Torchwood and Doctor Who Goodness
*sigh* I finally got around to watching the Torchwood finale and the Doctor Who season premiere this morning: both in the space of a few hours, which was rather blissful. :)
I'd heard some rather negative reviews of both episodes, but overall I'm an easy fangirl to please: insofar as Torchwood is concerned, at least, I tend to like a lot of episodes that are widely hated: for instance, I rather liked Day One, Cyberwoman and Random Shoes in Season 1. They had their faults, of course, and I agreed with many of the criticisms levelled at them-- but I still enjoyed the episodes.
Anyway-- onto the reviews.
In my review of Adrift, I made a list of what I believe are all the elements of a good Torchwood episode, and I'll revisit them again here:
Emotional Impact
If this episode did not make you sad, then you are not human. Seriously. Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori really outdid themselves in their death scenes: Owen's screaming, Tosh's "because you're breaking my heart" and his reaction to that-- just wow. I also thought that John Barrowman's performance was very good, although it would have had more impact if the actor playing Gray had been stronger-- may he stay frozen forever. After seeing Fragments last week, there was a strong sense of why Jack was so devestated: he may have seen a lot of people die before, but this was the team that he put together, and the two people who died were the people that he recruited, rather than the ones who came to him voluntarily. When Suzie died, she was quickly replaced by Gwen, and her death was her own choice: but these deaths have really shattered his little team, and even though they can-- and must-- go on, it's never going to be the same.
I've read a lot about the lack of strong emotion from Gareth David-Lloyd in this episode: I'll discuss that a little more when I get to the "Janto" section of this review, but overall I'm undecided as to how I feel about it. Overall, I think that my initial reaction was that I was a bit disappointed by the lack of even a tear, but I don't attribute this to bad acting on GDL's part: I suspect that they wanted to have Ianto's stoicism contrast the way that Jack and Gwen were breaking down: when the two people who are usually the rocks of the team break down, Ianto has to become the rock instead.
Overall though, this episode gets a tick on the emotional impact front.
Spookiness
Okay, this wasn't too spooky, except maybe for that scene where Ianto and Tosh shoot the Grim Reapers: that scene actually made very little sense, and didn't really seem related to anything else that happens, but it was funny as all hell, so I forgive Chris Chibnall. :)
The idea of Jack being buried alive was also quite creepy. I'm part of the camp that believes that Jack must have been "dead" for most of the 1900 years that he was underground, simply because the idea of him being conscious for that whole time is just too painful. And it kind of doesn't work psychologically.
Resonances with/References to Doctor Who
Very well done on this front: there were the obvious references to Aliens of London/World War Three (glad they cleared that up about "Dr." Sato), and Love and Monsters, but I haven't yet seen anyone discussing the really strong parallels between this episode and Last of the Time Lords, insofar as Jack's "I forgive you" is concerned. I know that a lot of people have explored the idea that it must have been very painful for Jack to see the Doctor forgive the Master so easily, but I think that this suggests that Jack may have understood what was going on in the Doctor's mind very well-- and if he didn't then, he certainly does now.
Moral Ambiguity
Loved the way that they portrayed Captain John. While I'm sure that Jack and almost any member of the TW team would die rather than blow up half of Cardiff, I think that most people would do what John did. There's also the sense that even a person who is really morally screwed up can still love someone, and that was nice. The Gray issue also gives us lots to think about: was he really evil, or just incredibly fucked up from being tortured for so many years?
Rhys/Gwen Goodness
This was done so very well: not just the "Will you marry me again?", but the whole thing. I really got the sense that when Rhys saw Gwen in action, he really started to get why Torchwood is so important to her: I think that before, he accepted that it was important to her, but now that he's seen her actually doing her thing, he has a better sense of exactly why it's so important to her.
Janto
Okay, I have to admit that I wish there had been a little more Jantoness in this episode-- just a little more affection between them. Nonetheless, it was clear that Ianto was really terrified when Jack went missing. In particular, I loved the way that when he walked into the Hub, he was just going to shoot John, no questions, no second chances. And his "I thought we'd lost you" was just full of restrained emotion.
Nonetheless, I had the sense that Ianto felt like a bit of an outsider-- maybe, as I said before, he was trying to be a rock, but he also looked like he was holding himself aloof. Perhaps this was because he didn't feel it in the deeply personal way that Gwen and Jack did: Gwen, because this is probably the first time she's really had someone close to her die (particularly in tragic circumstances), and Jack not only because two of his team has died, but because they died because his brother was trying to hurt him in particular. I could speculate about this for ages, but there's no definitive answer. I will just say that I did like the way they handled the Jack/Gwen interactions-- a great deal of affection there, but no UST that I could make out.
Cracktastic Plotholes
This is a new category, but it deserves special mention in this episode. Did anyone else notice that Jack's shirt managed to heal itself after being torn to shreds by bullets? It didn't clean itself, but it healed itself! And then of course, as many others have pointed out, the wondershirt (and trousers, and coat) managed to last for 1900 years underground, when Jack emerged with perfectly styled hair!!! Honestly, this stuff just makes me love the show even more. Let's face it, if this sort of thing annoyed us too much we would have stopped watching when we saw the Cyberwoman in high heels, or when Suzie (and later Gwen, when the injuries transferred) was quite capable of talking with a hole in the middle of her tongue. If we didn't have this sort of thing, it just wouldn't be Torchwood. :)
To sum up: I found this a mostly satisfying episode, and I enjoyed it the whole way through. A bit more Janto and some better acting from Gray would have improved it greatly, but even so, it was fun, and it was WAY better than the Season 1 finale and the ludicrous atrocity that was Abaddon.
I really enjoyed this. I really really enjoyed it. I'd read some early reviews that suggested that they hammed the comedy up a bit too much, but it was just what I needed after Torchwood, and besides, anything that makes fun of the diet industry gets a big tick from me. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Donna, and I am SO glad that they established quite early on that there's not going to be any sort of romantic tension (unrequited or otherwise) between them: Yay for Donna in joining Mickey in the ranks of New Who companions who did NOT fall in love with/have a crush on the Doctor. I also like though that we get a sense of how much the Doctor really did appreciate Martha-- even though he didn't seem to realise it while she was travelling with him.
The comedy of the episode (and I did love the way that they just kept missing each other) was nicely balanced by a little bit of angsty acting from David Tennant, who just does it so well. His performance riveted me so much that I completely forgot that I am supposed to still be mad at him on Jack's behalf (although I think that the parallels between Jack and the Doctor from the TW finale also helped with that). I had a sad moment for Tosh when the Doctor put the two sonic devices together: I note in particular that the Doctor didn't know what would happen, and this means, of course, that Tosh was ultimately 1337er than the Doctor. I wish she'd gotten a chance to look around the TARDIS.
As for the twist at the end: loved it. I was completely not expecting it, until I saw that blonde hair, and it made me squee. I am very glad that Rose is coming back, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when she meets Jack again too. I know a lot of people are pissed about her return-- but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride. If it turns out to be more spork-worthy than hard-hitting then I'll just enjoy that instead: there's no point in getting mad about it.
I'd heard some rather negative reviews of both episodes, but overall I'm an easy fangirl to please: insofar as Torchwood is concerned, at least, I tend to like a lot of episodes that are widely hated: for instance, I rather liked Day One, Cyberwoman and Random Shoes in Season 1. They had their faults, of course, and I agreed with many of the criticisms levelled at them-- but I still enjoyed the episodes.
Anyway-- onto the reviews.
In my review of Adrift, I made a list of what I believe are all the elements of a good Torchwood episode, and I'll revisit them again here:
Emotional Impact
If this episode did not make you sad, then you are not human. Seriously. Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori really outdid themselves in their death scenes: Owen's screaming, Tosh's "because you're breaking my heart" and his reaction to that-- just wow. I also thought that John Barrowman's performance was very good, although it would have had more impact if the actor playing Gray had been stronger-- may he stay frozen forever. After seeing Fragments last week, there was a strong sense of why Jack was so devestated: he may have seen a lot of people die before, but this was the team that he put together, and the two people who died were the people that he recruited, rather than the ones who came to him voluntarily. When Suzie died, she was quickly replaced by Gwen, and her death was her own choice: but these deaths have really shattered his little team, and even though they can-- and must-- go on, it's never going to be the same.
I've read a lot about the lack of strong emotion from Gareth David-Lloyd in this episode: I'll discuss that a little more when I get to the "Janto" section of this review, but overall I'm undecided as to how I feel about it. Overall, I think that my initial reaction was that I was a bit disappointed by the lack of even a tear, but I don't attribute this to bad acting on GDL's part: I suspect that they wanted to have Ianto's stoicism contrast the way that Jack and Gwen were breaking down: when the two people who are usually the rocks of the team break down, Ianto has to become the rock instead.
Overall though, this episode gets a tick on the emotional impact front.
Spookiness
Okay, this wasn't too spooky, except maybe for that scene where Ianto and Tosh shoot the Grim Reapers: that scene actually made very little sense, and didn't really seem related to anything else that happens, but it was funny as all hell, so I forgive Chris Chibnall. :)
The idea of Jack being buried alive was also quite creepy. I'm part of the camp that believes that Jack must have been "dead" for most of the 1900 years that he was underground, simply because the idea of him being conscious for that whole time is just too painful. And it kind of doesn't work psychologically.
Resonances with/References to Doctor Who
Very well done on this front: there were the obvious references to Aliens of London/World War Three (glad they cleared that up about "Dr." Sato), and Love and Monsters, but I haven't yet seen anyone discussing the really strong parallels between this episode and Last of the Time Lords, insofar as Jack's "I forgive you" is concerned. I know that a lot of people have explored the idea that it must have been very painful for Jack to see the Doctor forgive the Master so easily, but I think that this suggests that Jack may have understood what was going on in the Doctor's mind very well-- and if he didn't then, he certainly does now.
Moral Ambiguity
Loved the way that they portrayed Captain John. While I'm sure that Jack and almost any member of the TW team would die rather than blow up half of Cardiff, I think that most people would do what John did. There's also the sense that even a person who is really morally screwed up can still love someone, and that was nice. The Gray issue also gives us lots to think about: was he really evil, or just incredibly fucked up from being tortured for so many years?
Rhys/Gwen Goodness
This was done so very well: not just the "Will you marry me again?", but the whole thing. I really got the sense that when Rhys saw Gwen in action, he really started to get why Torchwood is so important to her: I think that before, he accepted that it was important to her, but now that he's seen her actually doing her thing, he has a better sense of exactly why it's so important to her.
Janto
Okay, I have to admit that I wish there had been a little more Jantoness in this episode-- just a little more affection between them. Nonetheless, it was clear that Ianto was really terrified when Jack went missing. In particular, I loved the way that when he walked into the Hub, he was just going to shoot John, no questions, no second chances. And his "I thought we'd lost you" was just full of restrained emotion.
Nonetheless, I had the sense that Ianto felt like a bit of an outsider-- maybe, as I said before, he was trying to be a rock, but he also looked like he was holding himself aloof. Perhaps this was because he didn't feel it in the deeply personal way that Gwen and Jack did: Gwen, because this is probably the first time she's really had someone close to her die (particularly in tragic circumstances), and Jack not only because two of his team has died, but because they died because his brother was trying to hurt him in particular. I could speculate about this for ages, but there's no definitive answer. I will just say that I did like the way they handled the Jack/Gwen interactions-- a great deal of affection there, but no UST that I could make out.
Cracktastic Plotholes
This is a new category, but it deserves special mention in this episode. Did anyone else notice that Jack's shirt managed to heal itself after being torn to shreds by bullets? It didn't clean itself, but it healed itself! And then of course, as many others have pointed out, the wondershirt (and trousers, and coat) managed to last for 1900 years underground, when Jack emerged with perfectly styled hair!!! Honestly, this stuff just makes me love the show even more. Let's face it, if this sort of thing annoyed us too much we would have stopped watching when we saw the Cyberwoman in high heels, or when Suzie (and later Gwen, when the injuries transferred) was quite capable of talking with a hole in the middle of her tongue. If we didn't have this sort of thing, it just wouldn't be Torchwood. :)
To sum up: I found this a mostly satisfying episode, and I enjoyed it the whole way through. A bit more Janto and some better acting from Gray would have improved it greatly, but even so, it was fun, and it was WAY better than the Season 1 finale and the ludicrous atrocity that was Abaddon.
I really enjoyed this. I really really enjoyed it. I'd read some early reviews that suggested that they hammed the comedy up a bit too much, but it was just what I needed after Torchwood, and besides, anything that makes fun of the diet industry gets a big tick from me. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Donna, and I am SO glad that they established quite early on that there's not going to be any sort of romantic tension (unrequited or otherwise) between them: Yay for Donna in joining Mickey in the ranks of New Who companions who did NOT fall in love with/have a crush on the Doctor. I also like though that we get a sense of how much the Doctor really did appreciate Martha-- even though he didn't seem to realise it while she was travelling with him.
The comedy of the episode (and I did love the way that they just kept missing each other) was nicely balanced by a little bit of angsty acting from David Tennant, who just does it so well. His performance riveted me so much that I completely forgot that I am supposed to still be mad at him on Jack's behalf (although I think that the parallels between Jack and the Doctor from the TW finale also helped with that). I had a sad moment for Tosh when the Doctor put the two sonic devices together: I note in particular that the Doctor didn't know what would happen, and this means, of course, that Tosh was ultimately 1337er than the Doctor. I wish she'd gotten a chance to look around the TARDIS.
As for the twist at the end: loved it. I was completely not expecting it, until I saw that blonde hair, and it made me squee. I am very glad that Rose is coming back, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when she meets Jack again too. I know a lot of people are pissed about her return-- but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride. If it turns out to be more spork-worthy than hard-hitting then I'll just enjoy that instead: there's no point in getting mad about it.