Torchwood: "Meat" - Torchwood as some kind of weird cult...

[fajrdrako]

As far as I'm concerned, Catherine Treganna continues to write the very best episodes of Torchwood. Meat was superb.

Might as well itemize:

1. Ianto, my wonderful Ianto: your coat, your sarkiness, your cleverness, your fighting skills, your quick-thinking when looking down the barrel of an outlaw gun. I am so very happy with Ianto. He's worthy to join U.N.C.L.E. or something. I think Jack has been giving him fighting lessons. Oh to be a fly on that wall.



2. Best moment. Jack: "No. We're going to save it... It's an alien. It needs our protection."



3. The pterodactyl! We saw him again! Flying around the Hub as if he owned it. (He does.) O happy day.



4. Rhys challenges Gwen on her lies. She tells him the truth. And then at the end she doesn't Retcon him. How I loved that.
   
   Even better: I had thought she would throw away the Retcon pill, but not tell Jack she hadn't given it to him. And she didn't do that. She confronted Jack. And she made him change his mind. Perfect.
   
   Frankly, I really loved Rhys here - from the first scene where he's singing with the radio. to the end when he's so excited to know about aliens.
   
   Loved the whole scene where Gwen was lying to Rhys and he knew it and so followed her. Loved it that he improvised what he was doing so well. Loved it that Rhys and Gwen confronted each other - "The tall bloke in the coat, are you fucking him or what?" Loved the way they talked over each other: it seemed so real.
   
   Loved it also that Gwen quoted Jack. "The things I have seen."
   
   Loved her comment on the Invisible Lift, that's it "too complicated to explain". As if she could explain a Gallifreyan chameleon circuit.



5. Jack: Do I show off?
   Ianto: Just a bit.



6. I loved it that the alien was sympathetic and tragic, though I hope one of these days we get an alien with a happy ending. I loved the way Owen set up his 'mercy killing' and the way Jack and the others comforted it as it died.



7. I liked Rhys's office assistant, and the scene where Jack flirts with her.



8. Jack's vest. Call me shallow. I like it.



9. Gwen: Have you ever eaten alien meat? Did you like it?
   Jack: He seemed to enjoy it.
   
   Made Gwen laugh. So cute.



10. "This is quite homoerotic." And Rhys's later line to Jack: "You're not gay, by any chance, you?" I wonder what Jack replied. I really liked the way they got along - even when they didn't.
    
    And the UST between Gwen and Jack - not just continuing but escalating. Jack even seemed jealous - "Mr Cave Man." Tut tut. I might be said to be loving this.
    
    One quibble: this completely destroyed the continuity basis for a story I'm currently working on. Time to... revise? scrap it? start again? make it AU? - Revise, I think. The premise of the story is intact, just the circumstances.



11. "Guess who'll have to look after it in the meantime." Ianto has a fine grasp of reality. And: "I'll stock up on plankton."



12. The only thing I didn't like in the episode - Continuing hinting at a possible Owen/Toshiko relationship. Either Owen is being obtuse, or he's trying to let her down kindly. I hope it's the latter.



13. No Jack/Ianto snogging, but there were a few compensations.

Comments

[msilverstar]

I really liked this ep as well, all of them were so strong, esp. wonderful Rhys! Your list is my list. :-)

But I'm pretty sure the pterodactyl is not male, because Myfanwy is a female name. (Surprising what I remember of Welsh culture, 30 years later. I did check with a web search though.)

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

It is female.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Glad you approve and agree!

I know "Myfanwy" is a female name, but they haven't used it yet on the show - unless I've missed something. I supposed it's so close to canon that it hardly matters, though. I'll try to stop thinking of the Pterodactyl as male. I'll try really hard.