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1.1 Everything Changes Gwen: "I'm getting tired of following you." Jack: "No, you're not. And you never will." Everything changes for a young police constable named Gwen Cooper, when her natural curiosity puts her in the right place at the right time for a truly major career change. This is a strong pilot episode. Not the best I've ever seen, but far from the worst. And it's a great premise for a sci-fi series. Yes, they're bound to Cardiff, no Tardis, but there's the Rift in time and space to bring the flotsam and jetsam of the universe right to them. Torchwood the organization, as established in Doctor Who, has changed a lot. Or is it just that Jack took over and changed a branch office in Wales? And how come Torchwood is a secret, but the cops know they exist? The resurrection glove was tantalizing and weird. It was believable that Suzie would murder people in order to test it. Suzie was obsessed with immortality and cheating death, and never knew that it was always right under her nose in the form of Jack, who apparently can't die. When Rose brought Jack back to life in "The Parting of the Ways," it must have changed him pretty significantly. (There was a reference to life after death, too. Or rather, that there is none. When Jack asked the young, murdered John Tucker -- good performance, there -- what he experienced when he died, he said, "Nothing. I saw nothing. Oh my god, there's nothing!") Characters? Promising. I like Jack and Gwen in particular. I like them a lot. Jack is almost too much. He's dashing and killer handsome like a movie star from the forties, with style and charm oozing out of his ears. There's a strangeness about Jack, though, like he doesn't belong where he is, like he's a law unto himself. John Barrowman is a charismatic actor, and I loved the character of Captain Jack in Doctor Who. Easy to see why they'd center a spin-off series around him. Gwen is us, the audience, our entry into the strange world of Torchwood. She's a good cop: dedicated, tenacious, cares about people. She lies to her nice boyfriend -- not because she wants to keep things from him, but because she doesn't want to burden him with the awful things she sees in her job. She doesn't want him lying awake at night, like she does. And yet, she's compelled to help people, to strive for law and order, even though it upsets her. She's absolutely lovely, but in a girl-next-door sort of way. Gwen is accessible, and easy to like. Not much yet about the rest of the cast. Just some character bits about the artifacts they chose to take home with them. Toshiko Sato used her purloined artifact to do research, implying that she's a good person even though she was disobeying orders. Dr. Owen Harper came off as a jerk, taking that spray that made him irresistable so he could have fast, meaningless sex. That was essentially a roofie, Owen. Roofies are criminal, Owen. Suzie Costello, of course, was made evil by the resurrection glove. One assumes she wasn't evil before. (Killing someone we thought was a cast member in the pilot was good misdirection.) Ianto Jones, the office assistant, was cute and buttoned up, and joked with his boss Jack about sexual harassment. That was pretty much it for him. The twenty-first century is when everything changes. How, exactly? Doctor Who related stuff: -- Torchwood can definitely be enjoyed without having first seen Doctor Who. I can say that because I indeed watched Torchwood first. Although I became so interested in Jack's origins that I started watching Who, too. -- Captain Jack Harkness was first introduced in season one's "The Empty Child." The reason for his current condition was given in "The Parting of the Ways," when he was killed and revived for the first time. -- Jack: "One day I'll find a doctor, the right sort of doctor, and maybe he can explain it." Jack is looking for the Doctor, and can't find him. That must be why he's hanging around the Rift; he knows the Doctor will have to show up sooner or later to refuel. -- The Torchwood Institute was originally established by Queen Victoria after her experiences in "Tooth and Claw." -- Jack mentioned "The Christmas Invasion" and the battle of Canary Wharf ("Doomsday"). Rhys believed they were drug-induced mass hallucinations, and apparently, a lot of population believed that, too. -- Actress Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper) first appeared as a character named Gwyneth in "The Unquiet Dead." -- One of the first things we saw in the Hub was a hand in a jar. Gee. Who do we know that recently lost a hand? Who? -- The word "Torchwood" is an anagram for "Doctor Who." I'm mentioning this because it had to be pointed out to me. Anagrams are not my strong suit. Bits and pieces: -- I liked the pterodactyl. Better than your average office pet. The weevil, not so much; it was pathetic. Better aliens, please. -- Gwen's workmate Yvonne learned that Captain Jack Harkness, American volunteer RAF, 133 Squadron, disappeared on January 21, 1941. Same guy? It's unclear what happened to Jack after "The Parting of the Ways." Big hint that he wound up in Earth's past. How? -- The Torchwood Hub is accessible via invisible lift beneath the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales_Millennium_Centre -- According to Jack, the Cardiff Hub is Torchwood 3. Torchwood 1 in London was destroyed in the battle of Canary Wharf. Torchwood 2 is in Glasgow, run by a "very strange man." Torchwood 4 is missing. -- Jack seems to like standing on the top of big buildings. Maybe he thinks it gives him perspective. Maybe he has a god complex. -- What if Gwen had made notes on paper instead of on her computer? It's what I would have done. -- This week's Most Obvious Symbolism: The closed off floor in the hospital where Gwen encountered the Weevil. Secret stuff going on in a normal, open place, sort of up the stairs instead of down the rabbit hole. Why seal off a floor of the hospital? It was just plastic, too; it wouldn't have kept the weevil in or out. Didn't make sense. -- Jack died in this episode; Suzie shot him in the head. Only Gwen has seen Jack die and revive. Quotes: Jack: "Contraceptives in the rain. I love this planet. Still, at least I won't get pregnant. Never doing that again." Andy: "It's all DNA today, like that CSI bollocks. CSI Cardiff. I'd like to see that. They'd be measuring the velocity of a kebab." Jack: "And this is Ianto Jones. Ianto cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time." Ianto: "I try my best." Jack: "And he looks good in a suit." Ianto: "Careful. That's harassment, sir." Gwen: "So. You catch aliens?" Jack: "Yep." Gwen: "You catch aliens for a living." Jack: "Yes, we do." Gwen: "You're an alien catcher." Jack: "Yes, I am." Gwen: "Caught any good aliens?" Jack: "Tons of them." Gwen: "That's a hell of a job." Jack: "It's an amnesia pill. My own recipe, with a touch of denial and a dash of retcon. Wake up tomorrow morning and you'll have forgotten everything about Torchwood. Worse still, you'll have forgotten me. Which is kind of tragic." I tend not to rate pilots, but this was a good one. It certainly caught me and got me watching, Billie View all comments or post a comment. |
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