Torchwood -- 1x08

[butterfly]

What did They Keep Killing Suzie make me think? That, wow, Torchwood really is the Angel to Doctor Who's Buffy. Life is all there is, day to day, and that's what matters. The little things of life, the choices that you make. And Captain Jack shooting Suzie's body, over and over, until they figure out how to kill her -- that's something that wouldn't be on Doctor Who (On Buffy and Doctor Who guns don't work nearly so well as they do on Angel and Torchwood).

I really liked it. Gwen and Suzie were perfect, Jack was ruthless but not without empathy, and Owen, Tosh, and Ianto all had light but important moments. I was very interested in how both Tosh and Owen responded to Suzie coming back. Tosh not quite able to look at her or connect to her, and Owen fully admitted that he's terrified of her. That he's slept with her in the past, but that her becoming a murderer makes her a monster in his eyes, I find that a very interesting thing to slot into his character. The same kind of horror he felt about Mary last week. Possibly why he didn't want Gwen to get more blood on her hands in Countrycide, even if it was in defense of another's life. That though he cocks a gun readily enough, he's also very okay with Jack being the one doing any actual shooting of another human being (and we know his views on the Cybermen, so we know why he was willing to shoot Lisa).

The other big theme that they keep playing over and over is the need to confide in someone. It's what drove Gwen to Owen at the end of Countrycide, it's why Tosh trusted Mary too quickly in Greeks Bearing Gifts, and Suzie uses it as her excuse for tampering with Max's mind in this episode. Can't do this alone, is the general theme, and from what we've been hearing, until Gwen came, they were all doing it alone. Working together, maybe getting a drink after, but not really friends.

What Gwen has been, so far, is a catalyst for them to start caring about each other. They're finding out each other's secrets now, sharing with each other. They're becoming friends. They keep going in this direction and they could become found family, like the Scooby Gang and Angel Investigations and the Serenity crew.

Comments

[carpenyx.livejournal.com]

Not reading but wanted to say that I am absolutely LOVING Torchwood. :) It's becoming an obsession! I'm up to episode 1x06... got 1x07, getting 1x08 now and hopefully will watch tomorrow or something. :)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Torchwood is great fun! I loved Captain Jack so much, so I'm really thrilled to get to see more sides of him.

[carpenyx.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree. I love seeing different sides of Jack. Some people don't like the darker aspect of Jack but I think it adds more depth to the charater & we really don't completely know what's happened to Jack since his time with the Doctor.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Indeed. And he was darker before he met Rose and the Doctor as well (I found him slightly... slimy in The Empty Child). They were a bright spot in his life, taught him how to be a hero and that being a hero hurts, which probably explains a lot about his current attitude. Yes, Gwen, he has been in love -- and he got abandoned by the ones that he loved.

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

"That, wow, Torchwood really is the Angel to Doctor Who's Buffy."

That's really funny because I just had this exact conversation with a friend a couple weeks ago. However, we hoped that unlink Angel which we felt wallowed a bit too much on the moments of fracture and dissolution, that Torchwood would culminate like Buffy in the team really coming together.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

However, we hoped that unlink Angel which we felt wallowed a bit too much on the moments of fracture and dissolution, that Torchwood would culminate like Buffy in the team really coming together.

I hope so, too. I do think that Gwen is helping the team form those bonds (which, I would tell Suzie, is part of why they do like her more -- she's shared enough with them that they know her to like her), and I really do hope that that part continues.

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen much of Torchwood, only the first episode and this one and I have to say coming off from the first episode to this impressed me a *lot*. I love the twisty complex relationship Suzie and Gwen seemed to have -- Gwen's intensity about Suzie and how her previous experienec with Suzie colored Gwen's reactions to her during the resurrection glove scene.

I love Suzie because she's ruthless and competent.

Its too bad they didn't keep Suzie, she'd be an interesting character to have around to oppose Torchwood.

I do have to say though, Torchwood Cardiff must be the worst super secret special ops unit EVER.

But watching this Torchwood only makes me mourn for the Rose Tyler spin-off that never went off the ground. I'd really love to see how Rose does in her own Torchwood. Something tells me the retcon drug and Torchwood's methods won't sit well with her.

Also, I love the prospect of Rose leading her own team, incorporating everything she learned from the Doctor -- the seat of the pants diplomacy and planning with her own very formidable investigative skills and compassion in the mix with a dash of the Bad Wolf ruthlessness.

I miss Rose.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

This episode would actually work quite well off the pilot, now that I think about it -- it's about a character that died there. It's probably the best done of all of the episodes, though I have enjoyed them all.

I miss Rose, too. I really think that she'd make Torchwood a very different place than Jack does. She has a very strong sense of what's wrong and right, and a whole heap of compassion and hope.