Torchwood Soho: Parasite

Norton needs it!

Torchwood Soho Parasite 

Norton getting his own spin-off always felt sort of inevitable, as although he was planned as a one episode character, Samuel Barnett and James Goss immediately made him into one of the most memorable characters this side of the Torchwood Universe. It’s not surprising to me that off the feet of Goodbye Piccadilly, we get a more extended romp in the 1950s. I’m quite glad we did - as a utilization of the serial format in Torchwood, Parasite shines. It’s probably not as strong in terms of plot as Before the Fall, as the main threat is slightly one-dimensional compared to the fleshed out Rachel Allen, but really, that doesn't mean anything. We have characters that are so strong, you can't help but want to spend time with them, the half hour format works REALLY well, and the building and pacing is rather improved from that set which often had trouble with act breaks leading from episode to the next. Tom Price as Andy is just in this one, and I found the explanation for why he was here to be quite excellent in it’s simplicity. Further allowing Andy to extend his double act with Norton is an obvious choice, and it’s one that quite frankly just works. While Andy is usually portrayed as the optimist in his adventures with Owen or The Doctor, Liv and Helen, I find his characterization as the smart but overwhelmed nervous voice of reason opposite Norton’s complete sociopathy all the more entertaining. Soho is sort of the thing that you’d question why it exists if you aren’t connected really to the Big Finish universe of Torchwood, but as soon as you get into it, it’s incredibly rewarding, and you very quickly forget any trepidation you had with the phenomenal music and sound design washing in your ear.

The Man from Room 13 by James Goss

The Man From Room 13 is very pilot episode. It’s entire purpose is only to introduce us to the status quo and the new world that we’re starting to establish here. As an extension of what worked very well in Goodbye Piccadilly, The Man From Room 13 is incredibly stylish. It’s quite obvious this series only truly exists based off of the triumph of that former story. Norton and Lizbeth make a stylish duo that’s more than capable of carrying a half-hour where very little happens. Dervla Kirwan is very quietly this series’ secret weapon, a strong new character that feels like she’s always been here. It’s a story of atmosphere, a story of tone, and it carries this seedy, jazzy take on Torchwood incredibly well. An hour of setup and a few Foreboding ideas would have been rather difficult, but Man From Room 13 compresses it into something very strong indeed. I’m more than happy to disappear into the smog of Torchwood Soho. 8/10

Meet Mr Lyme by James Goss

Meet Mr Lyme is odd, because while it’s quite short, being, you know, another serial story, it also does go off and do something really different halfway through. Half of Meet Mr Lyme is a considerate portrait of one of our new protagonists, a strong character who is very sympathetically portrayed. It’s a very deliberate and excellent choice to make the hyper sexual Norton’s love interest a romantic and deep person, an ordinary man next to Norton being essentially one of the boldest and to an extent, ridiculous protagonists in Torchwood’s arsenal. It’s doubly interesting to see how the period piece aspects of the story affect him. We see what he did before the first episode of the series, so half the episode is a flashback in a way. What’s odd is that halfway through it jumps right back to Norton and Lizbeth again, as if the story can’t really focus. But when the cliffhanger is so strong, it’s sort of a moot point. 8/10

The Mould by James Goss

The Mould is absolutely brilliant, a really good usage of both character and plot. It was around here where I realized how damn good this half-hour format was for the series, and how much they could get done in just half an hour. We’re very quickly introduced back into Norton and Andy’s dynamic and given a fun triple act between them and Lyme, given just an incredible continual building of the threads established so far, a good single episode location and corresponding threat, and at the SAME TIME, some utterly sick characterization of Norton and how everyone around him just sort of goes to shit and he really couldn’t care less. Oh my lord, that’s a lot. But it’s all well done, especially Norton. It’s one of those things about a character that you don’t notice until it’s pointed out, but it’s utterly and completely true and incisive. James Goss doesn’t even need to slow down to deliver some extraordinary characterization, he’s just that good. Oh geez, I’m in love. 9/10

The Spread by James Goss

This episode feels like more a segue than an episode. It’s quite short, even for this series, finishing out at Nineteen minutes. Only so much even happens in it. The concept of an immortal gang of people who pretend to be simply retro is rather cutesie, but the Stagnant Pond isn’t really explained well, especially how some people can exit it, but others can’t, even if playing by the same rules. In the meantime, we get some sort of characterization for Lyme, further setting him up as the closest thing this series has to a protagonist, as Norton goes rogue and tries to limit the spread of the infection. It’s all quite slight, but it’s an episode that needs to exist, even if it gets the characters just from a to b. I’m not really disappointed by it, it’s probably difficult to keep up the immense quality The Mould had. 7/10

The Dead Hand by James Goss

The Dead Hand is just such a left turn and in a lesser series I would be proclaiming that as a odd thing, but no, this is utterly majestic. Soho has already established it does weird things with chronology, and as such we can just have a really grueling and depressing agonizer before the finale, just because, you know? The Dead Hand is just dark. Rather brutal. Legitimately, actually had me in tears. Lizbeth is a remarkably strong lead for the whole thing, and even if Lyme is arguably the main new character of the set, and even if Lizbeth has way less to do, she just proves to genuinely be more memorable, a remarkably strong character. The genuine character development from both Lizbeth and Norton at the end makes this a literal perfect half hour. 10/10

The Liberty of Norton Folgate by James Goss

Quite impossibly, this story manages to tie it all up in a very satisfactory bow, even if a lot of it is the dreaded audio action scene. Luckily, there’s enough explanation and enough character stuff that made me go “wow” to get over ten or so minutes of the gang running away from Mushroom Creatures. In truth, the whole thing really is saved by the last ten minutes, which tie everything up so well that I was actually surprised at how neat it was. Little too neat, really. It’s strange that the only contribution from the Stagnant Pond is sort of holding Andy and Lyme captive before all dying, and so I think they’re by and large the weakest element of the set, as glossing over a race of immortal beings that have been manipulating London since the Great Fire is rather disastrous. But the actual solution was excellent, as it’s one of those things that was right in your face the whole time and you didn’t notice it. Utterly immaculate character work from Goss and the continual great performance from Samuel Barnett carry this half-hour, which under the hands of a lesser writer, could have been a lot more messy. I’m unsure how to rate it because outside of the final twist it’s sort of a bit messier than the other episodes, but ultimately yeah. That final bit is just too good: 8/10

Overall, Parasite is, hot take, very good, and I’m excited for more of it. While it’s certainly flawed, it demonstrates a format that can be improved upon to almost no limit. The Mould and The Dead Hand are such incredible highlights, that they manage to negate larger problems with the plot. It does feel like the stories individually build on each other to do better things, but they also do get a little lost sometimes. As a whole, Parasite does come out lesser in it’s entirety than it is in individual pieces, and it’s plot is much weaker than it’s character work every single time. This isn’t to say it’s bad in any way though, then individual pieces combined help to create something that while lesser is still bloody incredible. I’m excited for the continuation of Norton’s new tyrannical regime in Ashenden and further releases to come.