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countrycide
I usually wait until Monday night, but I just couldn't resist tonight. And, man, if Alex wants to watch tomorrow night, that's something I definitely have to watch again to get everything. Possibly partly through my fingers, but still.
What follow is very long, very rambly character meta. I usually spout this all at Alex after the episode ends, but I didn't wait for her, so you suffer the consequences. ;)
Wow. That was ... wow.
Human monsters. Some people just aren't fully human. Aren't "normal", by any stretch. This is what Gwen's finding out, being a part of Torchwood. And now, maybe she can even count herself as one of them.
The Gwen and Owen thing was - and I say this with some measure of shock - brilliantly played. I think most of the credit for selling it goes to Burn Gorman, but still. This is fucked up. This is totally, completely fucked up, but it works perfectly, story-wise. Gwen wasn't ready for Torchwood. Not by a long shot. She's smart, in ways that made her a good P.C., but she wasn't worldly enough by half to handle any of this. The rest of them - I'll leave Owen for the moment, but Tosh (if we're meant to believe that Naoko Mori's character in "Aliens of London" is Tosh) had seen an alien invasion before she came to Torchwood, and Ianto lived through Canary Wharf (though, we'll also come back to Ianto later) - the rest of them, really, were all brought into this with a certain cynicism, a certain willing suspension of disbelief. What we're seeing with Gwen, really, is rather the opposite reaction than what we saw with Rose in DW - the normal girl, brought into an extraordinary world, who is not keeping what made her who she used to be. Rhys can't be as effective an anchor as Jackie or Mickey - he doesn't know, can't know - and Jack is not as benevolent as the Doctor, not as balanced. Jack's fucked up in and of himself, dealing with his own demons, and has no real idea of how to help Gwen (or any of the rest of them, for that matter) keep the perspective she needs. They're all in deep trouble, all five of them, one way or another.
But, back to Owen, who we are very definitely led to believe is, in fact, quite the asshole. He's played as almost wholly unsympathetic at the beginning, slamming Tosh and being a general tool. But, then, there's Gwen, who he's definitely fixated on. What it is, though, is obsession, the mostly-unattainable girl, the one with the boyfriend who, under regular circumstances, wouldn't even play his games. But, in this atmosphere - this fucked up atmosphere of Torchwood, warping Gwen's sense of her own life and everything that came before - he has the advantage. If you think about it - and, wow, if I were to ever point anyone over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
torch_wood over to my reaction posts I'd find myself in the middle of the wank from hell, I think - it's can be a parallel to the alien perfume in the first episode. Owen plays his advantage. He wants, he's smart enough to figure out a cheat to the game, he uses it. In this case, though, there's probably just enough personal to the issue that the inevitable fallout is going to fuck him up just as much as it fucks her up. Because, in the end, Owen isn't a predator, not like the villagers. He's just a guy, sometimes an asshole, probably with something of a god complex - doctors do tend to have those, more often than the rest of the population, in my experience - who was tossed into a situation that reinforced those tendencies and took away his need to deal with the real world.
Torchwood has fucked every single one of them up. We see it in their eyes - Ianto all but points it out for us, when he asks Tosh about the "look" in everyone's eye. Of course, he's got a bit of tunnel vision - he still sees himself as somewhat normal, when he's just as fucked as the rest of them. (Aside - of COURSE Ianto is the damsel in distress of the team. Heh.) Jack is a bad leader for this crew. He is. He's lost in himself, in his own needs and troubles. I think I had this conversation with Alex, after one of the other episodes - my theory on Jack and his rather dark attitude at the moment: he thinks his window of opportunity has passed him by. (What follows in this paragraph is pure speculation on my part, based on bits of facts and extrapolation.) He's probably been on Earth, in this timeline, for many years now. He's been waiting for the present day - 2005, the years after - because that's the one time he knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Doctor is there, on Earth, in London and Cardiff, with ties that keep bringing him back. He's been waiting, waiting for a time that he can catch the Doctor and not mess with his own timeline. But, then, he gets two obstacles thrown in his path - one, apparently, he doesn't know what Ten looks like, so that probably made it difficult. He was looking for a face that no longer exists. But, two, thanks to the Doctor messing with the roll of the dead from Canary Wharf, Jack thinks that Rose, Jackie, and Mickey are dead. Thus, the Doctor's reason for being there, at that time, in that place, is completely gone. Jack's missed his opportunity, and he's suffering for it. He's suffering, and so is the rest of the Torchwood team.
So, our team is fucked up. So, therefore, we're not meant to see the Gwen/Owen affair as romantic at all. Hot, sure - and, again, credit to Burn Gorman for his almost frightening intensity, as Eve Myles, bless her, doesn't really do much but look like a deer in the headlights for a lot of it - and completely in character, but this isn't a love story. It's the story of two people dealing with the insanity they witness every day in a very unhealthy way. And, speaking of unhealthy, Ianto stewing while still coming back to his job for more isn't very, either. That boy is going to blow sometimes, very soon, and I'd bet it's not going to be pretty. I do give Gareth David-Lloyd a lot of credit in this ep, too - his emotions played a lot better in this one than they did in "Cyberwoman". Ianto is subjecting himself to his job at Torchwood for the same reason that Gwen is fucking Owen - where else is he going to go? Who else is going to have any idea what he's been through?
And, we have brief glimpses of a personality from Tosh! Obviously, we get much more next week, but she's boiling underneath the surface just as much as anyone else. No social life - her last kiss was from Owen, mistletoe-induced, last Christmas - and, she seems to be pretty territorial when it comes to her job, because she was very obviously Not Amused when Ianto seemed to be perfectly capable of doing the things she does.
(Another aside, apropos of nothing - why does it amuse me so much that Naoko Mori and John Barrowman have starred opposite each other in Miss Saigon? I hate that musical!)
I think I loved this episode. I think I really loved it. Might be the best one of the season thus far. I love what it says about the characters; I love that they're all so screwed. Darkness abounds. No one is safe, no one is blameless, everyone's going down. This isn't going to be comfortable, but it might be damned good television!
What follow is very long, very rambly character meta. I usually spout this all at Alex after the episode ends, but I didn't wait for her, so you suffer the consequences. ;)
Wow. That was ... wow.
Human monsters. Some people just aren't fully human. Aren't "normal", by any stretch. This is what Gwen's finding out, being a part of Torchwood. And now, maybe she can even count herself as one of them.
The Gwen and Owen thing was - and I say this with some measure of shock - brilliantly played. I think most of the credit for selling it goes to Burn Gorman, but still. This is fucked up. This is totally, completely fucked up, but it works perfectly, story-wise. Gwen wasn't ready for Torchwood. Not by a long shot. She's smart, in ways that made her a good P.C., but she wasn't worldly enough by half to handle any of this. The rest of them - I'll leave Owen for the moment, but Tosh (if we're meant to believe that Naoko Mori's character in "Aliens of London" is Tosh) had seen an alien invasion before she came to Torchwood, and Ianto lived through Canary Wharf (though, we'll also come back to Ianto later) - the rest of them, really, were all brought into this with a certain cynicism, a certain willing suspension of disbelief. What we're seeing with Gwen, really, is rather the opposite reaction than what we saw with Rose in DW - the normal girl, brought into an extraordinary world, who is not keeping what made her who she used to be. Rhys can't be as effective an anchor as Jackie or Mickey - he doesn't know, can't know - and Jack is not as benevolent as the Doctor, not as balanced. Jack's fucked up in and of himself, dealing with his own demons, and has no real idea of how to help Gwen (or any of the rest of them, for that matter) keep the perspective she needs. They're all in deep trouble, all five of them, one way or another.
But, back to Owen, who we are very definitely led to believe is, in fact, quite the asshole. He's played as almost wholly unsympathetic at the beginning, slamming Tosh and being a general tool. But, then, there's Gwen, who he's definitely fixated on. What it is, though, is obsession, the mostly-unattainable girl, the one with the boyfriend who, under regular circumstances, wouldn't even play his games. But, in this atmosphere - this fucked up atmosphere of Torchwood, warping Gwen's sense of her own life and everything that came before - he has the advantage. If you think about it - and, wow, if I were to ever point anyone over at
torch_wood over to my reaction posts I'd find myself in the middle of the wank from hell, I think - it's can be a parallel to the alien perfume in the first episode. Owen plays his advantage. He wants, he's smart enough to figure out a cheat to the game, he uses it. In this case, though, there's probably just enough personal to the issue that the inevitable fallout is going to fuck him up just as much as it fucks her up. Because, in the end, Owen isn't a predator, not like the villagers. He's just a guy, sometimes an asshole, probably with something of a god complex - doctors do tend to have those, more often than the rest of the population, in my experience - who was tossed into a situation that reinforced those tendencies and took away his need to deal with the real world. Torchwood has fucked every single one of them up. We see it in their eyes - Ianto all but points it out for us, when he asks Tosh about the "look" in everyone's eye. Of course, he's got a bit of tunnel vision - he still sees himself as somewhat normal, when he's just as fucked as the rest of them. (Aside - of COURSE Ianto is the damsel in distress of the team. Heh.) Jack is a bad leader for this crew. He is. He's lost in himself, in his own needs and troubles. I think I had this conversation with Alex, after one of the other episodes - my theory on Jack and his rather dark attitude at the moment: he thinks his window of opportunity has passed him by. (What follows in this paragraph is pure speculation on my part, based on bits of facts and extrapolation.) He's probably been on Earth, in this timeline, for many years now. He's been waiting for the present day - 2005, the years after - because that's the one time he knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Doctor is there, on Earth, in London and Cardiff, with ties that keep bringing him back. He's been waiting, waiting for a time that he can catch the Doctor and not mess with his own timeline. But, then, he gets two obstacles thrown in his path - one, apparently, he doesn't know what Ten looks like, so that probably made it difficult. He was looking for a face that no longer exists. But, two, thanks to the Doctor messing with the roll of the dead from Canary Wharf, Jack thinks that Rose, Jackie, and Mickey are dead. Thus, the Doctor's reason for being there, at that time, in that place, is completely gone. Jack's missed his opportunity, and he's suffering for it. He's suffering, and so is the rest of the Torchwood team.
So, our team is fucked up. So, therefore, we're not meant to see the Gwen/Owen affair as romantic at all. Hot, sure - and, again, credit to Burn Gorman for his almost frightening intensity, as Eve Myles, bless her, doesn't really do much but look like a deer in the headlights for a lot of it - and completely in character, but this isn't a love story. It's the story of two people dealing with the insanity they witness every day in a very unhealthy way. And, speaking of unhealthy, Ianto stewing while still coming back to his job for more isn't very, either. That boy is going to blow sometimes, very soon, and I'd bet it's not going to be pretty. I do give Gareth David-Lloyd a lot of credit in this ep, too - his emotions played a lot better in this one than they did in "Cyberwoman". Ianto is subjecting himself to his job at Torchwood for the same reason that Gwen is fucking Owen - where else is he going to go? Who else is going to have any idea what he's been through?
And, we have brief glimpses of a personality from Tosh! Obviously, we get much more next week, but she's boiling underneath the surface just as much as anyone else. No social life - her last kiss was from Owen, mistletoe-induced, last Christmas - and, she seems to be pretty territorial when it comes to her job, because she was very obviously Not Amused when Ianto seemed to be perfectly capable of doing the things she does.
(Another aside, apropos of nothing - why does it amuse me so much that Naoko Mori and John Barrowman have starred opposite each other in Miss Saigon? I hate that musical!)
I think I loved this episode. I think I really loved it. Might be the best one of the season thus far. I love what it says about the characters; I love that they're all so screwed. Darkness abounds. No one is safe, no one is blameless, everyone's going down. This isn't going to be comfortable, but it might be damned good television!