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

[Chaka's_Mum]

But there was NOTHING to explain why some 'normal' Welsh villagers would turn cannibal.

There wasn't was there? Actually, I'm quite surprised that no one threw in a reference to inbreeding, to be honest - it was possibly the only hackneyed cliché that didn't get an airing in this ep.

They had all the makings of it right there in front of them - a tiny, isolated village with no 'civilisation' nearby (no hotels! Argh!), thus few opportunities to expand the gene pool. Result? A bunch of villagers with cannibalistic tendencies. They probably ate the ones that didn't turn out as loopy as them, and so the cycle continued until Torchwood turned up with the funky Range Rover they can't switch off when it gets nicked.

Mind you, given that there was no suggestion that the burger van wasn't close to the village, it does make you wonder what was in those burgers...

[pbellosom]

I found what Jack was doing leading those soldiers pre world war 1.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho...ore-letter.pdf.

[Pitry]

I wasn't having a go at you. I apologise if that's how you took it.

It's RTD I'm annoyed with. Mostly over the fact he's not even having one entirely straight or entirely gay character in there.

Sorry, I have to agree with RTD on this one. True, some people are entirely straight or entirely gay, some aren't. However, you only have one bisexual (or tri- or whatever) character on this show, Jack. If you've noticed, Gwen kissed hte sex-crazed-alien when she was sex-crazed because of the alien. When she's being paired with someone on the show other than Rhys, it's Owen. She's straight. Again, for Ianto, he didn't kiss Jack. Jack kissed him.
RTD is trying ti point out something else in here. Had all these kisses been straight, no one would have even mentioned them. Because they're not the discussion takes place. Not becaue of confused sexuality of the characters.

I - personally - think Torchwood is over-sexed. I don't have a problem with sex on my telly, I just think it's a pertty infintile way to draw in audience. Sex should be there, if you're makign a drama about real people in the real world at this time, ebcause sex happens in the real world with real people. But it shouldn't be the central point. because it's simply not interesting enough on its own. But if you already have an over-sexed show, if it's straight or gay or bi... this doesn't bother me.

[scarimor]

The problem with that is that, in the UK at least, if people had that information, they wouldn't take extra precautions with their children; they'd just go and burn the offender's house down. With him/her still in it - assuming that they hadn't dragged him/her out and lynched them first, of course.

That's a huge assumption.

I know where the family of one infamous child-killer lives. So do many round here. They've not been targeted.

Surprisingly, the vast majority of people who contributed to a BBC 'Have Your Say' debate on the subject suggested it be kept that way. They all agreed (justifiably, I think) that the public simply could not be trusted with that information. The Great British Public has already proved this - vandalising the home of a paediatrician, raping an innocent man on the basis of completely unfounded and untrue rumours of paedophilia to name just two examples from Wales.

This is what happens when you don't trust the public with information that affects their lives. Unfounded rumours fly around. Denying the public information puts innocent people at risk from mob antics. The two innocent people you refer to above would not have been attacked if the register were public - because everyone could see they weren't on it. It's the secrecy which breeds vigilantes. Disempower people, deny them the truth, and they are easily misled by anyone seeking to capitalize on it.

(I'm not necessarily advocating the list being made public, btw. There are pros and cons to the status quo.)

Back on topic: the latest episode gave me the wobblies, in more ways than one.

[scarimor]

... There were good bits. I know, cos I remember thinking 'that's good'. But I can't remember what any of them *were*.

The scene when Gwen got shot. Nice acting, especially during treatment right afterwards.

Um... no, I'm having trouble remembering much too.

[Catsitter]

To my mind, the good bits were all the bits when Owen Teale was in the shot, and the rest of it was just soo bad. I thought much the same last week, that the problem with getting good actors in as guest stars is that it shows up the lack of acting ability of certain of the main cast, who have to exaggerate their reaction to anything and then have that exaggerated reaction shown three or four times from different angles (and in slow motion) so we are sure of it. It does get tiresome.

And I agree with everybody else about the whole gun thing. I would normally expect to feel very tense watching a scene where people are searching a building with their guns out like that, but I didn't feel any tension at all, and as for Jack saving them all at the end with the tractor and the whole Rambo routine, that was ludicrous.

And like others on here, I always avoid horror films, so I know very little about them, but this episode seemed to include every cliche that there is in them.

A minor point - does anybody at all still use that kind of tent???!

[Madeleine]

The scene when Gwen got shot. Nice acting, especially during treatment right afterwards.

Yes! Possibly the first time I've *ever* found an actor's reaction to a non-fatal TV shooting believable.

Also the line about Lisa was worth having.

But I've remembered another good bit: Owen's loathing for anything rural. It was so OTT it made me smile

[Toresica]

A minor point - does anybody at all still use that kind of tent???!

They obviously don't go camping all that often (as per Owen's reaction), so they were probably using whatever tents they could find in the basement of the Hub.

[Major Clanger]

hmmmmm... X-Wood.... no.... Torchfiles.... no.... aha! Torchwood, that's it.

well... rubbish cliché ep which would be more believable if I knew it had been made by a bunch of spotty 15-year-old-boys with no girlfriends.

But stupid plot aside, there were some good bits.

Gwen getting shot - woo hoo! it hurts, and it's messy and Owen treating her was a pretty good scene and a good revelation of a bit of his past.

Owen - hates the country and doesn't seem to like people much more. He takes what he wants. Apart from the fact that he looks like a toad I really am starting to like the character. (not that I like Owen, I like the way they're writing him)

Tosh - if we're not working up to a big revenge story line I'll personaly get my sonic screwdriver out and get a hold of RTD and...

Ianto - I reckon they don't want to leave him unsupervised at Torchwood. They feel guilty for taking him for granted, and it was uncomfortable to have him around. I want his character to be revealed a bit at a time and hope the actor doesn't get bored and quit.

Jack - this one is all over the place. Not sure about him yet. But he's lovely to look at.

Gwen. Ah yes. Gwen. well, I'm going to be slated for this but I understand 100% why she slept with Owen. And I will understand and applaud the writing if she continues to have a "relationship" with him that consists purely of sex and maybe talking about work but nothing else. Without banging on about it too much: I have seen that sort of thing with my own eyes, and it is probably more common than you think.

But... my biggest beef is this. Why oh why oh why oh why... WHY... go into the countryside (in Wales for cryin' out loud!) without appropriate clothing and footwear. And why, for pity's sakes were they using ancient military marquee sized tents and yet, in that cold windy weather were they doing everything outside in full view? They're supposed to be secret squirrels. (well, I do understand, they were filming on location and tent interiors would be studio filmed)

The inappropriate clothing, however gets up my nose big time. Gosh, it's like... um... *gropes around for a comparison*... um...

*lightbulb*
being part of a team that goes anywhere and everywhere and yet they turn up on an ice planet and don't have a hat between them...

*goes for a lie down*

[Flyboy]

The inappropriate clothing, however gets up my nose big time. Gosh, it's like... um... *gropes around for a comparison*... um...

*lightbulb*
being part of a team that goes anywhere and everywhere and yet they turn up on an ice planet and don't have a hat between them...

*goes for a lie down*

HATS!

[Pitry]

Now, after those two rubbish episodes previously, much better.

Poor Tosh... By the time someone loves her, it's an evil murdering alien I actually liked it much better before the murderous alien bit was revealed, but even then, cool episode.
Gwen & Owen.... ye gods, get a room! (Well, they did. And yet... I hope now they got it out of their system with this episoe, we can move in to differnet directions. I did like it that Gwen isn't all as giddy about this as Owen is, that she does feel guilty about Rhys.... sniff.)
Ianto, where's the more Ianto I was asking for, huh? Seems liek Tosh and Ianto do have a lot in common, I liked it how they had a nice little conversatino there. It's a shame we didn't get to see any of it, but I hope this means they'll at least be coser to each other now. Both of them desperately need a friend in Torchwood.

Yeah, I was wondering if Tosh'd get the chance to read Jack's mind. Always keeping the mysterious Captain Harkness there, don't they. I guess I still have Doctor Who rebounds, I'm having a ahrd time seeing him as the wise-person=to-go-to-in-need. I mean, it's Jack!... So nwo we have Gwen, Tosh and Ianto all wondering about Jack. No wonder Owen's last, he is thicker than most...
Also, I'd like it if just once Jack gets to not kill someone. I got the picture about him being the man to do the dirty work, I really enjoy the way they do it, but his character desperately needs an "everyone lives!" moment, a- la the Empty Child. They don't want to play the "tough & mysterious & cold" card too much cos it'll get ued too much adn then Jack'll go fown the drain.

Lovely.

[uknesvuinng]

Insert this post before Pitry's at about the time the database went wacky...

No one's had anything to say about this episode at all yet? I'm shocked.

I liked the episode, but I felt bad for Toshi because I knew eventually her new love would turn out to be evil and she'd get the short end of the stick again. She finally finds someone that she trusts to care about her and it was just a terrible manipulation. Makes me all emotional.

I really wished they would have explained WHY she had to keep ripping hearts out. If the body simply needed fed, wouldn't the local restaurant do?

Gwen realizes what she's doing as wrong, but knows she'll continue doing this. Somehow I think I might be surprised and not be horribly angry with this Gwen/Owen stuff. These Torchwood people are a screwed up lot, excepting Jack, who I suppose is screwed up but in some completely different way.

I'm surprised Toshi didn't ask Jack about when he spoke to her through his thoughts. Yeah, the "blank mind" thing was pretty huge (though predictable, but there was really nothing else they could do to do it justice), but the fact that he could explicitly use it like that seemed even more important to me.

Interesting episode, though. Makes up for last week's.

[pbellosom]

Wow, first Ianto now Tosh is Jack going to kill everyones girlfreinds?

Actually I really liked tht episode apart from what the alien looked like I felt it seemed too CGI. Also why did Jack have to kill her, coulden't he have just sent her home.

[dosed150]

im assuming the taking hearts and jack killing the alien are because the alien may not have been a political prisoner and was transported with good reason

[ShadowMaat]

Good ep. Liked the look of fear on Jack's face when Tosh said, "It's as if you were dead." More info when I'm not dropping over with exhaustion.