Torchwood - Out of Time
Sep. 2nd, 2007 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2When a science fiction series tries an episode that has no aliens, no gadgets, no SFX and concentrates completely on relationships and human emotion, I know that it's either going to be an unmitigated disaster or genius. So what was it here?
Genius, just genius in my opinion. This would be my favourite episode of Torchwood to date by a long way. The three stories were excellent works in contrast - John with his complete and utter inability to adapt, Diana who is so unaffected that she decides to keep moving and Emma who fits in almost naturally once her initial grieving is over.
The scene (or rather the series of scenes) that lead to John taking his own life are heart-breaking, especially after Jack rescues him the first time from the car, only for John to say he'll just wait for another opportunity. To then cut to Jack sitting in the car as John slowly suffocates was just stunning. Just a little technical note though - shouldn't Jack have died too? If it was enough to kill John, shouldn't it have been enough for Jack too? I know Jack's immortal so he'd come back, but wouldn't he have died at first any way? Just a thought! The other thing that was interesting was to see just how hard Jack finds it too - out of step with the world, dislocated from all he knew.
Diane's journey was interesting too - she was already such a woman of the 21st century (perhaps a bit too much so?) that being here barely even ruffled her feathers, it seemed. Fairly emotionlessly, I thought, she decided to just keep moving - perhaps fleeing from Owen's declaration of love, more than anything else?
Emma's change with Gwen as guidance was interesting, not least of which was watching Gwen get completely tongue-tied whilst trying to explain sexual codes of behaviour in the 21st century, especially in view of how Gwen's own relationship with Rhys is on fairly shaky ground just now! Was it any coincidence that the most "human" of the team was the only one whose returnee adapted successfully? I suspect not although I think that it may have cost Gwen something and Rhys certainly didn't like the way Gwen had dealt with the entire thing, it seemed.
Best moments?
Ianto taking the three to the supermarket:
(Automatic door opens)
Diane: How did it do that?
Ianto: It's automatic. It knows you're there.
Diane: But how?
Ianto: There are wave bouncing detectors which emit high frequency radio waves and then look for reflect...
Diane: Bananas!
Ianto: Of course, bananas are far more interesting.
and
(John Ellis finds a magazine with a bikini-clad model on the front)
Ianto: Welcome to the world of scantily-clad celebrities.
John: But, there could be children around here.
Ianto: Well, she's a childrens' TV presenter.
Genius, just genius in my opinion. This would be my favourite episode of Torchwood to date by a long way. The three stories were excellent works in contrast - John with his complete and utter inability to adapt, Diana who is so unaffected that she decides to keep moving and Emma who fits in almost naturally once her initial grieving is over.
The scene (or rather the series of scenes) that lead to John taking his own life are heart-breaking, especially after Jack rescues him the first time from the car, only for John to say he'll just wait for another opportunity. To then cut to Jack sitting in the car as John slowly suffocates was just stunning. Just a little technical note though - shouldn't Jack have died too? If it was enough to kill John, shouldn't it have been enough for Jack too? I know Jack's immortal so he'd come back, but wouldn't he have died at first any way? Just a thought! The other thing that was interesting was to see just how hard Jack finds it too - out of step with the world, dislocated from all he knew.
Diane's journey was interesting too - she was already such a woman of the 21st century (perhaps a bit too much so?) that being here barely even ruffled her feathers, it seemed. Fairly emotionlessly, I thought, she decided to just keep moving - perhaps fleeing from Owen's declaration of love, more than anything else?
Emma's change with Gwen as guidance was interesting, not least of which was watching Gwen get completely tongue-tied whilst trying to explain sexual codes of behaviour in the 21st century, especially in view of how Gwen's own relationship with Rhys is on fairly shaky ground just now! Was it any coincidence that the most "human" of the team was the only one whose returnee adapted successfully? I suspect not although I think that it may have cost Gwen something and Rhys certainly didn't like the way Gwen had dealt with the entire thing, it seemed.
Best moments?
Ianto taking the three to the supermarket:
(Automatic door opens)
Diane: How did it do that?
Ianto: It's automatic. It knows you're there.
Diane: But how?
Ianto: There are wave bouncing detectors which emit high frequency radio waves and then look for reflect...
Diane: Bananas!
Ianto: Of course, bananas are far more interesting.
and
(John Ellis finds a magazine with a bikini-clad model on the front)
Ianto: Welcome to the world of scantily-clad celebrities.
John: But, there could be children around here.
Ianto: Well, she's a childrens' TV presenter.
