Review of 2.13 plus DW S4 spoilers and TW S3 speculation

[justinej]

Phew! Tall order eh?

Well, I've never done any sort of review and I don't think this one will be at all popular, but here we go:

Gwen - fuck, she was utterly brilliant in this. Eve's acting was way beyond good. We all know this was a tough one for them to shoot and it obviously played to Eve's strengths. Brilliant work. Who wouldn't have been

Comments

[manekikoneko]

I've been thinking about Ianto's reactions, and I'm starting to think it might be something deliberate on Gareth's part, the not crying, etc. I'm going to go into it later, though, not here.

I really don't want Mickey to replace Tosh. I can see the sort of development through series 4 that could bring Martha to Torchwood (there's been a lot of UNIT-as-baddies subtext/political commentary developing), I could live with that, but Mickey? Tosh was brilliant. Mickey was clever, but no way he's smart enough to replace Tosh. And now that they've opened this door, I think it would be interesting to see the team struggle without a techie, and eventually find an entirely new character.

[tigercheetah]

Since Gareth had the least amount of materiel to work with in this episode, it's not really fair to compare his acting with most of the others. The producers are apparently always impressed with Gareth when he's given proper materiel to work with - Cyberwoman and Adam have both been used as examples

[justinej]

I've read two or three people saying the same about Ianto/Gareth today and I know what everyone is saying. I sometimes think that Gareth underplays things though and when it's put alongside the other actors, it doesn't look good. The scenes where he is brilliant more than make up for it and he's still my favourite character but, I don't know, I was disappointed with him last night.

[tigercheetah]

I think what most people are trying to say is that Gareth 'intentionally' under-plays Ianto, in keeping with the way that his character is meant to be quieter and more secretive than any of the others.

And let's face it, Gareth himself is quite 'wild' in real life, so he's obviously very good at changing himself into an entirely different person. :) Even Burn Gorman has commented on Gareth being totally different to Ianto.

He did get the weakest materiel overall last night.

[justinej]

I will be beaten into submission! I reread what I wrote and realised it was rather harsh. I think I was very cross about the whole thing this morning!!

I know Gareth is a good Welsh lad (for that read very wild)! So, yes, total antithesis of the deeply reserved Ianto!

He did have a couple of really good bits though. I laughed out loud and Tosh and him shooting the grim reapers! That was one of my favourite bits of the whole series.

[lefaym]

I think that GDL's acting choices are always very deliberate. I admit that I was expecting a tear or two, but looking back on it, I think it worked well. I think that with Gwen and Jack both breaking down, Ianto needed to be a sort of rock for them-- I got the sense that he was feeling everything very deeply but that this was one time that he had to hold it back: he needed to be strong for them. Remember, although Ianto may be given to huge emotional breakdowns at times, he's also very good at hiding what he's feeling when he needs to-- think the final scene of Cyberwoman or the "stomach full of rats" scene from Greeks Bearking Gifts.

[justinej]

I don't think there is a soul out there who will agree with me! :) I will watch it again and see if I see something different. I don't know, I just think sometimes Gareth's acting is just too cool on occasion.

I know what you're saying and I'm probably completely wrong about it. No doubt people will ask him about it in some interview or at the Rift perhaps.

[lefaym]

Well, I don't completely disagree with you. I do think I would have enjoyed it a little more if Ianto had showed a little emotion and/or a little more affection towards Jack. But I also don't think that this is down to wooden acting on GDL's part, because I think he's probably one of the most careful actors on the show: if Ianto seemed wooden, I think it's because GDL (and/or whoever is directing him) wanted him to seem that way, and that we're supposed to learn more about Ianto's character from that.

[justinej]

The trouble is I keep thinking back to FOotR where Gareth seemed to have stopped acting at all for much of the programme. He kept just looking utterly gormless.

I don't know. It was just the stark contract between action!Ianto and doing nothing pan faced Ianto. It's too much for me.

His mates all died and there was only Jack and Gwen there. One tear would have been good....

[justinej]

I'm actually expecting people to unfriend me now!!!!

[lefaym]

I've been meaning to say: if anyone unfriends you just because they disagree with you, then pooh to them! It's their loss.

*hugs*

[strangecreature]

Totally agree with you on Gwen. This was such a great episode for her. I will never understand why people hate on her so.

AH! We do get John back in S3? Excellent!

(As for Ianto, I'm just choosing to believe that he was in shock. Or... waiting to mourn in private or something. Oh, I'm a pathetic fangirl. *g*)