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

[Flyboy]

Not according to the Radio Times, no.

Unless I've got my sums wrong (which is always a possibility. Maths not being one of my strong suits), we should get the season finale of Torchwood on either Wednesday the 2nd of April, or Friday the 4th of April.

Bugger.

Anyway...

Fragments:

Spoiler:

Very good episode, I especially loved seeing the development of Jack when he joined Torchwood and how T3 changed. Loved seeing how he took command.

Anyone else hoping for some kind of reference to Doctor Who: The Movie when Jack was in 1999?

Does Torchwood 3 have some kind of "horny" inducing artifact in the vaults? My God the nymphomania is even there in 1907 with those two women...

I felt so sorry for Owen he was such a nice guy before his fiance died...

[Naonak]

Fragments:

Spoiler:

Very good episode, I especially loved seeing the development of Jack when he joined Torchwood and how T3 changed. Loved seeing how he took command.

Yeah. He did seem to be pretty close to sarky flirty DW Jack at the start - this episode gave a pretty good picture of how he developed into the slightly darker character we have now. Particularly with the 1400-odd deaths... That'd probably annoy most people.
I found the scene with Alex very intriguing. That medallion thing seemed to be important...

Anyone else hoping for some kind of reference to Doctor Who: The Movie when Jack was in 1999?

I was. They should have had San Francisco on the TV, even if it was just for a couple of seconds.

Does Torchwood 3 have some kind of "horny" inducing artifact in the vaults? My God the nymphomania is even there in 1907 with those two women...

Jack's 51st Century pheremones? Or maybe it's just their hiring policy?

I thought it was a bit off that Owen wasn't damaged at all. Nice to know that if I take an explosion to the face I've only got to worry about the rubble...

And Captain John! Woo! Next episode looks cool.

[huntress]

A question first. Do you think it is good or bad that Torchwood switches from BBC 3 to BBC 2?

Otherwise totally loved the episode and while I know that some of you grumbled and groaned with this series, I have to say that except for one horrendous episode and one awfull character I was perfectly happy with it and the finale shapes up to be something really good!

Spoiler:

How Jack became the leader of Torchwood three was disturbing. What did the man see that he lost all hope and killed the whole team including himself?
Tosh's storyline reminded me a bit of Nikita. A woman who has nothing left to loose, who is given an option between being locked away in a dark place for the rest of her life or live the dangerous life of a Torchwood agent. Ianto - such an amusing story how he joined and it suddenly makes it even more clear why the whole incident with Lisa was a huge betrayal. Owen's storyline was tragic and I felt sorry for him. It also explains why Owen became that "don#t give a damn" womanizer. Poor guy

[lonely_angel_42]

Why two weeks? The last episode can be seen on BBC3 next friday... can't it?

Nope.

Just the 4th of April. The woman said so in the end. No more Tw on BBC 3. We have to wait for it until April 4th on BBC 2, and then DW starts the 5th of April. lol.

[huntress]

Actually I asked a friend and she said that it is normal the finale is never shown on BBC 3 - for example the finale of Spooks was also always shown on BBC 2 and the rest of the series on BB3, so I guess the third series will be shown again on BBC 3.

[lonely_angel_42]

I'm not arguing here. I'm just saying what I heard them say. lol.

[Willow'sCat]

Adrift and Fragments... they were good episodes, I especially loved Fragments but really, for me I would have preferred these eps to have taken place earlier on in the series, even series one. They told us more about Torchwood, Jack and the others then the last 23 episodes have! I feel like I am only just starting to really get a hold on who these characters are now and we only have the one episode left!

Adrift was a little slow for my liking, no I did not miss that moment with Jack and Ianto the one moment that could have been longer but wasn't! The other stuff though did drag for me.

Andy was great and it was nice to see him again, even if Gwen walked all over him. Rhys was.. well you all know what I think of him by now.

I am not sure I buy Jack's reasoning for basically locking them away, hiding them but then what else could he do? I think for me this episode came at the subject from the wrong angle. It might have made more sense to maybe start off with those that had returned and work from there back to Torchwood/Jack's involvement. *shrugs* I just felt like it turned into yet another Gwen episode but did we need another one of those? I know I didn't.

I would have preferred it to be more about the people and maybe even Torchwood as an institution then about Gwen *again* and remember I like Gwen.

So Adrift was good in parts but not great imho.

Fragments

Spoiler:

I really enjoyed, forgetting the part where it was totally unrealistic... come on only Jack appears to have been killed and well he doesn't even count as he can't actually die anyway... really I never saw that coming... at all.

This episode went some way to explaining how these totally different people came to be working for Torchwood, also some more about Jack, about Jack's transformation from when we met him in Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (which I recently re-watched) to Torchwood's version of Jack. Although I am still a little confused on how he got from The Parting of the Ways to the 1800s? Can anyone help me on that? I think there was something mentioned in Doctor Who last series but I forget!

I hate to say this again, but it reminded me of Angel *ducks* *Do I need to explain why? Didn't think so.*

The absolute highlight was Ianto! Actually he was the highlight in both episodes for me; I was so lukewarm on him in series one. Cyberwomen has a lot to answer for but in series two he is just the best thing ever. He adds a stability to the characters and the stories that the others don't imho.

I found him when begging Jack to let him work with Torchwood Cardiff at first OOC but then I remembered him being rather withdrawn in series one. My theory on that is that he had of course saved Lisa after Torchwood 1 fell and that he would go to any lengths to help her and since Torchwood Cardiff had scavenged the alien tech he knew whatever he needed to save Lisa would be with Torchwood Cardiff now.

Hench the begging turned out to be not so much OOC but a means to an end. Also it was totally cute! lol Butler!

I also assume the flirting with Jack (it was there right ) was due to Ianto knowing all about Jack, Ianto worked in research for Torchwood 1 he must have come across info on Jack at some stage, I don't think Ianto was, for want of a better word bi before he met Jack. I think it was all just part of the plan to get into Torchwood Cardiff so he could help save Lisa. At least that makes sense to me, it makes no sense for Ianto be OOC at that stage for any other reason.

Ianto made this episode for me! It just annoys me that he is the one character this series that didn't get his own episode. If they get a series three Ianto better get two episodes!

Owen... hmm, not sure this explains him in series one at all. I am in two minds about that, he may have been still experiencing grief over his fiance's death (why was this not mentioned in A day in a death? Or was it and I missed it?!) this may have made him kinda sad and creepy but then the one thing that keeps going through my head is... if his fiance at first was thought to have a condition that robes her of her memories (even if that turned out to be wrong) why would he use something that screws up others thoughts just so he could shag them in series one? That just makes him appear even more sad and creepy to me. He wasn't redeemed here at all.

Tosh was recruited after having no choice at all, stay with UNIT and be gaoled forever or join Torchwood. Does that sound like a good way to recruit folks? No wonder they were all at each others throats and had zero loyalty towards Jack and Torchwood in series one!

I guess this episode did try to clear up some stuff but as I said earlier these episodes, this one in particular would have been better earlier on, maybe around episode 3 or 4.

The finale (episode trailer) *spoilers*

Spoiler:

I was confused by Capt John, what is he now some kind of jilted lover of Jack's? That is all that he cares about now getting Jack back or getting back at Jack for what, leaving him? Weird.

[BruTak]

Spoiler:

Jack used his time hopper thingy (which is in his wristband) to get from the space station back to Earth. But he got the settings wrong, it dumped him in the 1870s, then burned out.

[pjt]

The only thing I didn't understand in Adrift was why was Jack so secretive about the rift victims. C'mon, it's Torchwood personnel we're talking here, they can cope with that kind of information. Like: listen, Gwen, he's not only aged forty years, but howls for twenty hours in a day. Why, Jack? Well, he looked into a black hole sun, or whatnot. Oh, I see, sad but that's that...

[Flyboy]

What I want to know... is why does looking into a Dark Star or seeing the end of the Universe always drive people crazy...

[pjt]

What I want to know... is why does looking into a Dark Star or seeing the end of the Universe always drive people crazy...

It's too much for a (writer's) brain to cope with?

[LaCroix]

What I want to know... is why does looking into a Dark Star or seeing the end of the Universe always drive people crazy...

Maybe it's a metaphor for a reflection of one's self. I'm thinking along the lines of what Nietzche once wrote of the Abyss:

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

[Willow'sCat]

Spoiler:

Jack used his time hopper thingy (which is in his wristband) to get from the space station back to Earth. But he got the settings wrong, it dumped him in the 1870s, then burned out.

I remembered the part about it

Spoiler:

burning out and then The Doctor fixes it but then he deliberately breaks it again, so Jack can't go time hopping, I missed the bit about 1800s and getting stuck.

Thanks.

[BruTak]

No problem.

[Mr Prophet]

What I want to know... is why does looking into a Dark Star or seeing the end of the Universe always drive people crazy...

The human brain isn't adequately equipped to deal with the scale of the Earth, that's why we all construct a much smaller and more manageable world in our heads, and why massive events like natural disasters and mass slaughter are so hard to comprehend unless you've seen them.

As a wiser man than I once wrote: "The one thing life cannot afford to have if it is to exist in a universe this size is a sense of proportion."

Also, didn't they say he'd looked into the heart of a dark star? I sort of assumed this was something more than just a regular old star, perhaps connected to the nebulous 'Dark Times', before the Time Lords, and thus in some way wrong to human perceptions.