Torchwood ends; Sarah Jane Adventures start

[selenak]

Day of the Who spin-offs, clearly. Yesterday, I mean, though today for the non-Brits among us.



Captain Jack Harkness, by the same writer, if I'm not mistaken, who penned the excellent Out of Time, continued the trend of episodes wherein I care about Jack. Which, sorry to say, wasn't the case for the majority of the season; I had some benevolent feelings from Dr. Who, but until Out of Time, I didn't find Jack on Torchwood very interesting. I'm still trying to figure out whether JB's acting or the writing for the character improved, or both. In either case: considering he's the lead, the result was good to see.

Real!Jack cleared up the matter whether Our Jack pinched the name or not (of course he did), and, like John in "Out of Time", was a moving one-shot character, and I thought that Our Jack, aside from responding to the attraction, saw something of his past self during the "Parting of the Ways" era in him, going of to a heroic death, goodbye kiss and all. Good period detail in making Toshiko being Japanese getting the reactions it would in WWII. Billis (Bilgis?) made it obvious these people are Buffy fans: Joel Grey's Doc character revisited, down to the look. Jack's nome de plume - Harper - was interesting in the light of Owen. Who continued to go to self-and-others-destructive pieces in the Diane aftermath. All in all, Owen's the character who had the most clearly defined arc through the season and the most consistent writing, too. (Gwen, who got more screentime, was written far more inconsistently. Jack, see above. Ianto and Toshiko spent entire episodes doing not much more than reaction shots or one or two lines.) In retrospect, his reaction in The Ghost Machine prefigures his actions in the last third of the season pretty well.

Sidenote: I wonder whether Jack/Ianto 'shippers are crushed, despite getting an on screen kiss in "End of Days"? Because Ianto basically gets dumped twice. Once when Our Jack tells Real!Jack "there is no one" in "Captain Jack Harkness" (meaning Ianto = no one), and the other time when Jack tells Gwen the only thing which would have tempted him would have been "the right kind of Doctor", and upon hearing the TARDIS races off beaming, which at best makes Ianto Mickey in "Rose" to Jack's Rose, emotionally.

(BTW, I've got some third/twentyninth season Dr. Who speculation, but as it contains a casting spoiler, I'll put it below where people who don't want to know about castings can avoid it.)

End of Days was solid suspense, and the breakdown of the Torchwood team, picking up on all their various issues, losses etc., was very credible. And boy, is RTD ever an ex-Catholic. (JMS is too, and Babylon 5 shows it rather creatively and, imo of course a bit more layered.) Jack dies for humanity, rises after three days and forgives his doubting and/or betraying disciples, and then rises to the heavens. (Does that make Gwen Mary Magdalene - the first one to see him - and Ianto John or Peter, with Owen as Judas-who-gets-forgiven? Must resist urge to filk Jesus Christ Superstar with this in mind.) Um. Though considering Chip C. wrote the episode and he, not RTD, is the headwriter of the show, perhaps it's an unfair remark. Anyway, the one thing I hoped would not happen did - they went for the kiss-then-resurrection scene. Now, I know it's a powerful archetype. But after the Matrix films used it repeatedly, it should be banned from fantasy and sci fi for a while. Speaking of resurrections, why the hell is Rhys alive again? Not that I don't like Rhys (poor Rhys), but I'm trying to work out the logistics. Beast dies from life overdose by Jack, rift is closed, fine, but Rhys was killed by Billis/Bilgis, not by the rift. Other than that, I liked the finale, enough to tune in again next season.

Now, regarding Jack on Dr. Who and the last scene of Torchwood, season 1. Confirmed casting spoiler and one casting speculation follows, so if you want want to read, skip.

It's mostly

speculation

anyway,

but:

According the the preliminary episode list the BBC put up, Jack won't show up until the last three episodes of season 3/29, but he is confirmed for those. All we know about the timing of Torchwood's first season is that it has to take place after the season 2 finale; for all we know the start of these last three episodes of the next Who season could coincide with the end of Torchwood's first season. However, there is the persistant rumour - which RTD has denied once, but which keeps resurfacing - that the Rani might show up in s3/29. (For New Whovians: the Rani is an Old School villain, a timelady... with a TARDIS of her own.) And the Doctor at last mentioning Gallifrey by name in Runaway Bride might be a hint. If the Rani rumour isn't completely wrong, it might be that Jack just jumped into the wrong TARDIS, from which he he'll have to get away from and won't until those last three episodes.


The Sarah Jane Adventures started with a fun pilot. Wherein we learn that coke bubbly drink with unknown components are evil, and so are overly cheerful advertisements, but mobile phones are good.*g* Also, Sarah Jane clearly has observed Three, Three being the most gadget-happy of Doctors, very closely, and RTD wants to make up for the Ambiguous-turning-Evil Alien from Greeks Bearing Gifts on Torchwood by presenting us with a peaceful member of the same species being charming with Sarah. Samantha Bond as Mrs. Wormwood clearly had a great time being an Evil Overlady, Elisabeth Sladen is wonderful as ever as SJS, and the two (three, depending on how much Kelsie will be present) teenage actors sell their characters. Surprisingly ambiguous take on motherhood which prevents it from being presented as the solution to everything (or conversely as only evil): it's shown both all consuming (our villainess), absent (Maria's mother) and caring (Sarah Jane), with Sarah adopting the mother/aunt role after the kid(s) adopted her.

My favourite detail: Sarah Jane, looking for male names, goes through "Harry" and "Alistair" first before settling on Luke. Aw, Harry. Awwww, Brigadier. You're not forgotten, chaps!

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Bilis Manger - we see it on a nameplate. Many anagrams have been generated trying to work out his significance, though it's also been suggested that the name merely means "eating bile". Or (my favourite) "Billie Piper's Manager". I thought he looked a little like Owen, and wondered whether Owen would disappear and spend fifty years messing around in the rift looking for Diane before concluding that opening it completely was the only solution. But it didn't seem to be that. I was quite relieved, anyway, as I'd begun to suspect over the previous couple of episodes that they were building up to killing off Owen who, despite his ghastly start, turned out to be my main reason to watch.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

LOL about the Billie's Manager thing. Re: Owen, I definitely see him as the most interesting of the characters. (londonkds won't speak to me now.) But I was somewhat afraid for his life as well...

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Sidenote: I wonder whether Jack/Ianto 'shippers are crushed, despite getting an on screen kiss in "End of Days"? Because Ianto basically gets dumped twice. Once when Our Jack tells Real!Jack "there is no one" in "Captain Jack Harkness" (meaning Ianto = no one), and the other time when Jack tells Gwen the only thing which would have tempted him would have been "the right kind of Doctor", and upon hearing the TARDIS races off beaming, which at best makes Ianto Mickey in "Rose" to Jack's Rose, emotionally.

Not at all. I can't speak for all the Jack/Ianto 'shippers, but as a gay man, I can say that rules as far as monogamousness are a bit more fluid, for most gay men at least, not to mention the fact that Jack isn't the type of person to be monagmous, anyway. ;-)

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

P.S. "Not at all" meaning I'm not crushed, because I never expected Jack to be in love with Ianto. As far as Ianto being Mickey-ish, in that respect, you have a point. :-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And you have a point about Jack, though I wasn't actually referring to him being willing to have sex with Real Jack (of course he would), but to the fact he didn't say "there is someone" (well, perhaps he didn't want to go through the trouble of explaining he's not monogamous...), and well, the Mickey effect in the very last scene.*g*

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is quite realistic as far as gay relationships between a "virgin" (at least "gay virgin") and an experienced guy go. The "virgin" will often fall head over heels in love with the first guy he has sex with, and the experienced guy may like him, very much even, but sees it as more fun and casual than a Big Romance. I speak from experience, having been in both roles! I know gay guys who will not have sex with virgins because of the latching on that happens. It's probably similar between a female virgin and an experienced man, but I haven't ever heard of a straight man refusing to have sex with a virgin! Anyway, there's no evidence that this actually is Ianto's first gay relationship, but the dynamics are similar to say, the young Nathan falling head over heels in love with Allan Jones after they had sex, in the first episode of RTD's Queer as Folk, as well as Justin and Brian in the US counterpart. In both cases, the older guy (Allan or Brian) continues to sleep around, while the younger guy (Nathan or Justin) pines.

On a slightly separate issue, although I like Jack and Ianto as a couple, I'm a little curious as to how Ianto went from detesting him and what he made him do to his girlfriend in Cyberwoman to having a sexual relationship with him. I like Ianto as a character, and sometimes I find it frustrating that the writers make it hard to figure out what's going on in his head. I could say that about Gwen and Tosh, too, though. I don't have any qualms about Jack's character development anymore after the last bunch of eps. I am curious to rewatch the season, though, to see if there are any more subtle things I might be missing, particularly about Ianto's arc.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Allan Jones

Stuart Alan Jones!

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

OMG! Right! D'oh! It's been so long since I've seen the original show!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Oi! I find Owen a very interesting character in an "unstable, dangerous little creep" way - I got a rep as the Warren Meers BNF, remember ;-). I'm annoyed by the minority of idealising fangirls that characters like that always seem to pick up, but not enough to stop me highly watchable.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

"Billie's Manager", of course!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I said it elsewhere, but I think that Jack/Ianto makes most sense if you read it that they were already having an affair while Ianto was keeping Lisa in the cellar. It explains why Jack had such an emotional meltdown in Cyberwoman, and why Ianto is having sex with him after that. It makes Ianto weirdly emotionally mercurial, but you could say the same about Gwen bouncing around emotionally between Rhys, Owen and Jack for most of the series.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I think the writing from Random Shoes on is heads above every earlier ep except Ghost Machine and maybe Everything Changes. Sorry, but I really don't like Chris Chibnall's work even though he's supposedly the head writer.

Re Invasion of the Bane: the Bubble Pop thing is based quite transparently on a UK scandal a few years ago over a drink called Sunny Delight which was promoted and packaged in such a way as to make unwary people think that it was budget orange juice while actually being artificial crud. The row reached its high-point when a young girl allegedly turned orange from drinking too much of it due to the colouring ingredient.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that interpretation! That makes a lot more sense. It fits into Jack's flirting with him in the pilot, as well as better explains both of their behaviors in Cyberwoman, not to mention the kiss in that episode.

P.S.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, Jack's kissing Ianto, when he had just held out his hand to shake, was a nice parallel to Jack's telling the other Jack to give his girl a kiss, regardless of the fact that that Jack didn't consider her a "somebody" to be with, just as our Jack thinks of Ianto. So he was taking his own advice at the end, giving something to the person who loves him, even if he may not feel that way to the same degree in return. One wonders if he has a vague premonition that he's going to be leaving soon, too, as the original Jack did.

Re: P.S.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

as the original Jack did.

As the original Jack left, that is, not have a premonition, which he didn't. *g*

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Oh, and PS:

Did you not notice that Sarah clearly has Orac in her attic, now going by the pseudonym of "Mr Smith". One can only assume that he created a time tunnel and fled down it after Servalan insisted on flirting with him once too often.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*g* Agreed on Owen and Warren being long lost twin brothers, and yes, both interesting. I promise not to call either one a woobie, ever.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Chibnall: I did like his Life on Mars episode, so I was somewhat disappointed by his efforts here...

the Bubble Pop thing is based quite transparently on a UK scandal

...Good lord, as Giles would say. *cleans glasses*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did. So that's what became of him after Gauda Prime! It shall now be my personal fanon.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised Sarah Jane didn't say "Kyle", since Luke is such a rip-off of Kyle XY (http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0756509/). Overall I hated the SJA, although I was mildly amused by seeing Nathan from QaF again.

[g_shadowslayer]

Don't know about the rest of the name, but Bilis = Iblis, who tempts humans by whispering sinful ideas and suggestions to them. In this case, tempting the team to open the rift to let the Beast out. I hadn't twigged onto this when I watched it, but it struck me this afternoon when I was thinking about what each team member was tempted with, and then it was so obvious :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It really does fit.

*is frivolous enough to still like "Billie's Manager" as well *g**

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*checks credits*

So that's what became of Agent Krycheck, hm?

[g_shadowslayer]

*grin* I do too, actually.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

I think Rhys wasn't dead because it was only a vision who got killed - we know some of Billis's visions were solid because Owen was able to touch Diana. And Gwen seemed to think it was just a vision because she stated they had all seen visions of their loved ones - if her Rhys had only been the real Rhys that wouldn't have been true. Or you could just wank it as 'magic', which covers all bases :oD

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Solid vision! You know, that never occured to me, and it makes so much sense...

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Oh, and to answer your question, as a Jack/Ianto shipper I left the ep very happy. But the way I ship this show doesn't rely on anyone having a single relationship to the exclusion of others because I think that goes entirely against the ethos of the show which is all about multiple relationships and different kinds of love.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Well the only problem with the theory is that the scene where Billis actually stabs him has no-one else watching... Oh no, hang on, there could be CCTV so scrap that. Yes, right, the explanation holds up. That's alright then.