Siren call of the spoilers

[lonelybrit]

I'm camping out once more with the elders, which means I suddenly am surrounded by copies of Radio Times ::geeks out:: I am useless when faced with material temptations, and unsurprisingly I fell off the Torchwood spoiler wagon by reading the review for next week's 5th ep (Adam) and for this week's (Meat). Last series, the RT's review of the finale ended with the words that if there was a second series, "we were going to have to care a lot more about these characters." By the end of ep 5's review, it acknowledges that Torchwood has finally succeeded on this front—go Torchwood!

There's something rotten in the Hub of Torchwood, and it's turning our heroes into walking antitheses. Jack has lost all his confidence; Ianto is a murderous brute; Tosh is sexually voracious; the normally loving Gwen doesn't even recognise husband Rhys; and, touchingly, cocksure womaniser Owen is a timid, cardie-wearing geek, bless him. (Burn Gorman has been underused this series but is fantastic tonight.)

Most baffling of all, there's a stranger among them (Adam, played by Bryan Dick), and everyone is treating him as if he's been a team player for years. An intriguing puzzle, then: not hard to solve, but you'll still want to see it solved.

Those expecting special effects à gogo, or the usual up-tempo japes, may feel short-changed; others who like their drama—even their sci-fi—to be character-centred, won't. The backstory for Captain Jack is especially rewarding. And if the plot doesn't make complete sense, there's plenty to compensate. It's taken a while but now, at last, we really care. Hurrah!
-Mark Braxton

Needless to say I've been happily pinging off the walls all day over this, after all it is Cath Treganna's ep, which Marsters was so in awe of at The Point, and frankly I can't wait to see how all the actors deal with their roles that week.

Firstly, just to clarify, I am not asking for spoilers beyond those revealed in the RT. This is as spoiled as I want to be for now, if it's not mentioned explicitly in this post, please do not tell me about it :)

Gwen - eh, hard to get too excited. To be honest she didn't treat Rhys that great last series and I haven't seen enough of their relationship this series to get a feel of just what a change this would be. However, the writing of Gwen so far has been fantastic, so even if I'm not excited in advance, I am confident I will enjoy seeing Eve Myles get her teeth into playing outside the norm.

Jack - I'm torn between "BWHAHAHAHAHA" and "Awwwwww". On the one hand it just tickles me pink to imagine an unconfident Jack, how would hell not be freezing over. But then on the other, throw in backstory, and does that mean we get to see woobie!Jack? I don't like to see my Jack hurting *pets him*

Ianto - MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! After being officially designated woobie for the past series, I am looking forward to seeing if GDL really can make the master of emo!man!pain have a believable nasty streak. Plus of course, given from the trailers for the series as a whole, I'm guessing that Ianto won't be too charmed with his AU personality/actions.

Tosh - super intelligent, frankly gorgeous, and now, for one ep at least, 'sexually voracious'. Oh god yes, bring it.

Owen - OWEN IN A CARDIE AS A TIMID GEEK ZOMG ♥♥♥ I cannot wait to see Burn Gorman have a ball with this, because you know he will, Marsters said he 'ate his scenes' and I do not doubt that. Roll on ep 5 =)

Comments

[louiex.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm beyond words excited for Ep 5 from all these little hints like this (tonight looks good too!) but wow, the role reversals for everyone should certainly be fun to see if the actors can carry that weight!

I do have hope for GDL though as he said his ideal role (in one interview or another) was Lady MacBeth, so the reluctant psycho seems right up his desired alley then :D

[lonelybrit]

To be honest, I think the remaining three could tank and Burn could still just about pull the whole ep off, he is a fabulous actor and it is going to be such fun to see him get the most out of this complete opposite of the Owen we're used to. However, I honestly can't believe the others will fall flat on their face, so yes, I'm just so excited about this ep on every possible level :)

GDL... he just has such a baby face and such woobie eyes, it's hard to imagine him as being a brute. But physically he certainly is up to the task, if he can pull off the acting part to, and I have faith, it also should be great fun to watch and I'm sure he enjoyed getting to be shamelessly unpleasant for a while!

[louiex.livejournal.com]

o be honest, I think the remaining three could tank and Burn could still just about pull the whole ep off, he is a fabulous actor and it is going to be such fun to see him get the most out of this complete opposite of the Owen we're used to.

You have an excellent point there :D I'm quite excited to see Burn flex as many acting muscles as possible (I hope to see that Oxford Murders movie that he's in too, though not sure when it comes out)

[glitterfairy25.livejournal.com]

I love the Radio Times. It's just so there. All lovely and spread out and exclusive (sometimes) and full of pretty pictures and reviews and interviews and a little high class game at the back. Oh, I loves it I do.

'Specially last weeks one with the four different covers of the Ashes team. *ahem*

I haven't read this weeks yet, cos I'm going home this weekend anyway, and I don't want to be spoiled. (so I haven't read your spoiley post either. sorry!)

[lonelybrit]

I adore Radio Times - as you say, it is always so pretty, and it does often get tiny but lovely little exclusives from various casts. And when something new like Doctor Who/Ashes to Ashes hits the screens, you can always be guaranteed new and fun trivia to tide you over till the première.

This week's (Meat) is fine, but it's next week's (Adam) with George Clooney on the front cover that really slew me, you can just tell the reviewer had finally, properly begun to enjoy this series - yay!