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Torchwood: Exit Wounds
I thought this episode was the high point of series 2 which is kind of embarrassing because I've seen several other people's reviews and I can see all those flaws they pointed out, but I loved it anyway and I'm at a bit of a loss to say why. At this point ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sophievdennis may note that I used to enjoy crying at Neighbours so there is some level at which I quite like having my emotions blatantly manipulated and Exit Wounds admirably hit that spot.
So to cover the flaws: Cities and Nuclear Power plants don't work like that. You can't take out every phone of any description with just 15 bombs, not unless they're doing a whole lot more damage than we saw, ditto every critical back-up power supply. Do not ask John Barrowman to do overt angst - manly repressed angst he can manage - but overt wailing angst in his hands is simply embarrassing. Captain John: man of inconsistent characterisation. Waste of what could have been Gwen's finest hour. Unsubtle, mawkish, emotionally manipulative death scenes (if you happen to be the sort of person who doesn't lap that sort of thing up).
Good points: I actually preferred the Captain John we saw here to the one in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Torchwood's guest actors are generally very strong and James Marsters is no exception. I preferred this basically amoral man who is desperately in love with Jack and who is clearly competent and resourceful to the rather psychotic shyster we got previously. I actually loved the fact that Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto were busy being huggy and self-congratulatory while Toshiko and Owen were saving the city and dying, it neatly underlined the often (esp. in season 1) fatal narcissism of the Torchwood 3 team. Although they didn't really go anywhere, the scenes in the Police Station were also very good right up until it transpired that Gwen's great leadership potential amounted to telling bobbies to knock on people's doors and then curling up into a small ball and whimpering. Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori were also very good, though that was to be expected with the material they were given. I even liked the dynamic between Captain Jack and his brother despite it being fairly obvious this would happen (as soon as we learned Jack left him behind) and rather cliched (esp. with New Who's tendency to link traumatic events with going completely and utterly crazy often in ways new to medical science).
There is, apparently, a rumour doing the rounds that Toshiko and Owen were written out to allow Martha Jones to be brought in. I have some thoughts about this: Martha Jones is a more likable character than Owen (especially since they shot themselves in the foot with Owen in his opening scene - a segment of fandom were never ever going to even slightly warm to him once it was revealed he was a (probably habitual) date rapist) but Burn Gorman is a much better actor than Freema Agyeman. I want to do a round-up post about season 2 Torchwood however so I'll think about that more then.
sophievdennis may note that I used to enjoy crying at Neighbours so there is some level at which I quite like having my emotions blatantly manipulated and Exit Wounds admirably hit that spot.So to cover the flaws: Cities and Nuclear Power plants don't work like that. You can't take out every phone of any description with just 15 bombs, not unless they're doing a whole lot more damage than we saw, ditto every critical back-up power supply. Do not ask John Barrowman to do overt angst - manly repressed angst he can manage - but overt wailing angst in his hands is simply embarrassing. Captain John: man of inconsistent characterisation. Waste of what could have been Gwen's finest hour. Unsubtle, mawkish, emotionally manipulative death scenes (if you happen to be the sort of person who doesn't lap that sort of thing up).
Good points: I actually preferred the Captain John we saw here to the one in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Torchwood's guest actors are generally very strong and James Marsters is no exception. I preferred this basically amoral man who is desperately in love with Jack and who is clearly competent and resourceful to the rather psychotic shyster we got previously. I actually loved the fact that Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto were busy being huggy and self-congratulatory while Toshiko and Owen were saving the city and dying, it neatly underlined the often (esp. in season 1) fatal narcissism of the Torchwood 3 team. Although they didn't really go anywhere, the scenes in the Police Station were also very good right up until it transpired that Gwen's great leadership potential amounted to telling bobbies to knock on people's doors and then curling up into a small ball and whimpering. Burn Gorman and Naoko Mori were also very good, though that was to be expected with the material they were given. I even liked the dynamic between Captain Jack and his brother despite it being fairly obvious this would happen (as soon as we learned Jack left him behind) and rather cliched (esp. with New Who's tendency to link traumatic events with going completely and utterly crazy often in ways new to medical science).
There is, apparently, a rumour doing the rounds that Toshiko and Owen were written out to allow Martha Jones to be brought in. I have some thoughts about this: Martha Jones is a more likable character than Owen (especially since they shot themselves in the foot with Owen in his opening scene - a segment of fandom were never ever going to even slightly warm to him once it was revealed he was a (probably habitual) date rapist) but Burn Gorman is a much better actor than Freema Agyeman. I want to do a round-up post about season 2 Torchwood however so I'll think about that more then.