What does reactive power translate to in terms of torque?

Say I’m trying to connect an AC generator to a circuit containing an inductor and a resistor, powered by a steam turbine. I understand that because of the resistor, I’ll be dissipating energy and therefore I’ll need to drive the generator with a certain torque. But what about the inductor? Obviously there’s no dissipation of energy. Rather it is given and taken from the inductor. So does this mean that I’ll get pulses of torque in the generator shaft? I mean, sometimes the inductor will pose a torque that opposes the rotation of the shaft, then the next moment it will produce a torque in the same direction. Have I understood this correctly?