Torchwood

[marguerite_26]

I will add my 2 cents (mostly because I love seeing my flist filled with nothing but spoiler cuts. Reminds me of the good old day when Tuesday night/Wednesday mornings always looked like that.



I'm pretty gutted at the moment but I'll get some initial thoughts down.

Er, ouch? Shit. No punches were pulled in this series. It was utterly horrifying. There is so much to be thrilled by, but it's kind of buried at the moment under all the pain and ugliness.

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS!!! Yes, please. and Thank you! They weren't all heroic or well spoken or righteous. They were human and interesting and multifaceted and smart and cunning and yes, please. More of THAT on tv. thx.

Mr. Middleman guy as Faith calls him (Frobisher? I'm shitty with names) Man, he was fabulous. And his ending was perfect. After the door shut it was: one, two and three. I actually said out loud (to no one) "wait for it... four." Fuck. Very very real and utterly horrifying.

The PM. *shivers* I'm thinking they might bring back public stoning if they release those tapes.

Ianto? Did. not. have. to. die. No idea why he did other than to makes us feel it. Which is annoying. Really annoying. I like my main character to be killed off for something damn important. Sorry to segue into Buffy fandom, but Tara was killed as a catalyst for Willow going batshit. It was painful, but really understand able. They wanted to give us evil Willow they need to justify it. It worked. (sorry if that's still raw for anyone).

But whatever they wanted to show us about Jack through Ianto dieing could have been accomplished (actually was accomplished even better) with Stephen. (I could not watch that bit, btw. I left the room. This whole episode was a bit much for me with the kids being ripped out of parents arms. *debates sleeping in kids room tonight*)

While i loved to descent into complete cold hearted decision makers of the politicians (that bit was BRILLIANTLY done). I have a few issues with other bits.
1) The soldiers. I would have like to see a soldier shot down for refusing to cooperate or some such. Even with their own children at risk, there are PLENTY of people that would simply not be able to do what they did. I mean, that was pretty awful. Where was the conflict in the soldiers faces?

2) The other countries. Doyle mentioned something of this earlier. But I cannot believe that ALL country would comply. YES, the world is filled with selfish, frightened people and politicans are likely not the best representative of moral highground, but given everything that was discussed at the table in the UK, if similar discussion were going on in EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY then there will be countries who refuse. I would have liked a head nod that x% of countries have agreed. because I refuse to believe x would be 100%.

All that said, I hope Torchwood ends here. If they don't end it, then the structure of this mini-series makes no sense. Why strip your core team down (twice) in such a dramatic way, only to continue. I see no future for Torchwood, which is exactly how this series presented it. I hope they stick to it.

All this said, I'm grateful that I am a casual Torchwood fan. I have no interest in belonging to a fandom that treats it's fans this way. It's too much for me. I'll clutch my 'completed canon' of HP tightly to my chest and be grateful for what I have.

Comments

[nolagal.livejournal.com]

What's odd is that Torchwood is supposedly going big by moving up the bbc foodchain, but there's 2 main characters left?
I don't know what purpose losing Ianto served (or Tosh at the end of season 2 for that matter) other than crushing me to bits.

I started casual and then fell in love and I just recently finished all of the recent Dr Who series so I was even more in love with Torchwood.

Seriously, I watched parts 1-4 this morning and I've been emo and teary all day. RIDICULOUS. Part 5 was just rough to watch with all the kids and Stephen.

Although I'm still sad for Tara, anytime I re-watch Buffy I cry when Tara and Willow break up and when she dies.

I just want to throw my computer out a window or hit someone over torchwood. I'm still in shock.

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, Maggie. The parts with the kids being taken was hard to watch.

[lolafalola.livejournal.com]

Look... nolagal and I are matching! :)

Yeah, i don't understand why they had to kill Ianto! I don't understand, but at the same time, I do. If Ianto were still around, then he probably would have stopped Jack from killing Stephen or he would have grounded Jack enough to keep him from leaving.

I'm still weepy about the whole thing.

Season/series four...

I can see how they left it open enough for Jack to come back, but it was an ugly fifth episode at any rate. To a sacrifice your child or grandchild for the greater good is impossible, in my opinion. I don't know if he can live with himself for it.

Doctor Who season 5 - Christmas Special will be interesting to watch.

-- L

[uncledark.livejournal.com]

Hi. Here from slashpervert's freinds page.

Ianto had to die for two reasons:

First, it marked the point where things really turned against our heroes. That whole split up and put in jail thing was just the usual second act shenanigans... Ianto's death wasn't random, it was a direct result of Team Torchwood's defiance of the 456, and thus set the stakes for all later acts of defiance.

Second (and thanks to slashpervert for this one, Ianto's death severed Jack's main tie to humanity, placing him in the state of emotional isolation that allowed him to sacrifice his grandson to stop the 456. Do you think Jack could have done that if he'd had to face Ianto afterward? No, he couldn't have, and this was demonstrated by how quickly he caved to the 456 when Ianto was dying.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

Oooh now that makes sense.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. Jack effectively goes into a heroic BSOD (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicBSOD) when Ianto dies, letting himself be taken along to the prison cell as if he's decided he's going to just sit there quietly while the world ends outside. He only snaps out of it because of Alice's total faith that he can save them... and look what happens. He ruins her life. I can buy, after that, that he decides to chuck the world-saving business altogether, because it just destroys the people he loves.

[aphedas.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm in agreement with much of this. Ouch, exactly.

I would have liked a head nod that x% of countries have agreed. because I refuse to believe x would be 100%.

They did at one point mention "participating countries" but nothing further as to whether that affected other countries quotas.

I think you're right: Torchwood has to end here. Aside from the setup not seeming to allow any further episodes, I suspect even if the BBC backpedals and does a series four, they've lost their core fanbase, and people just won't watch.

[faithwood.livejournal.com]

Yes. To all of it.

And I disagree with the above comment that Jack wouldn't have sacrificed his grandson if he had to face Ianto after that. He so would. He would do it and then he would leave. Jack's arc wouldn't have changed at all. Ianto is easily my favorite, and with all due respect, I have to say that he never had much influence on Jack. So the only thing his death triggered was a temporary setback and some moping. It could have been done differently.

I think RTD forgets that this isn't DW and that he made a show about a TEAM of people. It's not a Captain Jack show, everyone else isn't expendable, he is NOT the Doctor and everything it's NOT okay as long as HE lives. This kind of death would have worked in DW; here it's, idk, cheating. A pointless slap in the face.

I still think S3 was well done and of far better quality than S1 and S2, but I'm sad because I was all ready to squee and discuss the awesomeness (YES! Middleman! Such a powerful character arc. I held my breath for the shot #4 and then almost jumped in my chair when it happened) and now the awesome is overshadowed by pointlessness. It's just a damn shame.