Review of Day One (Torchwood 1.2)

[unfeathered]

Not sure what I think of this one. It's not a bad story, though it feels very reminiscent of Angel's second episode, Lonely Hearts. But it didn't really grab me either. It felt… cold, somehow?

So I'm just going to type up what I wrote down while I was watching it.


Interesting that Gwen takes Rhys with her when she sees the meteor, when usually she's so eager to separate him from her work.

PC Andy. Yay. :-)

"He just…" "Came and went!" *g*

I want to know why Jack's doing a little smirk in the background as he takes his coffee from Ianto. He looks extremely mischievous there…

All the snarking between Gwen and Owen – oh, yeah, you can see that relationship coming! (With hindsight, anyway.)

I also want to know why the meticulous Ianto doesn't clean the glass/plastic/whatever it is in the cells.

Gwen trying to talk to Carys annoyed me with her clichéd sci-fi questions to the alien – "Where are you from?" etc. Just felt corny to me. Don't know how she said those lines with a straight face!

Loved Owen watching the girly snogging. And "OK, first contact with an alien not quite what I expected!"

I want to know why Carys said "It's got to be a man." Why????

Gwen asking the others about their private lives (or lack of same) felt really forced to me too. As if it was just shoved in to make a point.

Jack gets a lot of great lines in this episode. The 'technobabble' one, the 'quaint little categories' one, the 'technically, throttling the staff is my job' one…

Loved the gang speculating about Jack over Chinese, and "Period military is not the dress code of a straight man."

Owen naked and handcuffed in a cell. Thoroughly deserved. :-)

The Hand thing annoys me, mainly because I don't see there's any way you're supposed to be able to tell it's the Doctor's. I mean, I had NO IDEA until someone mentioned it on LJ. It just seems so unlikely that he should have it. It also annoys me here, though, because he's all cut up about its jar bursting and then… it's perfectly OK. Huh?

The rat jam thing was disgusting.

Nice little scene with Carys and the undeserving boyfriend, though it feels a little Jossian in its apparent 'all men are bastards and all girls are great' message.

Love the way they find her by working out where she'd go to get sex, and Jack's "Work your way through my back catalogue, you'll be here till the sun explodes!" (Which is definitely him saying he's a slut, though whether it's true or not is of course another matter.)

Love the gay guy at the clinic.

Jack is incredibly cool and sexy all the way through this episode. And apart from the little bit of teamwork at the meteor crash site which makes Gwen feel like the outsider, Jack feels extremely distant from everyone else. And his face when he says, "Tell me what it means to be human in the 21st century," just hurts. And again when he's facing Carys with the Hand. And when they're racing through the clinic finding piles of dust everywhere, you can see that every death hurts him.

6.5/10

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Loved the gang speculating about Jack over Chinese, and "Period military is not the dress code of a straight man."

I loved this scene. I can totally see it happening

[unfeathered]

Yeah, it was funny and interesting. Though I did think the rest of the team would have found out a bit more about Jack by then!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

in a way that scene was frustrating because Tosh says "he'll shag anything that's gorgeous enough" but then we never SEE any of that all season!

[unfeathered]

Yeah, I noticed that too. Made me wonder what she'd seen/he'd told her that made her think that.

Because so far he's been extremely distant and not looking like he'd actually shag anyone, really. Flirt yes, shag no.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I really wonder about that, sure Jack flirts in TW S1, but now all that much and certainly never give the impression of being the type to shag indiscriminately like Tosh suggests.. did they cut out those scenes, or forget to write them in, or change how they wanted to present the character?

[unfeathered]

did they cut out those scenes, or forget to write them in, or change how they wanted to present the character?

Could be any of those. It's not exactly the most well-written show ever. Or the most consistent. *g*

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

which makes trying to stick to canon bloody difficult!

[unfeathered]

Yep. I was hoping rewatching TW would give me a better handle on Jack's character, but actually I'm just feeling more confused! :-)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

it's really hard to get a handle on Jack, he's different in DW S1 from TW S1 to DW S3.

I like of him like an onion, you only see one layer at a time

[unfeathered]

I meant, TW Jack, but yeah. Onion. Definitely.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

even TW Jack differs from episode to episode... what we see in "Small Worlds" is SO different than "Countrycide"

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

I also want to know why the meticulous Ianto doesn't clean the glass/plastic/whatever it is in the cells
Well he says he's going down there to clean and then bunks off to see to his won personal science experiment... ;-)

And it has to be a man because it isn't actually an orgasm she/it is feeding on but ejaculations... (And no of course I'm not thinking the word swallow right now *tries to look innocent*)

[unfeathered]

Well he says he's going down there to clean and then bunks off to see to his won personal science experiment... ;-)

Ah yes, of course. *g* Still, you'd think the others would comment!

And it has to be a man because it isn't actually an orgasm she/it is feeding on but ejaculations...

OK, that makes sense.

(And no of course I'm not thinking the word swallow right now *tries to look innocent*)

No, of course you're not... *g*

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Still, you'd think the others would comment!
They're scared to he might withdraw their coffe priviledges if they do ;-)