Watched Torchwood: Children of Earth through once more with my dad.
SPOILERS for T:COE! Do we still need to say that? I think the internet knows.
Despite it having been said a hundred times, I feel like reviewing this:
I quite like episodes 1-3. And 5. I love 5! I do. 4 is still just a crock, and I'm pretty sure I'm not saying that sentimentally since it fails to illicit any kind of emotion from me. It does serve to:
1) Make every single character look completely incompetent. With at least a day left on the clock and Clem there for analysis and obviously bursting with data to be mined, why would Torchwood assault a secure facility without at least a detailed dissection of the security measures surrounding the 456?
RTD claims this sequence was to show that Jack "is not the Doctor." This is, apparently, because he hasn't watched the first two seasons of Torchwood. It's true Jack is not the Doctor. Jack is highly faliable and an immortal monster and relies on a team of characters to give him insight, humanize him, and force him to deal with life a moment at a time as he rediscovers its meaning and value through them.
While this would be apparent to anyone who actually watched the first two seasons of Torchwood, RTD would like to remind us that people who boldly go on a wing and a prayer and aren't the Doctor have a high chance of fucking up. Funny, I think that contrast was drawn in several episodes featuring Martha Jones constrating her spontaneous Doctor Who behavior to Torchwood's human fragility. This culminated in Owen getting shot to make this point, if I remember.
Oh, and I do remember. Because unlike RTD, I've actually seen Torchwood before.
2) Despite RTD's claims that it's "good drama," it actually kicks Torchwood in the nads in terms of dramatic potential. Despite the excellent fifth episode the last three minutes are devoid of new or exciting developments to make you want more. Jack has nothing to tie him to Earth. Nothing to compel him to develop as a character. No immediate consequences to his actions. No lover struggling to figure out how to deal with him and if he's still deserving of love after what's been revealed about him and the actions he took.
That, by the way, RTD, would be "drama." Just in case we're not entirely clear:
drama -noun 1. a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character ; 4. any situation or series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, or striking interest or results ; 2-3 and 5, things which have these qualities.
Removing the emotional conflict, the contrast between Ianto and Jack, and reducing Jack back to having superficial, fleeting relationships with a deep fear of emotional intimacy and an avoidance of personal responsibility cannot be defined as drama. Cheap, RTD, "shoot somebody at the climax to wring out a temporary cry of pain from the audience" typical 9/12 TV events fare, yes.
In other words, he uses sudden kicks to the balls in 3/4 of his "event" episodes in the Whoniverse. Except that makes no sense because episode 5 is actually really strong. He didn't need to get cheap and tacky. He actually had a script under him for once. It was just, apparently, a complete accident as he was, apparently, entirely unaware of the fact.
3) The episode actually actively undermines the dramatic effect of episode 5 by fucking with the viewers in advance, making many of them not focus on the awesome human drama, the struggle between Jack and his daughter, the relatively compelling emotional arc of John Frobisher. I mean, unless you just pretend episode 4 doesn't happen, or at least happened in some rational way that actually forced Torchwood to act (which I do) making episode 5 pretty great.
Unfortunately if you go into episode 5 believing Torchwood is a bunch of complete amateurs who can't see evidence (Clem) despite interacting with it for days on end you actually end up thinking these idiots just somehow lucked out.
4) Since Ianto's death served no dramatic purpose, I'm not going to back down from also saying it makes him another dead queer in a long line of dead, tragic queers. Yes, RTD, we've all seen the entire history of gay cinema, too, and unlike you many of us find dead, tragic queers (and comic relief queers) terribly dull and would like to see things like character development and, oh, what's the word?
Right. "Drama."
[Standard disclaimer: Ianto isn't my favorite character. Tosh is. I love everything that happens to Tosh beginning to end because I believe her storyline continues to reveal things about her character from episode one to twenty-six. When I examine the series as a whole, Gwen is my second favorite character. Ianto is not third. (That's Rhys. Omg. I spent all season 1 and 2 freaking out that Rhys might be bumped off and breathing a sigh of relief after every episode.)
Ianto begins to come into his own and become really interesting in Children of Earth. Honestly looked like he might rise through the ranks for me, if he'd hit his stride. Too bad about all that. Ianto and Jack make each other more interesting by illiciting emotional responses from each other when they're generally otherwise quite detached and emotionally avaliable. Owen's down there battling in the rankings with them, I do adore him by the end of season 2, though.
I firmly believe, however, that Ianto is a lamentable victim of awfully poor writing.]
COE is like...unequal parts a well acted drama and having a self-entitled fanbrat sit on one of my all time favorite shows and scribble all over it with crayons. (The fact that it's weighted toward the former appears from this year's Moffet-sensibility-lacking Doctor Who specials to be a complete fluke. :PPPP)
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