"Ghost Machine", "Cyberwoman", and "Countrycide" were my clear favorites out of the early to mid season one run of episodes.
Following up on mid-to-later season one, "Random Shoes" is barely a Torchwood episode at all as opposed to a short film about a man and his life and an alien eyeball, but I liked it immensely and was vaguely surprised it wasn't nominated for a short-form dramatic Hugo (I am intrigued that that honor went to "Captain Jack Harkness," because that episode isn't remotely standalone) and "Out of Time" through "End of Days" registered to me as all one arc, which if intentional is fascinating because the through-line is Owen.
Apparently, between this and "Countrycide" (which delivers wonderfully on the team front), all I want from this era of the show is these people running around in the dark getting chased by things that want to kill them. I am a simple girl of simple tastes.
Mind if I request casefic from that era?
the only sour note was Jack's OOC transphobic comment, which again I am inclined to fob off on the writers rather than having it be a character note
Agreed. It was so out of character that it startled me until I remembered the episode was written and shot in 2006, which was a bit of ironic future shock. "You people and your quaint little categories . . ."
I wish she had gotten to hear something nice, and I also wish the show had followed up on her peek into Ianto's depression.
I said to spatch afterward that "Greeks Bearing Gifts" was a solid episode—and it was time for the show to focus on Tosh after Owen in "Ghost Machine" and Ianto in "Cyberwoman," having introduced Gwen as the lens character and holding Jack in reserve until "Captain Jack Harkness"—but it felt like it was missing a couple of emotional beats and any follow-up between Tosh and Ianto was one of them. I was not surprised that she never heard anything nice because I wasn't convinced the pendant was an impartial lens. The more destabilized and isolated Tosh becomes, from her teammates, from her species, the more receptive she becomes to the plan of sneaking her alien lover into Torchwood: all the better if she overhears the most hurtful and disillusioning things. Mary can lie through the pendant, too. So while it is very clear that all the thoughts that Tosh picks up on are real ones, I was not so sure, especially in the crowd scenes, that they were the only ones she could have heard. (The script does not stack the deck, though: Gwen and Owen are being just about that obnoxious out loud.)
Oh, speaking of which, there's a really gorgeous missing scene from "Cyberwoman" with Ianto and Tosh that I really wish they'd kept. It takes place at the end of the episode
Oh, dammit. I can see why it would have been cut, because it distracts from the rhyming bookends of Ianto going about his work with no one noticing and Ianto going about his work with all eyes on him, but it's such a beautiful little grace note.
Oh man, that scene where he's treating Gwen is so lovely, as well as his clear worry for their missing teammates; it's so interesting to me, such a gorgeous character touch, that Owen, the cynic, is the one who keeps insisting they have to go back for the ones they've left behind.
"Countrycide" shows off some of the best of Owen in season one, including that the beginning of his relationship with Gwen actually looks more like human comfort than screwing an irresistible bad idea all night. I mean, it is still a bad idea. But they can hold each other and know what they've been through.
I still wish the show had delivered another season or two of this incarnation of the team dysfunctionally learning to love each other.
I don't see how it would have hurt anyone, me right now included.
Do you know if they were having problems with renewal? A half-TPK is such a weird thing to build a season toward and a miniseries third season—with another permanent regular death!—is an even weirder continuation.
no subject
Following up on mid-to-later season one, "Random Shoes" is barely a Torchwood episode at all as opposed to a short film about a man and his life and an alien eyeball, but I liked it immensely and was vaguely surprised it wasn't nominated for a short-form dramatic Hugo (I am intrigued that that honor went to "Captain Jack Harkness," because that episode isn't remotely standalone) and "Out of Time" through "End of Days" registered to me as all one arc, which if intentional is fascinating because the through-line is Owen.
Apparently, between this and "Countrycide" (which delivers wonderfully on the team front), all I want from this era of the show is these people running around in the dark getting chased by things that want to kill them. I am a simple girl of simple tastes.
Mind if I request casefic from that era?
the only sour note was Jack's OOC transphobic comment, which again I am inclined to fob off on the writers rather than having it be a character note
Agreed. It was so out of character that it startled me until I remembered the episode was written and shot in 2006, which was a bit of ironic future shock. "You people and your quaint little categories . . ."
I wish she had gotten to hear something nice, and I also wish the show had followed up on her peek into Ianto's depression.
I said to
Oh, speaking of which, there's a really gorgeous missing scene from "Cyberwoman" with Ianto and Tosh that I really wish they'd kept. It takes place at the end of the episode
Oh, dammit. I can see why it would have been cut, because it distracts from the rhyming bookends of Ianto going about his work with no one noticing and Ianto going about his work with all eyes on him, but it's such a beautiful little grace note.
Oh man, that scene where he's treating Gwen is so lovely, as well as his clear worry for their missing teammates; it's so interesting to me, such a gorgeous character touch, that Owen, the cynic, is the one who keeps insisting they have to go back for the ones they've left behind.
"Countrycide" shows off some of the best of Owen in season one, including that the beginning of his relationship with Gwen actually looks more like human comfort than screwing an irresistible bad idea all night. I mean, it is still a bad idea. But they can hold each other and know what they've been through.
I still wish the show had delivered another season or two of this incarnation of the team dysfunctionally learning to love each other.
I don't see how it would have hurt anyone, me right now included.
Do you know if they were having problems with renewal? A half-TPK is such a weird thing to build a season toward and a miniseries third season—with another permanent regular death!—is an even weirder continuation.