It's not just the bad writing...

[rusty_halo]

I watched the first four episodes of Torchwood straight through for the first time, mainly because I think it's wrong to complain about something if you haven't actually seen it. (I've seen a lot of the series, but mostly in snippets or in the background while doing something else.)

Let's see...

Comments

[fenchurche]

Yep, you've pretty much summed up how I felt about those episodes. But oh my word, the cyberwoman was the WORST. And the sex alien episode seemed more like it was all about the writers saying "See! See! We're not Doctor Who! We have S-E-X!"

The frustrating part for me was that the show was ALMOST good, so I kept watching. And there was usually just enough there to make it interesting, but not enough to blow me away. But by the end of the first season, I'd quit liking any of the characters even a little. Note to the writers: It's great to give your characters flaws, but you have to give them strengths, too. And maybe make them likeable.

However, I do have some big hopes for the upcoming season, and not just because JM is going to be a guest star... I've read some interviews with the showrunners that seem to indicate they've picked up a clue about what was wrong with the first season. *crosses fingers*

[rusty_halo]

Yeah, I'm a little hopeful about the second season. I guess that's why I'm catching up properly with the first.

The "oh, you just don't like flawed characters" dismissal really frustrates me, because I *love* flawed characters. My favorite character aside from the Doctor is the Master! At least the Master's intelligent and funny along with being a megalomaniacal sadist!

Nothing about the Torchwood characters makes me the slightest bit excited or interested. It's like, funnily enough, the opposite side of the coin as Martha; she's too flawless so she completely bores me. Either way it's like looking at a blank screen; a character that doesn't have enough depth to draw me in.

[rahirah]

Aw, come on, I still didn't hate Tosh by the end. That's mainly because she didn't have any personality to hate, but it's something!

[dalmeny]

I agree on almost all points and yet I somehow, guiltily, love the show. It's not rational, I know.

"Cyberwoman" is definitely the worst episode. I tried to rewatch it, but could only stand it long enough to see the fight with the pterodacytl.

[rusty_halo]

What do you love about it? I'm really curious. I'm trying to see the good in it, I swear!

[dalmeny]

You have to watch it with a certain attitude. Completely ignore the fact that the Torchwood crew are depicted as if they were heroes, and treat it as if you were watching some documentary or historical reconstruction cataloguing the appalling mistakes of these ghastly losers. Or view it as a satire on a pathologically dysfunctional goverment department given too much power and not enough oversight. Sometimes though, I have to watch it in the same way I watch bad old sf movies, in a state of near hysteria.

There are a couple of halfway-decent episodes, but in general I watch it as black, bleak comedy.

[dalmeny]

Also, Tosh is hot.

[marguerite_26]

::sigh:: torchwood... it is so fucked up. All the major characters are so very fucked up.

But by FAR the worst ep to me is number 5, Countrycide. There are few things in fandom that I would like to wipe from my mind but that is the top of the list. Both horrible and horrifying. Ack!

That said, I loved a number of the later episodes enough to make it all worth it. "Captain Jack Harkness", the episode, was very very worth all the questionable plotlines and beyond quirkiness of the characters.

[rusty_halo]

Oh boy, Countrycide's the next one up. (Y'know, if I keep watching.)

I keep hearing that the "Captain Jack Harkness" one is good; I actually am kind of looking forward to finally seeing it.

[marguerite_26]

I 100% completely and totally recommend skipping Countrycide. But maybe horror and gore is your thing... it's not mine.

If you do manage to keep watching Random Shoes is another of my favs.

also I liked Out of Time (er... it's called something like that, anyway).

[dalmeny]

I found Countrycide to be one of the mediocre-but-serviceable episodes myself. Mileage does differ.

[10zlaine]

There were a couple episodes playing on BBC the other night, so I tried to half-ass watch them in the background and I was totally not interested--I can't even tell you what it was about (and, dude, I was working on the bibliography...), because even the bit I've seen of him in Who is *so* not who he is in this show, which is just a limp and bleh show. Barrowman needs to be with actors who are actually fairly decent and can bring him up; else you are right, he's not strong enough on his own to lead. He's just fine if he's in the right mix and in a show with spirit.

Seriously, it is one of those shows that needs to be MST3K'd.

[rusty_halo]

Hee. Yeah, Jane and I were thinking maybe we'd watch the new season together and MST3K it. It'd be a lot more tolerable that way. (Pretty much the only way I was even able to watch the first four episodes was by pausing it every five minutes to write something snarky in my LJ post. It's like the show will EAT YOUR BRAIN [in the bad way] if you don't have your snark defenses up.)

[jerrymcl89]

The show did get better as the season went on, so perhaps the second season will be better. But I'd generally agree that the first part of the season was a complete train wreck.

[rusty_halo]

I've got my fingers crossed. I WANT it to be better, dammit!