Torchwood: Sleeper...

[fajrdrako]

Loved it. Edge of seat. Didn't bite my fingernails, which shows massive self-control. Would have liked more personal focus on Jack, but it was fun to see him in professional mode here.

1. The Torchwood version of a Skrull invasion. I like it. I like it that Beth was sympathetic and heroic.



2. Jack was mostly in soldier mode, and maybe a little under-characterized. Which I didn't mind in the least. He looked good. I couldn't take my eyes of his forearms. Oooh.


3. How long has Jack been back? How long since Captain John Hart left? Jack seems to be reestablished as being in charge, with Gwen as a scond in command - or was I reading that into the show?



4. Nice too to see the team being efficient, honest, and working well together. How I wanted that last series! Now I have it, and it makes a world of difference.



5. Ianto! James Moran gave him such delightful dialogue. Keep it up, Ianto baby, I begin to see what Jack sees in you. ("And I thought the end of the world couldn't get any worse.") All that mischievous playfulness, courage and clever comments.
   
   So I find myself wondering where Ianto's head is now. Is he over the anger and fear we saw last week, or hiding it? Is he giddy because Jack is back? Is he showing off, to get Jack's attention? Is he having sex with Jack again, or hoping to? How long till they tell us? Meanwhile... seems to me the field is open for lots of interpretations.



6. Again, Toshiko was sharp with the technology. Right on top of it. I begin to be convinced she's as good as her advance billing.



7. Gwen. Adorable. My Gwen-love continues.



8. No PC Andy. No Rhys. I missed them. And there was a murder: shouldn't Kathy Swanson have been on the scene? (Sulk.)



9. Scariest moment: when Beth killed her husband. I didn't see that coming.



10. No snogging. Pity. No Captain John: pity about that, too.



11. Loved the scene where we got a good look at Jack's cleaned-up desk. I was afraid at first that the TARDIS-embryo was gone, but no, it's still there - I guess Gwen kept it because she didn't know what it was and it reminded her of Jack. And she knew he'd want it there if and when he did come back. I didn't notice the binoculars or the 3-D glasses, are they still there? I did notice the televisions from "The Idiot's Lantern".



12. I continue to quite like Owen this season. It's somewhat scary.



13. They put Beth in morgue-drawer 007 too, just like Suzie and Jack. Seems the people they put there never stay put. Maybe they should check it out, or rename it "the resurrection chamber". And wasn't Beth frozen in the same freezer/cupboard that Gwen and Owen were in in "Cyberwoman"?



14. I assume there will be a sequel to this story - more alien sleeper agents will turn up? We didn't learn the aliens' name, did we?



15. Have Ianto and Jack had their date yet? I want to see it!



16. Gwen's mother is alive. I'd wondered.

Comments

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

8. I actually thought a short clip of Beth in a previous trailer was Det. Swanson. Now I am disappointed because I don't think she'll appear at all and I'd been all excited she was back!

12. Right there with you. He's being all not-a-twat lately.

I did like the looks Jack kept giving Gwen whenever she was promising Beth that she would be okay, and no, of course they wouldn't kill her. Jack was definitely very in soldier mode. I also liked that Beth picked up on it and when Gwen was refusing to promise to kill her if necessary, she asked Jack to do it instead.

And wasn't the other main sleeper guy creepy?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I actually thought a short clip of Beth in a previous trailer was Det. Swanson

Oh, no! What a disappointment when you learn she wasn't!

don't think she'll appear at all and I'd been all excited she was back!

I'd love to see her again, I really would. But I'm not holding my breath.

He's being all not-a-twat lately.

It's really quite amazing. I'm not suprised that Owen can learn and grow, but I am surprised that I am becoming so tolerant of Burn Gorman that I can almost think he's cute and sexy and write a story about Owen which I thought I would never, never do. (But: never say never.)

I did like the looks Jack kept giving Gwen whenever she was promising Beth that she would be okay, and no, of course they wouldn't kill her.

I liked that too.

I also liked that Beth picked up on it and when Gwen was refusing to promise to kill her if necessary, she asked Jack to do it instead.

She knew he could and would. Gwen probably couldn't. I am reminded of the end of "Cyberwoman" with Gwen skeptical as to whether Jack could or would kill Ianto, if he had to.

And wasn't the other main sleeper guy creepy?

Yes, very scary. And the woman who just let her baby roll away into traffic - eeee!

I really liked the special effect of the control panel in their arms. It ought to have been a cliché and really hokey, but somehow it wasn't - it was spooky and scary.

I wonder if these aliens are the "most terrible creatures you can imagine" that Jack fought when young?

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

You wrote Owen fic? Yay, this makes me happy.

I wonder if these aliens are the "most terrible creatures you can imagine" that Jack fought when young?

Hmm. Interesting thought. My kneejerk reaction is "no", I'll try and work out why. My feeling is that Jack didn't react quite strongly enough to them or the threat of them for that. Also, the sleepers didn't seem the type of villain who would be torturing anyone like Jack said they tortured his friend. They're more insidious than that, they infiltrate to get information, and it sounded like when they do activate they got straight to destruction mode. And I can't quite remember what Jack said about them, but I got the distinct impression he knew about them secondhand - something about no-one really knowing much because by the time people notice they're invading the planet is already lost, and if he'd fought them before, surely he would have known more about the tricks Beth had available?

It'll be interesting to see if they pick up on the rest of the invaders already being place later this season or not.

On a pure showrunning level, I think it would be a mistake for them to ever explain that statement of "the most terrible creatures" because they will never come up with anything terrible enough.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You wrote Owen fic?

I did.

Yay, this makes me happy.

I'm glad. It needs transcription and a second draft, but I hope to get it posted in a day or two. I'm working on several stories at once right now and need somehow to find time to finish them. (First draft of the Owen story is done, though.)

My feeling is that Jack didn't react quite strongly enough to them or the threat of them for that

I would agree with that, and his recognition of the sleeper technique didn't seem to be immediate. Although he had a certainty the others didn't.

I can't quite remember what Jack said about them, but I got the distinct impression he knew about them secondhand - something about no-one really knowing much because by the time people notice they're invading the planet is already lost,

Yes, that would rule them out.

if he'd fought them before, surely he would have known more about the tricks Beth had available?

Almost certainly.

On a pure showrunning level, I think it would be a mistake for them to ever explain that statement of "the most terrible creatures" because they will never come up with anything terrible enough.

I agree, but it's fun to speculate.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

There's a 1998 TW report here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml?folder=tw_case_ep02&tab=2). Pretty interesting, especially the bit about how fast the sleepers move when they activate.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Sadly, when I try to follow that link I only get the dread words:

If you are outside the UK you will not be able to use bbc.co.uk/torchwood for rights reasons.

So. What does it say?

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that, here's (hopefully) the full thing:

Author: Hopkins, Alex

On the morning of 27/06/98 we got a call-out about a fight going on in an underpass on the edge of town. The cops had seen signs of weirdness and done their best to keep people away from it, but they needed us out there smartish. Nothing they could deal with.

We didn’t dawdle by any means, but by the time we arrived the fight was over. The winner – a grey, hard-skinned lad, looked like he was made of stone – was still there, standing over the body. A human body. So we had a go at him, told him he couldn’t just come on our turf and start murdering people, the usual spiel, hoping we could take him down between us. And hoping that Harkness picked up the message we left him.

The grey lad turned and laid down his weapon, said he’d no wish to harm us and he’d done us a favour. He spoke perfect English. And Welsh. He said his name was Iannamet and he asked who we were. When we explained, he asked if there was anywhere we could go to talk. Mike was wary of bringing him back to the Hub, thought it might be a ruse, but I thought we should trust him.

If what he told us is true, it was a good call.

The guy Iannamet killed wasn’t human. We didn’t need to take his word for that – the autopsy (cross-ref: #2008/087) showed it to be true. The dead guy was in fact an agent from a group known only as Cell 114. Iannamet had found him alone, weakened, and decided to take him out: he escaped through the Rift and Iannamet followed him here to finish the job. Iannamet said that it’s possible the agent was trying to contact a cell of his fellows on Earth – hence he’d already taken on human disguise – so we should be on our guard. They could be here already. Harkness told me he’d heard of them too, but he wouldn’t say where.

Nobody knows that much about them: they’ve never been able to get close enough for a proper study.

However, they have an established M.O. – which is:

1) Send one agent to the target planet – an advance guard.

2) Disguise the agent as a member of the dominant species, with false memories so even they don’t know they’re an alien. They’ll be equipped with an implant which maintains the disguise and keeps them in contact with the others.

3) Let the agent blend in, gather intel, and transmit back.

4) Plan a strategy based on said intel.

5) Send more agents, similarly disguised – never very many. According to some reports, as few as three of them can take out an inhabited planet.

6) Activate when the time is right.

Iannamet doesn’t know where they come from, what species they are, or even what they can really do. But when they strike, they do so from comprehensive information about the planet they’re attacking. He said he once saw a planet they’d taken on: the war had started in the morning and it was over by late afternoon. A couple of weeks later it was stripped bare.

He described it in more detail than that, actually. We all listened.

We thanked him for taking out the agent, then he left. His ship was cloaked somewhere in the bay. Nice fella.

I gave the team the rest of the day off. It’s hard to concentrate in the afternoon when you’ve heard something like that in the morning.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that

Sigh - not your fault that the BBC's being stingy and chauvinistic.

An interesting item. It implies the following:

- Alex Hopkins was running Torchwood 3 in Cardiff in 1998
- Jack was one of the agents, and there was another named Mike
- the cells of the alien sleeps have numbers - numbered by Iannamet's people, or themselves?
- Jack had heard of them before - like Alex, I wonder where

I'd like to see Iannamet on the show! I love it when good aliens come through the Rift. I think it's what I liked best about "Border Princes".

I wonder what happened to Alex and Mike and Jack's other, earlier Torchwood people.

Thanks for passing this on!

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Alex Hopkins was running Torchwood 3 in Cardiff in 1998

Yeah, I picked up on that as an interesting implication too. Especially since that would mean Jack was under his authority - but Hopkins clearly doesn't know that much about him and can't make him give up information. And they leave a message for Jack hoping what? That he'll come back them up? That he'll just know where they've gone? I'm wondering now whether Jack maybe wasn't in charge of the team, but was their extraterrestrial expert or something.

Maybe poor Alex and Mike are in the morgue somewhere. Or decided to quite and now don't remember their previous jobs at all.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Uh-huh. You'd think at first that Jack was Hopkin's subordinate and a member of the Torchwood team, but he clearly has special information about aliens and a special status. Note that Hopkins calls the other agent "Mike" but uses Jack's last name, "Harkness".

Alex and Mike might be in the morgue, or MIA, or retconned in retirement. They might have been at Torchwood 4 when it disappeared, or Torchwood 1 at the Battle of Canary Wharf. Maybe a Weevil ate them - or a pterodactyl. I wonder if we'll ever hear about them again!