Written by Pete McTighe
Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
Barclay (to Salt): "You'll never swim alone again."
After that rather lagging middle episode, this was something of an improvement. The deaths from before held some proper weight, baddies felt consequences and war was about to break. Oh and two characters got a lot closer.
The two characters of course being Barclay and Salt. Yes, third romance was telegraphed months ago and while Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw give it their best, something felt a bit off here. Mostly with Salt.
I feel like the character's personality almost shifted a bit too quality and her wonders at the surface world felt almost too childlike at times. Then there's the off screen sex between her and Barclay and some attempts of flirty wordplay. It kind of works but kind of doesn't either.
I also felt that Barclay and Salt who spent most of the episode off grid after both of them "betrayed" their parties were a bit too easily caught. Of course enlisting Barbara and Kirby would have the British army siding with them. On the other hand, Barclay got captured, Salt went back into the water and Kate showed a darker side.
Jemma Redgrave definitely gave the best performance of the episode. Kate's grief for Ibrahim was actually affecting and she had some rather nice scenes with Shirley. She also had some tense moments with Homo Aqua's second ambassador, Tide (Samuel Oatley) and he was more keen on war than Salt happened to be.
With one episode left to go, I'm not sure how they're going to properly resolve all of this. Homo Aqua absolutely want a war and humanity certainly want one too. I feel like Barclay and Salt's love story will not have a happy ending either as there's likely going to be something that will sever them for good.
- Salt admitted that her kind's punishment for betrayal to swim alone forever. She alluded to Barclay's ears as fins and him tasting like her namesake.
- Tide mentioned that Homo Aqua can use dust and water in the air to mess with humanity if they don't follow the five year demand. Samuel Oatley previously played Tzim Sha in the eleventh series of Doctor Who.
- Ibrahim's killer was dealt with off screen, Kirby had a secret phone, Morris Gibbons was mentioned and Kate has a daughter living in Dubai.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.
The Witch Of The Waterfall wasn't without it's problems but I liked it more than the previous episode. The aftermath of that death worked and there's something chaotic and messy about that Barclay/Salt hook up, though if this show was Torchwood, more potential would've been explored.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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