Thoughts on CoE
Jul. 8th, 2009 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gina_r_snapeSo I managed to watch both episodes of Torchwood CoE last night and I have a few thoughts. I thought I'd post them here before heading to the boards.
There were a lot of familiar DW themes. Tropes, if you will, were used that struck me as classic RTD. The children being possessed, stopping in the middle of the street, reminded me of the episodes Christmas Invasion and Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. The Torchwood trio on the run was reminiscent of the Sound of Drums, and the idea of the governmental leadership trying to take out the team also reminded me a bit of Doomsday. And the governmental leaders welcoming an alien invasion and not knowing why or who was baffling (what was their motivation????). But we've definitely seen many episodes where humans have sided with aliens for the slimmest of reasons (Runaway Bride and Sontaran Strategem just to name two off the top of my head). Finally, the secretary committing treason to help the trio reminded me strongly of this general running theme throughout all four seasons of DW in terms of questioning governmental leadership and not seeing the State as a benevolent one in times of crisis (or even of generating crisis and making bad decisions). I could previously see this as RTD making a strong statement about Tony Blair's leadership (and not forgetting that he grew up under Thatcher). But I don't know enough about Gordon Brown to comment on the continuation of this theme.
Aside from the DW comparisons, I have some other thoughts.
Having watched both episodes back to back, it's a bit of a blur for me to remember what happened in which episode. But the whole topic of Ianto's attraction for Jack and their "coupled/not a couple" status made me think about Rose and the Doctor from season 2 onward. Only, Ianto is no Rose. He seems conflicted, but in a better, more interesting way than Rose. Is it that he's only attracted to Jack? Or is he struggling with the idea of being bisexual and just telling himself that? The suit and tie look he sports speaks volumes to me about his repressed self. The fact that his sister and BiL don't seem to care if he's gay was a refreshing interaction and I'm sure a lot of people have had similar coming out stories where they thought the worst and got the best when they told a family member (clearly an important theme for RTD I have no doubt).
Related to this is Jack's fierce independence, unnaturally hungry libido, and failure to age which make him a poor candidate for a life mate. He has come to parallel the Doctor in this way (well, except for the sex drive). Yet he seems to approach his life in a very different way from the Doctor. He seems more stable and more connected to the present than the Doctor. And I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that he's not a Time Lord, and how much of it has to do with his need for sex that connects him to others on a more visceral level than the Doctor experiences. And wow, he has a kid and a grandkid. Does he miss them? Or is he really just as manipulative as his daughter suggests? It was a little hard to tell, to be honest.
Gwen really stands on her own two feet in these eps, and it's refreshing to see her as one of the team rather than the tag along girl in a boys club. This was always the problem I had with Martha Jones. Gwen's pregnancy serves as a motivating factor rather than a weakness. And, but damn is she a good shot. Her husband serves as comic relief, and I had a hard time believing them as a couple in the past (not a big fan of Torchwood but something about them never sat right for me). Here the two really seem to work as a unit.
Jack's story went to a dark place and it was interesting that the female protagonist leading the assassinations (I didn't catch her name)referred to his inability to die as a "Lazarus factor." It has always occurred to me that his inability to die could be used to torture him. I was glad to see they took it to such grotesque and horror-like extremes in exploration of the limits/capabilities around his "rebirths." He may seem invulnerable because he can't die, but they turned it into a vulnerability to the point where he was the one in need of rescue and I liked it. It's funny to me how they will use any opportunity to film John Barrowman naked. He doesn't seem to mind. It reminds me a little bit of Xena, in fact, who when stripped naked somehow managed to make herself seem more powerful rather than less with no clothes on. I don't really find him sexy (I've only every thought he had sex potential in The Empty Child/Doctor Dances). But I'm weird that way, it seems. Maybe that's why I'm not a huge Torchwood fan? I dunno.
So now we're left wondering what form of alien is coming to earth. I have avoided all spoilers, so I don't know if it's a known or unknown alien. The gaseous tank made me think Sontaran, but that doesn't feel right to me.
Anyway, I really did like these first two eps, and I suspect it's at least in part because to me they were more reminiscent of new Who than Torchwood itself. And this leaves me worried about a Moffat-led Who because for all people's kvetching and moaning about RTD, clearly something about his formula for sci fi works for me.
Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than I intended! Sorry 'bout that. Your thoughts, flist?
There were a lot of familiar DW themes. Tropes, if you will, were used that struck me as classic RTD. The children being possessed, stopping in the middle of the street, reminded me of the episodes Christmas Invasion and Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. The Torchwood trio on the run was reminiscent of the Sound of Drums, and the idea of the governmental leadership trying to take out the team also reminded me a bit of Doomsday. And the governmental leaders welcoming an alien invasion and not knowing why or who was baffling (what was their motivation????). But we've definitely seen many episodes where humans have sided with aliens for the slimmest of reasons (Runaway Bride and Sontaran Strategem just to name two off the top of my head). Finally, the secretary committing treason to help the trio reminded me strongly of this general running theme throughout all four seasons of DW in terms of questioning governmental leadership and not seeing the State as a benevolent one in times of crisis (or even of generating crisis and making bad decisions). I could previously see this as RTD making a strong statement about Tony Blair's leadership (and not forgetting that he grew up under Thatcher). But I don't know enough about Gordon Brown to comment on the continuation of this theme.
Aside from the DW comparisons, I have some other thoughts.
Having watched both episodes back to back, it's a bit of a blur for me to remember what happened in which episode. But the whole topic of Ianto's attraction for Jack and their "coupled/not a couple" status made me think about Rose and the Doctor from season 2 onward. Only, Ianto is no Rose. He seems conflicted, but in a better, more interesting way than Rose. Is it that he's only attracted to Jack? Or is he struggling with the idea of being bisexual and just telling himself that? The suit and tie look he sports speaks volumes to me about his repressed self. The fact that his sister and BiL don't seem to care if he's gay was a refreshing interaction and I'm sure a lot of people have had similar coming out stories where they thought the worst and got the best when they told a family member (clearly an important theme for RTD I have no doubt).
Related to this is Jack's fierce independence, unnaturally hungry libido, and failure to age which make him a poor candidate for a life mate. He has come to parallel the Doctor in this way (well, except for the sex drive). Yet he seems to approach his life in a very different way from the Doctor. He seems more stable and more connected to the present than the Doctor. And I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that he's not a Time Lord, and how much of it has to do with his need for sex that connects him to others on a more visceral level than the Doctor experiences. And wow, he has a kid and a grandkid. Does he miss them? Or is he really just as manipulative as his daughter suggests? It was a little hard to tell, to be honest.
Gwen really stands on her own two feet in these eps, and it's refreshing to see her as one of the team rather than the tag along girl in a boys club. This was always the problem I had with Martha Jones. Gwen's pregnancy serves as a motivating factor rather than a weakness. And, but damn is she a good shot. Her husband serves as comic relief, and I had a hard time believing them as a couple in the past (not a big fan of Torchwood but something about them never sat right for me). Here the two really seem to work as a unit.
Jack's story went to a dark place and it was interesting that the female protagonist leading the assassinations (I didn't catch her name)referred to his inability to die as a "Lazarus factor." It has always occurred to me that his inability to die could be used to torture him. I was glad to see they took it to such grotesque and horror-like extremes in exploration of the limits/capabilities around his "rebirths." He may seem invulnerable because he can't die, but they turned it into a vulnerability to the point where he was the one in need of rescue and I liked it. It's funny to me how they will use any opportunity to film John Barrowman naked. He doesn't seem to mind. It reminds me a little bit of Xena, in fact, who when stripped naked somehow managed to make herself seem more powerful rather than less with no clothes on. I don't really find him sexy (I've only every thought he had sex potential in The Empty Child/Doctor Dances). But I'm weird that way, it seems. Maybe that's why I'm not a huge Torchwood fan? I dunno.
So now we're left wondering what form of alien is coming to earth. I have avoided all spoilers, so I don't know if it's a known or unknown alien. The gaseous tank made me think Sontaran, but that doesn't feel right to me.
Anyway, I really did like these first two eps, and I suspect it's at least in part because to me they were more reminiscent of new Who than Torchwood itself. And this leaves me worried about a Moffat-led Who because for all people's kvetching and moaning about RTD, clearly something about his formula for sci fi works for me.
Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than I intended! Sorry 'bout that. Your thoughts, flist?
