"And I heard but did not understand and I said, 'Master, what is the end of all things?' And he said, 'Go, Daniel, for the things are closed up and sealed until the end of time.'" Daniel 12, verse 10.
Episode 13: End of Days.
Companions: Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Ianto Jones.
Air Date: 1st January 2007.
The Rift is open and beings from all the periods of time are seeping through. What exactly does Bilis Manger know and what lurks in the rift? Can Jack save the world?
Season one of Torchwood comes to a mighty climax with an excellent ending. Bilis Manger has manipulated the team and following the events of the previous episode manages to use the Cardiff rift to orchestrate the return of Abaddon, the son of the Great Beast (see The Satan Pit) who appears to have been sealed away somewhere. Freed the monster strides across Cardiff and wherever his shadow falls people die.
First off I am going to point out something that does grate on my nerves with the current Whoniverse. In recent years there have been too many major events where there is no chance for anyone (other than Donna Noble it seems) to have missed it. Classic Who never did this. Lots of little things and events that could be covered up. The 21st century may be when everything changes but personally I find it a bit much. Especially as these events rarely get mentioned again despite being huge occurrences for the world.
Despite that we have here a really good episode and some excellent closure for events that have taken place this season. Jack's immortality is revealed to the rest of the team, the team themselves seem to have a moment where their past transgressions are forgiven and you get a sense that maybe, just maybe everything will be ok now even though we know it won't be.
Using Abaddon is a nice tie in to Doctor Who and we have had such few connections really considering this is a spin off set in the same universe. I just wish he had received more and useful screen time.
At the end of the episode we hear a familiar whirring groaning noise and Jack takes off in a rush before anyone realizes where he has gone. It ties in to the end of the next Doctor Who series but with a small and probably forgotten at the time continuity issue.
Sadly the following seasons of Torchwood never live up this first season which I think is a real shame as it had potential to be a good adult version of Doctor Who.
