Torchwood is back. After the impressive Children of Earth, Torchwood has returned to BBC1 primetime except this series is a little different because it has major American funding from the network Starz (nope, me neither). Apparently FOX were going to co-produce it but that fell through (someone must have reminded them of the 1996 movie). The basic premise was made clear by the trailers. There is a day when no one dies, nobody around the world. The scheduling has been commented on because Americans get to see it a whole week before everyone else. I don’t have a problem with this personally because if they are stumping up most of the money then they should at least have the right to show it first. Secondly there are scenes in the American version that won’t appear on the UK version. Again I don’t have a problem with this, as long as we don’t lose anything from the story then I can live with differences. Written by Russell T Davies (creator) and directed by Bharat Nalluri (conceived the BBC One show Hustle).
This means that the series will be split between the US and Wales. Before the episode started the continuity announcer said that there may be some scenes that we would find distressing. Normally this is nonsense but within the first two minutes there is an execution and its one of the most graphic and uncomfortable scenes that I have witnessed.
They spend the first part of this story emphasising that no one is dying and whilst in Wales, Gwen and Rhys are living the quite life. They are holed up in some idyllic country house by the coast. They are presumed dead after the 456 business in COE. However like most things the this show, that doesn’t last for long. Gwen’s father is unwell and she has to make the decision to come out of hiding. This was possibly the only way that this was going to happen and despite how weak it might be it is good enough for me. What I was quite amazed by is how it was 20 minutes before we saw John Barrowman. It’s the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 thing where it’s about half an hour before we see Johnny Depp. In this I was starting to wonder how he was going to appear. It wasn’t in a flash of blinding white light but the exact opposite.
In a clever but blatantly obviously (after it’s revealed) plot twist, when everyone can live forever we now find that Captain Jack can die. This is revealed in quite a low key manner. However it’s a significant moment because it’s ringing the bell that Jack isn’t immortal and the next time shoots him in the head of buries him in concrete he won’t be coming back for air. I wonder how long it will be before this happens, clocks ticking.
Oswald Danes is a paedophile who at the beginning of the episode is suppose to be executed. Bill Pullman is extremely good in this episode. He is instantly unlikeable and in his first scene where is he talking, he is clearly a smart (if mentally sick) individual. He doesn’t actually have much to do in this episode but to be honest, he will get to be centre stage in future episodes. Mekhi Phifer is a character that I know I’m going to take a while to get use to. Having being irritated by him in ER when it was on, he plays Rex Matheson who is when we are introduced to him is driving erratically in the torrential rain behind a truck which is carrying poles which after emergency breaking causes one of the poles to slam into Rex.
John Barrowman is a curious person. Whenever I see him on other shows he is over the top and quite annoying and I want to hate him and partly do because when is playing Captain Jack he is really good. He can act, he can make us care about the character and make us laugh when he’s been camp but I can’t find it in myself to fully hate the man. He does seem to be in his element in this series because he doesn’t stand out as an American in Wales. Eve Myles is really good and it’s hard to believe how far she has come since the very first episode in 2006. The double act between her and Tom Price is a nice little moment
The story does that thing that Russell T Davies loves to do and that is to bring up news reels like it’s trying to convince us that it’s meant to be real life. Normally this wouldn’t bother me but if it’s meant to be a worldwide issue, shouldn’t there be more foreign news channels. Or at the very least there should be a BBC news channel. The story doesn’t shy away from the goriness which is quite refreshing. Admittedly I was shocked by the execution at the beginning but that’s due how close to the beginning the story it started. There is another grim moment where a guy who has explosives strapped to him and as he cant die he ends up in a morgue on a slab looking like a slab of meat with a head. Then Jack comes up with an idea to decapitate the head. The way this was done was a bit stomach churning and mercifully this was over relatively quickly. This was the clearest sign that this series was going to be different and possibly in a good way. There are some scenes in this episode which we wouldn’t have seen in previous series of Torchwood but that what happens when the series is American-fied.
This episode is a groundwork episode. To many it’s been called a pilot in effect but that’s wrong because it’s not a pilot by any means if they just move country. The story does a good job in introducing to the many characters and to give us a feel of how the series will be structured. The teaser trailer at the end of the episode shows that this series could be really good. I was a bit mixed when I initially watched it on Thursday but on Saturday evening after watching it for a second time. I found it more impressive and I was able to enjoy it a lot more. The only question is ‘What is causing all of this?’ A good start.
This means that the series will be split between the US and Wales. Before the episode started the continuity announcer said that there may be some scenes that we would find distressing. Normally this is nonsense but within the first two minutes there is an execution and its one of the most graphic and uncomfortable scenes that I have witnessed.
They spend the first part of this story emphasising that no one is dying and whilst in Wales, Gwen and Rhys are living the quite life. They are holed up in some idyllic country house by the coast. They are presumed dead after the 456 business in COE. However like most things the this show, that doesn’t last for long. Gwen’s father is unwell and she has to make the decision to come out of hiding. This was possibly the only way that this was going to happen and despite how weak it might be it is good enough for me. What I was quite amazed by is how it was 20 minutes before we saw John Barrowman. It’s the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 thing where it’s about half an hour before we see Johnny Depp. In this I was starting to wonder how he was going to appear. It wasn’t in a flash of blinding white light but the exact opposite.
In a clever but blatantly obviously (after it’s revealed) plot twist, when everyone can live forever we now find that Captain Jack can die. This is revealed in quite a low key manner. However it’s a significant moment because it’s ringing the bell that Jack isn’t immortal and the next time shoots him in the head of buries him in concrete he won’t be coming back for air. I wonder how long it will be before this happens, clocks ticking.
Oswald Danes is a paedophile who at the beginning of the episode is suppose to be executed. Bill Pullman is extremely good in this episode. He is instantly unlikeable and in his first scene where is he talking, he is clearly a smart (if mentally sick) individual. He doesn’t actually have much to do in this episode but to be honest, he will get to be centre stage in future episodes. Mekhi Phifer is a character that I know I’m going to take a while to get use to. Having being irritated by him in ER when it was on, he plays Rex Matheson who is when we are introduced to him is driving erratically in the torrential rain behind a truck which is carrying poles which after emergency breaking causes one of the poles to slam into Rex.
John Barrowman is a curious person. Whenever I see him on other shows he is over the top and quite annoying and I want to hate him and partly do because when is playing Captain Jack he is really good. He can act, he can make us care about the character and make us laugh when he’s been camp but I can’t find it in myself to fully hate the man. He does seem to be in his element in this series because he doesn’t stand out as an American in Wales. Eve Myles is really good and it’s hard to believe how far she has come since the very first episode in 2006. The double act between her and Tom Price is a nice little moment
The story does that thing that Russell T Davies loves to do and that is to bring up news reels like it’s trying to convince us that it’s meant to be real life. Normally this wouldn’t bother me but if it’s meant to be a worldwide issue, shouldn’t there be more foreign news channels. Or at the very least there should be a BBC news channel. The story doesn’t shy away from the goriness which is quite refreshing. Admittedly I was shocked by the execution at the beginning but that’s due how close to the beginning the story it started. There is another grim moment where a guy who has explosives strapped to him and as he cant die he ends up in a morgue on a slab looking like a slab of meat with a head. Then Jack comes up with an idea to decapitate the head. The way this was done was a bit stomach churning and mercifully this was over relatively quickly. This was the clearest sign that this series was going to be different and possibly in a good way. There are some scenes in this episode which we wouldn’t have seen in previous series of Torchwood but that what happens when the series is American-fied.
This episode is a groundwork episode. To many it’s been called a pilot in effect but that’s wrong because it’s not a pilot by any means if they just move country. The story does a good job in introducing to the many characters and to give us a feel of how the series will be structured. The teaser trailer at the end of the episode shows that this series could be really good. I was a bit mixed when I initially watched it on Thursday but on Saturday evening after watching it for a second time. I found it more impressive and I was able to enjoy it a lot more. The only question is ‘What is causing all of this?’ A good start.
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