Torchwood: Dead Man Walking
Feb. 28th, 2008 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatI'm beginning to get the impression that the Torchwood production team sat down at the end of the last series and wrote a list of "Handicaps" and "Assets". Under "Handicaps" was a long list containing phrases like THEY'RE ALL USELESS and under "Assets" was written just Burn Gorman. He's certainly been handed almost consistently excellent material this season and he has risen to the challenge.
Sadly, Burn Gorman's excellent performance aside, this episode was an unwelcome throwback to season one signalled by the continuity announcer's intro "Captain Jack accidentally unleashes a primeval horror of vast power" (or words to that effect). In fact it was worse than a lot of season one; while Torchwood's plots often don't make sense in all sorts of ways I'm getting kind of used to that and although I may sigh and tut a little it doesn't affect my enjoyment too much, but Dead Man Walking just kept hitting me over the head with so much more does not make sense that this time it really did cloud my enjoyment. What a wretched waste of Martha Jones as well, side-lined for most of the episode and generally out of character in the rest.
More obvious to me, as a thirty-something telefantasy fan, than I suspect it was to most viewers was the unoriginality of much of it. "Do you think they'll put him in black contact lenses?" I said idly, followed 30 seconds later by "oh!". But I recall how effective this sort of low-budget special effect was in, for instance, Sapphire and Steel when I first saw it 15 or more years ago so it seems a bit churlish to forbid Torchwood from scaring a whole new generation of viewers with it. I also found the scene very reminiscent of Toby's possession in The Impossible Planet, also written by Matt Jones.
I have been interested, however, to contrast Owen's death with Stephen's in Primeval. In particular the fact that I found Stephen's death far less affecting despite the fact he's a far more sympathetic character. I think it boils down to unfulfilled potential. Owen appears on the verge of a new direction in his life. Stephen's story was basically over: he has discovered Helen was manipulating him; his flirtation with Abby had been completely dropped; and that's basically all we know about this hopes and aspirations. Obviously as soon as I discovered this episode's title I knew Owen wasn't really dead, though I'll confess that a secret part of me was hoping for a full on George Romero style zombie Owen, waste of Burn Gorman's talents as that would have been.
To end on a positive note, I like the fact that Torchwood is attempting a clear mini-arc here. It's something that sets it stylistically apart from its parent show in a more significant fashion than the sex and the swearing. It allows it to tell a type of story which isn't really available to Doctor Who; should compensate for Torchwood's more limited scope in terms of setting; and gives it the opportunity to be genuinely adult (i.e., expecting the audience to pick up a story from "previously on..." and to show that actions have consequences).
Sadly, Burn Gorman's excellent performance aside, this episode was an unwelcome throwback to season one signalled by the continuity announcer's intro "Captain Jack accidentally unleashes a primeval horror of vast power" (or words to that effect). In fact it was worse than a lot of season one; while Torchwood's plots often don't make sense in all sorts of ways I'm getting kind of used to that and although I may sigh and tut a little it doesn't affect my enjoyment too much, but Dead Man Walking just kept hitting me over the head with so much more does not make sense that this time it really did cloud my enjoyment. What a wretched waste of Martha Jones as well, side-lined for most of the episode and generally out of character in the rest.
More obvious to me, as a thirty-something telefantasy fan, than I suspect it was to most viewers was the unoriginality of much of it. "Do you think they'll put him in black contact lenses?" I said idly, followed 30 seconds later by "oh!". But I recall how effective this sort of low-budget special effect was in, for instance, Sapphire and Steel when I first saw it 15 or more years ago so it seems a bit churlish to forbid Torchwood from scaring a whole new generation of viewers with it. I also found the scene very reminiscent of Toby's possession in The Impossible Planet, also written by Matt Jones.
I have been interested, however, to contrast Owen's death with Stephen's in Primeval. In particular the fact that I found Stephen's death far less affecting despite the fact he's a far more sympathetic character. I think it boils down to unfulfilled potential. Owen appears on the verge of a new direction in his life. Stephen's story was basically over: he has discovered Helen was manipulating him; his flirtation with Abby had been completely dropped; and that's basically all we know about this hopes and aspirations. Obviously as soon as I discovered this episode's title I knew Owen wasn't really dead, though I'll confess that a secret part of me was hoping for a full on George Romero style zombie Owen, waste of Burn Gorman's talents as that would have been.
To end on a positive note, I like the fact that Torchwood is attempting a clear mini-arc here. It's something that sets it stylistically apart from its parent show in a more significant fashion than the sex and the swearing. It allows it to tell a type of story which isn't really available to Doctor Who; should compensate for Torchwood's more limited scope in terms of setting; and gives it the opportunity to be genuinely adult (i.e., expecting the audience to pick up a story from "previously on..." and to show that actions have consequences).