This show is: Not Rated
So the reason I haven’t written anything new in the past week is that I have been extremely pissed off and rather depressed. You may wonder what caused me to feel this way; well it would be the fiasco that is “Torchwood – Children of Earth” (aka Torchwood – Season 3).
Before I go any further I should warn you that this post is going to contain spoilers for the show, there is no way to talk about it without them, so you have been warned. Don’t read any further if you don’t want to be spoiled.
I guess the best place to start would be to say how much I loved the first two seasons of this show. You can click the links to see my previous posts about Torchwood – Season One and Torchwood – Season Two. Although, I didn’t always like every episode or some of the characters, overall I loved the show. The concept was great. There was action, humor, emotion, and characters you could care about.
Season Two of Torchwood finished about fifteen months ago. Many of us were excitedly looking forward to the next season. When it was finally announced that a new season was commissioned, it was also announced that instead of the usual 13 episodes it was only going to be 5. This was disappointment number one. Next decision was, if we’re only going to have a small number of episodes, let’s make it one huge story that is shown over the course of one week. That idea in and of itself isn’t terrible, however, it only works if you have a very strong storyline (which is not the case).
I had been remaining pretty much spoiler free for Children of Earth, however, I had read some interviews with cast and production members. One of the things that was played up was how we were going to get a lot more back-story on the characters of Ianto and Jack. Also, how their love story was a critical part of the show. Now if you have read my previous posts you know that I absolutely adore the character of Ianto and am incredibly impressed by the acting talents of the man that plays him, Gareth David Lloyd. I loved Ianto and Jack as a couple; their relationship was complex and interesting. Plus it was refreshing to see a male/male relationship treated as a normal course of events, not make a big deal about it. That’s the way it should be in real life; who you love is who you love, it doesn’t matter what sex they are.
I was so excited that I couldn’t wait for the episodes to air in the U.S. so I ordered the Region 2 DVD set from the UK. They arrived last Wednesday and I sat down and watched the entire thing that day. While there were some good things about the show overall I was extremely disappointed. The whole thing felt more like a political thriller than Torchwood. They took away most of the things I loved about the show and just basically ramped up the action and bleakness factor.
The What the F*ck moments (or things I didn’t like):
If this is Torchwood, why does the team get so little screen time (especially Ianto and Jack)?
We do get more back-story on Ianto, but really not very much. Hell, he is the only character in Torchwood that we haven’t even seen where he lives, much less anything else. While I do like that he is a mystery, it would have been nice to learn a bit more about him.
The Ianto and Jack love story we were promised never materialized. There were a couple of touching moments but overall it was severely lacking.
What’s with the homophobia all of a sudden? I’m not talking about the scene with Ianto and his sister. That made sense and was well done. However, I don’t understand why all of a sudden various random characters are making comments about Ianto being gay or asking if he is. It was all very awkward, out of place and makes me very confused about where all this came from and what the point was.
Killing off Ianto in a ridiculous way. Ianto and Jack are not stupid enough to walk unprepared into an awaiting deathtrap. Although the death scene had me in tears it also pissed me off. Not just because my favorite character was offed, but because it was done purely as a plot device without any logic to it.
It is incredibly lame that the aliens were using the children to get high. I don’t know what else I can say about that.
The whole “Children of Earth” was full of plot holes and had the team doing things that just didn’t make sense to me. It really felt like they were trying to sanitize the show and turn it into a purely action show without any heart.
Things I liked:
Gareth David Lloyd continues to prove what an amazing actor he is. I just hope he got enough exposure from this show to get lots of work, because he really deserves it.
Ianto desperately trying to find a way to deactivate the bomb and not wanting to leave Jack behind. Then Jack frantically dragging Ianto to the lift to get him out of the hub before the explosion. The last minute, desperate farewell kiss.
Ianto telling Jack that he was wrong to let the aliens have the children back in 1965 and that he should have stood up to them. I like that although he loves Jack unconditionally, he let’s Jack know when he has screwed up.
Jack’s utter devastation over the death of Ianto. When he is begging him not to leave him.
Creepy children talking in unison is always good. Having the children of the world in danger makes for good drama, even though I thought the reason they were in danger was lame.
The way it was filmed was gorgeous. It had a very “movie” like feel to it.
To sum it up, I don’t know if I will be able to watch Children of Earth in its entirety ever again. I will probably just fast forward to the Ianto moments that I liked and skip the rest. As far as I’m concerned, Torchwood ended with Season 2. If they come back with a Season 4, I won’t be watching it. They killed off everything good about the show, so I am done. Now I am going to live in the land of denial and Fanfiction.
Ok, now that I am done with my rant, I want to take a moment to pimp Gareth’s band “Blue Gillespie“. They have a new acoustic EP, “Cave Country 2″ coming out 8/21/09 (I have already pre-ordered mine). I have their previous EP “Cave Country” and absolutely love it. Gareth has an incredible voice, which I can’t get enough of.
Jan
P.S. Comments are welcomed. Scroll towards the bottom of the page to where it says “Click Here to Make a Comment”. Or on entries from previous days there is a comment box.
