Torchwood: Children of Earth: Day One
Jul. 7th, 2009 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAaaaand they're back on the tv screen. In style.
To start on a minor note, RTD is really good at the time-saving continuity bits which make long time viewers happy but do not confuse new viewers. To wit: Gwen keeping photos of Owen and Tosh at her computer and saying hello to them when she comes to work (takes just a few seconds, is very poignant for the faithful), Jack providing an explanation for the lack ofFreema Martha so that long time viewers don't even ask "why don't they contact Martha?". Also a nod to Gwen's first encounter with Torchwood. Which brings me to the playing with audience expectations; we know that the team needs a new doctor, it would make sense to introduce him the way Rupesh gets introduced, so Rupesh turning out to be a mole comes as a genuine shock. Otoh, I think the set-up for Lois Habiba will go where I think it's going; having stumbled across the assassination orders, she'll try to contact and warn Jack & Co. and will by the end of Day Five have become one of them, replacing Tosh as the computer girl.
So far, I really like the shades of grey, in more than one sense, of Frobisher. He's not a moustache twirling villain, and plainly horrified by the situation, but still willing to go through with giving the orders. (The PM, otoh, is contemptible, with the "I never heard about this" which is all too plausible for top level politicians.) Good to see Peter Capaldi again. (I rewatched Fires of Pompeii this weekend and my guest, despite being a Neverwhere fan, did not recognize him.) The latest example of the tradition that if RTD casts you once and likes you, you're almost sure to be back.
I knew that children/aliens would be the plot point of this mini season, but I hadn't known about the larger family theme for all three regulars, which was a clever thing to do. Gwen having extremely mixed feelings about the prospect of having children at first makes sense, both given her job and given her involuntary pregnancy experience from last season. Jack's relationship with his daughter (btw, great casting, the woman really looks like she could be related to Barrowman, and is she ever a better actor then whoever played Gray last season) is a very believable brand of affectionate and dysfunctional. And lest we think his immortality is the only issue between them, you can tell that she's both smart and knows him really well by the way she did not buy his "wanna spend a day with my grandson" lie for a heartbeat but immediately made the connection to what was going on world wide and Jack's job. Considering she didn't sound surprised or shocked when she said "you bastard", I figure this is far from the first time Captain Harkness displayed this type of behaviour in her vicinity.
Meanwhile, Ianto is also vaguely intending to use his younger relations for the Torchwood cause but isn't yet ruthless enough and so gets sidetracked by his sister - whom I very much liked, btw - probing him about him and Jack. As this entire episode had a a thread of "Ianto wants a regular couple relationship, Jack is uneasy about commitment", I am somewhat concerned as to where this is going, because if I know my tv, it's going somewhere that when Jack is finally ready to settle down, so to speak, something back will happen to Ianto. I hope not. The explosion in fandom would be eternal. Mind you, this is clearly paralleled with Gwen/Rhys and the question of children, and given Gwen's eventual acceptance and dawning joy at the end (btw, great facial acting from Eve Myles), I very much suspect she'll have a stillbirth in the course of the next episodes, too...
Speaking of Gwen and Rhys, there is indeed, as the radio play The Dead Line, a sense of Rhys contributing to the solving of the mystery of the week from now on. Loved the scene in which they talk about what happened and Rhys makes a brilliant deduction. Hooray for team Cooper/Williams, together they fight crime, I say. Loved the matter of fact way Gwen treated Jack and Ianto as boys, too, and Gwen in general, but then, Ms Cooper won me over completely in the second season, so that's nothing new.
All the new canon information re: Jack's daughter and grandson, Ianto's sister and kids (comes complete with Ianto's social background) should be a cold mine for fanfic, but I suspect most peple will wait until Children of Earth is over. Can't wait till the next episode, both on our regulars (plus Rhys)' account and for the new characters, as I already like both Lois Habiba and Mr. Frobisher.
To start on a minor note, RTD is really good at the time-saving continuity bits which make long time viewers happy but do not confuse new viewers. To wit: Gwen keeping photos of Owen and Tosh at her computer and saying hello to them when she comes to work (takes just a few seconds, is very poignant for the faithful), Jack providing an explanation for the lack of
So far, I really like the shades of grey, in more than one sense, of Frobisher. He's not a moustache twirling villain, and plainly horrified by the situation, but still willing to go through with giving the orders. (The PM, otoh, is contemptible, with the "I never heard about this" which is all too plausible for top level politicians.) Good to see Peter Capaldi again. (I rewatched Fires of Pompeii this weekend and my guest, despite being a Neverwhere fan, did not recognize him.) The latest example of the tradition that if RTD casts you once and likes you, you're almost sure to be back.
I knew that children/aliens would be the plot point of this mini season, but I hadn't known about the larger family theme for all three regulars, which was a clever thing to do. Gwen having extremely mixed feelings about the prospect of having children at first makes sense, both given her job and given her involuntary pregnancy experience from last season. Jack's relationship with his daughter (btw, great casting, the woman really looks like she could be related to Barrowman, and is she ever a better actor then whoever played Gray last season) is a very believable brand of affectionate and dysfunctional. And lest we think his immortality is the only issue between them, you can tell that she's both smart and knows him really well by the way she did not buy his "wanna spend a day with my grandson" lie for a heartbeat but immediately made the connection to what was going on world wide and Jack's job. Considering she didn't sound surprised or shocked when she said "you bastard", I figure this is far from the first time Captain Harkness displayed this type of behaviour in her vicinity.
Meanwhile, Ianto is also vaguely intending to use his younger relations for the Torchwood cause but isn't yet ruthless enough and so gets sidetracked by his sister - whom I very much liked, btw - probing him about him and Jack. As this entire episode had a a thread of "Ianto wants a regular couple relationship, Jack is uneasy about commitment", I am somewhat concerned as to where this is going, because if I know my tv, it's going somewhere that when Jack is finally ready to settle down, so to speak, something back will happen to Ianto. I hope not. The explosion in fandom would be eternal. Mind you, this is clearly paralleled with Gwen/Rhys and the question of children, and given Gwen's eventual acceptance and dawning joy at the end (btw, great facial acting from Eve Myles), I very much suspect she'll have a stillbirth in the course of the next episodes, too...
Speaking of Gwen and Rhys, there is indeed, as the radio play The Dead Line, a sense of Rhys contributing to the solving of the mystery of the week from now on. Loved the scene in which they talk about what happened and Rhys makes a brilliant deduction. Hooray for team Cooper/Williams, together they fight crime, I say. Loved the matter of fact way Gwen treated Jack and Ianto as boys, too, and Gwen in general, but then, Ms Cooper won me over completely in the second season, so that's nothing new.
All the new canon information re: Jack's daughter and grandson, Ianto's sister and kids (comes complete with Ianto's social background) should be a cold mine for fanfic, but I suspect most peple will wait until Children of Earth is over. Can't wait till the next episode, both on our regulars (plus Rhys)' account and for the new characters, as I already like both Lois Habiba and Mr. Frobisher.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 10:40 pm (UTC)Same here - nuanced acting; normal people thrown into absurd situations but carrying on with courage.
It's good to have Torchwood back, odd as TPTB's choices re: PLOT sometimes are. & ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:37 am (UTC)