Again, another episode in the second season seems to have been patterned out according to a parallel episode in the first season. This episode looks familiarly the same with the episode “The Unquiet Dead” with remarkable uniqueness as well. Both episodes looked were patterned out such that both storylines were about superstitions, folklore and fantasy and sought to tell history in a different light. “Tooth and Claw” had a storyline that revolved around the folklore of the werewolf, whereas just like the parallel episode, rubbish science was used in order to justify their existence.

I found it rather peculiar the monks that came from a monastery were portrayed as the villains in this episode. It was weird how monks were used as the villains since it was kind of a far fetch idea to associate the british empire with kung-fu capable monks. Moreover, the idea of violent kung-fu fighting monks maybe considered to be a rather common misconception, as the lifestyle that monks are supposed to follow is that of non-violence.

It was funny how mistletoe was the simple solution to keeping the werewolf beast / alien from harming the person. And how convenient it seemed that they were trapped in a relatively large library and were able to find the correct book just in time to find out how to defeat the beast / alien. It seemed that the villains were the ones mistaken, as they have thought that they have trapped the queen in the manor, while all along the manor was built as a trap for the werewolf just as the queen holds the key to defeating the werewolf.

It was quite odd though how the alien had to shift from one human body to another in order to survive, as if it were a menacing parasite rather than a chaotic beast. I also wonder though how the moon affected the way the beast transforms into its true form from its human formation. Does this happen in all kinds of moon or does this just specifically happen to earth’s moon?

An important thing to note about this episode was the level of dehumanization that the series keeps in its episodes, such as this one. It seemed that for the past few episodes, inhumanity seemed to be a common theme that keeps getting tackled, and how it affects the human psyche as well as society. Just as this one, the inhumanity manifested in the form of the werewolf shows how instinct becomes the prime ruler for the human decision rather than rational.

Though inhumanity was presented in this episode, it may seem that compassion and humanness was balanced out through the Doctor, whereas the Doctor (even though he is alien in nature) turns out to be the one more human the humans themselves. It was through his decision to purge the lycan-infected human of his curse even though it entailed killing him, as for the Doctor, his philosophy may seem that “life in imprisonment is not a life worth living at all.”

An interesting input in this episode is the establishment of the Torchwood Institute, as it seemed that this theme may come important in succeeding episodes as it was the second time in the season that the name was mentioned.