Like, it's fine, I guess, but really Random Shoes is a nothing of an episode. I get the point made but I truly didn't give one about the character making the point

I don't get why the RTD Whoniverse stuff thought Love & Monsters was such a great idea. Because that's essentially what this episode is. Torchwood's version. It just doesn't work when a personification of fandom becomes the lead character. It becomes too much like a parody.

This episode also suffers from a lack of peril. There's no real stakes. It's just Gwen investigating the death of someone who is a fan of Torchwood's operations, and happened to get his hands on an alien eye.

The ending isn't quite as bad as Love & Monsters, but doesn't make much sense. So now as soon as Gwen nearly dies, they can all see Eugene? Why? And now he's seemingly back to life, why does he decide to somehow send himself back to his state of death? Why does Gwen kiss someone she barely knows? Eh?

Random Shoes is hardly terrible. I had a fun enough time and think the comparisons to Love and Monsters is a little unfair. This episode works a lot better on the whole, and while not overly substantial, it is quite sentimental and I think our actors really carry what could have been a much more mediocre affair on the whole. I think the investigation nicely pairs itself with the outsiders perspective Eugene provides. There's some value in looking at how entities like Torchwood or the Doctor are viewed by the outside world, and this story does a pretty adequate job of exploring that.

I am in love with the magnificent and unfairly underrated Random Shoes, which is Love & Monsters but with a more satisfying narrative and conclusion, written by the actor / writer Jacquetta May who (presumably due to her splitting her time between two professions) has surprisingly few writing credits to her name. There was so much pathos and love in this story of a dead boy.