Torchwood: Small Worlds...

[fajrdrako]

Captain Jack Harkness meets up with some elementals.

I though this was a well-crafted episode, but I wasn't as emotionally involved as last week.

The best things were:

1. The relationship between Jack and Estelle. Very reminiscent of Highlander, but also dissimilar and (so typical with this show) not emotionally simple or straightforward. What was it Jack said - "a lot of promises were broken in those days"? Made me take a deep breath.


2. Gwen's place being trashed. Scary.


3. The intriguing scenes of Jack in Lahore in 1909. A quick look at wikipedia doesn't tell me about any particular wars in the Punjab in 1909; so why was Jack there, why then? Just hanging out with the British army? Was this about the diamond scam, and if so, why was Jack feeling responsible for his soldiers?


4. I see considerable discussion about Jack's timeline. It is still unclear whether he was dashing back and forth in time either as a con artist or a Time Agent, or living an extended life in immortal form, with changes in identity or location from decade to decade. The difference between the Doctor Who pattern of story, or the Highlander pattern. I find this intriguing, and I'm in no hurry to find out the truth. I become increasingly curious as to how old Jack actually is, and how many years have passed for him since The Parting of the Ways.


5. It is interesting that Jack is becoming more and more forthcoming to Gwen about his past, or at least about pieces of his past. His relationship with Estelle, for example.


6. I'd have called the fairy-creatures 'elementals' myself. The "Mara" Jack talked about are described in Wikipedia here. As often happens in this show, certain elements of the mythology made me think of Neil Gaiman.


7. I liked Estelle. She reminded me of Ten's comments in the School Reunion episode of Doctor Who about the difficulty of watching those you care for age and die.


8. I like the moment between Jack and Ianto, and its various implications - though others don't seem to have thought it was as ambiguous as I did. Jack, I think, is trying to make peace with Ianto. Ianto is still distressed, but coping. Or am I wrong? I don't like Ianto as much as many viewers seem to - but he does have an interesting role, and I can't predict where they're going with him.


9. Captain Jack's nightmare led me to wonder: does he not sleep because he doesn't need to, or does he not sleep because he is afraid to?


10. I loved it that Jack sent Jasmine to live with the fairies. It was her choice, after all. I like Jack with children, just as I liked the Doctor with children.


11. Not as sensuous as some episodes. I've come to hope for scenes like the gun scene, or the Gwen-snogs-the-alien scene. Ah well.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think some people (like us) are able to blossom at university because we are among people of similar type, goals and intelligence - not the general population, such as happens in grade school, where everyone is there only because they have to be there.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. Insane government notions (driven by the desire to make youth unemployment look lower) to get 50% of the young population into university have meant lowering of academic standards, students having to work and take out loans to finance their studies, and a falling-off of the quality of the experience all round. And of course, it means they end up flipping burgers in MacDonalds, because there aren't enough graduate jobs at the end of it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I disapprove strongly of all of this.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Yup. When they decided to turn the polytechnics into universities, all the polys decided to reinvent themselves as academic institutions. Not enough young folk are training in trades and crafts, partly as a result. So we end up with a plethora of kids with degrees of questionable worth (often in academically dubious subjects such as tourism and media studies: there are shortages of language graduates and scientists) serving in cafés or on the dole, and importing skilled trades and craftspeople from former Eastern Europe.

My problem is finding myself in competition for graduate jobs with younger people whose first degree may look the same as mine on paper, but which has been less demanding: heavily skewed towards course-work, and 'modular' courses. (I have a PhD, but that seems to be regarded as a handicap in a lot of circles.) I'm quite glad I didn't get a permanent post in university teaching; my lecturer friends are pretty disillusioned. They know standards have fallen, but they are expected to stay 'on message'. Only 2 people got Firsts in my year in my subject (I wasn't one of them!); now a First is not exceptional. Human intelligence does not evolve that quickly.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

In other words, standards are plummetting. I wish I could say I don't believe this is happening in Canada too (or elsewhere in the world) but I think it's universal. It's part and parcel of the thinking that makes the educational institutions hesitate to give a failing grade to a kid who knows nothing, or who maybe isn't capable of learning. It isn't education that's at stake so much as scholarship, learning, and fostering intellectual values - which will never be, and should never be, universal in a population. Yes, there should be education for all, but the higher levels of academia should be reserved for those who can most effectively use it.