Torchwood virtual season: Part 1
Mar. 3rd, 2007 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mllelaurelHaving recently rewatched episode 12 of Torchwood (one of the good ones!), I started thinking about some of the things that might make Torchwood series two not just 'not bad' but actually good. Before I knew it, I'd come up with an (albeit sketchy) virtual season. Episode titles and all.
...Doesn't everyone do that, when they've got nothing better to do?
Episode 1: Many Happy Returns [part 1 of 2]
Short summary - The Torchwood team struggles to continue in Jack's absence.
Emotional arc - Letting go of lost loved ones and holding closer to the people still left. (Aftermath of "End of Days") Gwen and Rhys bond and Gwen tells him some (indirect) things about Torchwood. (Events like that of "Countrycide" are perfectly tellable, if he's assuming she works for an undercover police unit.) Owen asks an acquaintance to teach him to fly. The viewer assumes this is part of him chasing after Diane, but we later learn this is his way of understanding her and letting her go. Tosh gets a visit from one of "Mary's" people. (maybe the one that also visited Sarah Jane?) Ianto visits Lisa's grave (possibly empty, possibly not) - and runs into Jack.
Plot arc - Impossible things coming true, fueled by the power of human belief, which is in turn channeled through alien tech. (Supernatural did something like this in "Hell House," but we'll try to go in a different direction.) Conspiracy buffs are being kidnapped by the 'government.' Religious individuals are causing miracles to occur - which will provide our [hopefully non-didactic] ethical counterpoint: does Torchwood have the right to undo the good stuff that came of this? Most importantly (and dangerously) individuals are losing their selves and becoming the people their peers see them as. Without the hidden depths others have no way of seeing, their personality becomes lost.
Twist - When Jack sees Ianto, he asks him to keep his return a secret for a while and Ianto goes along with it. The audience expects Jack to make an official grand entrance at the end of the episode, but the one the team finds upon returning to the base isn't Jack - it's Suzie! (To be continued scrolls across the screen annoyingly.)
Some of the 'returns' from the title - Jack and Suzie, obviously. Also Detective Swanson - she alerts them to some of what's going on. Plus multiple people via memory/flashback.
Notes on the tech - It's a plot device. It's created by 'Mary's' race, which nicely ties in that plot thread. It's embedded within an ATM machine, which is what connects the people affected. I won't go into detail about how Torchwood deals with it yet, but I *will* say that there's no way in hell it'll be destroyed. It'll be marked dangerous and locked up, but you just know someone will eventually unearth it and wind up using in in unhealthy ways.
Notes on Suzie - No, she wasn't brought back by the power of belief. Not like anyone believes she's alive. No, her return from the dead is similar to Rhys's, as a result of Torchwood opening the Rift. More "End of Days" aftermath. Mwahaha.
This got long, so I'll break up the story into multiple posts. Meanwhile, I give you the rest of the episode titles. (All subject to change. If the official sources can do it, I damn well can too.)
Episode 1: Many Happy Returns [part 1 of 2]
Episode 2: Lost Girls [part 2 of 2]
Episode 3: Doing Time
Episode 4: Faux-pas
Episode 5: Visited on the Children
Episode 6: Never Walk Alone
Episode 7: Wonderland
Episode 8: Love and Other Indoor Sports
Episode 9: Fourty Nights and Days
Episode 10: Murder, She Thought
Episode 11: Ring of Fire and Roses
Episode 12: For Queen and Country [part 1 of 2]
Episode 13: Moving in the Dark [part 2 of 2]
...Doesn't everyone do that, when they've got nothing better to do?
Episode 1: Many Happy Returns [part 1 of 2]
Short summary - The Torchwood team struggles to continue in Jack's absence.
Emotional arc - Letting go of lost loved ones and holding closer to the people still left. (Aftermath of "End of Days") Gwen and Rhys bond and Gwen tells him some (indirect) things about Torchwood. (Events like that of "Countrycide" are perfectly tellable, if he's assuming she works for an undercover police unit.) Owen asks an acquaintance to teach him to fly. The viewer assumes this is part of him chasing after Diane, but we later learn this is his way of understanding her and letting her go. Tosh gets a visit from one of "Mary's" people. (maybe the one that also visited Sarah Jane?) Ianto visits Lisa's grave (possibly empty, possibly not) - and runs into Jack.
Plot arc - Impossible things coming true, fueled by the power of human belief, which is in turn channeled through alien tech. (Supernatural did something like this in "Hell House," but we'll try to go in a different direction.) Conspiracy buffs are being kidnapped by the 'government.' Religious individuals are causing miracles to occur - which will provide our [hopefully non-didactic] ethical counterpoint: does Torchwood have the right to undo the good stuff that came of this? Most importantly (and dangerously) individuals are losing their selves and becoming the people their peers see them as. Without the hidden depths others have no way of seeing, their personality becomes lost.
Twist - When Jack sees Ianto, he asks him to keep his return a secret for a while and Ianto goes along with it. The audience expects Jack to make an official grand entrance at the end of the episode, but the one the team finds upon returning to the base isn't Jack - it's Suzie! (To be continued scrolls across the screen annoyingly.)
Some of the 'returns' from the title - Jack and Suzie, obviously. Also Detective Swanson - she alerts them to some of what's going on. Plus multiple people via memory/flashback.
Notes on the tech - It's a plot device. It's created by 'Mary's' race, which nicely ties in that plot thread. It's embedded within an ATM machine, which is what connects the people affected. I won't go into detail about how Torchwood deals with it yet, but I *will* say that there's no way in hell it'll be destroyed. It'll be marked dangerous and locked up, but you just know someone will eventually unearth it and wind up using in in unhealthy ways.
Notes on Suzie - No, she wasn't brought back by the power of belief. Not like anyone believes she's alive. No, her return from the dead is similar to Rhys's, as a result of Torchwood opening the Rift. More "End of Days" aftermath. Mwahaha.
This got long, so I'll break up the story into multiple posts. Meanwhile, I give you the rest of the episode titles. (All subject to change. If the official sources can do it, I damn well can too.)
Episode 1: Many Happy Returns [part 1 of 2]
Episode 2: Lost Girls [part 2 of 2]
Episode 3: Doing Time
Episode 4: Faux-pas
Episode 5: Visited on the Children
Episode 6: Never Walk Alone
Episode 7: Wonderland
Episode 8: Love and Other Indoor Sports
Episode 9: Fourty Nights and Days
Episode 10: Murder, She Thought
Episode 11: Ring of Fire and Roses
Episode 12: For Queen and Country [part 1 of 2]
Episode 13: Moving in the Dark [part 2 of 2]
