things should be done. It's a shockwave of potent imagery and emotion, with excellent acting from the leads and a chilling portrayl of an outcast little girl. It's fundamentally well made, and that can't be said for a lot of episodes in this series. Small Worlds is simply a treat to behold, and stands as a key part of the series' development.

Thanks.

P.S. Ianto had three sentences in this one. And no sobbing whatsoever.