Torchwood: Something Borrowed

[purplecat]

I surprised myself by really enjoying this episode. This may have been partly because I was dreading it. I watch very few sitcoms because the comedy of embarrassment (of which "explain to my parents and in-laws why I'm pregnant on my wedding day and hadn't mentioned it before" is an atypical but obvious example) leaves me cringing... and to be honest I did hide under a blanket a couple of times to avoid the embarrassment. But actually, Torchwood moved past the comedy of manners aspect fairly rapidly and certainly avoided the kind of escalation of embarrassment these sorts of storylines generally adopt in sitcoms. The rest of the episode was surprisingly coherent for Torchwood and it was nice not to have my background voice pointing out plot flaws - the Torchwood team were a bit daft in places but "Hey! they're Torchwood". The only false note was the way everyone settled in to enjoy the wedding at the end despite the fact that one of the wedding guests, by implication a close friend of Rhys', had been viciously killed which I would have expected to put a damper on things, escape from an alien shape-shifter not withstanding. It typifies Torchwood's tendency to ignore consequences.


Ultimately I found this episode well-paced and entertaining. It never aspired to be a great episode but somehow, in that lack of aspiration, managed to be a good deal more consistently competent than much of Torchwood's output.

As an aside: Is it just me but does all the gazing into each other's eyes stuff Gwen and Jack indulge in sort of highlight something of a lack of chemistry between Jack and Ianto?

Comments

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Huh. For years I thought I was unique in hating this sort of comedy. It's interesting how many people I've met who feel the same way over the last few years.

[purplecat]

It took me a long time to pin down what it was I disliked so much about many sitcoms and its not a rule without exceptions. I had no problem with it as a young teenager and continue to have a lot of time for things like Faulty Towers and Blackadder which both make extensive use of the device. I have a suspicion that the more cariacatured the character, the less I identify with them, and the easier I find it to watch them making a fool of themselves.