Torchwood Episode Discussion (Spoilers for all eps aired in the UK)

[Willow'sCat]

Well, my 2 cents.

I liked the 3rd episode.

I still don't like Owen but I think he was better here then in the first two episodes, and I felt he had a motive for his actions that was lacking in the first two. He seems to be finding his feet, both as "person" and character, if that makes any sense? I guess he seemed less one dimensional in this episode.

Tosh=Willow I hope we get a "Tosh" episode otherwise she may get left behind with all the techy, geeky stuff. She is one of those characters that could slip through the cracks if the writers don't actively seek to use her.

Gwen, she was a complete moron! Seriously, don't go around touching the glowy/flashy buttons on alien technology should be in the dam handbook. She obviously hasn't read it, I would have given her more credit then that. The first time I can forgive but the second time? Owen I expected stupid behaviour but not from Gwen. Not PC Gwen. She did look good with the guns but that doesn't make up for stupid behaviour. Also the relationship "emotional ghosts" didn't sit well with me I thought it was frivolous and unnecessary. Of course it may be a set up for future episodes.

Ianto... next (week)

Jack, I did love the gun play, sure it was silly and very staged but guns, Jack and that dam smile! Well I never said I wasn't shallow. Also I think this is clearly to show us that unlike Doctor Who, these guys need to pack heat! They are dealing with a different kind of world.

I am not sure where they are going with Jack but I am enjoying the ride, and it just makes the thought of Jack appearing in series 29/3 of Doctor Who more exciting *if that is even possible* Although still waiting for him to actually do something, I mean he is so background in many ways at the moment, not as much as Ianto but it seems like he is there but slightly out of reach as a character, is this deliberate or just bad writing? I am not sure, but I hope Jack appears more front and centre in future episodes, especially since one of the selling points of this show IS Capt Jack! Well it is to me.

Overall a good episode, yes cliched but I am really getting use to cliche since watching SG all these years it was certainly better then last weeks and I think a nice lead up to next weeks episode which is looking and sounding great.

[SoulSpinder]

On the matter of them not giving Jack much to do, from the looks of the episode summaries, we're gonna get more Jack week after next. Toshiko's ep comes a lil later. It's hard though, in such a short series because you do have to give each character some time so the viewers can 'know' them.

ep discrips:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Torchwood_episodes

[immhotep]

Hi I only figured out that it wasa spin off from dr. Who when he mentioned abotu needing to see a special doctor someday! am i slow or what lol!

Anyways besides the slowness i can honestly say that this has become one of my favourate to thing to come out of the BBc for years. Its really good. I never watched much Dr. Who, the occasion episode here and there so im really glad that ive watched this spinoff because im enjoying it alot.
I havent watched them on sundays, but i have NTL and have just sat and watchedthe first three all in one go via the on-demand function. They are really good IMO.
The first thing is that i liked is that its earth based, its not Dr. who in the tardis popping accross the universe. The fact that they didnt choose some major city like alot of shows has worked really well. The welsh accents and the city is quite charming to see in a scifi show, and IMO it works really well.
The premise that there is a temporal spacial rift running through the centre of cardiff while completely bizare does run allong the same lines as most of the wackyness of dr. who..i never understood what was happening or why in Dr. who, probebly because i never watched it that often. But if you take the T/S rift with the pinch of Imagination laden salt then the results of it make for good Tv and good storylines.
The best plot so far has bene in the third episode, the emotions and past/present visions device is really quite a cool storyline, and again with a pinch of salt even the energy of emotions being transfered in to sensory perceptions makes sense scientifically.

Now for the Characters.
Gwen is actually not my favourate character but she isnt bad. While yes she comes accross ditsy and slow on the uptake i think she has potential. Its only 3 episodes in and theres been character developement, which is quite promising. I think having the police background and then being quite ditsy on the first days can come accross as slightly agrevating. but in her defence she has just found out about a massive world changing thing, even though she hasnt dealt with that on screen, which is a bit strange. I think a good emotional breakdown or revelation needs to happen for her to come to terms with things and ya know become responsible and an effective member of the team.
I really like the team aspect of the show also, while not quite SG1, there is definte hints of what the early sg1 teamyness felt like. Over time i think that bond shoudl be explored and developed because i do actually like most of the characters and i hope they gel and do things that save the planet in a nice and non-ditsy way in the future.

Now for the oldersTeam members, lets start with Jack; i dont actually know if it like him atall yet. While yes he seems charming adn funny and smart and immortal theres also this cheesy slimeball side that's creeped in, especially with that Gun scene. I think if he trying to be james bond and Dr. Who at the same time, somethings going to go wrong. Pick 1 British superhero not 2 is all i say. I prefer the DW to JB, but he does have a certain JB classyness that goes along with the slime. I hope the character becomes more charismatic in his own way, once again the characters have potential and thats great because it means they can grow and we can watch them grow.
Now for Owen; he looks, sounds and acts like a guy who drives a white van and goes down the pub to watch the footy. How he got in to torchwood i want to know because at the moment he doesnt seem to have any decent qualities atall that would prepare him for that job. At least Gwen seems to have some detective skills not forgetting stamina, that girl can run! But he honestly seems like theres nothing about him thats worthwhile. i hope im wrong but he seems like the character that has to grow the most, but will end up growing the least. The girl from the first episode IMO would have been better, she had weird principles but had skills, and lets face it that job you need to be a little weird..

Toshi is a good secondary character, she doesnt get in the way, but shes does a good job. She got skills and will probley become a really good character. She might not do things stupid and blwo stuff up but i think that we might have a regular that will grow adequitely and hopefully contrinbute well to the ensemble of the team in missions etc

Ianto; i think hes going to be the traitorous wretch that Gwen will have to kill to save the team..it happens in most Tv series and i think that hes going to be the guy. Hesquite bland, but also a little charming, if they gave him more to do then im sure hell be an addition, either as a recuring bad guy or as a recuring lamppost putting things in the safe. (why does he have the keys to the safe?? i bet hes their super android defence or something)

Overall torchwood seem to have a great deal of promise and ill defintly be keeping and eye on this one. ive never watched dr. who but im hoping that ill be able to get in to this and contribute my opinions of it, at the moment my opinion is that it is good, and optimistically promising to be better.

Immhotep

[Matt G]

1. Liked Owen better this time out, maybe his experience of Lizzie might change him for the better.

2. It's ironic that Jack says Gwen's normalness is needed for Torchwood, yet she's liable to lose it by getting in too deep.

3. Thought the shooting range scene was coolish but filler.

Overall, better than last week's ep, this might be a solid show after all!

[The Signal]

Gwen, she was a complete moron! Seriously, don't go around touching the glowy/flashy buttons on alien technology should be in the dam handbook. She obviously hasn't read it, I would have given her more credit then that. The first time I can forgive but the second time? Owen I expected stupid behaviour but not from Gwen.

I got the impression that they were drawn to it myself, like they couldnt control themselves, dunno if anyone else did.

[Pitry]

Fantastic episode! Much better than sex crazed aliens.

I'll join in the More Ianto department. Give us Ianto or give us... more Ianto. Please?

Gwen. Okay, she was stupid in this episode, granted, but I actually liked that she took the device home. No one's immuned, she shoudln't be the perfect character after we've seen everyone else misusing technology. Hope it comes and backfires on her, tho (well, it did, sort of. ).

Owen... I did like him this episode. The actor definitely did a good job.

As for Jack not beign invovled... can teh show really be fmo Jack's POV/ centring too much about Jack? Soon you'll end up losing all the mystery. A part of what I enjoy about the Doctor so much is the way they manage to keep an air of mystery around him, even after everything. Keeping Jack's character development through the eyes of the rest of the character seems to me to be the better option.

Toshi is lovely. I hope they start giving her more to do

The one thing I didn't like... the emphasis on how "fun" it is to fire a gun. The pseudo-moral bits in the end about actually shooting people didn't make the bad taste in my mouth disappear. Sorry, guns aren't sexy.

[ShadowMaat]

I can see the gun thing coming back to haunt her later. In fact, I kind of expected it within the ep, but it wound up being a knife instead.

And Pitry, should that be "Give us Ianto or give us nekkid Ianto"??

[scarimor]

I got the impression that they were drawn to it myself, like they couldnt control themselves, dunno if anyone else did.

Deliberately ambiguous, imo.

[Pitry]

I can see the gun thing coming back to haunt her later. In fact, I kind of expected it within the ep, but it wound up being a knife instead.

And Pitry, should that be "Give us Ianto or give us nekkid Ianto"??

LoL Let us start with more Ianto, and progress from there *whistles innocently*

As for the gun - I hope so. The nwe Doctor Who writing team has made a terrific job in the show's two seasons of keeping the humanity of the show. Of keepign the "violence isn't cool" theme. It is so rare to run into this attitude these days... I'd be extremely disappointed if the same people failed on their spin-off with that. (Won't be the first time a spin off loses the strong moral base of the mother show, tho. *cough Atlantis cough*)

[Willow'sCat]

I got the impression that they were drawn to it myself, like they couldnt control themselves, dunno if anyone else did.

So Gwen and Owen are weak? Maybe, I just thought Jack touched it, and Tosh must have examined it and they didn't set it off.

On the guns, I don't like guns, and Doctor Who never used them, and until the messy Tara must die Buffy never used them, but of course Buffy had her slayer strength, and The Doctor has his... well not sure how he manages to get out of these situations *ooh 3/Jon did use some crazy martial arts* but DW is a kids show, you do know that? You can't have the hero of a kids show killing people every episode. It started in the 60s, and he was an old man it would have looked really bad. In fact isn't the whole gun thing the reason they brought in U.N.I.T in the 70s? I thought it was, but maybe not.

[ShadowMaat]

I don't think it's a matter of pushing buttons, I think the device more or less activates itself. Although I could be wrong. The first time it looked like Gwen might have pushed a button, but the other times... *shrug*

[CatGoddess]

Random question on the guns: Wouldn't Gwen have learned how to use a gun as part of her police training? Do cops in the UK not routinely carry guns? (Cops in the US do.) My understanding is that the UK has stricter gun control laws than the US does.

Tosh definitely reminded me of Willow, but she also reminded me of Oracle from Birds of Prey - the person back at the base who has all the information at her fingertips and directs the people in the field. Both Willow and Oracle were well developed in their respective shows, so hopefully the same will be true of Tosh.

As for a Jack/Gwen ship, I don't like the idea. Jack will shag anything with a pulse, but he doesn't seem the type for a long-term relationship, and if he just shags her and walks away - well, there's a reason that it's unwise to date coworkers. But I am wondering if Gwen and her boyfriend might break up. Lots of couples break up or get divorced when one partner has a highly demanding job, and Gwen's boyfriend already seems unhappy with her demanding job at Torchwood.

[ShadowMaat]

Random question on the guns: Wouldn't Gwen have learned how to use a gun as part of her police training? Do cops in the UK not routinely carry guns? (Cops in the US do.) My understanding is that the UK has stricter gun control laws than the US does.

From what I've heard on other boards it isn't at all unusual that Gwen wouldn't have any familiarity with guns as they aren't as big a deal/issue in the UK as they are in the US. Someone even said that gun-related deaths are uncommon enough to be big news.

[scarimor]

Random question on the guns: Wouldn't Gwen have learned how to use a gun as part of her police training? Do cops in the UK not routinely carry guns?

No, they don't. Only the trained firearms units are issued with firearms. I have never seen a police officer in the flesh carrying a gun (though I expect I would if I went to an airport).

[scarimor]

From what I've heard on other boards it isn't at all unusual that Gwen wouldn't have any familiarity with guns as they aren't as big a deal/issue in the UK as they are in the US. Someone even said that gun-related deaths are uncommon enough to be big news.

They are. And murder by any method is a big deal. The population is c. 60 million and the average murder rate is around the 600 per anum mark (well until recently anyway - it might have gone up after Shipman's spree came to light. One man's work can be enough to change the figures).