Torchwood: Combat

[butterfly]

At the time Out of Time aired, I compared it to Doctor Who's A Girl in the Fireplace, as both seemed to use the idea of love that is confined to a single episode. However, where DW stayed true to the pattern, Torchwood made Diane's character have an effect on Owen that continued to the next episode (at the very least). Diane/Owen matters in a way that Doctor/Reinette did not (seriously, the characterization of both the Doctor and Rose take a step sideways and then they return to just where they were at the end of the previous episode at the beginning of the next -- it frustrates me all to hell and makes me want to just cut the episode out of the series as it makes more sense without it. Mind you, that's not the only issue that I have with the episode -- the particular sort of love story that Reinette/Doctor carves out is one that I have an active disinterest in.).

Which means that I was very thrilled with Torchwood this week. Owen's characterization was spot-on and very fascinating to watch, and so was Gwen's continued fall into the corruption that Torchwood seems to bring (Torchwood is all about aggression, all about acquiring without understanding -- it's seeing what Doctor Who is like without the Doctor, without his joy and genuine curiosity. All the horror without much of the wonder.).

Gwen and Owen continued to be the characters that have the show's main focus which is something that I, for one, quite enjoy. I find their characters intriguing and (yes) sympathetic.

The plot was something of a rip-off from Fight Club (the philosophy was almost whole-cloth, though the method was completely different). I found the Mark character to be interesting enough, especially when he was willing to go all the way at the end (and I found it very interesting that Jack let him). I agree with my roommate that the homage would have felt better placed if one of our characters had mentioned it. Though I don't know how well-known Fight Club is in Wales, so there's that.

Overall, quite agreeable.