And finally...

[lonelybrit]

Last week was a relatively pleasant one; saw family/friends, read a good book, saw a good film, and smiled over certain TV news.

The book: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - yep an old classic I picked up for 99p whilst stuck at a railway station. Actually pretty darn good. It's a short story but the writing is excellently creepy.

The film: Atonement - also very nicely done. Have to admit Ms Knightly can annoy me a tad, but actually she was perfectly cast in this, and all the actors did a lovely job with their characters. Yes I have also read the book, and yes they have changed a few details at the end but nothing major, and actually I prefer this adaptation to the original text.

The TV news: (1) John Barrowman is apparently going to be one of the guest-stars in the next series of Hotel Babylon. HB is not something I watch regularly, but if I'm around I'll tune in as it's shallow, glossy, trashy fun and frankly I think JB will have a riot there. I also in my head can't help but imagine a slightly cracked cross-over just because I can see the whole TW team bickering in the bar and offloading their woes/venom onto various members of staff.
(2) More spoilery news about next season of Torchwood. Nothing plot-specific, more about the vibes within the team and concerning two major guest-stars. In terms of the team we'll apparently be seeing them more as a close-knit family - to which all I can say is thank god. Nice to hear someone else describe them as a dysfunctional family unit; whilst that may have been passable for one season, you can only have them continually sniping at each other and complaining how lonely they are for so long before you start to wonder why on earth are they sticking this job out so long if they despise their co-workers so.

Tosh? Will get at least one good ep - yay! Though to be honest, considering when a character does 'get an ep' that very rarely translates as 'will have an ep where nothing but shiny lovely things happen to them', I should probably feel a bit worry for her. Ditto Owen will get 'great stuff' - which I cannot wait to see as it's always fun to see Burn chew up the scenery.

Apparently we'll also see a lot more of the Jack/Gwen relationship and how it changes them, which actually I'm not too fussed about. They sold those two as having a special bond but to be honest I was yet to be really convinced by that come the finale, being told that someone is special to another and really feeling it are two separate things. The actors have a nice chemistry and if the writers can give them a chance to cash in on that, I'd love to be able to geninely root for a good strong friendship/bond the way I used to for Wes and Gunn or Sarah Jane and K9.

Er, and apparently we'll get to see more of Ianto doing more than just making coffee. Which will include him being 'slightly jealous' of dear Martha when she turns up, and idea that rather tickles me actually since I can imagine Ianto being a very entertaining when he's pouting and trying not to look put-out :)

Comments

[esmerelda-t.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Atonment, and thought Knightly was quite good, I think she's basically a female Hugh Grant, very good at a very particular, very English, role, but not much cop at anything else.

[lonelybrit]

Yep, that's pretty much my assessment of her, and in Atonement she found the perfect part. The scene where Robbie apologises for the note still makes me smile, and they did make a very pretty pair :)

[rivier.livejournal.com]

I read the TW stuff and was a very happy bunny indeed! (Don't think 'minor spoilers' really counts as breaking my spoiler embargo, riiiight?} I come over completely happy when I see any mention of the idea that the 'family' will be less dysfunctional this season - since my family routinely insults each other to death in the name of love peace & happiness, I don't think that means dialling back on the snark at all. Just a bit more tangible evidence of the closeness and importance of the bonds that underpin the snark. Owen in the lift in EoD, thinking he'd been thrown away and no-one was coming to get him back - actually, they've all had those 'no-one else in the team loooooves me!' moments now and it's very clear that the need for that iteration is there...

Anyway, yeah! More sarcasm-frilled love-ins works for me!

Also, though I'm naturally not looking for Twiglet Boy to get his delectable snub nose put out of joint any more, and I want Jack to get down on his knees and declare undying love in the way Jack does best... I'm also pretty tickled by the idea of Ianto being a bit jealous! Or, rather, of watching Ianto trying to hide the fact that he's getting a bit jealous! Bonus if he totally gets the wrong end of the stick and thinks they're horning each other and he's been kicked out of Jack's bed to make way for an old squeeze from the Year of Mystery. When Ianto's grumpy and losing control of things his voice loses that posh clipped affectation and the inner oik shines through. LOFF!

Three months of no-Torch torcha left!

[lonelybrit]

Team vibes do not count as spoilers, it's only plot specifics that qualify *nods*

Just a bit more tangible evidence of the closeness and importance of the bonds that underpin the snark.

Hehe, exactly. My family is the same, the view is generally 'We mock because we care.' So long as they first of all can establish that these guys would actually lie down in front of a bus for each other, I'm looking forward to the continuing snark/put-downs/mockery/needling/etc within the Hub. Particularly from Owen as he does have a lovely way with words :)

From the interview it looks pretty clear that overall the team is going to get on just fine with Martha, which is why I'm not too worried about the emo!belly!rats getting a bonus feeding when Ianto realises Jack and Martha have surfed the time-vortex together. Plus Martha is a gem and a bright spark, and I can just imagine her knowing look when she realises Ianto is 'subtly' trying to determine just how long she and Jack were alone together and how close they got. And thoroughly seconding Ianto getting thrown enough to momentarily lose the clipped accent, cos bless 'em men really don't like being teased :)

Three months... *floops* It's cruel I tell you, cruel!

[cyberducks.livejournal.com]

I am glad that Jack and Gwen will have a close relationship - I have high hopes that Gwen will be deannoyified in series 2, and will be the leading lady I wanted her to be in series 1.

As to Atonement - is the ending more upbeat than in the book, or the same?

[lonelybrit]

The way these team shows work, you have to have at least one really close relationship that the audience can believe in and whilst last season was great fun, I didn't really feel anyone particularly connected with the others except for maybe Tosh and Jack in Captain Jack Harkness. Eve certainly has the acting chops to make a great leading lady, though I didn't really begin to 'get' Gwen until she broke down over the pizza which in the end was too little too late for me. So yes, definitely hoping they sort out the writing and let Gwen shine :)

Atonement - the ending is pretty much the same as the book, if maybe just a little more depressing than the original, which is unusual, but it does work very well.

[cyberducks.livejournal.com]

more depressing! Oh dear....I still will have to see it because of McAvoy, he is such a brilliant actor.

[lonelybrit]

I say more depressing, but that is assuming I remember the original absolutely correctly - I did read it some time ago. They were all good, but McAvoy was brilliant - we were all very impressed by him and he deserves any plaudits that come his way as a result.