thoughts on TW episode 5 COE
So…thoughts. Well. I was actually spoiled before the episode aired. I read the big honking spoiler before episode four…well…because. Couldn’t face that shit if I didn’t already know. And, the spoiler was about all of it. So, I was prepared.
It is so funny…I felt actual grief about episode four. Anger was the first reaction, and then resignation, even though I clung to this ridiculous hope that there would be some big reset that would “make things right”. Then, I read this article which discussed the epicness of the whole series and how bringing Ianto back would cheapen his death, and found it hard not to agree. The article went on to say how, in some ways, the storyline here was better than the end of Battlestar Gallactica, which…yeah. I found the similarities. Easily. Big moral dilemmas about what the fuck would you do in the face of this horror. That is what BSG was about-for an example: the human race is decimated, we have “x” amount of people left…so…abortion. Should it be legal? The president was pro-choice prior to this, but now? How do you draw the line there? That is the shit. It is fucking scary, but it is fucking real.
This series? Was fucking real. Jesus. My only quibble is that it didn’t feel Torchwood. It felt like a big sci fi event that featured Torchwood. Torchwood was a small ragtag group, working out of this literal hole in the ground that found solutions through duct tape and rubber bands and a group of extraordinary people who weren’t in it for the limelight, but because they either literally had no other option, and/or they felt that they were doing something right. This was gone here. Team Torchwood literally didn’t have the time to ponder such things. Lovers? Grandsons? The whole of the human race is at stake here. Great storytelling? Absolutely. Poignant, amazing performances? Yes! Torchwood? Hard to find amongst the weeds.
A bit should be said about the sacrifice of the grandson-I think this was very carefully played, actually. That we never knew of his existence before 5 days ago makes it, in a way, more palatable-which is probably not the right word. Horrific? Beyond the telling. But softens the blow a bit that we never knew of his relationship with his daughter before this.
However, all of that being said, I was left with a strange feeling of optimism, actually. Jack, with his mad time travelling skillz (Which, ok…sorry. Just to check in, but wasn’t the wrist strap deactivated by the Doctor?) leaves the door wide open for a further series. Scenario: Jack-travelling with the Doctor, or just traveling full stop, gets a distress call from Earth he can’t ignore. Comes back. Gets back into the Torchwood of it. For several episodes. Starts to fall into the human routine again-and, actually starts something with someone (or, being fair, something). Perfect time for return of a fan-beloved character. I feel with that particular ending that the writers were trying pretty hard not to write themselves completely into a corner, given the (very) likely fan reaction over this series.
So….I guess that is a bit of a mixed bag…but thems my initial thoughts.