Jack Harkness and Jo Grant team up to investigate a mysterious death in Llanfairfach, Wales.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: BOSS is trying to be polite towards Jo, but she ain't having none of it.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Sort of. BOSS's superiors get to keep on going with what they're doing, because it keeps Llanfairfach economically alive, and Jack doesn't think that's worth stopping them, even if Jo thinks it's cost the town its soul. However, part of the agreement with BOSS is that if anyone finds out about it, BOSS will not take any steps to prevent the conspiracy being blown wide open.
- Big Damn Kiss: Jack's just giving Jo immunity to the maggots. Honest.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Jo tries imitating Jack's accent.
- Call-Back:
- The whole thing is a sequel to The Green Death.
- Jack asks Jo if the Doctor dumped her the way he did Sarah Jane, or lost her like he did Rose.
- Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: What initially seems to be going on in the factory. Then the voice starts talking to "Ms. Grant".
- Credits Gag: The acknowledgements at the end note that "no maggots were harmed" in the making of the story.
- Computer Equals Monitor: Averted. Jo tries smashing up BOSS's terminals, even as he calmly points out that, what with this being the 21st century, he exists in the Wi-Fi, so smashing isn't going to do anything.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Mixed with Plot-Triggering Death, Nancy (one of the hippies from The Green Death) dies before the story begins, which is what gets Jo on the case.
- Everybody Lives: No named humans are killed during the story.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: BOSS survived his meeting with the Doctor, and started again with the maggots. Only his breeding program went way too well, and the new ones became intelligent. So intelligent, in fact, they overthrew him and reduced him to their servant.
- Happy Ending Override: Mildly. That nutritious fungus Dr. Jones and his chums were big on? It got bought out by a dummy company owned by BOSS. Llanfairfach bloomed for a while, until the collapse of the British coal mining industry caused economic devastation. But Jo's marriage is still A-Okay.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate:
- Jack would just shoot himself in the head to deal with the maggot venom and get back on his feet, but he can't. His hands have seized up.
- BOSS. Not for lack of want, just for lack of limbs. Jack is able to oblige him.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The maggots, and whatever they become, survive by eating the lowest-ranked maggots. "Perfect grub" indeed...
- Immune to Bullets: The old maggots were. The new ones aren't. Not that it helps Jack, because he quickly runs out of bullets.
- In Medias Res: The story begins with Jack and Jo already down the mines investigating what's going on.
- Insistent Terminology: The maggots are venomous, not poisonous. Big difference.
- May Contain Evil: Perfect Grub - delicious, nourishing, helps fight the signs of aging! Is made up of ground up giant maggots. Yum yum...
- Minimalist Cast: The speaking cast consists of Jack, Jo and BOSS (well, and BOSS's VA as a burger van owner at the very end).
- Self-Serving Memory: Jack claims the Doctor abandoned him because Jack became "scary", which isn't... quite how it happened.
- Soapbox Sadie: Jo, as might be expected, given she already was one, and married another. She refuses to buy leather shoes, and lectures Jack about shooting the maggots, disgusting and venomous though they are. That said, Jack notes she still keeps her old gas-guzzling car.
- Spoiler Cover: The back cover of the physical release credits The Green Death's original writer with creating BOSS. Then again, the fact that BOSS returns in a sequel to the episode that featured it is hardly the biggest surprise.
- The Unreveal: Whatever it is the fully grown alpha maggots become. BOSS is pretty impressed by them, but Jack and Jo don't find them.
