Torchwood: Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang...

[fajrdrako]

Well. I'd watched the trailers. I'd seen the clips. I'd read the interviews. And it was still better than I expected.

The highlight of the show was James Marsters as Captain John Hart, who, for all his advance publicity, was more outrageously entertaining than I'd imagined he could be. (Was Spike that good on Buffy?) In fact, all the relationships were fun - with interesting twists every which way.

I'm tempted to list one good line after another. I think the winner may be Captain John's "Five minutes to live, you want me to behave?" but I might have to listen a few more times to make the final choice of bon mot du jour.

Things I liked:

1. That the Torchwood team seems to have improved both their mastery of their technology and their manner of using it, though they don't seem a lot smarter than they were. Was I the only one shouting, "Gwen, don't turn your back on him?" when Gwen was with Captain John? And when she turned her back on him? ....But they do seem more competent, and I appreciate that. The episode's plot did not happen because they screwed up. I'd have been happier if Ianto hadn't failed to shoot the Blowfish.

2. Jack said, "I found my Doctor." With the sweetest smile. I melted. And: "I came back for you. All of you." Perfect. I loved all the references to this relationship with the Doctor, the Torchwood team (singly and together), to his time away from them, and their reactions. Especially Ianto, who fears - I would guess - that he'll have his heart broken again. How long was Jack gone from Torchwood? I couldn't tell.

3. Every reference to the Time Agency. And to Jack's past, with or without Captain John. Lots of good stuff, and more sense of how Jack feels about it, compared to his present. Grey? Oooh, Chibnall, you got me with that one. (Is Grey Jack's child?)

4. The omnisexuality. The flirting, the jokes, the kissing, the touching. What a contrast from last season! Not just bisexuality and an orgy reference - has Chibnall been reading our fanfic online? - but office fetishes and poodle-lust. My goodness.

5. Captain John Hart: Just the right combinations of funny, dangerous, outrageous, sexual, tricky and immoral. And I love his costume. Loved him clearing out the bar. Loved the whole flirtation/fighting with Captain Jack. Loved the mixed message of his bittersweet broken love for Jack and his callous revenges. (Lost his soul, and misses it.) Loved it that at the end he understood enough to want to join the team and stay with Jack.

6. Captain Jack: Fitting more into the ensemble group than before, but with some outstanding solo moments. "These people. This planet. All the beauty you can never see. That's what I came back for." Harkens back to his first speech in "Everything Changes": "I love this planet." He really does.

7. Gwen: Clearly miffed with Jack for leaving and not for confiding in them. Interesting scene where he said he came back "for you". Are we supposed to take the "all of you" for granted there? The ambiguity was interesting. And then the revelation of her engagement to Rhys. Loved that, and her phone conversation with Rhys. But I had the feeling that she's not as comfortable with the overall situation as she pretends: her love for Rhys seems tinged with condescension. Most obvious famous last words I've heard in a long time¹: "I can handle this." I loved, absolutely loved, her willingness to sacrifice herself to save Cardiff. This is why I love Gwen.

8. Owen: Do we believe him, that he's through chasing after women, looking for someone he has something in common with? Was he angling after Tosh there, or being oblivious? He did seem, in general, less annoying and more human than we've seen him in the past: I live in hope. But not, I hastily add, hope for a relationship between him and Tosh.

9. Toshiko: Perhaps the least changed, but I liked it that her intelligence and ingenuity was played up.

10. Ianto: Just about perfect. I haven't enjoyed him this much since "Cyberwoman". The pink and red shirts, the bits of action, the wariness with Jack, the glee with which he timed Captain John's incipient death with the stopwatch - oooh, I love a jealous Ianto. Dangerous! And I usually don't like jealousy as a theme, but this works perfectly, with a twitch of the eyebrow. Loved his scene with Captain John, too, when the Captain forced him into the elevator. Also the 'date' conversation between Ianto and Jack: "Is that a yes?" And Ianto's defensive, "Yes." His manner was just right through all of that: I have seldom been so impressed with Gareth David-Lloyd's acting. I wonder if we'll get to see their date. I wonder what movie they'd pick to see.

11. Nice moment when the team and then Jack came back to the hub to capture Captain John - all acting like a team. Solidarity rules! At last!

12. Jack taught John the lip-gloss trick? We thought it was Saffron.

13. Loved the theme of the beauty Jack finds on Earth, and John's difficulty in seeing it.

Good lines:

• "Bloody Torchwood."


• "This fish is wired." Also loved the way this tied into Captain John's arrival and the theme of his substance abuse.


• "I was hoping for a little power struggle, resolved by some naked wrestling."


• "This is one of your spooky-dooes, is it?"


• "What can you be doing that's more important than me?"


• "You were the wife!" "I was a good wife."


• "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi."


• "What is this, sewer chic?"


• "Has he got to the 'no kissing' rule yet? He just invented that because wants me all to himself."
  
• "Your dolly-birds did all my work."


• "See you in hell." I loved that back on series 1 Doctor Who, too.


• "Rehab. Didn't really work."


• "Eye candy."


• "You are unbelievable." "And yet you still find me strangely attractive."


• "What about a last-minute rescue? What's the point of being on a team if you don't get a last-minute rescue?"


• "Temporal displacement. Makes your tongue tingle."


• "Remind me never to get on your bad side."


• "Definitely bigger."


• "That's a poodle."

I'd say, all in all, this is the second-best episode of Torchwood to date, second only to "Captain Jack Harkness".

~ ~ ~

¹ Well, actually, since three weeks ago, when the Doctor said to Astrid, "I will save you. I promise" in Voyage of the Damned. So not really all that long.

Comments

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

airspaniel was going to have to get her discs back from a friend, too, so when we can get everything together. Not tomorrow, but maybe by next weekend or thereabouts?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

No guarantees I'll have the time, but do keep me informed.