"Excuse me, have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?"
After a little battle with all things technological I’ve managed to download and watch the new Torchwood, on a complete buzzed fanboy high, and I have to say I was not disappointed. The episode was simply brilliant.
The quirky action-packed beginning was just perfection. One of things I’ve always enjoyed about Torchwood is how it starts some of its episodes with a bang, it’s always sort of like somebody’s popped a balloon in your ear and you suddenly sit up still - but in a good way. Watching a little old Welsh woman raise her eyebrows after seeing a blowfish-man pumping out music in a flash sports car - typical urban life humorously melded with hardcore ridiculous sci-fi works so well. Though one thing in the teaser I didn’t quite enjoy was the blowfish’s obvious observations about the characters and their emotional state because of Jack’s departure. Surely it’s obvious? Well I suppose it was probably to bring possible new viewers up to speed on what the characters were going through. Oooh, what a juicy twist, it in fact turns out to be Jack who shoots blowfish-man. And he does that cocky smile thing. Oh, Jack. You arrogant bastard. But in a good way.
The plotwise, the episode slotted together so well. Unlike some of the other episodes in Whoverse where plot just floats randomly from place to place there was actually genuine structure here. Enter, John. My goodness, he screams Spike. I don’t know, maybe my preconception and that’s the only role I’ve ever seen him in. The first impression we get is of a bad ass, no-conscienced, guy who just waltzes in and does what he wants when he wants. He’s to me, he’s very much like early S2 Spike at the moment. Without the fangs. To add to that, he seems to share Jack’s omni-sexual character trait. That violent, rough kiss they had was just - woah. I’d read about it in some magazine before, but I didn’t expect it to be like that. I’m not sure whether to see the Spike resemblance this as a positive or a negative. I know RTD watched Buffy and Angel, but I just hope they’re not just writing Spike into the show with another name stuck on him. I hope he goes in a slightly different direction, as he is in fact not Spike. Well the deceptive guy screws over the team to get the diamond thing he wants, and this was a great way to in fact bring all the characters into it and give us some character moments. Another thing I like about Torchwood is it’s character-centric focus.
If they hadn’t had a Jack/Ianto scene, I really wouldn’t have been pleased. I’m glad they satisfied my need for this. The Jack/Ianto dynamic is something I just adore, the contrast between the overly vibrant Jack to the less confidant Ianto just works well, and it was nice to see the roles more reversed in the scene we got with Ianto ordering Jack about and Jack’s tentative date proposal. Very sweet.
The extra bomb twist to the episode was great, giving us an extra charged dose of action packed highness. The episode definitely never stopped dishing out the heart pumping moments. And woo! "Maybe you didn't realise. You can beat, shoot, threaten, and even poison us and we keep coming back, stronger every time." Torchwood Team Spirit!
I loved Gwen too, how she’s taken more of a leading role since Jack’s departure was great to see. Though the highlight was the wack she gave John across the jaw. God, I cheered. The guy deserved that, plus it added all the sexual tension that had charged up through the episode between them. And with Jack to... the "Tell Jack I-" line... god, I don't know what to say. She luurves him.
Oh, and we get another mysterious plotline dropped in there at the end. Who is this Gray? This season seems to be focusing on Jack’s past a lot and revealing him more, which should be interesting. Thank god, John’s not gone for good as well. I can’t wait to see what he brings to the group - it’s bound to be trouble. Though I’m glad they didn’t go for the easy route and just make him another team member. I hope the season remains at this high standard. If so, it’ll be brilliant.
The quirky action-packed beginning was just perfection. One of things I’ve always enjoyed about Torchwood is how it starts some of its episodes with a bang, it’s always sort of like somebody’s popped a balloon in your ear and you suddenly sit up still - but in a good way. Watching a little old Welsh woman raise her eyebrows after seeing a blowfish-man pumping out music in a flash sports car - typical urban life humorously melded with hardcore ridiculous sci-fi works so well. Though one thing in the teaser I didn’t quite enjoy was the blowfish’s obvious observations about the characters and their emotional state because of Jack’s departure. Surely it’s obvious? Well I suppose it was probably to bring possible new viewers up to speed on what the characters were going through. Oooh, what a juicy twist, it in fact turns out to be Jack who shoots blowfish-man. And he does that cocky smile thing. Oh, Jack. You arrogant bastard. But in a good way.
The plotwise, the episode slotted together so well. Unlike some of the other episodes in Whoverse where plot just floats randomly from place to place there was actually genuine structure here. Enter, John. My goodness, he screams Spike. I don’t know, maybe my preconception and that’s the only role I’ve ever seen him in. The first impression we get is of a bad ass, no-conscienced, guy who just waltzes in and does what he wants when he wants. He’s to me, he’s very much like early S2 Spike at the moment. Without the fangs. To add to that, he seems to share Jack’s omni-sexual character trait. That violent, rough kiss they had was just - woah. I’d read about it in some magazine before, but I didn’t expect it to be like that. I’m not sure whether to see the Spike resemblance this as a positive or a negative. I know RTD watched Buffy and Angel, but I just hope they’re not just writing Spike into the show with another name stuck on him. I hope he goes in a slightly different direction, as he is in fact not Spike. Well the deceptive guy screws over the team to get the diamond thing he wants, and this was a great way to in fact bring all the characters into it and give us some character moments. Another thing I like about Torchwood is it’s character-centric focus.
If they hadn’t had a Jack/Ianto scene, I really wouldn’t have been pleased. I’m glad they satisfied my need for this. The Jack/Ianto dynamic is something I just adore, the contrast between the overly vibrant Jack to the less confidant Ianto just works well, and it was nice to see the roles more reversed in the scene we got with Ianto ordering Jack about and Jack’s tentative date proposal. Very sweet.
The extra bomb twist to the episode was great, giving us an extra charged dose of action packed highness. The episode definitely never stopped dishing out the heart pumping moments. And woo! "Maybe you didn't realise. You can beat, shoot, threaten, and even poison us and we keep coming back, stronger every time." Torchwood Team Spirit!
I loved Gwen too, how she’s taken more of a leading role since Jack’s departure was great to see. Though the highlight was the wack she gave John across the jaw. God, I cheered. The guy deserved that, plus it added all the sexual tension that had charged up through the episode between them. And with Jack to... the "Tell Jack I-" line... god, I don't know what to say. She luurves him.
Oh, and we get another mysterious plotline dropped in there at the end. Who is this Gray? This season seems to be focusing on Jack’s past a lot and revealing him more, which should be interesting. Thank god, John’s not gone for good as well. I can’t wait to see what he brings to the group - it’s bound to be trouble. Though I’m glad they didn’t go for the easy route and just make him another team member. I hope the season remains at this high standard. If so, it’ll be brilliant.