DVD review: Torchwood 1.06 -- Countrycide
Jun. 6th, 2008 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julesjonesNot the teatime viewing one associates with the Whoniverse, is it? In fact, I put off watching this for a couple of weeks because the only time I had free to watch it was when I was eating, and I knew enough about the episode to know better than to do that...
This is one of the ones I had to skip for lack of time when I did my marathon catch-up on first broadcast. I've since been completely spoilered for the big surprise, of course, so I'm not going to see it in the same way as those who saw it the night of first broadcast.
That said -- it's one of the weakest episodes, in my opinion, but as seems to be the case with Torchwood, it's not a complete waste of time. And there are bits of it that look better considered as part of the long term story arc than they might on first viewing.
Classic horror movie set-up in the opener. Of course, where this gets interesting is that at the point where you would normally start shouting at the screen "why are you so dumb as to go in there when your friends have disappeared after screaming?", Team Torchwood go in *knowing* that they're in a horror movie, and do it because cleaning out the monsters in the horror movie closet is their job. Which does odd things to the genre cliches that follow. :-) This particularly struck me in the scene where Gwen finds the body in the pub kitchen, and throws up -- and even though she's still retching, she retains enough control to do her job as a team member, and take part in the sweep of the area.
On the other hand -- guys, you know you're in a horror movie. You're out of your usual territory. The bad guys have stolen most of your gear. The butler is along instead of being left at base or in the SUV as usual, and *nobody* knows where you are. Yes, we know you don't have Torchwood One as a last ditch defence any more, and Torchwood and UNIT don't exactly see eye to eye, but why are you knowingly walking into that trap without letting any of the other alien-chasing covert ops people know where you are and what you think is going on, just in case you don't come home? Even that very strange man in Glasgow would be better than nothing, and the bad guys may have nicked your gear, but you've got at least one of your magic PDAs still to hand. I do hope you've got a dead man's handle system on the email server that will dump a case file to someone else if none of you return.
And since you know you're in a horror movie, why do you split up, why does Jack not worry about Tosh and Ianto, given that Ianto isn't experienced at field work, and why in the name of all that is holy is there no thought about checking all the doors in the pub?
Ins pite of which, there was some good character development in this, and some nice set pieces. There's a fair chunk of ongoing continuity either picked up on or set going in this episode, and in the commentary Chibnall says that the point of the episode was to push Owen and Gwen together, after setting it up through the previous episodes. It's also very much about showcasing each of the characters, showing a little bit more about them.
Start of the "Tosh has a crush on Owen" story arc, which works here but got Very Very Annoying after a while.
Gosh, Ianto's got a way of killing a conversation, hasn't he? I've seen comments about this being a deliberate denial of that kiss from Jack in Cyberwoman, and thus of Jack himself and any attraction to/relationship with Jack, but it doesn't read that way to me. For one thing, whether or not Jack ended up enjoying it, that looked very much like a rescucitation attempt to me in Cyberwoman. Life energy transfer rather than CPR, but definitely all about trying to bring an unconscious or dead Ianto back. And Ianto may not have looked too impressed with the lip-lock when he came round, but he's bright enough to work out that Jack probably didn't just stop for a non-consensual snog when he was busy with a Cyberman loose in his base. He probably doesn't even think of that as a kiss.
Jack's not too happy with Ianto's answer, of course, but that may just be the whole fraught subject of cyber-girlfriends, rather than sulking about being ignored as the last kiss.
Ianto's first trip as part of the field team, and it's *obvious* that it's his first trip. Not just that conversation with Tosh when they're being held in the cellar, but the way his hands shake slightly when he's holding his gun just after Tosh disappears. Interesting to see him afraid for himself for the first time -- he was scared in Cyberwoman, but for Lisa, never for himself. What I really like here is that even though he's terrified, and he's suddenly face to face with the fact that he could have chosen a normal life and instead he's about to become something's dinner, he pulls himself together and keeps fighting. And the scene where he nuts the chief cannibal is superb.
*Love* Tosh in the Tosh-n-Ianto sections. She's tough, she's competent, she does her best to protect the inexperienced Ianto. When he sacrifices himself to give her a chance, she seizes it without blinking, and doesn't look back. She's fighting to the end. Why couldn't we have kept this Tosh for the rest of the series?
I really like the relationship between Tosh and Ianto in this episode. They work together really well, and it's obvious that there's a bond between them. Even before I saw this episode, Tosh/Ianto was the one het pairing that interested me in writing fanfic on this show, and this episode reinforces that.
Owen gets to show both his "complete dick" side and his decent, caring side in this episode -- and at the end, both at once. He's completely self-centered and egotistical in that scene in the woods, but when Gwen gets hurt, Owen *cares* -- and has an astonishingly good bedside manner under the circumstances. With that scene I can understand why Gwen might turn to Owen as a means of dealing with the stress of not being able to tell anyone outside about her job. And at the end -- he knows he's interfering in Gwen's relationship with Rhys and doesn't give a toss, but it's also clear that he cares about Gwen, and his motives aren't entirely selfish.
And from the medical treatment scene -- Gwen (or Eva) has a belly-button piercing? Gosh.
A little more of Jack's backstory, although at this point in the original run it wasn't at all clear how long Jack had been on Earth and whether he'd been doing anything between being left behind by the Doctor and getting to Earth. The scene where he finally captures a prisoner is chilling, because again you see how utterly ruthless Jack can be.
A couple of places where this episode badly broke suspension of disbelief for me. Gwen and Owen seem entirely too willing to trust the local police constable under the circumstances. Granted, at this point they don't know exactly what's to blame for the killings, but the fact that there is something very wrong with this village and the local bobby seems oblivious to it should be a warning sign.
And the thing where Gwen can't understand why they did it, and is shocked and horrified by the answer she gets -- what on earth? This specific manifestation is, thank god, incredibly rare behaviour, but there is nothing particularly out of the ordinary about serial killers killing for the pleasure of it. The only novelty here is that it's the entire village, and even that aspect shows up in one or two gruesome British legends, in particular that of Sawney Bean. Gwen was a Cardiff copper, so I really don't find it plausible that she's never encountered extreme sadism in police reports and stories about the job, even if she's never come face to face with it before.
I'm not sure I want to watch the episode through again, not just because it's one of the poorer episodes, but because slasher movies are really not my thing. But there are some bits of it I'll happily re-watch more than once.
DVD Commentary
Chris Chibnall (write and co-producer), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto), Andy Goddard (director). This was back to having an interesting commentary that was worth listening to, although not quite as good as the first couple of episodes. Chibnall is good at these, partly because he has both the writer's viewpoint and the producer's viewpoint, and partly because he's willing to talk about where he thinks he made mistakes.
Chibnall wrote the "last kiss" scene to be set later in the day while they were all sitting around the campfire, when it would feel more natural for them to be sitting telling stories, but the fire had to be cut for budget reasons. H&S requirement made a real fire impossible in the time allotted, and CGI fire would be too expensive. I did think that felt very slightly off while watching it, and this explains why.
GDL points out that his gun doesn't have the little extra bit that the others' have. The things guys will find to dick-size about...
Chibnall says that the scenes between Tosh and Ianto were meant to build on the cut final scene from Cyberwoman, where Tosh brings Ianto a cup of coffee. Having watched that scene on the DVD's collection of deleted scenes before watching this episode for the first time, those scenes in this episode really worked for me.
This is one of the ones I had to skip for lack of time when I did my marathon catch-up on first broadcast. I've since been completely spoilered for the big surprise, of course, so I'm not going to see it in the same way as those who saw it the night of first broadcast.
That said -- it's one of the weakest episodes, in my opinion, but as seems to be the case with Torchwood, it's not a complete waste of time. And there are bits of it that look better considered as part of the long term story arc than they might on first viewing.
Classic horror movie set-up in the opener. Of course, where this gets interesting is that at the point where you would normally start shouting at the screen "why are you so dumb as to go in there when your friends have disappeared after screaming?", Team Torchwood go in *knowing* that they're in a horror movie, and do it because cleaning out the monsters in the horror movie closet is their job. Which does odd things to the genre cliches that follow. :-) This particularly struck me in the scene where Gwen finds the body in the pub kitchen, and throws up -- and even though she's still retching, she retains enough control to do her job as a team member, and take part in the sweep of the area.
On the other hand -- guys, you know you're in a horror movie. You're out of your usual territory. The bad guys have stolen most of your gear. The butler is along instead of being left at base or in the SUV as usual, and *nobody* knows where you are. Yes, we know you don't have Torchwood One as a last ditch defence any more, and Torchwood and UNIT don't exactly see eye to eye, but why are you knowingly walking into that trap without letting any of the other alien-chasing covert ops people know where you are and what you think is going on, just in case you don't come home? Even that very strange man in Glasgow would be better than nothing, and the bad guys may have nicked your gear, but you've got at least one of your magic PDAs still to hand. I do hope you've got a dead man's handle system on the email server that will dump a case file to someone else if none of you return.
And since you know you're in a horror movie, why do you split up, why does Jack not worry about Tosh and Ianto, given that Ianto isn't experienced at field work, and why in the name of all that is holy is there no thought about checking all the doors in the pub?
Ins pite of which, there was some good character development in this, and some nice set pieces. There's a fair chunk of ongoing continuity either picked up on or set going in this episode, and in the commentary Chibnall says that the point of the episode was to push Owen and Gwen together, after setting it up through the previous episodes. It's also very much about showcasing each of the characters, showing a little bit more about them.
Start of the "Tosh has a crush on Owen" story arc, which works here but got Very Very Annoying after a while.
Gosh, Ianto's got a way of killing a conversation, hasn't he? I've seen comments about this being a deliberate denial of that kiss from Jack in Cyberwoman, and thus of Jack himself and any attraction to/relationship with Jack, but it doesn't read that way to me. For one thing, whether or not Jack ended up enjoying it, that looked very much like a rescucitation attempt to me in Cyberwoman. Life energy transfer rather than CPR, but definitely all about trying to bring an unconscious or dead Ianto back. And Ianto may not have looked too impressed with the lip-lock when he came round, but he's bright enough to work out that Jack probably didn't just stop for a non-consensual snog when he was busy with a Cyberman loose in his base. He probably doesn't even think of that as a kiss.
Jack's not too happy with Ianto's answer, of course, but that may just be the whole fraught subject of cyber-girlfriends, rather than sulking about being ignored as the last kiss.
Ianto's first trip as part of the field team, and it's *obvious* that it's his first trip. Not just that conversation with Tosh when they're being held in the cellar, but the way his hands shake slightly when he's holding his gun just after Tosh disappears. Interesting to see him afraid for himself for the first time -- he was scared in Cyberwoman, but for Lisa, never for himself. What I really like here is that even though he's terrified, and he's suddenly face to face with the fact that he could have chosen a normal life and instead he's about to become something's dinner, he pulls himself together and keeps fighting. And the scene where he nuts the chief cannibal is superb.
*Love* Tosh in the Tosh-n-Ianto sections. She's tough, she's competent, she does her best to protect the inexperienced Ianto. When he sacrifices himself to give her a chance, she seizes it without blinking, and doesn't look back. She's fighting to the end. Why couldn't we have kept this Tosh for the rest of the series?
I really like the relationship between Tosh and Ianto in this episode. They work together really well, and it's obvious that there's a bond between them. Even before I saw this episode, Tosh/Ianto was the one het pairing that interested me in writing fanfic on this show, and this episode reinforces that.
Owen gets to show both his "complete dick" side and his decent, caring side in this episode -- and at the end, both at once. He's completely self-centered and egotistical in that scene in the woods, but when Gwen gets hurt, Owen *cares* -- and has an astonishingly good bedside manner under the circumstances. With that scene I can understand why Gwen might turn to Owen as a means of dealing with the stress of not being able to tell anyone outside about her job. And at the end -- he knows he's interfering in Gwen's relationship with Rhys and doesn't give a toss, but it's also clear that he cares about Gwen, and his motives aren't entirely selfish.
And from the medical treatment scene -- Gwen (or Eva) has a belly-button piercing? Gosh.
A little more of Jack's backstory, although at this point in the original run it wasn't at all clear how long Jack had been on Earth and whether he'd been doing anything between being left behind by the Doctor and getting to Earth. The scene where he finally captures a prisoner is chilling, because again you see how utterly ruthless Jack can be.
A couple of places where this episode badly broke suspension of disbelief for me. Gwen and Owen seem entirely too willing to trust the local police constable under the circumstances. Granted, at this point they don't know exactly what's to blame for the killings, but the fact that there is something very wrong with this village and the local bobby seems oblivious to it should be a warning sign.
And the thing where Gwen can't understand why they did it, and is shocked and horrified by the answer she gets -- what on earth? This specific manifestation is, thank god, incredibly rare behaviour, but there is nothing particularly out of the ordinary about serial killers killing for the pleasure of it. The only novelty here is that it's the entire village, and even that aspect shows up in one or two gruesome British legends, in particular that of Sawney Bean. Gwen was a Cardiff copper, so I really don't find it plausible that she's never encountered extreme sadism in police reports and stories about the job, even if she's never come face to face with it before.
I'm not sure I want to watch the episode through again, not just because it's one of the poorer episodes, but because slasher movies are really not my thing. But there are some bits of it I'll happily re-watch more than once.
DVD Commentary
Chris Chibnall (write and co-producer), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto), Andy Goddard (director). This was back to having an interesting commentary that was worth listening to, although not quite as good as the first couple of episodes. Chibnall is good at these, partly because he has both the writer's viewpoint and the producer's viewpoint, and partly because he's willing to talk about where he thinks he made mistakes.
Chibnall wrote the "last kiss" scene to be set later in the day while they were all sitting around the campfire, when it would feel more natural for them to be sitting telling stories, but the fire had to be cut for budget reasons. H&S requirement made a real fire impossible in the time allotted, and CGI fire would be too expensive. I did think that felt very slightly off while watching it, and this explains why.
GDL points out that his gun doesn't have the little extra bit that the others' have. The things guys will find to dick-size about...
Chibnall says that the scenes between Tosh and Ianto were meant to build on the cut final scene from Cyberwoman, where Tosh brings Ianto a cup of coffee. Having watched that scene on the DVD's collection of deleted scenes before watching this episode for the first time, those scenes in this episode really worked for me.