Torchwood: Broken

Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones walk into a bar...

Broken is one of the best examples of much needed character development that was put in later as an afterthought after a traumatic event. Like, Donna Kidnapped did much the same thing, after Silence in the Library, but Broken takes a slate that had absolutely nothing on it (because, RTD, bless him, had no clue of the importance of what he did with Jack and Ianto, and thus, Season 1’s romantic side plot is underplayed as hell and nothing happens for crap) and paints a frankly gorgeous canvas. 

Broken is bleak, it is dark, it is so very important, but it never crosses the line of NO THIS IS TOO DARK GO AWAY which is something that many audios of its type (Read: Five Twenty Nine) do. 

First off, the ideas are stellar. It jumps over a long period of time in season one, sprinkling important bits that we needed to know, leading up to the official start of the relationship we never got.

(I listened to it in a group call on Discord, and let me tell you, half the audience was screaming for them to fuck already, I mean crap) 

But my enjoyment of it (although sometimes shallow) was more an appreciation of the bold yet soft and quiet moves in its character development, allowing Ianto to really show himself to the audience in a way that we have never gotten before. Just look at Gareth David Lloyd’s performance, his tones are clipped and military in the hub and definitively welsh in the pub, which is very apparent as the start of the story switches between them. 

Broken is slow and serves as a confessional between Ianto and the audience (although it’s actually Mandy,) and it knows exactly what it’s doing.

Not the expert concepts of We Always Get Out Alive, but it’s a brilliant piece in different ways, delving into character like never before. Oh, I should shut my trap, Broken is just frankly exquisite. 10/10