Oh Torchwood you glorious cheese

[lonelybrit]

Needless to say I enjoyed it. This is my show and it's been gone for a year, they have a lot of brownie points to use up before I get tired.

Perfect? No. Course not. But even as I was mentally making criticisms, I was surprised at how quickly the end credits were suddenly upon me.

So. The bad:

x. I'm going to get the worst (as in it's the hardest for me to say) part over first. My main 'Hmm' point was the writing of Ianto. GDL can do dead-pan humour beautifully, and I do adore that the writers are now playing to that. But in this ep it did feel like at times he could only speak in one-liners and jokes. When they're cut-off from their teammates, I wonder if rather than quipping, Ianto would instead have been knuckling down with Tosh in figuring out a way to contact Jack and Gwen. (Though I did laugh at the 'Hello? NO, because the phones aren't working.')

x. The music. All hail the return of the soaring violin scores. Particularly when Gwen starts using the 'Humanity' spiel.

x. Moments of dialogue that still clunked like some S1 corkers. Again, see Gwen's 'Humanity' spiel. Though it was not as bad as it could have been by a long mile. Where before we would have had paragraphs of compassion and spelling out for the audience the moral heartache going on, this time it was just the one or two sentences and then, thank god, we were allowed to join the dots ourselves.

x. Not very scary villains. But to be fair, this isn't such a bad deal as the ep was clearly meant to be more about us connecting with Beth and her horror at realising she was just shell rather than worrying about the potential end of days.

There, got it off my chest. And now on to the squee good points.

x. Er, funnily enough the first point is also Ianto (gosh, I know, contain your surprise). And the humour. Yes, at times it may have been rather unbelievably timed, but that didn't stop it being funny as hell and oh so well delivered. Ianto really has come out of his shell, not afraid to be unimpressed by Jack, mucking around like a normal lad with make-pretend electric chairs, and generally making me smile. And the bright pink shirt wasn't that bad either. (Although, what was that scene at the end with him and Jack? I'm not entirely sure how to read it; Jack fleeing back into his office with a radio-wielding Ianto in hot pursuit.)

x. After all the Gwen/Jack vs Ianto/Jack bullshit last week, it gave me intense satisfaction to see the writers effectively give the sods the finger by having what I thought was a lovely Ianto/Gwen moment. He knows she's upset by it all, doesn't say anything, just gives her his arm, and she seems genuinely appreciative and comforted by it. I also laughed like a drain at the thought of Ianto happy gossiping about Jack with the girls. These guys were together by themselves for however long Jack was away, and they have bonded to be friends and not just work colleagues, and it is glorious to watch.

x. Beth. Actress did a great job I thought. I was genuinely sad for her when she went to say goodbye to Mike, both of them did a good job in selling me the star-crossed lovers theme.

x. Gwen. Initially I did wince when the writers seemed to be yet again hitting us about the head with 'She has heart/compassion like no other!' stick. But she still won me over. Yes she has heart (and consequently gets given some truly cheesy lines to try and pull off), but she has moved past trying to blame the team for not apparently seeing things the same way, and I loved how at the end she didn't come to Jack for comfort, but to show she was all ready to go again.

x. "Let's all have sex." Oh Owen. You are brilliant and snarky and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next.

And if Jack/Ianto bores you, then ignore these next points as they're my shallow happy Janto thoughts:

x. Pink is my colour. Or rather it's Ianto's. And he wears it so well.
x. The scene during the interrogation. The gentle put-down. On a slightly more darker note, it did seem to me like Ianto was the only one who never seemed too concerned by Jack's methods in questioning Beth. Yes, it could be down to the small point of him not saying any lines during that scene so of course we only got to see Gwen/Owen/Tosh's reactions, but let me have my little stray thought. He wears pink, he makes jokes, he comforts the girls, but I need to rewatch to see if I was just imagining that he rarely looked that upset by the pain Beth went through, more by the way the lights were about to blow.
x. "Or so I'm told." Can't quote Ianto's addition to Gwen's comment, but loved Jack's quelling cough. They've so done it. And the team knows they've done it. And it's not a big deal. I love Torchwood.
x. "Making new friends." "Not really." Yeah yeah, I know Jack only said it because he didn't find the officer that attractive and also because his mind was full of questions about a blood-splattered murder scene. Still. Let me for the moment enjoy telling myself that Jack also said that because for the moment he's quite content with just flirting with the suit-clad soul waiting for him back at the Hub.

So, repeat's on at 11.30, right? *eyes kitchen* I have a nasty feeling the squirrel is still hiding in there, so I suppose I better give it a few more hours to vacate the premises...

Comments

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

On a slightly more darker note, it did seem to me like Ianto was the only one who never seemed too concerned by Jack's methods in questioning Beth.

Ianto didn't seem too concerned at all, which is... odd, considering that you'd think a young black English woman getting mentally and physically corrupted by alien technology and ending up being shot dead by Torchwood would bring back what happened with Lisa. Just a slight bit.

[lonelybrit]

I'm not too sure how to read it, I think it'll depend a lot on how they go with Ianto in future eps.

On the one hand, it could just have been something the writers never really considered. After all Ianto wasn't one of the key protagonists this week, and Torchwood can be a little *cough* intermittent with character continuity at the best of times.

But if his lack of concern WAS intentional, then to me that's a big big change. I don't know if he would have seen it as being corrupted by alien technology, because she wasn't human to begin with (unlike Lisa). What is surprising is that the moment in his mind he had her down as a genuine threat and/or an alien (i.e. the moment she got hauled in for questioning) he seemed to just turn off the compassion he obviously could feel for someone like Gwen. Possibly it's because of Lisa (and in his mind, aliens killing her) that he's now like this. Although, as I say, it depends on whether or not the director/writers did this intentionally. For all I know, a few eps down the line and he will suddenly be questioning Jack's less than pleasant questioning techniques.

[intrastellar.livejournal.com]

All I can think is that when Jack shot the man in the shoulder, he coughed up blood. Oh, Torchwood anatomy.

[lonelybrit]

Maybe it's an alien thing?

Yeah, I noticed that too. Oh Torchwood. You give me pretty men wrapped in pink shirts, so for now I'll just wave my wand and tell myself that the bullet somehow nicked the lung ;)

[intrastellar.livejournal.com]

Yes, his shoulder lung. What, you don't have one?

Oh, I love you, Torchwood, you big bag of fools.

[rivier.livejournal.com]

I'm such a Ianto whore, it didn't bother me hugely that he only stood around being pert with his mouth, though on reflection, I was a bit miffed when the first time the team pulled up, they were senza Ianto. But Owen and Tosh also got to do little more than play with their widgets - the whole-team thing of 2.01 was missing, which was a pity.

I did get the feeling that Ianto was disengaged or dispassionate about what was happening to Beth, more than the other three. But that feels consistent to me. Partly because he takes his cue so firmly from Jack, and it's as if what doesn't bother Jack is what he won't allow to bother him. It's comparable to the way the two of them played with the Weevil victim in Combat last year - no space for empathy in either of them. Partly as well because he really didn't have anything to do directly with Beth, whereas Tosh and Owen were both more front and centre when it came to the process of interrogation they were using.

I can't imagine why on earth Beth would have reminded him of Lisa, though. They didn't look anything like each other, their situations were completely different - above all, Beth was an alien creature and s total stranger to Ianto. The closest he got to looking at all empathetic was in offering his arm to Gwen, which makes sense since he knows her and presumably cares about her at least a bit.

[lonelybrit]

Ianto, Owen and Tosh left by themselves in the Hub while the world may end around them. There's a fanfic in there somewhere, and really really good smut. Though it would have served Jack and Gwen right if they'd had to save the world by themselves while the rest of Torchwood had an orgy in their absence ;)

Assuming the writers did do that detachment from Beth's distress deliberately, I guess it does mean they weren't kidding when they said Ianto had these 'hidden depths' and was a bit of dark horse. So far the 'hidden depths' have been all the emo!belly rats, but possibly there is more there than just angsty man!pain. He was at TW1 after all, not the most friendly of places. And the scene between him and John last week did play very well, John was genuinely surprised when Ianto didn't leave straightaway. I'm not sure it is just taking the lead from Jack, if this is deliberate on the part of the writers, then I'd say that this is just a side of Ianto we haven't seen before but has probably always been there and was just made more apparent by working for someone like Jack and going through the trauma of losing Lisa.

Then again, it could all be written over next week when he cries over someone kicking a puppy, so who knows :)

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

I'm so with you on the slightly odd (if hilarious) Ianto characterisation. I never read anyone else's reviews until I've written mine up but we're pretty similar on our thoughts on the ep. I found the concept of the sleeper cell quite chilling even if the execution wasn't necessarily that impressive.

And yes the Gwen/Ianto moment was adorable - it said a lot without words it really did.

[lonelybrit]

Oh yes - you couldn't fault GDL's execution, but I'm surprised the editors/directors didn't think that maybe it could have been reined in a bit as things got progressively worse for team TW. And agreed, the idea of a sleep cell was quite chilling and more than a little sad. All these folks like Beth who arrive and settle and love and totally unaware they're primed to destroy everything they've come to cherish.

I am so so pleased the writers are doing well with Gwen so far. Eve Myles has all the makings of a great leading lady, and from the looks of it she'll finally be allowed to shine this series :)

[princess-s.livejournal.com]

Again I missed the original airing on BBC2 and had to get into my PJs for the 11:30 showing.

I have to say I really liked this ep, just because it took a 'real' situation and dealt with it in a peculiar way. As in they made us sympathetic to the 'bad guy' and for us I think its difficult to see where Jack is coming from in the whole torture thing, it was good tv but painful to watch. I really loved Beth I think a lesser actress would have screwed the ep up royally.

As for the apathetic Ianto, I think we have to remember he was in TW1 and presumably was given loads of tests to see if he was suitable, and I'm guessing somewhere along the line someone said, 'in certain circumstances is it ok to use excessive force to get answers'.

I think TW is going from strength to strength, if it continues this way it might even end up on BBC1 :P

[lonelybrit]

Utterly agree - at times Beth had quite clichéd scenes and simple lines, but she totally gave them genuine depth and emotion and I felt for her as she realised how it really was out of her control and what a danger she was.

You have a very good point. Last series Ianto was either trying to be not too noticeable because of Lisa, or he was basically very very depressed and trying to piece himself together after it all went tits up. Possibly this is the first time we've actually seen the real Ianto yet, as in what he used to be like at TW1 when he felt in control and was happy. I would like that as it would give him a bit more of a darker edge, but equally, given this is TW, it could also just be for this ep as we've yet to see enough to know if continuity is going to be part of this series :)

[ok2nv-theoracle.livejournal.com]

I kept thinking, "When did Ianto grow a sense of humor?" It did feel a little heavy-handed with all the quippyness. They were all priceless, tho. I can see why they wouldn't have wanted to cut any. (Altho, t'were up to me, I'd have probably 86ed the electric chair bit.) I vastly prefer him that way to the Amazing Crying Welshman from the first series, tho.

His line that Jack quelled was, "Oh, they are! I remem--" And, I'm pretty sure that bit at the end was meant to be Ianto shooting Jack daggers because his careless, albeit "dashing," behavior wrecked some of the SUV's equipment, leaving him a mess to fix . . . and Jack promptly running to hide, as you do.

I agree. The actress cast as Beth was aces. However, the MotW format always tends to bore me, story-wise.

[lonelybrit]

Assuming the constant humour is going to be an on-going thing (please god let us have character continuity this season), then I'm guessing that this is actually what Ianto used to be like at TW1. Last series he, understandably, spent a lot of time in tears and looking inches away from slitting his wrists, we never saw what he had been like before the fall of Torchwood One. And given Torchwood One was a bit of an arrogant, careless organisation, that then would make sense that he is quite happy to quip away as some terrified alien is rigged-up to a mind probe.

Hehe, yep, I was looking at a pic recap, and it's Ianto holding the remains of the SUV ariel and looking not at all pleased. Run Jack, run while you can.

I am used to some kind of story and character arcs that we got on BtVS and AtS, and it is taking me a bit of time to readjust to having everything dealt with in one ep. Hopefully at least we will get some character arcs this time round *crosses fingers and toes*