Torchwood Ep 2.3 & 2.4
Feb. 23rd, 2008 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blairprovenceIt's a bit weird to discuss Torchwood online these days - there's UK pace, US pace, UK BBC 3 pace, UK spoilers for BBC3 pace, UK spoilers for BBC 2 pace, and regular old spoilers. And I'm trying to remain unspoiled for stuff I haven't seen, while totally illegally obtaining eps as soon as they are available and then joining discussions on those eps while not inadvertently learning future plot points. (Note to lawyers - have upgraded cable to BBCA, and do watch the commercials. Also, have no money.)
Brain hurts.
So I've been behind on reviews, and a lot of the points I've noticed have been basically rehashed to death, so I'll boil 'em down to the essence.
Brain hurts.
So I've been behind on reviews, and a lot of the points I've noticed have been basically rehashed to death, so I'll boil 'em down to the essence.
Ep 2.3 - To the Last Man
Interesting time travel conceit that I'm not sure holds up internally if you examine it closely. So I won't.
Early Torchwood was interesting. The women must have had a time of it trying to catch a Weevil, for example, in those clothes.
Kept thinking - "Neville Longbottom, Neville Longbottom..."
The trust Jack has in Tosh is remarkable, especially considering that both Ianto and Owen had 'betrayed' Torchwood for their lovers - as had Tosh, inadvertently, with Mary before. But he has such faith that she will always do the right thing for the universe. It's nice.
The Gwen/Ianto cameraderie scenes that seem to be piling up are always striking to me, though I don't know if they're meant to be. It's just so different than the cliche kind of triangle that one would expect from, say, daytime soaps or fanfic. I think I like it. But, on the other hand, I'm not sure that Gwen realizes that Jack and Ianto are still sleeping together. I wonder if that realization will change their new dynamic? I wonder if that's why we're getting these scenes now?
The Jack/Ianto scene was interesting both for what it conveyed and what it didn't. I see Jack and Ianto as being on much more even footing this season, beginning with Jack's fumbling ask-out. I can't help the doomy feeling in the pit of my stomach that Ianto's heading for heartbreak. I'd like to think that he guards himself so carefully that he won't let it happen, but he doesn't seem to love wisely. But maybe if the writers are going for the surprising dynamics (see above paragraph) somehow Ianto will break Jack's heart instead. Because "the course of FILL IN THE BLANK never did run smooth."
I did think that the meat of the episode could have been expanded upon, to make the climax Tommy going back, instead of having the weird astral projection ending. I feel it weakened a pretty strong episode.
Interesting time travel conceit that I'm not sure holds up internally if you examine it closely. So I won't.
Early Torchwood was interesting. The women must have had a time of it trying to catch a Weevil, for example, in those clothes.
Kept thinking - "Neville Longbottom, Neville Longbottom..."
The trust Jack has in Tosh is remarkable, especially considering that both Ianto and Owen had 'betrayed' Torchwood for their lovers - as had Tosh, inadvertently, with Mary before. But he has such faith that she will always do the right thing for the universe. It's nice.
The Gwen/Ianto cameraderie scenes that seem to be piling up are always striking to me, though I don't know if they're meant to be. It's just so different than the cliche kind of triangle that one would expect from, say, daytime soaps or fanfic. I think I like it. But, on the other hand, I'm not sure that Gwen realizes that Jack and Ianto are still sleeping together. I wonder if that realization will change their new dynamic? I wonder if that's why we're getting these scenes now?
The Jack/Ianto scene was interesting both for what it conveyed and what it didn't. I see Jack and Ianto as being on much more even footing this season, beginning with Jack's fumbling ask-out. I can't help the doomy feeling in the pit of my stomach that Ianto's heading for heartbreak. I'd like to think that he guards himself so carefully that he won't let it happen, but he doesn't seem to love wisely. But maybe if the writers are going for the surprising dynamics (see above paragraph) somehow Ianto will break Jack's heart instead. Because "the course of FILL IN THE BLANK never did run smooth."
I did think that the meat of the episode could have been expanded upon, to make the climax Tommy going back, instead of having the weird astral projection ending. I feel it weakened a pretty strong episode.
Ep 2.4 - Meat
Eurgh. Way to inspire me to eat salad.
Rhys was fun. As an example of the "Outsider encounters Torchwood - hilarity ensues" dynamic it was much more effective here in Meat than in, say, Random Shoes. It would be interesting to have one from the point of view of PC Andy. I like him.
Not a fan of the whole fraught Gwen/Jack throughline. And, unfortunately, I'm going to lay that at the feet of the actors, with a healthy percentage going to the director, as well. The dialogue on the page is meant, somewhat clunkily I think, to be ambiguous, because the writers want to have their cake and eat it too. Particularly, the throw-her-up-against-the-wall outside the warehouse and the I-won't-Retcon-him-because-I-don't-wanna-and-you-can't-make-me scenes suffer from serious OTT scenery chewing from both Myles and Barrowman. If this is all leading to some later Wrenching Choice regarding Gwen's marriage to Rhys, then this should have been cranked about halfway up the dial, not shouted at ear-piercing decibels. We went from zero to sixty with not enough intervening speeds.
(It's a bit like they did with Jack/Ianto last season, which bubbled along at about 35mph, slowed down for a School Zone during Cyberwoman, vanished around a bend for a couple of shows, then shot stright to 100mph "in ten minutes".)
Show, don't tell. And especially don't SHOUT!!!
I have liked Gwen a lot more this year. I do like her with Rhys, and if her feelings for Jack had been shown to be the first time she strayed, it might be a bit more palatable, as he is extraordinary. But she slept with Owen last season. It's slimy.
The whale-song language of the creature was more effective than the CGI, but my sympathy kept fading under the illogic. If it was a marine mammal, how did it live while 'beached'? Why weren't it's lungs crushed by it's own body weight? How could it keep growing without ever being fed? How did it get into the warehouse? Why didn't they just make some money charging people to see the giant THING?
Und so weiter. I know, turn off the logic circuits while viewing.
Ianto needs some backstory. If he's suffering from PTSD, it can explain his competent/incompetent swings with regard to field missions. It's perfect, in fact. But it needs to be iterated somehow on the show. And we NEED to know what he did for Torchwood One.
Eurgh. Way to inspire me to eat salad.
Rhys was fun. As an example of the "Outsider encounters Torchwood - hilarity ensues" dynamic it was much more effective here in Meat than in, say, Random Shoes. It would be interesting to have one from the point of view of PC Andy. I like him.
Not a fan of the whole fraught Gwen/Jack throughline. And, unfortunately, I'm going to lay that at the feet of the actors, with a healthy percentage going to the director, as well. The dialogue on the page is meant, somewhat clunkily I think, to be ambiguous, because the writers want to have their cake and eat it too. Particularly, the throw-her-up-against-the-wall outside the warehouse and the I-won't-Retcon-him-because-I-don't-wanna-and-you-can't-make-me scenes suffer from serious OTT scenery chewing from both Myles and Barrowman. If this is all leading to some later Wrenching Choice regarding Gwen's marriage to Rhys, then this should have been cranked about halfway up the dial, not shouted at ear-piercing decibels. We went from zero to sixty with not enough intervening speeds.
(It's a bit like they did with Jack/Ianto last season, which bubbled along at about 35mph, slowed down for a School Zone during Cyberwoman, vanished around a bend for a couple of shows, then shot stright to 100mph "in ten minutes".)
Show, don't tell. And especially don't SHOUT!!!
I have liked Gwen a lot more this year. I do like her with Rhys, and if her feelings for Jack had been shown to be the first time she strayed, it might be a bit more palatable, as he is extraordinary. But she slept with Owen last season. It's slimy.
The whale-song language of the creature was more effective than the CGI, but my sympathy kept fading under the illogic. If it was a marine mammal, how did it live while 'beached'? Why weren't it's lungs crushed by it's own body weight? How could it keep growing without ever being fed? How did it get into the warehouse? Why didn't they just make some money charging people to see the giant THING?
Und so weiter. I know, turn off the logic circuits while viewing.
Ianto needs some backstory. If he's suffering from PTSD, it can explain his competent/incompetent swings with regard to field missions. It's perfect, in fact. But it needs to be iterated somehow on the show. And we NEED to know what he did for Torchwood One.
