Torchwood Series 1

Torchwood

SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.

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101: Everything Changes 2007 September 8

(First watched 2007-09-08)  Nice general introduction to Torchwood, but as such a piloty episode I'm left uncertain what sort of style or tone this show will be using on a weekly basis.  It could be like X-Files without everything ending as confusing as it begins, or Men in Black without aliens in music videos, or something else entirely.

Nice to see Jack again.  He seems a bit more... personable, mellow, and just plain legitimate than I remembered, and I wouldn't have expected him to enjoy getting washed up in Cardiff.  I suppose between then and now he's had time to get used to it, though, and has found a job as exciting as can be found on the planet.

So Suzie was the murderer... OK, I see her motivation.  But why did she do it with such a specialized weapon that she was working on even around her colleagues?  Was there some alien-artifact-related reason she was sharpening a fancy blade at work?  Perhaps it was an alien thing itself, but that would still leave it an incredibly stupid thing for someone in her position to use as a murder weapon.

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102: Day One 2007 September 15

(First watched 2007-09-15)  Uhhh, OK, that was something.  I guess I've heard the show described as "Doctor Who for adults", and they wanted to make that clear as quickly as possible.

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103: Ghost Machine 2007 September 22

(First watched 2007-09-25)  About time we saw something of Owen beyond the superficial, as he had to deal with the knowledge and shared emotions of a murdered woman.

Not only does Jack not die, but he doesn't sleep either?  Next they'll tell us he doesn't go to the bathroom.

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104: Cyberwoman 2007 September 29

(First watched 2007-09-29)  Not such an interesting episode, beyond making Ianto less of a mannequin.  So... he was hiding her in there for a year or so without anyone being the wiser?

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105: Small Worlds 2007 October 6

(First watched 2007-10-06)  OK, so Jack DOES sleep after all.  And though I already know it from the "later" Doctor Who episodes, this episode establishes that he's been hanging around Earth for at least the last century.

The series seems to have established a light pattern.  The even-numbered episodes are ridiculous, and not in the particularly good way.  The odd ones are a bit serious and the better for it.  Though... they also seem to end in failure of varying degrees, with somebody dead.  Though hell, not one episode has lacked in deaths, so maybe I shouldn't hold it against the odd-numbered ones.

Even before it came to death between them... boy, the Chosen One and her stepfather were real dicks to each other.

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106: Countrycide 2007 October 13

(First watched 2007-10-13)  Well, there goes the even-numbered curse.  I saw the twist coming a mile away, but it was still an effective plot device: of all the unearthly things they've run across, it's the sickness of a few humans that's the least explicable and the closest to actually harming them.

Even early on, though, it was a nice change of pace for them to be out of Cardiff.

This Gwen/Owen thing, though... that can't end well.

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107: Greeks Bearing Gifts 2007 October 20

(First watched 2007-10-20)  And finally a Tosh-heavy episode.  Though pretty middling all-around.

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108: They Keep Killing Suzie 2007 October 27

(First watched 2007-10-27)  Wow.  I'm glad we got a full-on followup to the first episode.  The Resurrection Glove/Risen Mitten is a really creepy concept.  It only brings someone back long enough to add a one-time short scary coda to one's existence.  Well, except in this case.

The real problem I have with this episode is... it turned out Suzie had a lot of it planned?  Like the guy Max being caught and locking up Torchwood, but... how and why?  Surely she wasn't planning on dying, and if she was why would she have reason to believe her eventual resurrection would last longer than a minute?

So now not only Gwen/Owen, but... Jack/Ianto?  What a wacky show.

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109: 2007 [[]]

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Torchwood Series 2