Torchwood again, now with moar thoughts.
Thursday, 17 January 2008 10:46![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
So I have had some hours for mulling Torchwood over a bit (and also for sleeping). Spoilers for ye ep and ye trailer.
The blowfish stopped to let the old woman cross the road! It made no sense but I loved it.
I did not like the "wife" joke, however. It was partially redeemed when Tosh joined in ("what? he's cute!") but it still made me a wee bit grumpy.
Speaking of Tosh I am not sure about Tosh/Owen because of how she is far too good for him. But I did like her little smile when he was talking about needing a woman he has something in common with. I am hoping that it was less "squee, he likes me!" than "he likes me, I'm going to have fun with this" and she is going to string him along and make him jump through hoops and stuff for her. That would be v. satisfying.
And then there is Gwen/Jack which I am not happy with. (erm I should clarify at this point that I enjoyed the episode immensely despite the fact that I am mostly talking about stuff I liked less.) I do not see their relationship as being romantic, though I love their friendship, except in a sort of general, Jack loves everyone and that is the wonder of him way. Plus having them be romantic simply because they are the male and female leads is silly and boring especially when they are better as friends. It is conventional and if Torchwood is going to be conventional what is the point of it? So. I liked Gwen's face when she was showing Jack the engagement ring. I have missed her faces! The "no-one else will have me" line sounded like she was trying to make a joke of it but it was actually too close to what she really thinks. Which is silly because she is great and so is Rhys, he is not a consolation prize! Also wasn't Jack very pro Gwen/Rhys last year? He seemed to be shipping them a bit. Well he was probably shipping Jack/Gwen/Rhys on general principles, to be honest. Anyway this point got long so I will talk about something else for a bit.
James Marsters! If I am honest I found Spike v. annoying from about Buffy season 5 onwards (particularly when he was on Angel), except when he was in the background being sarcastic, so I was rather worried, but he didn't annoy me, yay! He was rather fun.
Hee, the Ianto/Jack office scene was fun! Especially Jack asking Ianto out, very obviously Making An Effort, with Ianto rolling his eyes but also being quite pleased. Though the image of Jack and Ianto going to the pictures together is lollarious to me for some reason. Oh and the roof joke! Yay!
Is it weird that when John handcuffed himself to Gwen, my first thought was "why don't you just shoot him, cut his hand off, thus freeing Gwen, and then chuck his body in the rift?" He was going to die anyway and shooting is probably less hideous than exploding. Gwen would have had to wear the handcuffs for the rest of her life but... at least she'd've had a rest of her life. Their solution was better because everyone lived but that stuff about the DNA was rubbish, right? Just checking.
They really have learned from last year's mistakes, haven't they? The team was nearly competent this episode. By which I mean they didn't kill anyone. And they were working together pretty well, too. One of the problems with the first season was the fact that they didn't really establish the format before they started breaking it - we knew that they're a sekrit alien hunting organisation, but only because we'd seen the trailers. They really needed a few episodes towards the beginning in which Torchwood work out that something's amiss, they investigate, they have a plan, they save the day, VISIT SUNNY CARDIFF, the end. The only episode that really did this was Combat and that was right at the end. So Torchwood messing up quickly looked like the norm rather than the exception. But the way they were with each other this episode began to make me believe that they are actually all right at the whole saving the day malarkey, most of the time. Also the little scene in the taxi was great for establishing that they are actually friends, which was nice.
AND! yay for Martha in the trailer, she is marve. And it looks like Captain John will be back? Or was that a line from this episode? Is my short term memory really that bad?
Erm I appear to have gone on a bit. Sorry about that. I will stop now.
The blowfish stopped to let the old woman cross the road! It made no sense but I loved it.
I did not like the "wife" joke, however. It was partially redeemed when Tosh joined in ("what? he's cute!") but it still made me a wee bit grumpy.
Speaking of Tosh I am not sure about Tosh/Owen because of how she is far too good for him. But I did like her little smile when he was talking about needing a woman he has something in common with. I am hoping that it was less "squee, he likes me!" than "he likes me, I'm going to have fun with this" and she is going to string him along and make him jump through hoops and stuff for her. That would be v. satisfying.
And then there is Gwen/Jack which I am not happy with. (erm I should clarify at this point that I enjoyed the episode immensely despite the fact that I am mostly talking about stuff I liked less.) I do not see their relationship as being romantic, though I love their friendship, except in a sort of general, Jack loves everyone and that is the wonder of him way. Plus having them be romantic simply because they are the male and female leads is silly and boring especially when they are better as friends. It is conventional and if Torchwood is going to be conventional what is the point of it? So. I liked Gwen's face when she was showing Jack the engagement ring. I have missed her faces! The "no-one else will have me" line sounded like she was trying to make a joke of it but it was actually too close to what she really thinks. Which is silly because she is great and so is Rhys, he is not a consolation prize! Also wasn't Jack very pro Gwen/Rhys last year? He seemed to be shipping them a bit. Well he was probably shipping Jack/Gwen/Rhys on general principles, to be honest. Anyway this point got long so I will talk about something else for a bit.
James Marsters! If I am honest I found Spike v. annoying from about Buffy season 5 onwards (particularly when he was on Angel), except when he was in the background being sarcastic, so I was rather worried, but he didn't annoy me, yay! He was rather fun.
Hee, the Ianto/Jack office scene was fun! Especially Jack asking Ianto out, very obviously Making An Effort, with Ianto rolling his eyes but also being quite pleased. Though the image of Jack and Ianto going to the pictures together is lollarious to me for some reason. Oh and the roof joke! Yay!
Is it weird that when John handcuffed himself to Gwen, my first thought was "why don't you just shoot him, cut his hand off, thus freeing Gwen, and then chuck his body in the rift?" He was going to die anyway and shooting is probably less hideous than exploding. Gwen would have had to wear the handcuffs for the rest of her life but... at least she'd've had a rest of her life. Their solution was better because everyone lived but that stuff about the DNA was rubbish, right? Just checking.
They really have learned from last year's mistakes, haven't they? The team was nearly competent this episode. By which I mean they didn't kill anyone. And they were working together pretty well, too. One of the problems with the first season was the fact that they didn't really establish the format before they started breaking it - we knew that they're a sekrit alien hunting organisation, but only because we'd seen the trailers. They really needed a few episodes towards the beginning in which Torchwood work out that something's amiss, they investigate, they have a plan, they save the day, VISIT SUNNY CARDIFF, the end. The only episode that really did this was Combat and that was right at the end. So Torchwood messing up quickly looked like the norm rather than the exception. But the way they were with each other this episode began to make me believe that they are actually all right at the whole saving the day malarkey, most of the time. Also the little scene in the taxi was great for establishing that they are actually friends, which was nice.
AND! yay for Martha in the trailer, she is marve. And it looks like Captain John will be back? Or was that a line from this episode? Is my short term memory really that bad?
Erm I appear to have gone on a bit. Sorry about that. I will stop now.
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no subject
Date: 17 Jan 2008 16:58 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Jan 2008 17:36 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Jan 2008 19:34 (UTC)I know. DAMN YOO CHIBNALL, DAMN YOOOOO! No one buys it, ffs. I'm totally with you that bossy-best-friend!Gwen wins, but just shipping your leads because is lazy story telling. Likewise Owen and Tosh, although if this is the start of new improved grown up Owen it might not be too bad.
I must admit, I was a teeny bit disappointed with Ianto and Jack's scene in the office. I didn't like Ianto acting like, well, a teenage girl in front of their sixth form crush. I'd heard about this scene and I'd been hoping Ianto would tell Jack to get stuffed so they could be angsty at each other for a bit then get it together sometime mid-season (because angsty Ianto is teh hawt). OTOH, the idea of them being a Proper Couple(tm) is terribly sweet, and I did still squee. Brokeback Mountain esque post-coital cuddling scenes, plz? Oh, and "eye candy"... I lolled.
Yes, the bit about the DNA was horrible, horrible bad science (and again with the Damn yoo, Chibnall!). Which is odd, because they got it mostly right last season. They need a science editor. I voluteer (but only if I can find a scientifically sound reason to get Ianto nekkid >:)
Other than that, HUZZAH for mostly competent Torchwood! Well, if we ignore Gwen's Classic Horror Movie Mistake (no, don't let the shifty guy out of your sight and bend down!)
Definite potential. Will be good to see what writers other than Monkey-Fists Chibnall do with it.
no subject
Date: 18 Jan 2008 14:43 (UTC)Indeed. Especially since Gwen is one of a very small number of people who have no chemistry with Jack. (Did you see that RTD interview in which he said that if you put a man and a woman of the same age on screen together you're telling a love story? *headdesk*)
I hope you are right about Owen - I think he's a good character, so it would be nice if I could like him as well!
The office scene made me happy just because I prefer sweet and sarcastic to angsty. The eye-candy bit was great, yes.
Yeah, very positive start altogether, if even Chibbers can get this much right, I look forward to seeing what the other writers can do!
no subject
Date: 18 Jan 2008 20:32 (UTC)For real? Dear gods. So much for challenging stereotype...
Actually, that's something else that bugged me but took me a while to put my finger on - Jack asks Ianto out after he finds out about Gwen being engaged. Consolation prize much? I hope, hope, hope that's misdirection because I'd actually rather see Ianto and Jack not get back together than Ianto being second best.
no subject
Date: 21 Jan 2008 13:09 (UTC)The whole article is here, it's from the Daily Mail though so caveat lector.
I'm assuming for the moment that Jack wants both Ianto and Gwen since he's Jack - he just happened to be alone with Gwen first. Also he backed off from Gwen pretty quickly. But if it becomes a pattern I will not be happy.