My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Deep"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Salt (to Barclay): "We could make a difference, you and I. End the conflict for our species before it's too late."

Now here was an episode where the meaning "treading water" would be totally appropriate to say. Until the last five minutes that's exactly what this episode was doing. There's almost a tonal whiplash.

Let's cut to the biggest shocker of the episode - the death of Colonel Ibrahim. This episode so wanted to land a death as gutting as Ianto Jones from Torchwood: Children Of Earth episode Day Four. Sadly, it just didn't land for me.

I will give both Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient their dues. They both tried their hardest to sell the moment and it was certainly a way to end this episode. However, it's just a painful reminder of how barely development both Kate and Ibrahim have been as characters. This should've felt devastating but it didn't and I felt for Kate. 

Ibrahim could've been a great character and he certainly had a likeable quality about him but we barely knew the guy. We were barely given a reason to invest in him and Kate as a couple. Watching the episode a second time and it still just didn't hit me like it should've. I hate that for me.

As for the rest of the episode, it felt an eternity for Barclay, General Pierce and other ambassadors to actually plummet the depths of the ocean for the next meeting with Homo Aqua. In fact it took up way too much time though it did build up Ted Campbell (William Gaminara) as a character.

Barclay and Salt's continued to build on their connection during the aquatic meeting with the latter's people. Just when things looked like they were going well, Ted revealed himself to be a traitor and people died underwater. Except for Barclay, who Salt decided to rescue at the expense of her own species. More on that in the review for the next episode.

- Barclay talked about nursing his mother through cancer. People online think he's a traitor and a bootlicker.

- The cabinet meeting scenes with Kate, Sir Keith Spears and the Prime Minister really lag. Those type of scenes were better handled sixteen years ago on another spin-off I mentioned.

- I think we actually saw a glimpse of the original Sea Devils during that meeting but they were badly lit.

- Chronology: A few days seem to have passed since the events of the previous episode.

I really wanted to like this episode but I have to admit that The Deep was by far the weakest one so far. It just lagged too much, the Severance strand could've been handled and that big death just didn't have the impact it should've. 

Rating: 6 out of 10