Just a stream of consciousness rant as I watched the newest episode of TORCHWOOD. I swear, this a becoming a Saturday morning staple around the Cave. The only thing that would make it more perfect would be if Admiral Fluffy was here to watch it with me. He was a big fan of Captain Jack.
I hope that Fluffy is on a mission with someone like the Doctor or the Face of Bo. But if that was true the Doctor would have brought him back days ago or came to told me if some stinkin' Cyberman got him. That's what it was. Mormon Cybermen stole my kitty! I am not impressed Joseph Smith!
So as you might expect there are spoilers aplenty so only read on if you have seen the episode yourself. I would be interested in your opinions as always.
Gwen Copper's speech to the camp Doctor about the 'truth of the camps' was magnificent. She has a way of shaking the evil lose when she gets all honest and focused. The implications of the camps being places for exterminations are horrific. Glad to see that the writers found a way to replicate that same sick feeling I got when I leaned of the reason why the aliens wanted the children in the last Torchwood series 'Children of the Earth'. I say that as an viewer who appreciates the emotional experience of watching such a cool show as this.
"There will be hell to pay Reese Williams. Hell TO PAY!"
Way to be Gwen's GO TO guy Reese. Always gets the job done.
Jack gathering his troops by recruiting Janet. I love that Jack is suddenly a technobadass and just as good a negotiator as he is an action hero. Plus watching him flirt with waiters is delicious.
"We can sit here and drink appletinis and talk about men all night or we can go get the bastard." - Captain Jack Harkness
Ernie Hudson is magnificent with his business sense - his way to see patterns in the system is some fine acting and writing. His explanation of the SCALE of what we are involved with...markets, politics, industry all twisted together for a yet unrevealed reason - very smart storytelling. You can see how unwittingly, many many people are helping move an agenda along without ever realizing they are doing it. It's just business as usual. That is very frightening when you think of the real world implications of such an idea. Ernie has the heft as an actor to add gravitas to the explanation of how serious the situation truly was.
This is the brilliance of 'TORCHWOOD'. The complex storytelling where all of these little juicy tidbits have been worked out and inserted to really reward a person who sticks with it from week to week. It's all the conspiracy snack bites that I love the most. You want the uncovering and eventual destruction and dismantling of the cabal behind everything to be slow and epic so the eventual payoff is even more satisfying.
Golf carts? Concentration camp golf carts? I loved that feature.
PEN TORTURE...STOP WITH THE PEN TORTURE! GAH!
EYE GOUGING...ENOUGH WITH THE EYE GOUGING!
That's what you get when you fuck with TORCHWOOD bitch...you get your shit choked out! CHOKED OUT!
The look in the cleaning woman's eyes shows how this will end - with a massive protest against the inhumanity of this new world by ordinary people. The cold, pragmatic arm of Corporate, profit driven authority versus the basic decency of humanity.
Gwen has got her father out...now she will deal with the camp who threatened to kill him. Woe be to them all! THAT'S MY BEST GIRL!!!! And then that grin as she tears away on the motorcycle. MAGNIFICENT!
The personal story arcs of each character are really interesting. Ester (Alexa Havins) becoming less naive as she grows up and becomes more of a realist. It will be fun to see her become less of a shrinking violet...now that she has been tossed into a swimming pool from a great height and sorta almost kinda killed a man.
Oh Gwen will bring you Jack. She will bring you just what you asked for and you will regret it to your dying breaths ya child stealing Phicorp bastards. You and your unknown masters will be getting the ass kicking you deserve. I hope the reason for making humanity immortal isn't something stupid like raising an army of undying foot soldiers by some alien race.
I was also glad to see NO Oswald Daines in this episode. Bill Pullman skeeves me out and he always has. His acting delivery is very choppy and off-putting. I don't like his acting at all. I also don't find his story arc as interesting because I can't see his connection to all this 'Miracle Day' stuff yet. I just hope this doesn't mean that there will be an ALL Oswald episode coming up soon.
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12 comments:
I've lost my patience with Torchwood this season. The narrative drags from lazy writing that's the opposite of Children of Earth and the CIA team that displaced Jack/Gwen as the spotlight characters are insufferably incompetent. Jack has nothing to do, Gwen is more action hero than "heart of the team", and after 6 episodes we still have next to no substantive revelations on the big bad behind the Miracle. Highlight of the show is Bill Pullman's mesmerizing depiction of veiled evil and -- very briefly-- the grotesque camp administrator Dr. Mahoney.
The only part of Episode 6 that'll stay with me is Gwen telling Dr. Patel, "Don't you dare call yourself a doctor."
As of this week, I'm watching more out of obligation than enjoyment.
I´ll be watching episode V tonight, so I didn´t read the whole post. So far, I don´t feel comfortable with Torchwood coming to America. There was a particular charm of the original series happening mostly at Cardiff.
Please tell me you are kidding. I think this season is just as good if not better than Children of Earth was. And of course there is no big revelation on who the big bad is. They still have almost half the series to go. How would they drag out 4 more episodes if they give it all away now?
I loved the Cardiff setting too. You can't beat the HUB for a cave of cool. But with new cast members a new setting. I just want it to be something just as iconic. But of course that can't happen until Torchwood is no longer disavowed.
I am lovin' this season. Weird to watch it one week at a time instead of in whole seasons.
You don't reveal everything. You make incremental reveals that escalate the urgency of the mystery. Children of Earth did this. Miracle Day hasn't. The healthcare system impact / response has been great concept writing, but the driving mystery is just treading water. And I'll say again, the CIA ppl are incompetent and Jack (who DEFINES Torchwood) has been sidelined.
You will come around. I am sure of it. You are just being moody.
I would like to see Gwen go on a rant about the Doctor who is strangely always absent when the shit is going down for Torchwood.
Gwen has no love for the Doctor. He has failed to inspire her in ways that he has inspired most everyone he has come into contact with. I would love to see that confrontation.
I'm not being moody. I'm holding it to its own standards set by Children of Earth. It's very difficult to give Miracle Day high marks when my slate is filled with other shows that excel at storytelling: White Collar, Burn Notice, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Fringe, and most of all Breaking Bad. Nothing else on TV builds tension, suspense, character conflict and intrigue like Breaking Bad. It's the gold standard, a study in when the execution matches the ambition. By the same metrics, Miracle Day falls far short.
I am with you on FRINGE and BURN NOTICE. I am saving many of those others for when they end and I can watch the entire series in one shot. I especially feel that way about SUPERNATURAL which I found very hard to access.
Oh and I appreciate the way you stand up for your opinion of Torchwood. I do cut the show a lot of slack. I started my time in the Whoniverse with Torchwood. Jack and Gwen and Ionto. So I am prepared to wait for the sweet payoff that I know is coming. Keep watching, keep complaining and lets hope we are both happy with the season when it finishes.
'Children of the Earth' is the like the 'Lord of the Rings' of science fiction television. Nothing could ever match it's impact or staying power. It was a treat to get to watch it in a way that is rare in this life.
Ooh, I didn't realize Supernatural was on your queue of Shows To Watch. In that case, I'd say now is about as good a time as any to start watching. You see, Eric Kripke started it with pre-planned multi-year mythology arc that they actually wrapped up after Season 5 a year ago. And it was an amazing conclusion, probably the most satisfying I've ever seen for a TV show. But when CW decided to renew it, Kripke left his longtime partners in charge of the show to pursue other projects.. As a result, the "series" finale in Season 5 left a little opening at the end of the episode to allow for continuing the story of the brothers into Season 6 and beyond. And that makes Season 6 and these new stories not "Kripke's canon."
What I'm recommending is you watch Eric Kripke's Supernatural-- the first five years of the show-- all the way until the finale 5-10 secs of the S05 finale. This way you have the wholly self-contained 5 year saga of the Winchester brothers as originally conceived by the showrunner. It's a rare thing to see a show be allowed to play out a pre-conceived mythology to the very end. Basically, the glorious opposite of the worst-case scenario that happened to Firefly/Dollhouse.
Afterwards, treat the new seasons like the Expanded Universe of Star Wars. It's not the original, but it's our heroes on new adventures, like a bonus. Watch those at your leisure, but don't make it a priority.
It's killing me there are only going to be 10 episodes. I WANT MORE........LOL. So hard to live without Capt. Jack and Gwen. Mainly Capt. Jack......LOL. Love the blog and LOVE Torchwood!
I have found that with these British shows that less is MORE. They don't put much filler into these seasons - just zoom zoom zoom to the action and adventure.
Thanks for finally commenting.
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