Torchwood: Expectant

WORSHIP YOUR ONE TRUE GOD

Expectant by Xanna Eve Chown

“For a hero, you’re the most selfish person I know!”

“I know and I’m sorry”

“Good!”

Expectant is a delightfully simple story that actually goes somewhat crazy with its concept, and well, it’s very Torchwoodian. Throughout Torchwood, we often get unsympathetic portrayals of Jack. End of Days, Adrift, definitely Children of Earth and even in the audios with Poker Face, we usually see the side of Jack that doesn’t deal with the consequences of what he does, or really emotes much more than an eyebrow raise and a double entendre. Luckily, Expectant, while not being the best Jack story, still wonderfully understands how to deal with this and make Jack a sympathetic protagonist. Much of the story is Jack and his midwife Jonty running away from random threats (with the occasional Ianto cameo) but it goes surprisingly hard not only with the emotional ramifications of Jack losing Owen and Tosh and as such doing something incredibly impulsive, but also with strangely, body horror. No, the cover aside, the concept of the story is literally that Jack has a child inside his abdomen that will burst out and kill him and the child if he’s not taken to surgery at the right time. Yeah. The uncanny baby on the cover makes sense as it is an alien baby that cracks open Jack’s pelvis. I was very surprised by the lengths that this story went to, but it has a actually heartwarming conclusion and actually has Jack under emotional duress admit his faults which is leaps and bounds above his “YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME” characterization in many other end of the world scenarios. John Barrowman is clearly having a barrel of fun too, with Jack suffering mood swings throughout. Jonty is also a wonderful side character, who made me laugh frequently. So yeah. Don’t judge it on the cover (or do, if we’re speaking ironically, that cover is top tier) and look into Expectant, because if you sometimes have a problem with Jack’s characterization, it’s probably worth your time. 8/10

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