Oh, Torchwood
I've spent a good amount of time thinking about the entire Children of Earth series and reading a lot of what other people have to say about it.
This isn't so much a complete review as it is just a haphazard collection of thoughts and
reactions regarding the series and fandom.
I won't deny it, at first I was PISSED. So pissed that I called some of my friends who don't even watch the show to complain to them. Er...sorry, guys. :\
I felt that Torchwood as I knew it was completely ruined and I HATED the writers for doing that to the characters, the fans, and the show. Now, after thinking about it, I STILL believe that Torchwood as I knew it is completely over...but I'm beginning to see (or at least guess at) some of the reasoning behind it. Mostly I'm of two minds about almost everything because I'm torn between what I wanted and thought would make a good story, and what actually happened and how THAT makes a good story.
Ianto's death. I LOVE Ianto! I. Saw. Red. It seemed so pointless...why would he go in there with Jack in the first place?! Why were they SHOOTING AT BULLETPROOF GLASS! Also, even if the glass HAD shattered, the chemicals in the container would also have been toxic for Ianto! Why would they even think the 456 would care in the FIRST place? But I digress. Some of the reactions I've read have stated that his death was meant to be pointless, and heart-breakingly so. I do see that and I see how, in some ways, it was inevitable. It is true that Jack will have outlived him anyway and there was really no way for them to have had any lasting happiness, considering how dangerous it is to work for Torchwood. But I really think that, from the perspective of a tv show, this inevitable conclusion may have come too soon. But I'll get back to that.
Jack's grandson. At first, this pissed me off more than Ianto. Initially I thought that, if anything, Ianto's death was meant to push Jack into doing more good! Because let's face it, in killing Steven, Jack essentially did the same thing he did in '65 - sacrifice for the greater good. Which is EXACTLY what Jack and Ianto had discussed moments before Ianto's death! Of course this time there are differences, he didn't find a child that "wouldn't be missed," he used a child that he himself would miss. (However, I do not think that child was his to sacrifice. For fucks sake his mother, Jack's daughter, was right there screaming her head off!) Yes, it was TORTURE to watch that scene. To watch Jack making that decision and then going through with it. He fucking killed his grandson! It was too much to handle. It seemed pointless that Ianto's death hadn't been enough to push Jack into finding another way. (Of course we learn later on that his death was meant to push Jack into something else entirely.)
My initial reactions to day 4 and 5 were that the writers had not only killed off one of now only three main characters - but stripped another of his true essence. I didn't think that Jack would EVER do something like that! In the past, Torchwood episodes almost always ended with some deus-ex-machina that allowed the characters to succeed without doing anything too morally reprehensible in the process. I expected something like that. I expected Jack to say "No way - I cant!" and use the kid's blood or hormones or something to make the transmission work. No doubt that's what would have happened if this were Doctor Who.
So I hated it. And I hated Jack. I hated the writers for putting him in that position and forcing ME to think about what I would have done in his place! But assuming that there were no gaping plot holes and this was really the only thing he could have done - did he do the right thing? One child, or millions? So many people have compared it to what the Doctor did to the Daleks and the Time Lords in destroying Gallifrey. The Doctor and Jack are both blessed and cursed with near-immortality. Their longevity forces them to look at the bigger picture and to make decisions that no one wants to make. I think if Jack does make an appearance on one of Ten's final Who episodes, he will be a more bitter and cynical man. Much like Nine. (Although I don't think that Jack's silly and flirtatious nature will ever go away - I think he will try to hide behind it.)
Now, this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the story. Holy fucking shit! The government taking away kids and plotting and double-crossing...I fucking loved it! I thought it was an amazingly challenging story to watch because it was really impossible to watch without saying "omg what would I do?!" I especially loved the part where they decide exactly which children would be taken. It was chilling.
I think, what it really comes down to is that I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the old Torchwood. I wanted a team of wise-cracking, campy misfits using alien technology to save the world all the while shooting off witty one-liners. I wasn't ready for a broken and devastated Jack, forced to carry on and brutally face the truth of his lonely existence. I think after losing Tosh and Owen, Ianto's death and Jack's departure would have been a lot easier to take if it had been fleshed out over a whole season. I think I would have preferred a brief return to the old Torchwood before reaching this inevitable conclusion. But...I think the story of Children of Earth worked perfectly as a mini-series and I guess there was no way to have both. Now, as for Torchwood season 4, I know that they haven't decided yet and of course this would work perfectly as an ending. I will continue to watch if they continue to make episodes, but I really don't think they can ever go back to the way it was before. The hub was destroyed, the SUV stolen, and 3/5 of the team dead. And more than that, the overall tone of the show HAS TO change because there's really no coming back from this. It felt very final.
So while I do very strongly wish that some things had turned out differently, I think that they chose to take the show down a new road and they did it very well.
AND as for the some of the fan reactions? WTF PEOPLE?! I am new to the DW and TW fandoms, but I am not new to fandom and unfortunately rude and threatening reactions are not new either. People are entitled to their opinions, of course, but its REALLY crossing the line to badmouth the writers. Ehem...ESPECIALLY to their faces! (I'm not saying that I didn't freak out and call RTD some very rude names, but I didn't post that on the internet OR where he or any TW writers could see it!)
Now ALL of that being said, I have a few more minor gripes that I wasn't able to work into actual paragraph form:
1. Ianto magically finding the EXACT SAME COAT that Jack had in like 2 hours. WTF.
2. Jack's wrist strap magically being intact after the hub was BLOWN TO PIECES!
3. Speaking of the hub being blown to pieces, there were quite a few important things down
there. Such as a SHIT TON of alien technology, several Weevils, and Jack's cryogenically frozen brother.
4. A lot has been said about all the homo hating that was thrown Ianto's way. I get it - he was coming to terms with his relationship in the real world, which is maybe not as accepting as the Torchwood hub. It did, however, feel VERY foreign and slightly forced on a show that's never taken any issue with it before. Also the fact that he DIED before really being able to react to that outside of Torchwood seemed a bit pointless. It's not like he needed to be called a queer by Clem in order to confess his dying love to Jack in a secluded room.
5. Also, Clem. The actor did a GREAT job and he was a really interesting character, but I have to admit I thought he would be put to better use. I mean I know he inadvertently showed them how to fight the 456, but I really though he might choose to act in some way that would help.
6. And in that vein, Dekker. WTF? He was just kind of...there. I really expected something more to come from him, especially after he seemed so obsessed with the 456's arrival in the beginning. Although I guess they were going for a more gritty sense of reality, and of course as Sirius Black once said, "The world isn't broken up into good people and Death Eaters." And it's not broken up into good people and bad people either...there will always be those in the middle that are only interested in themselves.
7. Lois telling Bridget how to use the contacts. Idk, maybe I was preoccupied with the whole Frobisher-killing-his-family thing at the time, but I didn't even get the SLIGHTEST sense that anything else had gone down in that cell.
Also, not to end on a bad note, a few more things that I loved:
1. LOIS. IS. AMAZING! I love her! I was a little annoyed that they didn't flesh out her story a little more at the end, but if Torchwood DOES come back, she'd better be a part of it!
2. At first I hated Frobisher killing his family, but of course there's no other escape. He's completely hopeless and its terrible to watch! And it's a nice juxtaposition to Jack's inability to EVER escape (especially in that particular manner). When the PM called him into his office, I knew what was going to go down and I loved every minute of it! (I think I, and most people, enjoy seeing characters in horribly difficult situations...but just not our beloved series regulars!)
3. On that subject, I LOVED (and hated) watching the government making their decisions! I love science fiction's ability to comment on modern day issues in a detached way, and this was really perfect. Their insistence to save their own children, and then choosing the children that wouldn't benefit society based on what schools they attended! Holy shit!
4. The aliens only wanting the children as drugs was BRILLIANT! It just added a completely new level of gruesome-ness to the whole situation.
And I think that's it! I have been able to think about nothing but Torchwood since I started Children of Earth, and hopefully this will have gotten all of that out of me. At least until I watch the series for the second time...
This isn't so much a complete review as it is just a haphazard collection of thoughts and
reactions regarding the series and fandom.
I won't deny it, at first I was PISSED. So pissed that I called some of my friends who don't even watch the show to complain to them. Er...sorry, guys. :\
I felt that Torchwood as I knew it was completely ruined and I HATED the writers for doing that to the characters, the fans, and the show. Now, after thinking about it, I STILL believe that Torchwood as I knew it is completely over...but I'm beginning to see (or at least guess at) some of the reasoning behind it. Mostly I'm of two minds about almost everything because I'm torn between what I wanted and thought would make a good story, and what actually happened and how THAT makes a good story.
Ianto's death. I LOVE Ianto! I. Saw. Red. It seemed so pointless...why would he go in there with Jack in the first place?! Why were they SHOOTING AT BULLETPROOF GLASS! Also, even if the glass HAD shattered, the chemicals in the container would also have been toxic for Ianto! Why would they even think the 456 would care in the FIRST place? But I digress. Some of the reactions I've read have stated that his death was meant to be pointless, and heart-breakingly so. I do see that and I see how, in some ways, it was inevitable. It is true that Jack will have outlived him anyway and there was really no way for them to have had any lasting happiness, considering how dangerous it is to work for Torchwood. But I really think that, from the perspective of a tv show, this inevitable conclusion may have come too soon. But I'll get back to that.
Jack's grandson. At first, this pissed me off more than Ianto. Initially I thought that, if anything, Ianto's death was meant to push Jack into doing more good! Because let's face it, in killing Steven, Jack essentially did the same thing he did in '65 - sacrifice for the greater good. Which is EXACTLY what Jack and Ianto had discussed moments before Ianto's death! Of course this time there are differences, he didn't find a child that "wouldn't be missed," he used a child that he himself would miss. (However, I do not think that child was his to sacrifice. For fucks sake his mother, Jack's daughter, was right there screaming her head off!) Yes, it was TORTURE to watch that scene. To watch Jack making that decision and then going through with it. He fucking killed his grandson! It was too much to handle. It seemed pointless that Ianto's death hadn't been enough to push Jack into finding another way. (Of course we learn later on that his death was meant to push Jack into something else entirely.)
My initial reactions to day 4 and 5 were that the writers had not only killed off one of now only three main characters - but stripped another of his true essence. I didn't think that Jack would EVER do something like that! In the past, Torchwood episodes almost always ended with some deus-ex-machina that allowed the characters to succeed without doing anything too morally reprehensible in the process. I expected something like that. I expected Jack to say "No way - I cant!" and use the kid's blood or hormones or something to make the transmission work. No doubt that's what would have happened if this were Doctor Who.
So I hated it. And I hated Jack. I hated the writers for putting him in that position and forcing ME to think about what I would have done in his place! But assuming that there were no gaping plot holes and this was really the only thing he could have done - did he do the right thing? One child, or millions? So many people have compared it to what the Doctor did to the Daleks and the Time Lords in destroying Gallifrey. The Doctor and Jack are both blessed and cursed with near-immortality. Their longevity forces them to look at the bigger picture and to make decisions that no one wants to make. I think if Jack does make an appearance on one of Ten's final Who episodes, he will be a more bitter and cynical man. Much like Nine. (Although I don't think that Jack's silly and flirtatious nature will ever go away - I think he will try to hide behind it.)
Now, this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the story. Holy fucking shit! The government taking away kids and plotting and double-crossing...I fucking loved it! I thought it was an amazingly challenging story to watch because it was really impossible to watch without saying "omg what would I do?!" I especially loved the part where they decide exactly which children would be taken. It was chilling.
I think, what it really comes down to is that I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the old Torchwood. I wanted a team of wise-cracking, campy misfits using alien technology to save the world all the while shooting off witty one-liners. I wasn't ready for a broken and devastated Jack, forced to carry on and brutally face the truth of his lonely existence. I think after losing Tosh and Owen, Ianto's death and Jack's departure would have been a lot easier to take if it had been fleshed out over a whole season. I think I would have preferred a brief return to the old Torchwood before reaching this inevitable conclusion. But...I think the story of Children of Earth worked perfectly as a mini-series and I guess there was no way to have both. Now, as for Torchwood season 4, I know that they haven't decided yet and of course this would work perfectly as an ending. I will continue to watch if they continue to make episodes, but I really don't think they can ever go back to the way it was before. The hub was destroyed, the SUV stolen, and 3/5 of the team dead. And more than that, the overall tone of the show HAS TO change because there's really no coming back from this. It felt very final.
So while I do very strongly wish that some things had turned out differently, I think that they chose to take the show down a new road and they did it very well.
AND as for the some of the fan reactions? WTF PEOPLE?! I am new to the DW and TW fandoms, but I am not new to fandom and unfortunately rude and threatening reactions are not new either. People are entitled to their opinions, of course, but its REALLY crossing the line to badmouth the writers. Ehem...ESPECIALLY to their faces! (I'm not saying that I didn't freak out and call RTD some very rude names, but I didn't post that on the internet OR where he or any TW writers could see it!)
Now ALL of that being said, I have a few more minor gripes that I wasn't able to work into actual paragraph form:
1. Ianto magically finding the EXACT SAME COAT that Jack had in like 2 hours. WTF.
2. Jack's wrist strap magically being intact after the hub was BLOWN TO PIECES!
3. Speaking of the hub being blown to pieces, there were quite a few important things down
there. Such as a SHIT TON of alien technology, several Weevils, and Jack's cryogenically frozen brother.
4. A lot has been said about all the homo hating that was thrown Ianto's way. I get it - he was coming to terms with his relationship in the real world, which is maybe not as accepting as the Torchwood hub. It did, however, feel VERY foreign and slightly forced on a show that's never taken any issue with it before. Also the fact that he DIED before really being able to react to that outside of Torchwood seemed a bit pointless. It's not like he needed to be called a queer by Clem in order to confess his dying love to Jack in a secluded room.
5. Also, Clem. The actor did a GREAT job and he was a really interesting character, but I have to admit I thought he would be put to better use. I mean I know he inadvertently showed them how to fight the 456, but I really though he might choose to act in some way that would help.
6. And in that vein, Dekker. WTF? He was just kind of...there. I really expected something more to come from him, especially after he seemed so obsessed with the 456's arrival in the beginning. Although I guess they were going for a more gritty sense of reality, and of course as Sirius Black once said, "The world isn't broken up into good people and Death Eaters." And it's not broken up into good people and bad people either...there will always be those in the middle that are only interested in themselves.
7. Lois telling Bridget how to use the contacts. Idk, maybe I was preoccupied with the whole Frobisher-killing-his-family thing at the time, but I didn't even get the SLIGHTEST sense that anything else had gone down in that cell.
Also, not to end on a bad note, a few more things that I loved:
1. LOIS. IS. AMAZING! I love her! I was a little annoyed that they didn't flesh out her story a little more at the end, but if Torchwood DOES come back, she'd better be a part of it!
2. At first I hated Frobisher killing his family, but of course there's no other escape. He's completely hopeless and its terrible to watch! And it's a nice juxtaposition to Jack's inability to EVER escape (especially in that particular manner). When the PM called him into his office, I knew what was going to go down and I loved every minute of it! (I think I, and most people, enjoy seeing characters in horribly difficult situations...but just not our beloved series regulars!)
3. On that subject, I LOVED (and hated) watching the government making their decisions! I love science fiction's ability to comment on modern day issues in a detached way, and this was really perfect. Their insistence to save their own children, and then choosing the children that wouldn't benefit society based on what schools they attended! Holy shit!
4. The aliens only wanting the children as drugs was BRILLIANT! It just added a completely new level of gruesome-ness to the whole situation.
And I think that's it! I have been able to think about nothing but Torchwood since I started Children of Earth, and hopefully this will have gotten all of that out of me. At least until I watch the series for the second time...