Temptation!
No, I don't want to know the new DW spoilers, I don't want to know... See, this is the dilemma becoming a, shall we say, intense fan presents for me. I know that reading the spoilers in advance will hurt my enjoyment of the actual episodes. So, of course, why not just avoid the spoilers, easy enough, right? Except spoilers do kind of take over the fandom conversation, and then it's a choice between fandom conversation now or enjoying the episodes unspoiled later -- and me being me, I always go for the short-term choice. Bad fan.
Reminds me of Buffy fandom -- by the time the actual episodes themselves aired, most people had known everything for months in advance and the conversations about the shows had already happened, with everyone deciding what they loved or, more likely, hated way before ever seeing the actual shows. Now that I think about it, I wonder how much of my disinterest in the last couple years of Buffy was a result of choosing to read spoilers so far in advance -- because I just never enjoy the episodes much when I know what the twists and the dialogue will be. I'm not absorbed in the story -- I'm waiting to see what I know is going to happen. I already had the "oooh" feeling when I read the spoiler, and although fun, it's nowhere near as enjoyable as watching with baited breath as the story unfolds. Kind of funny that one of the consequences of becoming an intense fan is knowing too much and sort of destroying the show for myself. One of the reasons I like Lost and 24 is because I don't know spoilers at all and get pulled in by the twists and turns. But that's easy, because I never think much about those shows outside of watching the episodes when they air and have no participation in their fan communities, whereas DW is my new little hobby and I'm really enjoying the crazy DW fandom in all its wanky glory.
But seriously, no spoilers! I'm writing it down in the hopes that I actually listen to myself for once. Man, I hope those new episodes start airing soon.
Speaking of new episodes, Torchwood! My own personal methadone while waiting for the real stuff to show up. So that latest episode...
That was some kind of blah, huh? It felt like nothing much happened. I kept wondering "whose" episode it would be -- Ianto seemed to be driving the story initially, with the desire to go to the cinema and picking up on the escape of the ghostmaker and the mermaid, and I was all "Cool! It's a Ianto episode that doesn't focus on his relationship with Jack -- excellent to see another side of Ianto's character!" Except, it wasn't. The story was really focused on these weird folks who escaped, stole people's breath and needed to be defeated in order to save their victims (well, one of them was saved), Cardiff, and the world (was the world really in that much danger? I gotta wonder). It was all so...routine, with no real emotional resonance for anyone -- there was nothing much at stake for the team, I felt bad for the victims but didn't know them well enough to really care, and the baddies were pretty much just...weird and bad. I did like the guy whose family was opening the cinema museum, but there wasn't a lot more to him besides plot device.
The funny thing is, this episode made me realize how good TW has been up to this point in providing drama that resonates emotionally for the characters and focuses on their relationships:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Jack is back! His past also shows up and provides lots of fireworks. Yay Jack's past.
Sleeper: Beth's story involved me very much and showed a disturbing side to Jack and his methods.
To the Last Man: I liked Tommy a lot, and Tosh's story was meant to be a little heartbreaking.
Meat: Rhys finds out! Gwen chooses not to retcon him! Jack lets her! Also a big sad alien whale with a tragic fate.
Adam (was that the title?): Interloper messes with team's memories, causes angst for all. Also more Jack's past, this time with sand.
Reset: Martha shows up and Owen is killed (pretty clever sneaking that into the big Martha appearance episode, eh?)
Dead Man Walking / A Day in the Death: Jack brings Owen back, sort of, because Jack can't let him go. Owen deals with his new zombie-hood.
Something Borrowed: Gwen marries Rhys -- and despite the Evil Dead theme and Gwen's continued Jack UST, I thought it was sweet and moving, not to mention awesome to have a TV wedding that actually happened.
So, From Out of the Rain really stood out for me in that it was not moving or significant -- just forgettable, basically. Which I guess is sort of a compliment -- this probably would have been one of the better episodes of season 1 of Torchwood, in that I wasn't left annoyed with the team and hey, they did save that one kid! There was a little glimps of Jack's past, leaving us wondering who sent him on his circus mission in the past -- how long has Jack been involved in Torchwood, after all? I thought the visuals for this episode were also well done -- for some reason, the scene where Jack and Ianto were standing shoulder to shoulder while Ianto described what he'd seen on-screen stands out in my memory. Maybe the richness of the background, the sense of these two people together even though they're not facing each other? And I got caught up every time we saw the film editor kid running out of his super-creepy loft place -- I just kept waiting for him to get it, and I was glad he survived, though did they show what happened to his parents? Plus, I thought the way the moisture was absorbed from the victims was disturbing -- but then, I am a perpetual victim of chapped lips myself.
I feel like I should be talking about the dead Owen episodes and Gwen's wedding instead, since those were episodes that I did really like -- maybe next time? To be continued.