Torchwood - Children of Earth

Last Torchwood season was a special of 5 episodes, entitled "Children of Earth". This is the best episode up to now, this is exactly what I was looking to see from Torchwood. Surprises and twists, and if the series continues, I expect the same quality.

The story is simple but complicated at the same time. Extraterrestrials are using the children all over the world to communicate with humans. "We are coming": nothing more nothing less. But who are they? Have they been here before? Why are they coming? What is the link between them and the children? And what does Jack have to do with all this?

Spoiler warning, for the rest of this post. So, if you haven't watched the special, and you don't want to know some details, don't read ahead.

Their name is the 4-5-6 and they have been here before. They want children, specifically 10% of the world's children population. What do they actually want with the children?

Jack, Ianto and Gwen need to know what's coming. Torchwood has been destroyed, Jack has been jailed, Gwen, Ianto and Rhys are on the run. They do find some unexpected help, but is that enough before the 'units' are shipped?

When Jack tries to stop the 4-5-6, they respond, killing everyone in the building that houses them, including Ianto. Torchwood has lost, Gwen and Rhys are taken back to Cardiff, Jack is once again jailed.

However, the people that initially tried to kill Jack, free him. He finds a way to stop the 4-5-6, but this way has a terrible price for Jack: he has to sacrifice his grandson...

The deaths of Ianto and his grandson, as well as the deaths of Owen and Toshiko, weigh heavily on Jack. He spends a few months here and there on Earth, but he can't escape his feelings. He finds Gwen and Rhys to say goodbye, and leaves Earth.

Again Davies left us with a bitterness at the end of this season of Torchwood. It is after those events in Torchwood, that the Doctor finds Jack to say goodbye, and Davies has tied the timeline quite well.

I hope to see Jack and Gwen in the future, even as guest stars in the new season of Doctor Who. Can you imagine Rhys in the TARDIS?

My information tells me that the new Doctor Who series will start March 13th. One month more or less, and more information says that River Song will return in Episode 4. Can't wait.

I want more Torchwood. I want more Doctor Who.

Torchwood - Season 2

Second season of Torchwood, and I thought that the episodes might get a lot better. But we had mostly a repeat of Season 1. However, the beginning of the season is quite good, because James Masters (Spike from Buffy) is guest starring as Captain John, a time agent from Jack's past. 

But, after the first episode, we get the same quality as last season; fine but not what was expected, even if we also have Martha Jones for a few episodes in the series, and a very nice twist with the character of Owen Harper.

 

Owen is dead! However, Jack finds the second glove and brings him back from the dead. But that glove is different, and something comes back with Owen, from the eternal darkness. In the end, problem solved, but Owen is still among the living, a different kind of living dead. This twist I liked, but I felt that Owen was underused and underdeveloped, especially with him being a living dead. They could have build a story or a backplot around Owen and his condition, but all we get are sentimental moments and comedy relief!

Okay, we did know that Gwen and Rhys would get married. But did we have to watch another wedding-going-wrong-but-in-the-end-everything-is-fine episode? And of course all wedding cliches were there, and almost every damned series has a similar episode, with max 1-2 having an original twist or something. Gwen is maybe my favorite character for her humanity and strength.

I think that the best episode of the season is Adrift. When Gwen wants to find a 14-year old missing boy, Jack tells her to leave it alone. What is Jack hiding? And is it better to know the truth, or live with hope?

Toshiko is very intelligent and the writers could have used her technical expertise and inventiveness in much better ways, but she always underdeveloped, and mostly in sentimental scenes or episodes, like the soldier of the past needed to save the future stuff... She certainly ahs her own strengths, and the writers could have shown us much more from Toshiko.

Ianto is the only one who did not have his own episode in this season, mainly because he had the worst episode of Torchwood, Cyberwoman, in the last season. There isn't much to say about Ianto, other than he could have been developed better as well, and maybe show us something from the past, as he was working for Torchwood 1, until its destruction in the battle of Canary Wharf (Doctor Who, Doomsday).

Final verdict is that the best episodes of the season, are the episodes with James Masters as Captain John and the episode Adrift.

At the end of season 2, only Jack, Ianto and Gwen are left in Torchwood. Toshiko was killed by Gray, and Owen was disintegrated saving Cardiff from a nuclear explosion (he was dead anyway!) I am currently watching the 3rd season, which is a 5 episode special "Children of Earth", which is much better than the previous seasons.

Torchwood - Season 1

After having watched all seasons and specials of the Doctor Who series, I started watching the spin-off series, Torchwood, which features the character of Captain Jack Harkness.

Generally, it is not a bad series, and it is quite interesting. However, we are talking about Captain Jack Harkness and the worlds of Doctor Who. So, excuse me, if I wanted something more than just another series, which has not been delivered.

The characters and the setting are very good, and if the scripts were much better, we could have a lot of good and shining moments for the characters. What is missing especially is that twist in the script, that one episode that people will remember. But there is nothing in this season. Just some good episodes and some bad episodes (in the latter category, I would definitely put Cyberwoman...)

The series could have more episodes about Jack's past; after all he was born and lived in the 51st century, he was a Time Agent, he has been around the universe with our favorite Timelord, and there could definitely be a few stories about his past (and there could have been a couple of cross-overs with Doctor Who).

 

The best episode of the season is, in my opinion, "They Keep Killing Suzie". The Torchwood team has to revive Suzie for a couple of minutes, using a certain alien glove; however, Suzie does not want to die again!

That glove there, was very similar to Rassilon's glove from Doctor Who's End of Time. Of course, the Doctor Who episode was produced much after Torchwood's first season. 


Next, on my three best episodes list, is Out of Time. This is where we have good character development, especially for Jack, Owen and Gwen. But still, it could have been a lot better.

 

And the last episode that I liked more than the others, is "Combat". This is an Owen Harper episode, where we do see that Owen has more depth and hurt than anyone else on the team maybe, and that there is something hidden deep within Owen.

And last scene of the season, is the glowing hand of the Doctor, the sound of the TARDIS materializing, and Jack and hand disappearing...


Closing, this is not a bad series. The episodes are just okay, and I felt like there could be much much more. I don't know whether to categorize it as Undelivered Potential, Wasted Potential or both.