Review: Torchwood S2 03 To the Last Man
This episode has a very simple, almost minimalist plot, for a 50-minute time travel episode.
A time rift is due to open in a Cardiff military hospital between 1918 and sometime in the future. Torchwood's solution is simple -- pluck a young soldier from ground zero, cryogenically freeze him until the future is now, and send him back through the time rift with a Time Rift Repair Doohickey, using the combination of the Doohickey and his lifeline to stitch up the opening. Helen Raynor takes that simple plot and stuffs it with as much emotion coming from as many different angles as she can without becoming bombastic. The result is an emotionally charged but surprisingly delicate story of courage and loss.
Julie Gardenrer has said that what she wants in Whoniverse stories is poignancy. This episodes has that in spades, and coming from all directions. There is Ianto, remembering Lisa and the dead at Canary Wharf -- the parallel between World War I soldiers dying young and Torchwood agents dying young has to be deliberate. There are Toshiko and Tommy, dealing with his situation. There are Jack and Ianto, slowly inching their way through a mine field of unresolved issues, including UST. Surprisingly, the most poingnant moment belongs to Owen. When he tells Toshiko, "I don't want you to get hurt, you know. If he has to leave." Diane's ghost hangs heavy in the room, an unspoken and unavoidable presence that fills his face with remembered grief. Kudos to Burn Gorman for pulling that moment off so well.
In the preceding episode, Sleeper, almost all the suffering is concentrated on Beth and her dilemma. The story derives it's power from it's focus on her singular loss and grief. In this story the suffering is diffuse. While Tommy is the focal point, everyone save Gwen is shown to be hurting from current or remembered loss. Even Jack plaintively wishes he could have breakfast with someone every morning. The very building that housed the hospital is shown to be traumatized by it's present-day demolition. The audience is left with the sense that everyone in the world is hurting, and the best Torchwood can do is be as compassionate as circumstances allow.
Sometimes, that's not very compassionate.
But this isn't simply a tale of woe. It's also a tale of love and courage. Informed by their own suffering, each sufferer finds the courage to reach out and do what a loved one needs. Owen finds the courage to reach through his suffering over what Diane did to him to be there when Toshiko finds herself in a similar place. Toshiko finds the courage to be inspired by Tommy's departure instead of crushed. Out of love for each other, Tommy and Toshiko find the courage to give each other the strength and encouragement the need to do what has to be done. Emboldened by their example, Ianto finds the courage to tell Jack he missed him and to ask Jack about Jack's life and home (and by extension, Ianto's place in Jack's life and home), Jack finds the courage to answer him honestly, and Ianto finds the courage to begin to allow Jack back into his still-healing heart.
As in the other two stories we've seen so far this series, the theme is "home". Jack, Beth, and Tommy aren't sure where "home" is anymore. They've moved away and experienced new things, and they aren't even sure who they are anymore. But they are all glad they did, and willing to fight for the death to defend their new home. Beth and Tommy are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend their new homes, a sacrifice Jack can't make. What will he be asked to sacrifice instead?
A time rift is due to open in a Cardiff military hospital between 1918 and sometime in the future. Torchwood's solution is simple -- pluck a young soldier from ground zero, cryogenically freeze him until the future is now, and send him back through the time rift with a Time Rift Repair Doohickey, using the combination of the Doohickey and his lifeline to stitch up the opening. Helen Raynor takes that simple plot and stuffs it with as much emotion coming from as many different angles as she can without becoming bombastic. The result is an emotionally charged but surprisingly delicate story of courage and loss.
Julie Gardenrer has said that what she wants in Whoniverse stories is poignancy. This episodes has that in spades, and coming from all directions. There is Ianto, remembering Lisa and the dead at Canary Wharf -- the parallel between World War I soldiers dying young and Torchwood agents dying young has to be deliberate. There are Toshiko and Tommy, dealing with his situation. There are Jack and Ianto, slowly inching their way through a mine field of unresolved issues, including UST. Surprisingly, the most poingnant moment belongs to Owen. When he tells Toshiko, "I don't want you to get hurt, you know. If he has to leave." Diane's ghost hangs heavy in the room, an unspoken and unavoidable presence that fills his face with remembered grief. Kudos to Burn Gorman for pulling that moment off so well.
In the preceding episode, Sleeper, almost all the suffering is concentrated on Beth and her dilemma. The story derives it's power from it's focus on her singular loss and grief. In this story the suffering is diffuse. While Tommy is the focal point, everyone save Gwen is shown to be hurting from current or remembered loss. Even Jack plaintively wishes he could have breakfast with someone every morning. The very building that housed the hospital is shown to be traumatized by it's present-day demolition. The audience is left with the sense that everyone in the world is hurting, and the best Torchwood can do is be as compassionate as circumstances allow.
Sometimes, that's not very compassionate.
But this isn't simply a tale of woe. It's also a tale of love and courage. Informed by their own suffering, each sufferer finds the courage to reach out and do what a loved one needs. Owen finds the courage to reach through his suffering over what Diane did to him to be there when Toshiko finds herself in a similar place. Toshiko finds the courage to be inspired by Tommy's departure instead of crushed. Out of love for each other, Tommy and Toshiko find the courage to give each other the strength and encouragement the need to do what has to be done. Emboldened by their example, Ianto finds the courage to tell Jack he missed him and to ask Jack about Jack's life and home (and by extension, Ianto's place in Jack's life and home), Jack finds the courage to answer him honestly, and Ianto finds the courage to begin to allow Jack back into his still-healing heart.
As in the other two stories we've seen so far this series, the theme is "home". Jack, Beth, and Tommy aren't sure where "home" is anymore. They've moved away and experienced new things, and they aren't even sure who they are anymore. But they are all glad they did, and willing to fight for the death to defend their new home. Beth and Tommy are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend their new homes, a sacrifice Jack can't make. What will he be asked to sacrifice instead?