Torchwood Rewatch: 1x01 Everything Changes

[lefaym]

Episode: 1x01 Everything Changes
Writer: Russell T. Davies
Director: Brian Kelly

This review contains spoilers for everything aired, up to and including Children of Earth.OMG, I ENJOYED THAT SO FUCKING MUCH. SERIOUSLY. GWEN LOOKED SO CUTE AND INNOCENT IN HER POLICE OUTFIT. JACK’S COAT WAS SWISHY. RHYS WAS LOVELY. JACK HAS A SHINY SMILE. AND

Comments

[lucy_locket]

she says, “Forgive me, go on forgive me, say you forgive me.” She uses almost the exact same words in Combat, after she confesses her affair with Owen; I thought that was a nice bit of foreshadowing

I noticed the same thing too while rewatching a few months ago. Makes it seem like a running thing with them - which says a lot to me about why she retconned him in Combat. All those other times he forgives her easily, and somewhere in her messed up head she needs to hear him say the words even if he forgets afterwards.

[lefaym]

Yeah-- well, it the one time that she can't be sure of his forgiveness. And in the end, she still never knows if he would have given it or not.

[used_songs]

I was a lot more forgiving of what Gwen did to Rhys in Combat after I rewatched this episode and realized that she had said those words before. It made them much more painful ... but I could understand where she was coming from a bit better (and what she was trying to get back to).

[lefaym]

Yeah, it's interesting that that's referred back to in The Sin Eaters as well, when Gwen sees that couple cheating on each other all the time and says to Rhys, "If we ever get like that, then please wipe my memory so we can start again." Again, it's the theme of getting back to where they started.

[justinej]

Gwen was my way in I suppose. I didn't notice Ianto at all until Season 2. However, really, Jack was my way in because he was my link to Dr Who which was why I started watching TW in the first place. I love Gwen and always have done. But, I love all the characters. Jack the least I think because they write him so bloody badly.

[lefaym]

Yeah, I think RTD put together a really good ensemble of characters there. Eve Myles really does do a stunning performance every time though. As for Jack... yeah, he's badly written sometimes, but I love the cheesiness of it all. :)

[verasteine]

Word. Yes. I watched them out of order (series 2, then series 1), but I was pulled in by Ianto's mystery (knowing what he was to become) and I adored Indira Varma's acting (as I have done in subsequent works of hers as well).

Can't wait for your next review. Wonder what you'll do with our sex alien :).

[lefaym]

What else have you seen Indira Varma in? I'd love to see what she's done elsewhere.

I am looking forward to the sex alien greatly. :) People often cite Day One (the REAL Day One) as an example of all that is bad about TW S1, but I think a lot of really interesting things happen there nonetheless.

[verasteine]

She was in Bones, one time, which was a bit too predictable for my tastes, but she was awesome in this thing that Matt Smith did a few months back. I utterly hated the show and never finished watching it, but her performance in it was so fabulous that she still stands out, and she wasn't a lead. It was called, hang on, "Moses Jones".

[phaetonschariot]

Oh, I downloaded that to icon, and watched the first part and couldn't follow what the fuck was going on. Doesn't help that I have bad facial recognition and find it hard to follow lots of talking without subtitles (Torchwood is better for this, most of the main characters have pretty distinctive speaking styles).

[jo02]

I've JUST finished re-watching!
My thoughts in no particular order ...
Jack is so shiny and clean-cut and gorgeous (I never hated that tan jacket like everyone else did).
I always smile at the contraceptives in the rain monologue because, I would have come to Torchwood about 2 months earlier than I did but on the previous 2 attempts at watching I just couldn't get past that spot because I hated that speech so much. On the third attempt I literally forced myself through that speech, because like you I was so desperate for something new in the Whoniverse. I can't remember why now, but much as I adored Jack in Who I had no interest in watching Torchwood because I'd had bad experiences with spinoffs over the years. It still scares me shitless that I may never have come to the show that has changed my life more than any other, except perhaps the original Star Trek, and never would have if my best friend beaususan hadn't handed me her discs one day and said watch this, because I would never have sourced it myself

[lefaym]

Jack on his own in Doctor Who wasn't quite enough to make me want to run out and watch Torchwood. I didn't watch it when it first aired here on Ten -- I was doing something else on Monday nights at the time, although I had a friend who was taping it, so if I'd been really determined, I could have seen it. A different friend of mine watched part of Everything Changes and was put off by the first Weevil sighting-- she said it just seemed stupid, and not good stupid. But then about six months later a bunch of people started telling me that I needed to watch it, so I ended up buying S1 on DVD cold.

Random Shoes is one of my favourite episodes and it is practically ALL Gwen.

I like that episode too-- not my favourite, but I like it. Most of fandom seems to really hate it though. I'm looking forward to doing it on the re-watch though.

after the heartbreak and disconnect of CoE, I found that I loved this episode.Yup, I know exactly what you mean -- the utter travesty that was CoE bring all the awesome things about the first two

[used_songs]

I liked Random Shoes, too. I enjoyed getting a bit of the outsider's POV on aliens and Torchwood. And it really brought home the idea that any crime investigation (for the most part) is too late, it's after the fact.

[lefaym]

Yeah-- I think the other really important thing that Random Shoes does is provide a more uplifting view of death, after the utterly desolate view in TKKS. I think it plays a really important role in giving the series some balance -- balance that was sorely lacking in CoE.

[fmanalyst]

Ianto as doorkeeper -- I think you're onto something here. It's a different kind of entry point than the newbie character. The doorkeeper controls who enters and who doesn't.

[lefaym]

Yeah, I'd never really seen it that way before, but since I'd been thinking so much since CoE about the way that Ianto has always been my access point for Torchwood, the symbolism of it really struck me this time around.

[fmanalyst]

A friend of mine who wrote her dissertation on medieval dream visions (Think Dante) is interested in how the dream vision developed into the magical portal story. Hmm, the more I think about this, I think you're onto something in terms of the genre switch. I need to think about this idea.

[lefaym]

That sounds like a fascinating disseration. Did she ever publish any of it? I think that the strong theme of death means that it's not implausible to think of Gwen's entry into Torchwood as a type of descent into the Underworld. (Hmmm... Gwen as Persephone and Jack as Hades? Gwen as one who can move between the two worlds, spending half her time in each?)

Let me know if you have any more thoughts on the genre-switch thing!