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julesjonesAnother of the episodes I hadn't seen before. Oh look, it's another "hot girl on girl action" episode. Although in fact they *don't* play it for the gratuitous sex scene opportunities, which I'm glad of. Not just because f/f isn't my taste in porn, but because in this episode it would have distracted from the point of the story instead of supporting it. This is a character episode, and it's an episode about what Torchwood does to the people who work there, and their relationships with other people. Usually we see the damage through Gwen, but it's good to see that it's not just Gwen, but a more general problem caused by not being able to talk to anyone outside the job.
So Tosh is feeling lonely and unloved and put-upon, and thus is ripe for seduction by a woman who happens to be an alien who's been living on Earth for the last century or two, and who's interested in Torchwood's investigation of a piece of technology connected with her. An alien with a pendant that bestows the gift of telepathy. As Tosh finds out, being able to hear the hidden thoughts of others is both addictive and disturbing...
This one's an example of an episode that has its own individual story, but ties into the ongoing story arc -- Tosh's vulnerability to Mary's romantic overtures is set up in the previous episode, when it's suggested that she might have a crush on Owen, and when Owen and Gwen start an affair. There are also references to other ongoing threads, in particular Jack's rather shady past and possible future.
Mary picks on Tosh because she's the one who's vulnerable -- Jack would recongise Mary for the threat she is, even if she could get into his mind, Gwen and Owen are wrapped up in each other, Ianto is too far gone in grief to be open to seduction whether sexual or emotional. Tosh is the one who's both lonely and open to a potential new partner, and if Mary already knows about Torchwood and alien tech, she'll seem like someone whom it's safe to talk to about all the things Tosh needs to share with *someone*.
Mary has, of course, the perfect means of seduction -- through the telepathy pendant she knows exactly how to play on Tosh's emotions. But there's something about the way it's played that suggests to me that she's not lying when she tells Tosh at the end that her feelings for Tosh are real. I'm surprised Team Torchwood doesn't attract more lonely aliens than it does, to be honest. Okay, so they'll lock you up and study you, and dissect you if you're really unlucky; but on the other hand, if you're stuck on Earth with no way home, Torchwood is the only place where you'll find someone who won't lock you up for being mad if you tell them what you really are.
So although it's a bit annoying to see Tosh wilting in the face of a come-hither look, especially after seeing take-charge Tosh protecting Ianto in Countrycide, it's a good look at her as a character, and they do set up a plausible reason why she would spill everything about Torchwood to a complete stranger. And I liked the way Team Torchwood actually *is* a team at the episode's climax, working together to save Tosh. Plus that's a sweet scene at the end between Jack and Tosh, which means even more in the light of Fragments.
I also enjoyed the assorted glimpses into the minds of the characters, which worked well for me. The "mustn't look at her" "why isn't he looking at me" was all too believable, and the brief glimpse into Ianto's mind shows that yes, he really is still suffering behind that bland, pleasant facade. And in the scenes in Cardiff, the guy with the James Bond fantasies was hilarious.
Lost of good lines, ranging from funny to sad to creepy.
And Jack utterly ruthless, *and* making nasty jokes about it -- oh yes. He's not the Doctor, and sometimes it shows.
But there are some annoyances as well. It's daft that the writer chooses to have Tosh smash the pendant, and have Jack let her -- we already know that Torchwood simply locks away dangerous technology safely out of reach, as with the glove in the opening episode. It's believable that Tosh's initial impulse might be to smash it, but in the long term she'd want to study it, and Jack has to know that.
Willing suspension of disbelief -- guys, you're really asking a lot here with your alien that for some reason needs to eat a human heart once a year to stay alive. Why a heart? Why specifically human? Feeding off life-force is an established thing in the Whoniverse, but this looked more like someone doing it that specific way for kicks. Except that isn't what was in the dialogue, and our Mary isn't shy about her motivations once Jack outs her as an escaped criminal. It would make a lot more sense if you'd explicitly suggested that this isn't because she's an alien who literally needs to eat human hearts, but because she's a serial killer.
DVD commentary -- Richard Stokes, producer, Colin Teague director, Toby Whithouse, writer
Interesting conversation and worth listening to at least once.
Whithouse pitched the story as m/f, and was told that he had to make it f/f -- it's heavily implied simply so that they could make Tosh have a same-sex kiss, as she hadn't had one yet.What's odd about it is that he takes what was effectively an entirely gratuitous hot-girl-on-girl-action scene, and uses it in the story without making a huge song and dance about "Look, audience! lesbian sex!" Which is the way it should be, and what RTD says in one of the documentaries he wanted, but I think it worked much better here than in Day One.
In general -- I enjoyed this one quite a lot, though it's not on my list of favourite episodes.
So Tosh is feeling lonely and unloved and put-upon, and thus is ripe for seduction by a woman who happens to be an alien who's been living on Earth for the last century or two, and who's interested in Torchwood's investigation of a piece of technology connected with her. An alien with a pendant that bestows the gift of telepathy. As Tosh finds out, being able to hear the hidden thoughts of others is both addictive and disturbing...
This one's an example of an episode that has its own individual story, but ties into the ongoing story arc -- Tosh's vulnerability to Mary's romantic overtures is set up in the previous episode, when it's suggested that she might have a crush on Owen, and when Owen and Gwen start an affair. There are also references to other ongoing threads, in particular Jack's rather shady past and possible future.
Mary picks on Tosh because she's the one who's vulnerable -- Jack would recongise Mary for the threat she is, even if she could get into his mind, Gwen and Owen are wrapped up in each other, Ianto is too far gone in grief to be open to seduction whether sexual or emotional. Tosh is the one who's both lonely and open to a potential new partner, and if Mary already knows about Torchwood and alien tech, she'll seem like someone whom it's safe to talk to about all the things Tosh needs to share with *someone*.
Mary has, of course, the perfect means of seduction -- through the telepathy pendant she knows exactly how to play on Tosh's emotions. But there's something about the way it's played that suggests to me that she's not lying when she tells Tosh at the end that her feelings for Tosh are real. I'm surprised Team Torchwood doesn't attract more lonely aliens than it does, to be honest. Okay, so they'll lock you up and study you, and dissect you if you're really unlucky; but on the other hand, if you're stuck on Earth with no way home, Torchwood is the only place where you'll find someone who won't lock you up for being mad if you tell them what you really are.
So although it's a bit annoying to see Tosh wilting in the face of a come-hither look, especially after seeing take-charge Tosh protecting Ianto in Countrycide, it's a good look at her as a character, and they do set up a plausible reason why she would spill everything about Torchwood to a complete stranger. And I liked the way Team Torchwood actually *is* a team at the episode's climax, working together to save Tosh. Plus that's a sweet scene at the end between Jack and Tosh, which means even more in the light of Fragments.
I also enjoyed the assorted glimpses into the minds of the characters, which worked well for me. The "mustn't look at her" "why isn't he looking at me" was all too believable, and the brief glimpse into Ianto's mind shows that yes, he really is still suffering behind that bland, pleasant facade. And in the scenes in Cardiff, the guy with the James Bond fantasies was hilarious.
Lost of good lines, ranging from funny to sad to creepy.
And Jack utterly ruthless, *and* making nasty jokes about it -- oh yes. He's not the Doctor, and sometimes it shows.
But there are some annoyances as well. It's daft that the writer chooses to have Tosh smash the pendant, and have Jack let her -- we already know that Torchwood simply locks away dangerous technology safely out of reach, as with the glove in the opening episode. It's believable that Tosh's initial impulse might be to smash it, but in the long term she'd want to study it, and Jack has to know that.
Willing suspension of disbelief -- guys, you're really asking a lot here with your alien that for some reason needs to eat a human heart once a year to stay alive. Why a heart? Why specifically human? Feeding off life-force is an established thing in the Whoniverse, but this looked more like someone doing it that specific way for kicks. Except that isn't what was in the dialogue, and our Mary isn't shy about her motivations once Jack outs her as an escaped criminal. It would make a lot more sense if you'd explicitly suggested that this isn't because she's an alien who literally needs to eat human hearts, but because she's a serial killer.
DVD commentary -- Richard Stokes, producer, Colin Teague director, Toby Whithouse, writer
Interesting conversation and worth listening to at least once.
Whithouse pitched the story as m/f, and was told that he had to make it f/f -- it's heavily implied simply so that they could make Tosh have a same-sex kiss, as she hadn't had one yet.What's odd about it is that he takes what was effectively an entirely gratuitous hot-girl-on-girl-action scene, and uses it in the story without making a huge song and dance about "Look, audience! lesbian sex!" Which is the way it should be, and what RTD says in one of the documentaries he wanted, but I think it worked much better here than in Day One.
In general -- I enjoyed this one quite a lot, though it's not on my list of favourite episodes.
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Date: 2008-06-25 07:59 pm (UTC)