TW Episode Review: 205 - Adam
My spoiler filled review of the fifth episode of series two of Torchwood, Adam is under the .
Adam is the second episode this series written by Catherine Treganna who also penned last week's Meat. This is primarily a character driven story, and the little touches made up for the less than satisfying ending.
The opening scene between Gwen and Rhys showed us just how much these two are in love, and made a lovely follow up from last week's story. Rhys now knows about Gwen's job as an 'alien catcher' and the two have just returned from a weekend getaway in Paris. They tussle in bed with Gwen dressed and ready for work and Rhys naked in bed. He jokes about how she can't wait to get back to work and she reassures him - again - that he makes it worth coming home to. But, of course that utter happiness just can't last, can it?
She goes into work, sees Adam and wonders who the hell he is. But before she can question him much further, he alters her memories for her and instantly she remembers that her 'new' co-worker has worked at Torchwood longer than she has.
Adam has altered all of their memories somewhat. Tosh has more confidence than we usually give her credit for. Owen is a cardigan-wearing geek in love with Tosh. Jack is seeing long forgotten memories. And Ianto... well, for the first half of the episode at least, Ianto seems utterly unaffected.
The short scene between Jack and Gwen in the vaults is a moment of fun - she swats his butt and asks if he missed her while she was away. He quips back with "were you gone?" and they have a quick tickle/tussle/chase thing reminiscent of teenagers with a crush on each other. It's... cute. But I'm left wondering (as most of this episode makes me feel) if this is how it is between them some of time or if it's the sole product of their altered memories. Probably somewhere between the two.
Then Gwen goes home and we learn that she's forgotten all about Rhys. Poor Rhys, held at knifepoint and then gunpoint by his own fiancee. And who are you going to call when there is a strange man in your flat? Your boss. Jack arrives quickly with gun drawn, greatcoat swooshing in that amazingly sexy manner, oh, sorry, back to the plot. Ahem. Apparently Jack remembers Rhys, who accuses him of trying to phase Rhys out so Jack can have her all to himself. Not a bad idea really, maybe in series three.
If he comes after me again, I'll kill him.
Adam takes Gwen back to the Hub so she can be checked out, while Jack stays behind to... reassure Rhys. ;) I actually really liked these scenes between Jack and Rhys. Jack prods Rhys into recording memories of his relationship with Gwen, which are relayed to her back at the Hub. He asks about how they met, about their first kiss, anything that might trigger her memory. That's two weeks in a row where Jack is put in a personal situation between these two. I'm betting it won't be the last, too. Gwen returns to her flat with Ianto, with a quick plea to Jack not to leave her there with Rhys. She clings to him, and he has to physically break away from her. I felt so bad for Rhys, here. Well, Mr Williams, you were the one who wanted in. Deal with it.
I'm gonna marry this bloody mad woman, even if it kills me. It just might. But that's speculation, not review.
Onto Tosh and Owen...
I liked that some of Tosh's confidence had returned. She's always had the potential, but it had never been pushed. Unfortunately, it was over the top and as well, Adam re-wrote her memories to include himself as her year-long lover. She treated Owen like shit. Well, turnabout is fair play. Or would be, if anyone was going to remember it.
And Owen. Oh, Owen. You made a cute, if completely pathetic geek. He gets stomped on repeatedly by Tosh, makes her favorite sandwich (a nice nod to last week where she makes him sandwiches), and proclaims his true and unending love for and gets stomped on again.
Meanwhile, our mostly fearless leader is out hunting weevils and hallucinating his family. Adam shows up and goads Jack into remembering the worst day of his life - the day he lost his brother, Grey. The Boeshane Peninsula apparently looks a lot like Tatooine - except with buildings that resemble sandcastles and they have better protective eyewear. Apparently one bad day the Worst-Possible-Creatures-You-Can-Imagine™ attacked them, and a young Jack who was supposed to take care of his little brother, let go of his hand and lost him. After looking through the dead bodies he runs back home to find Uncle Owen his father dead. Sniffle.
Meanwhile, Ianto who was robbed of his night hunting weevils with Jack, is thumbing through his memories of what he and Jack do with the stopwatch. He of course, does that the old-fashioned way - with a pen in his diary. As he reminisces (actually he's looking for references to alien artifacts), he notes that Adam is not in his diary at all. Oh, dear. As soon as he figures it out, Adam suddenly appears and in a horrid mind rape scene, he is given memories of himself killing three women.
Jack returns, and finds Ianto a mess. Ianto confesses to the murders, calling himself a monster, and Jack comforts him as best he can, first with his arms and secondly with the best lie detector on the planet. The second backfires - next time Jack, stick with what works - you with your arms around Ianto, preferably nibbling on his ear, slowly removing his clothes...
Ahem.
Jack still isn't convinced that Ianto is a killer. He furiously checks the CCTV and discovers the truth. He shows Ianto the footage, and then everyone walks back into the Hub. Jack pulls a gun on Adam, Tosh in turn pulls a gun on Jack, and Ianto disarms Tosh. Cue the vault scene. Adam can only exist as long as he is remembered, so in order to get rid of him, the team must forget.
Jack gathers his team in the boardroom, lowers the lights, and speaks to them in a seductive tone. They must remember something that defines them. Tosh remembers math and no flatwarming party. Ianto remembers falling in love with Lisa, and working for TW3 gave him new meaning in his life. Owen remembers his birthday, and fights with his mother. Gwen remembers bits of Rhys and his stupid jokes and kissing him. Jack then gives them all a 48 hour retcon pill, so Adam will cease to exist.
I love him, but not in the way I love you. Gwen says to Jack. A line many people will wish they could retcon themselves and forget. But I'm not one of them. Jack is sweet to all of them. He loves each and every one of them, and if he could, he would die for any of them. He touches them all affectionately. He kisses Ianto on the head and holds him a moment longer as befitting their relationship. He promises to save Owen. He is wonderful with Tosh, who doesn't want to give up what she has. He convinces her, and she submits to his wisdom, his leadership. He catches Gwen's head and lowers it gently to the table and goes off to deal with Adam.
And then he makes a big mistake. He so wants his last good memory of his father and brother, and ultimately ends up sacrificing it for his team. He's human after all, and flawed. We all wanted to yell at him, tell him not to do it, and he does it anyway. Sniffle.
Next day, they wake up and have no memory of their last 48 hours. Well, except for Rhys, maybe - a plothole so wide, I think I'll just take some retcon myself in order to forget it. Or maybe Jack sent a text to Rhys not to mention it, or... well, that's really all I have to say about that. I've forgotten, it, right? ;)
Overall... I did like this episode. The smaller bits were enough to make up for the fact that the ending didn't make a whole lot of sense. I liked Gwen forgetting about Rhys. I liked that Jack spent time with Rhys. I liked that Jack believed in Ianto more than in his lie detector. I liked that Jack adores each member of his team. And I liked this episode.
7.5/10
Next time:
Martha.
What else needs to be said.
Adam is the second episode this series written by Catherine Treganna who also penned last week's Meat. This is primarily a character driven story, and the little touches made up for the less than satisfying ending.
The opening scene between Gwen and Rhys showed us just how much these two are in love, and made a lovely follow up from last week's story. Rhys now knows about Gwen's job as an 'alien catcher' and the two have just returned from a weekend getaway in Paris. They tussle in bed with Gwen dressed and ready for work and Rhys naked in bed. He jokes about how she can't wait to get back to work and she reassures him - again - that he makes it worth coming home to. But, of course that utter happiness just can't last, can it?
She goes into work, sees Adam and wonders who the hell he is. But before she can question him much further, he alters her memories for her and instantly she remembers that her 'new' co-worker has worked at Torchwood longer than she has.
Adam has altered all of their memories somewhat. Tosh has more confidence than we usually give her credit for. Owen is a cardigan-wearing geek in love with Tosh. Jack is seeing long forgotten memories. And Ianto... well, for the first half of the episode at least, Ianto seems utterly unaffected.
The short scene between Jack and Gwen in the vaults is a moment of fun - she swats his butt and asks if he missed her while she was away. He quips back with "were you gone?" and they have a quick tickle/tussle/chase thing reminiscent of teenagers with a crush on each other. It's... cute. But I'm left wondering (as most of this episode makes me feel) if this is how it is between them some of time or if it's the sole product of their altered memories. Probably somewhere between the two.
Then Gwen goes home and we learn that she's forgotten all about Rhys. Poor Rhys, held at knifepoint and then gunpoint by his own fiancee. And who are you going to call when there is a strange man in your flat? Your boss. Jack arrives quickly with gun drawn, greatcoat swooshing in that amazingly sexy manner, oh, sorry, back to the plot. Ahem. Apparently Jack remembers Rhys, who accuses him of trying to phase Rhys out so Jack can have her all to himself. Not a bad idea really, maybe in series three.
If he comes after me again, I'll kill him.
Adam takes Gwen back to the Hub so she can be checked out, while Jack stays behind to... reassure Rhys. ;) I actually really liked these scenes between Jack and Rhys. Jack prods Rhys into recording memories of his relationship with Gwen, which are relayed to her back at the Hub. He asks about how they met, about their first kiss, anything that might trigger her memory. That's two weeks in a row where Jack is put in a personal situation between these two. I'm betting it won't be the last, too. Gwen returns to her flat with Ianto, with a quick plea to Jack not to leave her there with Rhys. She clings to him, and he has to physically break away from her. I felt so bad for Rhys, here. Well, Mr Williams, you were the one who wanted in. Deal with it.
I'm gonna marry this bloody mad woman, even if it kills me. It just might. But that's speculation, not review.
Onto Tosh and Owen...
I liked that some of Tosh's confidence had returned. She's always had the potential, but it had never been pushed. Unfortunately, it was over the top and as well, Adam re-wrote her memories to include himself as her year-long lover. She treated Owen like shit. Well, turnabout is fair play. Or would be, if anyone was going to remember it.
And Owen. Oh, Owen. You made a cute, if completely pathetic geek. He gets stomped on repeatedly by Tosh, makes her favorite sandwich (a nice nod to last week where she makes him sandwiches), and proclaims his true and unending love for and gets stomped on again.
Meanwhile, our mostly fearless leader is out hunting weevils and hallucinating his family. Adam shows up and goads Jack into remembering the worst day of his life - the day he lost his brother, Grey. The Boeshane Peninsula apparently looks a lot like Tatooine - except with buildings that resemble sandcastles and they have better protective eyewear. Apparently one bad day the Worst-Possible-Creatures-You-Can-Imagine™ attacked them, and a young Jack who was supposed to take care of his little brother, let go of his hand and lost him. After looking through the dead bodies he runs back home to find Uncle Owen his father dead. Sniffle.
Meanwhile, Ianto who was robbed of his night hunting weevils with Jack, is thumbing through his memories of what he and Jack do with the stopwatch. He of course, does that the old-fashioned way - with a pen in his diary. As he reminisces (actually he's looking for references to alien artifacts), he notes that Adam is not in his diary at all. Oh, dear. As soon as he figures it out, Adam suddenly appears and in a horrid mind rape scene, he is given memories of himself killing three women.
Jack returns, and finds Ianto a mess. Ianto confesses to the murders, calling himself a monster, and Jack comforts him as best he can, first with his arms and secondly with the best lie detector on the planet. The second backfires - next time Jack, stick with what works - you with your arms around Ianto, preferably nibbling on his ear, slowly removing his clothes...
Ahem.
Jack still isn't convinced that Ianto is a killer. He furiously checks the CCTV and discovers the truth. He shows Ianto the footage, and then everyone walks back into the Hub. Jack pulls a gun on Adam, Tosh in turn pulls a gun on Jack, and Ianto disarms Tosh. Cue the vault scene. Adam can only exist as long as he is remembered, so in order to get rid of him, the team must forget.
Jack gathers his team in the boardroom, lowers the lights, and speaks to them in a seductive tone. They must remember something that defines them. Tosh remembers math and no flatwarming party. Ianto remembers falling in love with Lisa, and working for TW3 gave him new meaning in his life. Owen remembers his birthday, and fights with his mother. Gwen remembers bits of Rhys and his stupid jokes and kissing him. Jack then gives them all a 48 hour retcon pill, so Adam will cease to exist.
I love him, but not in the way I love you. Gwen says to Jack. A line many people will wish they could retcon themselves and forget. But I'm not one of them. Jack is sweet to all of them. He loves each and every one of them, and if he could, he would die for any of them. He touches them all affectionately. He kisses Ianto on the head and holds him a moment longer as befitting their relationship. He promises to save Owen. He is wonderful with Tosh, who doesn't want to give up what she has. He convinces her, and she submits to his wisdom, his leadership. He catches Gwen's head and lowers it gently to the table and goes off to deal with Adam.
And then he makes a big mistake. He so wants his last good memory of his father and brother, and ultimately ends up sacrificing it for his team. He's human after all, and flawed. We all wanted to yell at him, tell him not to do it, and he does it anyway. Sniffle.
Next day, they wake up and have no memory of their last 48 hours. Well, except for Rhys, maybe - a plothole so wide, I think I'll just take some retcon myself in order to forget it. Or maybe Jack sent a text to Rhys not to mention it, or... well, that's really all I have to say about that. I've forgotten, it, right? ;)
Overall... I did like this episode. The smaller bits were enough to make up for the fact that the ending didn't make a whole lot of sense. I liked Gwen forgetting about Rhys. I liked that Jack spent time with Rhys. I liked that Jack believed in Ianto more than in his lie detector. I liked that Jack adores each member of his team. And I liked this episode.
7.5/10
Next time:
Martha.
What else needs to be said.