fajrdrako | Torchwood: Random Shoes... (Reply)

Last night Alayne came over to my place, and

commodorified came over with Ian, and we ate apples baked in cinnamon and brown sugar and watched two episodes of Torchwood: "They Keep Killing" (which only I had seen) and "Random Shoes".

I'd heard a bit about "Random Shoes" because, however hard I try to avoid spoilers, fans not not a discreet bunch, on the whole - I'm sure they mean well, but I'd seen lots of LJ entries and mailing-list subject headings along the lines of "Well, that was boring, wasn't it?" and "Where the heck was Captain Jack?" (Starring in panto? Singing for the Queen?)

So I expected a change of pace, and I got it. As soon as Eugene was introduced, Ian and I said, "It's Elton again! It's 'Love and Monsters'!" And so it was. And I should maybe mention again that I absolutely love the Doctor Who series 2 episode, "Love and Monsters". I'd call it off-beat, but there are no Doctor Who episodes that are not off-beat, original, and unique in style. The whole show is blissfully free of formula. But "Love and Monsters" is different even by Doctor Who's always-different standards.

So. Eugene. The Eye of, what was it, Dogon? I'm used to thinking of Torchwood as conceptual mix of Batman, Buffy, and X-Files, the proportion of each varying from episode to episode. Now I see there's a good dollop of Douglas Adams in there too, and that explains a lot.

It boils down to: "It isn't what I wanted, but I loved it anyway." It didn't have much of Torchwood or Captain Jack, or Captain Jack flirting sexily with Ianto, or scenes with Gwen and Rhys being sweet together, or a cameo by the pterodactyl. Maybe it's just that I'm getting to feel I know the characters better and better as the show continues, and as I think and write about them, but I did feel that everyone was particularly well in character this time.

Measured on other terms, It didn't have the punch of "Love and Monsters". I didn't like Eugene and his friends the way I liked Elton and LINDA, I thought the theme of "why Eugene's father left" was weaker than "how Elton's mother died", and I'm not sure if there was a climax. If there was, I didn't understand it. But that doesn't matter. It was fun. It made me smile a lot. Gwen was adorable. [1]

My favourite moment: Eugene looking around the Hub, thinking it was cool. Him seeing the Doctor's hand.

I liked the "random shoes" image - that Eugene had taken the picture, that it was a clue in Gwen's investigation. And I liked it that she was pursuing an investigation, just like a detective might.

Have I ever seen a ghost faint before, in all of fiction? I suppose it would be possible to argue that Eugene wasn't a normal ghost, he was a dead human affected by an alien eye. It's still a novel image.

I liked the way Gwen could almost perceive Eugene and sometimes interact with him, though the story didn't make a big deal of it. We thought Gwen was psychic all along. That helps to explain some of her insights and empathies. I suspect Jack has a sense of this, and it's one of the talents he hired her for.

Are Gwen and Owen still having sex at every chance? Unclear, but it seemed to me that Owen was back to his old level of bitchiness and grumpiness, so maybe their little joyride of erotic thrill has come to its end. (Or maybe not.)

I liked the way Eugene couldn't make the people at Torchwood see him or pay attention to him when he was alive, but at the end they could see him and notice him - when he was dead.

A plot point I didn't understand: who bid the 15,000 pounds on eBay for the eye, and why?

I loved it that there were scenes in Aberystwyth. I once applied to the University of Aberystwyth, and was accepted; but the courses I wanted weren't offered that year, so I went to the University of London instead. And I loved every moment. No regrets. But I always react to Aberystwyth as "the road not taken."

[1] And it cheered me up from feeling sad over a little budgie.