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Nov. 20th, 2006 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaOkay, so for a lot of this episode I found myself wondering what show I was watching again...it felt very Supernatural, and the basic plot could almost have been lifted straight from The Benders! I liked it – I think I enjoyed this episode as a whole more than I have any of the previous five, which I liked in bits and wanted to like the rest more than maybe I actually did.
With this one, I enjoyed it pretty much as a whole. It was creepy as hell, it worked, for the most part, and I felt like we were really connecting with Team Torchwood both as people and as a team for just about the first time.
It's not really a good thing that it's taken six episodes out of 13 to start to get a bit of flesh on characterisation, though. And I'm not sure how I feel about a village full of cannibals in South Wales! :eek:
Think I need to re-watch to cement a few details…
I don't think I'm really quite there with the characters yet. Their situation interests me enough to keep me watching, but they haven't made me care about them as people yet – not even Jack, who I was genuinely attached to after his brief DW stint. I'm hoping that attachment will come, because I do feel that I'm starting to know them a bit better now.
Poor Ianto really is the human element of the team. Never mind Gwen – Ianto is the one ordinary folk can relate to, grieving for his lost girlfriend, not enjoying the adrenaline rush of being in danger, and just generally being a big wuss. ;) For all that his endless weeping and wailing over Lisa the other week got on my nerves after a while – I like me a strong upper lip – I think I'm leaning toward Ianto as the one I'm fondest of at the moment. And Tosh won my sympathy in this episode, as well. She's scary intelligent, and pretty, and all the rest of it – but she's also fairly socially inept, lives for her work alone because she hasn't got anything else, got a huge crush on one of the few men she knows but can't do anything about it, jealous of Gwen getting close to him where she isn't able to herself…
I've decided I kinda like the Jack-Gwen-Owen dynamic. Maybe not the most original ever, but it all adds lots of interesting undercurrents. Plus, it isn't really a triangle – just about the entire team is involved. Tosh has her crush on Owen, but he barely knows she exists outside of work and is more interested in Gwen, who I would say represents more of a challenge, except that she really doesn't because he's won her over in no time flat. He does seem to genuinely care about her, which is nice to see, since he isn't the most pleasant personality in the team. Gwen seemed to be more attracted to Jack at first, but he's too busy playing the aloof, enigmatic, tortured and broody cards to actually get involved with anyone – apart from all that flirting with Ianto, who's grieving and confused – but she's finding the gulf between work and home getting wider and wider all the time, and with Jack off the menu Owen's an only-too-willing substitute. And, like Jack, he represents the danger and excitement of her new life that she's finding so seductive.
Such a slapper Gwen's turned out to be! *G*
So, yeah, anyway, it's starting to get properly interesting on a character level, even though they've not really won my undying affection yet.
On a plotting level…I have to say, Team Torchwood are coming across more like enthusiastic amateurs than the seasoned professionals they are supposed to be, but I cared a lot less about the moments in this episode where it got hard to suspend my disbelief than I have previously, because the story had drawn me in enough for it not to worry me.
Not sure I liked Jack roaring to the rescue at the end, but it does suit his character in this show, removed from the Doctor's stabilising positive influence and struggling with everything he's been through in his life, the darkness within – plus, presumably, he was pretty highly trained back in his Time Agent days, and the role of soldier seems to be the one he's most comfortable with, so it fits.
Overall, the show definitely seems to be finding its feet now. :)
With this one, I enjoyed it pretty much as a whole. It was creepy as hell, it worked, for the most part, and I felt like we were really connecting with Team Torchwood both as people and as a team for just about the first time.
It's not really a good thing that it's taken six episodes out of 13 to start to get a bit of flesh on characterisation, though. And I'm not sure how I feel about a village full of cannibals in South Wales! :eek:
Think I need to re-watch to cement a few details…
I don't think I'm really quite there with the characters yet. Their situation interests me enough to keep me watching, but they haven't made me care about them as people yet – not even Jack, who I was genuinely attached to after his brief DW stint. I'm hoping that attachment will come, because I do feel that I'm starting to know them a bit better now.
Poor Ianto really is the human element of the team. Never mind Gwen – Ianto is the one ordinary folk can relate to, grieving for his lost girlfriend, not enjoying the adrenaline rush of being in danger, and just generally being a big wuss. ;) For all that his endless weeping and wailing over Lisa the other week got on my nerves after a while – I like me a strong upper lip – I think I'm leaning toward Ianto as the one I'm fondest of at the moment. And Tosh won my sympathy in this episode, as well. She's scary intelligent, and pretty, and all the rest of it – but she's also fairly socially inept, lives for her work alone because she hasn't got anything else, got a huge crush on one of the few men she knows but can't do anything about it, jealous of Gwen getting close to him where she isn't able to herself…
I've decided I kinda like the Jack-Gwen-Owen dynamic. Maybe not the most original ever, but it all adds lots of interesting undercurrents. Plus, it isn't really a triangle – just about the entire team is involved. Tosh has her crush on Owen, but he barely knows she exists outside of work and is more interested in Gwen, who I would say represents more of a challenge, except that she really doesn't because he's won her over in no time flat. He does seem to genuinely care about her, which is nice to see, since he isn't the most pleasant personality in the team. Gwen seemed to be more attracted to Jack at first, but he's too busy playing the aloof, enigmatic, tortured and broody cards to actually get involved with anyone – apart from all that flirting with Ianto, who's grieving and confused – but she's finding the gulf between work and home getting wider and wider all the time, and with Jack off the menu Owen's an only-too-willing substitute. And, like Jack, he represents the danger and excitement of her new life that she's finding so seductive.
Such a slapper Gwen's turned out to be! *G*
So, yeah, anyway, it's starting to get properly interesting on a character level, even though they've not really won my undying affection yet.
On a plotting level…I have to say, Team Torchwood are coming across more like enthusiastic amateurs than the seasoned professionals they are supposed to be, but I cared a lot less about the moments in this episode where it got hard to suspend my disbelief than I have previously, because the story had drawn me in enough for it not to worry me.
Not sure I liked Jack roaring to the rescue at the end, but it does suit his character in this show, removed from the Doctor's stabilising positive influence and struggling with everything he's been through in his life, the darkness within – plus, presumably, he was pretty highly trained back in his Time Agent days, and the role of soldier seems to be the one he's most comfortable with, so it fits.
Overall, the show definitely seems to be finding its feet now. :)
