Fragments is another strong story from Chibnall. Unsurprisingly whenever Doctor Who spin offs dabble with time travel things start to sparkle a little bit more. Captain Jack’s backstory is a yawning chasm of potential, so it’s a relief to be able to fill in some gaps between Parting of the Ways and the start of Torchwood Series One. Big Finish have made good use of Victorian Torchwood, I wish more of this had made it to screen. Again, the inherent sadness of a being who can’t die and watches the world pass around them is not unique to Torchwood, but it makes for good drama.

This is a really interesting episode, where we get to find out how each Torchwood agent was recruited. It shows the dark side of the agency quite well, with Jack basically blackmailed into working for them in the Victorian times, and Owen made to think gone mad with grief upon losing his girlfriend to an alien parasite. And then there's Tosh's origin, her Mum kidnapped by a criminal gang no less and Tosh held prisoner by UNIT in a sort of prison camp facility, being told that she's not allowed to contact her to make sure she's okay. UNIT were really cruel there!

It's no surprise who it turns out planted the bombs, but then I don't think its meant to be, and the confirmation just makes for an exciting cliffhanger into the final episode.

Well, here it is.  My very last review of Torchwood TV.  It's been both fun and a bit of a nightmare revisiting this series, so I'm glad I'm able to close out on one of the best (if not the best) standalone episodes.  Fragments is really cool, featuring a number of flashbacks of each of the Torchwood team joining up with Jack's crew.  It's a particularly devastating thing to do in the midst of what feels like they are killing off the entire main cast and essentially ending the series as we know it.  This episode would be an easy 10/10 and a haunting memory - and in many ways it still is - but I do hit the same problem I always struggle with regarding Torchwood.  These characters have been presented as liars, cheaters, and date rapists.  It is really hard to fully sympathize with someone like Owen (or really anyone on the team) when they have been so thoroughly depicted as despicable people all in the name of having a show seem adult and mature.  Still, most of that can't be blamed on Fragments, which is solid TV and a great chapter in Torchwood history.  In a better show, this would be an episode of legends on the level of something like the Red Wedding.  As it stands, it is an interesting bit of trivia for the slightly more hardcore Doctor Who fans out there.

I've been waiting for what I've lovingly referred to as "the backstory episode" for a while now, and Fragments did not disappoint. I think Chibnall did brilliantly with this one: the explosion was a brilliant way to introduce the backstories.  I loved seeing how everyone got recruited to Torchwood 3, and Owen's story especially made me cry. I feel so bad that he had to go through that, and it really explains a lot about his character. Also, I'm glad John is back even though I hate him. So yeah, this one was a 5/5 for me.

Torchwood finally remembers it's got an ensemble cast!

No but seriously, this was a good episode. We got to spend a good amount of time with everyone, and the backstories were fascinating and worked really well with the established characters