End of Days..

[fajrdrako]

I had brunch with the slash crowd at the Hart and Crown this morning. Except they don't have brunch any more. They let us in early, for coffee, and then served us lunch. I had fish and chips. Not bad, but not as great as the menu implied. It was fun to be able to talk to everyone again.

Felt unwell most of the afternoon. Napped.

Over dinner, I watched the Torchwood episode "End of Days" with maaseru, maaboroshi and Catherine. When I first saw it, I couldn't stand Abaddon, and cringed quite a bit. Now I'm mostly fannishly sentimental about the whole thing and my cringing in the Abaddon scenes is mostly for form's sake. I have become entirely shameless.

Ten Things I Love About "End of Days"

1. Captain Jack hears the TARDIS noise, and smiles.


2. Gwen asks Jack what vision of a loved one would have made him change his mind about the Rift. He says, "The right kind of Doctor."


3. The hand.


4. The scene in which Jack tenderly washes Gwen's hands.


5. The scene in which Ianto holds dead Jack's greatcoat, and weeps.


6. The scene where Gwen hysterically attacks Jack - "Then what the fuck are you good for?"


7. The scene were Jack forgives Owen, and hugs him.


8. The scene where we get a close-up of Owen's face when he is fired, and he's weeping. This is the only second of the whole series where I actually almost like Owen, and don't find him unattractive.


9. Jack: "Under any other circumstances, an exuberant Roman soldier would be my idea of a perfect morning."


10. Gwen hitting Jack when she's cradling the recently-dead Rhys in her arms, and the way he crosses his arms and turns away. I might go so far as to say I love all the interaction between Gwen and Jack in this one: her hysteria, his kindness, her support at the end with the Biblical vigil and the kiss.


11. The scene where Jack gets angry and points out their shortcoming to them all. Especially with gwen - "If you loved Rhys so much, why did you spend half your time in Owen's bed?" Good question, though I didn't think Jack would be the one to ask it.

Ten Things I Hate About "End of Days"

1. Ianto betrays Jack. I find that hard to understand or justify. I can rationalize it - but it's still difficult to understand or justify.


2. Abaddon. A let-down in every way.


3. Bilis. He's my favourite Torchwood baddie; I wanted more about him, and more explanation about him.


4. It's painful to see Rhys die, and to see how badly Gwen treats him in the name of love.


5. The dead in the streets, but that's all just part of the Abaddon thing.


6. The visions. Lame.

After that, we watched a show on Bravo about one of my favourite artists, Moebius. It was very interesting, and brought back good memories of an occasion on which I had dinner with him. I particularly liked a scene in which Stan Lee and Moebius talked about their collaboration on Silver Surfer. They interviewed several other French comic book artists without identifying them - I was frustrated because I wanted to know who they were. One of them was Enki Bilal, but which? I don't know him to see him, I just know his art.

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I have this theory about Abaddon. His/its appearance is what the person who sees him expects to see. Ianto may be seeing some Biblical sort of scary angel; Jack may be seeing some sort of monstrous thing from his favorite mythology; Owen is seeing something from a cheesy video game - and we're seeing Owen's POV of it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I like your theory! Now, most of the series isn't from Owen's point of view, but that part... yeah, it could be.

I always like the idea of that kind of amorphic mythological being. Like the - Vorlons, was it? - who looked like angels to humans.

I'm not sure this makes that part of the episode more palatable, but it's a big conceptual improvement.

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

G-d, I hate End of Days, kind of the way I hate Tim Kring's habit of killing my boyfriend and the way pine (to which I'm violently allergic) shows up everywhere this time of year. I don't know whether to be shocked or admire you for finding things to like about it.

It seemed like Torchwood was trying to be SPN-by-way-of-Godzilla and failing.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

When I first saw "End of Days" I hated it for sure - until the last couple of minutes when Jack heard the TARDIS, and that I loved with a passionate love, because I adore anything that refers to the love between Jack and the Doctor. Then I saw "Last of the Time Lords" and I didn't even have that to fall back on any more, because it didn't lead to a reunion between them, as I had expected and hoped, it led to rejection and separation.

Faugh.

So I'm still working all this through in my mind. But on seeing "End of Days" again, for the first time in a long time now, I was more or less prepared for the stuff I hate about it and looking forward to what I like, because until Christmas Day it's all I have, and I'm desperate.

I still hate it that Ianto betrayed Jack - all the more so now that he doesn't have the Doctor, at least unless and until something between them changes in series 4. I still hate the SPN-by-way-of-Godzilla nonsense of Abaddon - and that's a great descrition of it. I hate it even more that it's all unexplained and Bilis, whom I'd thought was a terrific villain, turns out to be (aparently) merely a nutcase.

But there are still moments/seconds to enjoy.

And what - five weeks till series 2?

My condolences about pine. That's a horrible thing to be allergic to. I am myself allergic to cats, and I start feeling itchy whenever a cat discussion breaks out on the mailing list.

As for Kring's habit of killing Nathan at any excuse or none at all - I love to him, too, now, and want him alive and well!

I wonder if writing a letter would help. Whenever I complain about something like this, maaseru says, "Well? Did you write to them about that?"

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

Like linaerys, I haven't done a lot with the Save Nathan campaign yet because there is part of me that really wishes Adrian could have a job where they appreciate him. I'd like to see Profit revived on a cable channel, for example. But...I probably will, because I love Nathan almost as much as I love Adrian (Adrian being a real person after all).

I can't see Jack going back to the doctor after what Ten did to him. The Master is more important to the Doctor even after everything Jack and Martha went through. Of course they dumped his sorry ass. I want Nine back. Nine was a much more decent person.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I want Nine back, too. He was wonderful and he appreciated Jack.

I wish Ten would regenerate into Nine.

And now that I've come to appreciate Nathan, I want him in Heroes, with better stories, more screen time, and no one killing him. At least for a while. Maybe he can take on Hiro as a bodyguard.