Torchwood - Exit Wounds
Apr. 20th, 2008 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gategrrlExit Wounds
I finally got to see it last night, late, after the kids had finally gone to sleep after demanding to finish the last few DVDs of Star Blazers. Torchwood won out (this time) over Star Blazers. We'll watch more of that show this evening. On to Exit Wounds.
Because I'm such a spoiler 'ho, I already knew going in that Tosh and Owen (oops, almost typed Gwen there: wishful Freudian thinking? or could simply be the "W" their names have in common) were going to die. I knew that Jack was going to meet up with his long-missing, and well-set-up brother. Well-set-up meaning, we had forewarning about his probable appearance. All the way back at the beginning of the season, Capt. John was getting a lay of the land: he'd already been co-opted by Grey by then, or Grey was about to pounce on him...but what other reason could John have had to get in contact with Jack, except to do reconn for Grey? It gives a new twist on the first episode of the season, and makes you wonder what *else* Grey had been up to in the meantime.
Well, the fact that I knew the spoilers didn't spoil my enjoyment of the show...or disappointments. Folks who've been reading my reviews of Torchwood know I haven't been thrilled with Eve Myles' and John Barrowman's performances this year. THIS episode fit Barrowman and Myles' acting styles to a "T", and they each surprised me in their roles in Exit Wounds.
What set this episode apart was the Grand feel of it - there was a lot of movement, a lot of scenery chewing, a lot of hyperbole and strong emotions. Afterall, when the man you *think* is your enemy starts exploding your hometown cries innocent and comes back after describing your brother as a bonafide sociopath and psychotic mass murder, who's after your ass, well, of course you're going to have a lot of outward emotions. This episode was the Angels' Falls of emotions. It was the Grand Canyon in the springtime, swollen with the waters from the Snake River.
There were three main events here - Grey's appearance, and Tosh and Owen's deaths. Jack's confrontations with Grey took the front seat, of course, with the drama of Grey not forgiving him for leaving him behind on that beach, destined for years of cruel torture by the aliens who'd captured him. This was mostly Jack's showcase: Jack was able to show he has an infinite capacity for forgiveness. He lacks that hard-edge refined by the doctor, also a long-lived person - or, rather, Jack has *lost* that hard-edge through the run of the series. Being immortal sucks, but it also means (for Jack) needing to develop a sense of "this, too, shall pass" and to be aware of the complete fraility of the human psyche. And I suppose that's the true message of Torchwood.
Edited to add this part - I had to go do some homework that I'd forgotten about, and got sidetracked from this review!
Tosh and Owen. Oh, poor, poor Tosh. I'll miss that character, seeing as how the producers barely covered her at all during the run of the show, thus far. Owen, I may not have liked much in the beginning (who really did? He was a complete and utter prick) I WAS liking...and all I could think of was, damn it, why wasn't it Gwen who was shot in the stomach for a very painful and lingering death instead of Tosh? Honestly thought that, even though Gwen didn't bother me so much in this episode because, as I said, emotions ran high in this episode and that's what Eve Myles tailors her (over)acting for, much like Barrowman does, for the grand emo gestures.
I suppose their exits were "okay" and their endings elicited about as much emotion as I think I'd see if Gwen's and Jack's best dog died. Honestly, to me, that's what ran though my mind - their dogs died. Poor Jack. Poor Gwen. Ianto checked them out of the computer. I guess Owen didn't feel he needed to have a final message because, well, he was *already* dead, so, that was all ready covered when they checked him out of the computer the first time. I hope he meets Daniel Jackson in the afterlife. (that's where DJ is stuck, for me, on the ascended plane where he belongs, not tarting around with Vala...ahem, back to the review)
Tosh got her death scene. I wanted to kick Jack, Ianto, and Gwen for not rushing upstairs immediately. After all, they KNEW they'd left Tosh up there alone, and knew Psycho Grey was wandering about the office. I didn't hear ONE of them yelling "Tosh!"...but then, maybe they were hoping not to lead Grey directly to her?
Owen went out in a flash (from our POV) and he got enough time...I just can't figure out why the hell Tosh didn't tell him to shut-up for a moment, and tell him she was dying, too, and they'd meet together in the Dark that Owen was/is so terrified of going into. No mention of the Nothing beyond.
Well, Exit Wounds kept up a rip-roaring pace, and was a shake-up of major proportions to the show. Now, I hope the producers give me my wish and have Torchwood borrow Martha from Unit for a season or two. I'd like that. But I wonder: can Myles and the producers stand to have another female on the cast competing with her? Because Tosh, man.
I finally got to see it last night, late, after the kids had finally gone to sleep after demanding to finish the last few DVDs of Star Blazers. Torchwood won out (this time) over Star Blazers. We'll watch more of that show this evening. On to Exit Wounds.
Because I'm such a spoiler 'ho, I already knew going in that Tosh and Owen (oops, almost typed Gwen there: wishful Freudian thinking? or could simply be the "W" their names have in common) were going to die. I knew that Jack was going to meet up with his long-missing, and well-set-up brother. Well-set-up meaning, we had forewarning about his probable appearance. All the way back at the beginning of the season, Capt. John was getting a lay of the land: he'd already been co-opted by Grey by then, or Grey was about to pounce on him...but what other reason could John have had to get in contact with Jack, except to do reconn for Grey? It gives a new twist on the first episode of the season, and makes you wonder what *else* Grey had been up to in the meantime.
Well, the fact that I knew the spoilers didn't spoil my enjoyment of the show...or disappointments. Folks who've been reading my reviews of Torchwood know I haven't been thrilled with Eve Myles' and John Barrowman's performances this year. THIS episode fit Barrowman and Myles' acting styles to a "T", and they each surprised me in their roles in Exit Wounds.
What set this episode apart was the Grand feel of it - there was a lot of movement, a lot of scenery chewing, a lot of hyperbole and strong emotions. Afterall, when the man you *think* is your enemy starts exploding your hometown cries innocent and comes back after describing your brother as a bonafide sociopath and psychotic mass murder, who's after your ass, well, of course you're going to have a lot of outward emotions. This episode was the Angels' Falls of emotions. It was the Grand Canyon in the springtime, swollen with the waters from the Snake River.
There were three main events here - Grey's appearance, and Tosh and Owen's deaths. Jack's confrontations with Grey took the front seat, of course, with the drama of Grey not forgiving him for leaving him behind on that beach, destined for years of cruel torture by the aliens who'd captured him. This was mostly Jack's showcase: Jack was able to show he has an infinite capacity for forgiveness. He lacks that hard-edge refined by the doctor, also a long-lived person - or, rather, Jack has *lost* that hard-edge through the run of the series. Being immortal sucks, but it also means (for Jack) needing to develop a sense of "this, too, shall pass" and to be aware of the complete fraility of the human psyche. And I suppose that's the true message of Torchwood.
Edited to add this part - I had to go do some homework that I'd forgotten about, and got sidetracked from this review!
Tosh and Owen. Oh, poor, poor Tosh. I'll miss that character, seeing as how the producers barely covered her at all during the run of the show, thus far. Owen, I may not have liked much in the beginning (who really did? He was a complete and utter prick) I WAS liking...and all I could think of was, damn it, why wasn't it Gwen who was shot in the stomach for a very painful and lingering death instead of Tosh? Honestly thought that, even though Gwen didn't bother me so much in this episode because, as I said, emotions ran high in this episode and that's what Eve Myles tailors her (over)acting for, much like Barrowman does, for the grand emo gestures.
I suppose their exits were "okay" and their endings elicited about as much emotion as I think I'd see if Gwen's and Jack's best dog died. Honestly, to me, that's what ran though my mind - their dogs died. Poor Jack. Poor Gwen. Ianto checked them out of the computer. I guess Owen didn't feel he needed to have a final message because, well, he was *already* dead, so, that was all ready covered when they checked him out of the computer the first time. I hope he meets Daniel Jackson in the afterlife. (that's where DJ is stuck, for me, on the ascended plane where he belongs, not tarting around with Vala...ahem, back to the review)
Tosh got her death scene. I wanted to kick Jack, Ianto, and Gwen for not rushing upstairs immediately. After all, they KNEW they'd left Tosh up there alone, and knew Psycho Grey was wandering about the office. I didn't hear ONE of them yelling "Tosh!"...but then, maybe they were hoping not to lead Grey directly to her?
Owen went out in a flash (from our POV) and he got enough time...I just can't figure out why the hell Tosh didn't tell him to shut-up for a moment, and tell him she was dying, too, and they'd meet together in the Dark that Owen was/is so terrified of going into. No mention of the Nothing beyond.
Well, Exit Wounds kept up a rip-roaring pace, and was a shake-up of major proportions to the show. Now, I hope the producers give me my wish and have Torchwood borrow Martha from Unit for a season or two. I'd like that. But I wonder: can Myles and the producers stand to have another female on the cast competing with her? Because Tosh, man.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 03:57 pm (UTC)I do wonder a little what the producers are thinking of doing. And what happened behind the scenes for them to kill off two of the small cast?