(no subject)
Wow. Took you look enough to have a good episode this season, Torchwood.
To briefly sum up my feelings about Miracle Day so far: Boring, boring disappointment. How did they make such an interesting premise so boring? BORING.
Less briefly, I was talking about this very problem with kita0610 last week, and I said: "People keep talking about how this season isn't Torchwood, and I get where they're coming from - Torchwood has always been about its characters, and when they downplay Jack and Gwen and fail to make Rex and Vera and Esther interesting, they are not giving good Torchwood."
I stand by this assessment - even at its stupidest ("Cyberwoman") and most incoherent ("From Out of the Rain"), Torchwood has been about its characters (regardless of how consistently written those characters may or may not be). I haven't been getting the sense that Miracle Day is about its characters, though, and when it is, it's about characters whom they have failed to flesh out or make me care about. The best thing I've been able to say about any of the new characters' appeal thus far is that Jilly has been kinda fun to watch. So, there are a bunch of characters I don't care about, a story that is kind of sort of sometimes about them, and not enough focus on characters we know and do care about, ie, Jack and Gwen. I've kept watching mainly because Torchwood is a habit by now, and because boredom is not enough of an offense to chase me off, and because frankly I really do want to see what kind of bullshit RTD is going to yank out at the last minute to tie everything up. Getting drunk to his nonsensical finales is kind of a tradition of mine at this point and I cannot appreciate it properly without the whole story.
So! Things last night's episode of Torchwood did right:
* Jack and Gwen! It was about Jack and Gwen! I can see why Eve Myles said the car stuff was her favorite day of shooting - it was great work from both of them and really wonderful, revealing stuff about Gwen that I feel created a convincing bridge between the Informed Attributes Gwen of S1/2 and the Actually Awesome Gwen who showed up in Children of Earth. And then that fantastic exchange at the end:
"I meant every word I said."
"So did I." *quick hug, problem solved*
That was beautiful.
Plus Jack got to do some stuff too. I could have lived without the annual revisitation of RTD's creepy fixation on The Jack Harkness Torture Porn Show, but other than that, I really enjoyed seeing Jack do more in one episode than he's done in the last six put together.
* Angelo! I was more invested in him after three minutes than I was in Rex or Esther after six episodes. He's a genuinely engaging character initially presented with just enough of a plot hook to reel me in, and the chemistry with Jack was RIDICULOUS. (Admittedly, John Barrowman can have chemistry with a brick wall, but still. It felt a lot more natural than some of the relationships we've been told to care about Jack being in, YEAH I SAID IT.) I loved loved the parallel Jack invoked between the Doctor and his companions and himself and Angelo, and I loved Angelo's enthusiasm and excitement and how he would in fact be an awesome companion. I also loved that he escaped the episode without dying horribly, because I was totally expecting him to.
In short: More of this, Torchwood! More character-oriented storytelling about the characters we know! More new characters we can give a shit about! Oh, and it was nice to see something vaguely resembling plot advancement, too. I really, really hope this episode was a sign that the rest of the season is going to perk up, and not merely a high point in what I have seen so aptly dubbed Meh-ricle Day.
ETA: I AM SO AWESOME AT LJ, GUYS. Jesus. Sorry for the triple post spam. That was my screw up, not LJ's. Apparently I post so infrequently I have now forgotten how to do cut tags and edit.
To briefly sum up my feelings about Miracle Day so far: Boring, boring disappointment. How did they make such an interesting premise so boring? BORING.
Less briefly, I was talking about this very problem with kita0610 last week, and I said: "People keep talking about how this season isn't Torchwood, and I get where they're coming from - Torchwood has always been about its characters, and when they downplay Jack and Gwen and fail to make Rex and Vera and Esther interesting, they are not giving good Torchwood."
I stand by this assessment - even at its stupidest ("Cyberwoman") and most incoherent ("From Out of the Rain"), Torchwood has been about its characters (regardless of how consistently written those characters may or may not be). I haven't been getting the sense that Miracle Day is about its characters, though, and when it is, it's about characters whom they have failed to flesh out or make me care about. The best thing I've been able to say about any of the new characters' appeal thus far is that Jilly has been kinda fun to watch. So, there are a bunch of characters I don't care about, a story that is kind of sort of sometimes about them, and not enough focus on characters we know and do care about, ie, Jack and Gwen. I've kept watching mainly because Torchwood is a habit by now, and because boredom is not enough of an offense to chase me off, and because frankly I really do want to see what kind of bullshit RTD is going to yank out at the last minute to tie everything up. Getting drunk to his nonsensical finales is kind of a tradition of mine at this point and I cannot appreciate it properly without the whole story.
So! Things last night's episode of Torchwood did right:
* Jack and Gwen! It was about Jack and Gwen! I can see why Eve Myles said the car stuff was her favorite day of shooting - it was great work from both of them and really wonderful, revealing stuff about Gwen that I feel created a convincing bridge between the Informed Attributes Gwen of S1/2 and the Actually Awesome Gwen who showed up in Children of Earth. And then that fantastic exchange at the end:
"I meant every word I said."
"So did I." *quick hug, problem solved*
That was beautiful.
Plus Jack got to do some stuff too. I could have lived without the annual revisitation of RTD's creepy fixation on The Jack Harkness Torture Porn Show, but other than that, I really enjoyed seeing Jack do more in one episode than he's done in the last six put together.
* Angelo! I was more invested in him after three minutes than I was in Rex or Esther after six episodes. He's a genuinely engaging character initially presented with just enough of a plot hook to reel me in, and the chemistry with Jack was RIDICULOUS. (Admittedly, John Barrowman can have chemistry with a brick wall, but still. It felt a lot more natural than some of the relationships we've been told to care about Jack being in, YEAH I SAID IT.) I loved loved the parallel Jack invoked between the Doctor and his companions and himself and Angelo, and I loved Angelo's enthusiasm and excitement and how he would in fact be an awesome companion. I also loved that he escaped the episode without dying horribly, because I was totally expecting him to.
In short: More of this, Torchwood! More character-oriented storytelling about the characters we know! More new characters we can give a shit about! Oh, and it was nice to see something vaguely resembling plot advancement, too. I really, really hope this episode was a sign that the rest of the season is going to perk up, and not merely a high point in what I have seen so aptly dubbed Meh-ricle Day.
ETA: I AM SO AWESOME AT LJ, GUYS. Jesus. Sorry for the triple post spam. That was my screw up, not LJ's. Apparently I post so infrequently I have now forgotten how to do cut tags and edit.