Torchwood 2.10

[selenak]

Huh.



Seriously, I can't help suspecting P.J. Hammond wrote this one last season in addition to his episode with the fairies, and they just updated it a bit with the reference to Owen's state of being. Because otherwise, it feels very much like early first season; Ianto looks emo, there are references to bits of Jack's Man Of Mystery past that ultimately don't amount to anything, the team interaction feels generic and bland rather than having the sparkle and uniqueness about each character it had in all the other episodes this season, and there is a depressing ending.

(The one exception to the blandness is when they're watching the circus clips, Gwen teases Jack about doing standup and Jack and Owen have that freak show exchange. But that's it.)

It's not a boring episode - Hammond brings on the creepy reliably - but imo it misses out so many opportunities that could have made it into something better. For example - Jack never talks to the travelling show people. Given that he knew them personally, given that he fondly reminisces about two of them (not the Night Travellers, of course!) when they're watching the clips, how much more poignant would it have been if those two always arguing wrestlers/clowns he spoke fondly of at the end had been begging him to keep them alive and ask him why they can't stay if he is also there, out of his time? Or: that promising beginning with Gwen, Ianto and Owen going out together. Now that's a team-up we haven't seen often (though of course each of them have interacted with each other). It could have been both fun and interesting if they, instead of Jack and Ianto, had been the main team to solve the mystery in this episode. We could have seen more than just snippets of Gwen and Ianto interaction (though said snippets demonstrate yet again that as opposed to fanon, they're fond of each other), we could have seen both of them interact with Owen now that he's started to adjust to his new state, all three of them could have shown us something of how the months without Jack must have been like when they and Tosh became a successful team of their own and bonded. Or: at the end, I kept waiting for Travelling Show!Jack stepping out from the screen as well, so that either Ianto or Jack or both would essentially have to kill Jack himself. Instead of gratitiously killing off most of the victims, which felt like an afterthought and a very s1 kind of "life is cruel, there's not much point" kind of thing, that could have served the need for darkness just fine and could have told us something about Jack, or Ianto, or both.

And lastly: how come NOBODY made a reference to the Purple Rose of Cairo?

Ah, well. One filler episode per season is probably inevitable, and I enjoyed/liked/loved most of the other episodes so much that I can shrug it off.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I was awfully worried when Ianto got all tearful over the kid at the end that he was about to suggest to Jack that they adopt him.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

... Good lord, as Giles would say. That horrible possibility had not even occured to me.

(Perhaps it didn't occur to Ianto because Ianto is aware Jack might just run off again with the Doctor, and then he'll be stuck with the child. He might persuade Tosh to baby-sit occasionally, but I think both Owen and Gwen would point-blank refuse.)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I hadn't got round to checking the scriptwriter, but I'm not at all surprised it was the same as for the away-with-the-fairies one. They did feel very similar, and they're both episodes that could be improved quite easily - your suggestion of Jack leaving the film is a nice one (though my impression was that he was with a completely different travelling show whose clips had got mixed up with the Night Travellers?)

I agree about the freak show line - that was the one that jumped out at me as the best.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

No, he was with the same show. He just said he had never MET the Night Travellers when they were there because they always performed at the dead of night. (Presumably because he was busy shagging someone?) But two of the people he reminisced about were definitely among those who left the film later when the Night Travellers started extracting them...

Also, about the scriptwriter

[selenak.livejournal.com]

He's Mr. Saphire & Steel - P.J. Hammond - and both episodes feel a bit like misplaced episodes from that show as well...

Re: Also, about the scriptwriter

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Ah, I can believe that, though I've never managed to see much of Sapphire and Steel.

So the other circus people weren't Night Travellers, but Pearl missed them anyway, or thought it would be easier to run the old act with a bit more spectacle? (Presumably they didn't want to risk putting the actress under water, because her doing calisthenics while the ringmaster said she could dive to the bottom of the sea didn't seem all that entertaining.)

Incidentally, Ianto might want to adopt the kid because he thinks Jack will run off. He likes having someone to look after.

Re: Also, about the scriptwriter

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I've seen the first and the last adventure, and it's atmospheric plus I like the Sapphire and Steel interaction, but you know, it manages to make An Unearthly Child look fast-paced...

Pearl: here I suspect the script probably had her doing something more interesting and entertaining but they didn't manage the special effects, or the actress refused to, or what not. On the other hand: I saw the behind the scenes stuff for A Day in the Death, though, and must say Burn Gorman must be a trooper, because he didn't just jump into the polluted Cardiff bay himself but did the under water scenes (in a swimming pool, of course), too, holding his breath as long as possible so they could film Owen under water without it looking fake. If they let a regular do that, a guest star shouldn't be a problem.

Incidentally, Ianto might want to adopt the kid because he thinks Jack will run off. He likes having someone to look after.

Well, yes, but wouldn't SOMEONE point out that between the Weevils and Myfanwy, the kidster could have a very shortened life?

Re: Also, about the scriptwriter

[shezan.livejournal.com]

... and in both, Jack interacts very sweetly with an old lady. Nice trope this.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Now I'm disappointed - I was hoping it'd be like Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. I found "Small Worlds" kind of flat, too. You're absolutely right about the ways this episode could have been better.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether it could be because Hammond is a minor legend and they couldn't ask him to rewrite?

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I have no idea, but when Pearl started talking all I could think was: "What is this, blonde vaudeville Drusilla? With shorter fingernails!"

For your amusement: another negative review (http://doyle-sb4.livejournal.com/460861.html?format=light) of the episode, with some hilarious speculation toward the end of this thread (http://doyle-sb4.livejournal.com/460861.html?thread=5094717&format=light#t5094717) about Jack's Top Secret Mission.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I was thinking blonde Drusilla as well, and if it were another scriptwriter I'd be pretty sure that was whom she was modelled on, given that most of the people on DW and TW are Whedon fans, but Hammond is old enough to have not watched Jossverse shows at all, so it MIGHT have been coincidence. Might.

Jack's Top Secret Mission: oh yeah. *g*

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't think Hammond was riffing on Drusilla - I haven't watched Sapphire & Steel, but I looked it up before and I agree he's old enough not to be thinking of the Buffyverse. It was the licking plus the mannerisms that made me connect her with Drusilla!

Jack and his Top Secret Squirrel Mission, hee hee hee.

[joonscribble.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the odd breed of viewer who really liked this episode, but felt like I wasn't really watching a Torchwood episode. It was more like a Twilight Zone episode starring the same set of actors who just happen to also star in Torchwood. So as a Torchwood watcher, it felt off, but as a general viewer, I really enjoyed it, if that makes any sense. Plus, I kind of went all "OTP!!" with the Ghostmaker and Pearl. Their scene at the abandoned pool felt creepily romantic to me and considering the state of the Ghostmaker's teeth that's saying a LOT.

In regards to the Night Travelers, I think (and I'm sort of guessing here) that they're the only ones with the ability to move out of the film, hence the lack of Sideshow!Jack going AWOL as well. Only, I did wish Hammond would have explained exactly how it was the Night Travelers were able to do this.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

how come NOBODY made a reference to the Purple Rose of Cairo?

Or to Last Action Hero.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Bah. Woody Allen comes before anything starring Arnold.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

I take it you've not seen Last Action Hero? Where Death played by Ian McKellen steps out from The Seventh Seal on the screen, Joan Plowright tries to teach Shakespeare to an unrly classroom in Manhattan, and every Arnie movie now stars Stallone?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, okay, that does sound watchable. The Purple Rose of Cairo still came first, though. And has the adorable "there is something after the fade-out?" scene!

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Forget Woody, Last Action hero is a totally brilliant (and entirely meta) movie. It is FULL of jokes on other movies, series and even cartoons, and the initial conceit is that of a boy in New York who gets to step into the screen to find himself in a primary-coloured California with his favourite movie cop hero, Charles Dance as the Evil Villain Of Doom™, and cameos by every movie cop ans sleuth, including Roger Rabbit. Nobody got the joke, but it made me love Arnie even more. You simply MUST get/rent it.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

I know I'm chiming in rather late here, but I do have to second that.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Fine, I'll get around to the Cameron-Schwarzenegger vehicle eventually.*g* (But Woody Allen still did it first.)