My way too in-depth analysis of...
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Deux ex Machina: literally "god from the machine," a plot device in which a person or thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.
Okay, I’ve been thinking about this for three days, and the more I think about it, the angrier I get. And I need to get out why.
CoE was well-acted, well-directed, and the dialogue was exceptionally well written. But overall the show was a disappointing failure, and here’s why I think so:
Just because a show manages to cause an intense emotional reaction doesn’t mean it’s good. That’s because there are certain dramatic conventions that are specifically designed to manipulate emotion on a basic level. CoE had several of these: Children in danger is the big one, and when they went so far as to actually kill children (incl. one very brutally on-screen) then they might as well have punched the viewer in the head. Other manipulative moments include Ianto’s death, of course, but also the raw and bloody body of Jack as he reconstituted, the images of people fist-fighting, explosions, pregnant women in danger (in fact, Gwen’s pregnancy itself), close-ups of eyes, and insects (which the aliens definitely were.) These things create an involuntary emotional reaction; it’s just basic human nature.
Anyone who’s had a few film courses knows that including these images will create a visceral impact in the audience. And if the professor is worth his salt, he’ll also tell his students they should be used sparingly, because they’re cheap and, well, manipulative.
But CoE layered them on, because (I’m convinced) Russell T. Davies wanted to end the show in an incredibly downbeat manner, probably because he thought it was more “serious” or “realistic.” And to do this, his characters had to act out-of-character, he had to totally change the premise and tone of the show, and he had to pull an ending straight out of his ass. So he kept his audience reeling, hoping they wouldn’t notice.
I could make a list of the many inconsistencies, but I’m sure any fan interested enough to follow internet fandom picked them up already, but it’s the ending that fills me with fangirl rage (and feel free to switch on the sarcasm tags here):
So, Jack has a daughter and a grandson. That we’ve never heard of before, even though he apparently had regular contact and was supporting them financially. And he loves them soooo much that we’ve not had the barest hint in two seasons that they existed. His daughter is played so one-note that we get no indication of her relationship with her “dad” whatsoever, and the grandson might as well have been played by a mannequin for all the character he showed. Seriously, did he even have any lines? But that doesn’t matter, because they only exist so that at the last minute Jack can magically divine how to defeat the aliens only by sacrificing his own grandchild to save millions of other children. And this so shatters him that he abandons Earth forever.
I call bullshit. As soon as they showed Jack rapidly typing random keys on the unlikely computers of world save-age, I thought, “they’re just gonna make some shit up, aren’t they.” And they did. With a large side order of child torture just to get the adrenaline pumping so I stopped thinking straight.
Jack coming up with the solution was a Deux ex Machina, just as much as if the Doctor had shown up and saved the day. Maybe even more so, because at least with the Doctor there’s a precedent. This was cheap, emotionally manipulative bullshit, something some amateur hack would put into a student film and get an average grade for. I have to question whether Davies ever had half the talent I thought he did, or if, like many TV producers, he was just lucky enough to surround himself with people much more skilled than himself.
And the worst thing is, I don’t know why he did it. He very deliberately destroyed a well-loved character and torpedoed a show with a loyal fanbase. It makes no fucking sense, financially or from an artistic standpoint. No wonder the BBC sat on this thing for almost a year. Davies handed them something that they could only market by misleading the fans into thinking it was the same show they knew and loved. Of course, that’s what they did, with their radio dramas and light-hearted interviews on the talk shows with the cast, but I think there may be collateral damage to the bottom line they have yet to see. I suspect DVD sales will be much lower than projected, and the secondary merchandise market (books, magazines, action figures) will dry up much sooner than other similar properties. I certainly do not envy the BBC and Steven Moffat having to spend the next year trying to rebuild goodwill around Doctor Who. (Because really, once a 10-year-old drops dead on the screen, parents will be understandably wary.)
We all know this will be debated until the fandom drops from exhaustion, but I wanted to get my argument laid out. So thanks for your attention.
Deux ex Machina: literally "god from the machine," a plot device in which a person or thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.
Okay, I’ve been thinking about this for three days, and the more I think about it, the angrier I get. And I need to get out why.
CoE was well-acted, well-directed, and the dialogue was exceptionally well written. But overall the show was a disappointing failure, and here’s why I think so:
Just because a show manages to cause an intense emotional reaction doesn’t mean it’s good. That’s because there are certain dramatic conventions that are specifically designed to manipulate emotion on a basic level. CoE had several of these: Children in danger is the big one, and when they went so far as to actually kill children (incl. one very brutally on-screen) then they might as well have punched the viewer in the head. Other manipulative moments include Ianto’s death, of course, but also the raw and bloody body of Jack as he reconstituted, the images of people fist-fighting, explosions, pregnant women in danger (in fact, Gwen’s pregnancy itself), close-ups of eyes, and insects (which the aliens definitely were.) These things create an involuntary emotional reaction; it’s just basic human nature.
Anyone who’s had a few film courses knows that including these images will create a visceral impact in the audience. And if the professor is worth his salt, he’ll also tell his students they should be used sparingly, because they’re cheap and, well, manipulative.
But CoE layered them on, because (I’m convinced) Russell T. Davies wanted to end the show in an incredibly downbeat manner, probably because he thought it was more “serious” or “realistic.” And to do this, his characters had to act out-of-character, he had to totally change the premise and tone of the show, and he had to pull an ending straight out of his ass. So he kept his audience reeling, hoping they wouldn’t notice.
I could make a list of the many inconsistencies, but I’m sure any fan interested enough to follow internet fandom picked them up already, but it’s the ending that fills me with fangirl rage (and feel free to switch on the sarcasm tags here):
So, Jack has a daughter and a grandson. That we’ve never heard of before, even though he apparently had regular contact and was supporting them financially. And he loves them soooo much that we’ve not had the barest hint in two seasons that they existed. His daughter is played so one-note that we get no indication of her relationship with her “dad” whatsoever, and the grandson might as well have been played by a mannequin for all the character he showed. Seriously, did he even have any lines? But that doesn’t matter, because they only exist so that at the last minute Jack can magically divine how to defeat the aliens only by sacrificing his own grandchild to save millions of other children. And this so shatters him that he abandons Earth forever.
I call bullshit. As soon as they showed Jack rapidly typing random keys on the unlikely computers of world save-age, I thought, “they’re just gonna make some shit up, aren’t they.” And they did. With a large side order of child torture just to get the adrenaline pumping so I stopped thinking straight.
Jack coming up with the solution was a Deux ex Machina, just as much as if the Doctor had shown up and saved the day. Maybe even more so, because at least with the Doctor there’s a precedent. This was cheap, emotionally manipulative bullshit, something some amateur hack would put into a student film and get an average grade for. I have to question whether Davies ever had half the talent I thought he did, or if, like many TV producers, he was just lucky enough to surround himself with people much more skilled than himself.
And the worst thing is, I don’t know why he did it. He very deliberately destroyed a well-loved character and torpedoed a show with a loyal fanbase. It makes no fucking sense, financially or from an artistic standpoint. No wonder the BBC sat on this thing for almost a year. Davies handed them something that they could only market by misleading the fans into thinking it was the same show they knew and loved. Of course, that’s what they did, with their radio dramas and light-hearted interviews on the talk shows with the cast, but I think there may be collateral damage to the bottom line they have yet to see. I suspect DVD sales will be much lower than projected, and the secondary merchandise market (books, magazines, action figures) will dry up much sooner than other similar properties. I certainly do not envy the BBC and Steven Moffat having to spend the next year trying to rebuild goodwill around Doctor Who. (Because really, once a 10-year-old drops dead on the screen, parents will be understandably wary.)
We all know this will be debated until the fandom drops from exhaustion, but I wanted to get my argument laid out. So thanks for your attention.