Torchwood: End of Days

[mllelaurel]

The character stuff was well done, I thought, particularly the dynamic between Jack and Owen. I loved the way Owen kind of skulks in at the end, all awkward and teenage-like. Burn Gorman really sold us on everything Owen felt. He's normally a good actor but he shined here.

Tosh and Ianto were lovely as well - not given much to say, but in this episode it was an asset because you could really see how much Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd could say with their eyes.

Jack was fabulous but since when is that a surprise.

As usual, I thought the episode could've used less Gwen, but thankfully most of her scenes had her with Rhys, who makes her not suck by simple virtue of him being there. Incidentally, I'm so happy Rhys got to live, I don't care that his being brought back from the dead was a cop-out. We get Rhys, who's like the only good thing about Gwen, and that's all that matters.

Still, there was a tad bit too much Gwen. The scenes at the end where she's sitting by Jack would have been much more powerful if it was pretty much any other character. *They* all have defined relationships with Jack. Owen could have stayed with him, driven by guilt into caring. Toshiko could have taken care of him the way he took care of her in the previous episode. Ianto could've stayed cause I get the impression he loves Jack a lot more than he lets on. Etc.

I could have done without Godzilla, too. Catherine Tregenna created a perfectly viable and creepy villain in Billis. How hard would it have been for him to have his own reasons for opening the Rift. Maybe if the Rift were opened his time-hopping powers would disappear and he'd no longer be a homeless wanderer. Or something. If I can come up with ideas, so could the writers.

Instead we get a demon. Which, in a sci-fi series? So not on. Lame, Chibnall, lame. Also, it was awfully easy for Jack to vanquish.

...For an episode I liked, I'm sure bitching a lot, aren't I? Truth of the matter is, Chibnall got the character stuff right for once, and that's what most of the episode focused on. I tollerated Gwen and loved everyone else. I thought the team falling apart was believable and have to give major kudos to all the actors. Demon Godzilla felt more like an afterthought and while it brings down the score, it's not enough to ruin things totally.

Oh, and I may have been spoiled for Jack leaving in the TARDIS, but I still squeed like a shrill fangirly thing. I *hadn't* been spoiled for Jack outright admitting being in love with the Doctor. Like we needed confirmation. *g*

All in all, this episode may have had issues, but it's way better than anything we've seen from Chibnall so far, and the positives are actually enough for me to downplay the negatives, for once.

Overall score: 3

Comments

[sharona1x2.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It did do one thing with Gwen that made me very happy. It proved, IMO, that the person she is in love with is Rhys. I wonder if the writing staff realized they made a mistake with the Owen/Gwen relationship, and have been trying to get out of it?

I loved when Jack was asked what would have made him open the rift. The right kind of doctor. YES. ^_^

I could have done without Godzilla, too.

That was the one part I didn't like. I like when the bad guys are more human. I find that much scarier.

[yoritomo-reiko.livejournal.com]

Not Lily, but I'm going to go ahead and say that I don't honestly think that Owen/Gwen was necessarily a mistake in the writing. Because from the beginning, I never felt that it was one of those things that was made to last. Gwen was feeling herself more and more distanced from the man she loved, so she turned to Owen as a substitute. There was never any emotion between them except lust.

Now, I'm not saying that I like Gwen. She's a rather blah character, though she has some interesting spots. She's supposed to be the indentification character. The one that the audience can best identify with because we see her from the start as a normal woman who has been pulled into this entirely new viewpoint of the world and we get to put ourselves in the same position. What would we do if we suddenly had this secret that we couldn't tell anybody else, even the people we love? Not that she really works in that capacity most of the time, but I'm pretty sure that's where they were going with her.

I much prefer identifying with Captain Jack. >.>

[sharona1x2.livejournal.com]

*waves hi* I've seen you commenting in Lily's LJ. I always like reading your comments.

I liked what they did with Owen/Gwen when it first happened. I thought it was very believable. My main problem with it is that it didn't end soon enough for me. I got the feeling it went on for quite a while, maybe up until the Diane thing. (I really would like to watch season 1 again from start to finish.)

There's also a part of me that wishes Owen didn't sleep with just about everyone. I had a very hard time believing that he was so in love with Diane.

I much prefer identifying with Captain Jack.

In the long run, he is the reason I watch Torchwood. ^_^

[yoritomo-reiko.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you like them. *may have actually squeed a bit at that icon, though...*

Four episodes. I don't entirely count Small Worlds in it as nothing between them happened until the end. Though one might say that it actually started in Cyberwoman, what with the kiss and everything. And I think Random Shoes, while being an ultimately forgettable episode (and one I really should have left at one viewing), does show the beginnings of the breakdown between Gwen/Owen. Which is effectively finished in the next episode, Out of Time. (For the record, no, I don't remember all of the titles. I just have the Wiki list of episodes up as well.))

Jack/Ianto ftw. :)