Torchwood: The Vigil

This story is set before the start of the TV series, and is built around the death of a previous member of the team. The main story concerns Tosh taking part in a vigil over his body conducted at his family home and alternates with flashbacks to the runup to his demise. The flashback scenes are unfortunately rather brief, lacking much of the context that might be necessary to work out what is going on or what exactly Torchwood are facing, something that might not matter so much if it didn't feed back into the main story.

The focus, however, isn't so much on the alien threat that killed the former agent, but on his personality and that of his mother, including how she copes with his death. Neither are at all sympathetic characters and the intent seems to be to place Tosh in contrast to them, doing her best as a new recruit to do all the things they keep accusing her of not doing. But the unremitting awfulness of the pair doesn't make for a good story. It's certainly plausible and well-written - there are plenty of people like that - but when you don't care what happens to them and the action elements of the story are largely in the background, you aren't left with much. It's all done well enough to work, and there are some nice atmospheric scenes, but the result is decidedly middling.